For The Win by Cory Doctorow

About For The Win:

In the virtual future, you must organize to survive

At any hour of the day or night, millions of people around the globe are engrossed in multiplayer online games, questing and battling to win virtual “gold,” jewels, and precious artifacts. Meanwhile, others seek to exploit this vast shadow economy, running electronic sweatshops in the world’s poorest countries, where countless “gold farmers,” bound to their work by abusive contracts and physical threats, harvest virtual treasure for their employers to sell to First World gamers who are willing to spend real money to skip straight to higher-level gameplay.

Mala is a brilliant 15-year-old from rural India whose leadership skills in virtual combat have earned her the title of “General Robotwalla.” In Shenzen, heart of China’s industrial boom, Matthew is defying his former bosses to build his own successful gold-farming team. Leonard, who calls himself Wei-Dong, lives in Southern California, but spends his nights fighting virtual battles alongside his buddies in Asia, a world away. All of these young people, and more, will become entangled with the mysterious young woman called Big Sister Nor, who will use her experience, her knowledge of history, and her connections with real-world organizers to build them into a movement that can challenge the status quo.

The ruthless forces arrayed against them are willing to use any means to protect their power—including blackmail, extortion, infiltration, violence, and even murder. To survive, Big Sister’s people must out-think the system. This will lead them to devise a plan to crash the economy of every virtual world at once—a Ponzi scheme combined with a brilliant hack that ends up being the biggest, funnest game of all.

Imbued with the same lively, subversive spirit and thrilling storytelling that made LITTLE BROTHER an international sensation, FOR THE WIN is a prophetic and inspiring call-to-arms for a new generation

READ:

Find Little Brother in our catalog

Download a free copy of Little Brother from the author

Find For The Win in our catalog

Download a free copy of For The Win from the author

YA author John Green at ALA :: Book Nerd PARADISE

(so ... no advance copies of Mockingjay ... hopefully this means no spoilers! Is everyone counting down to August 24?)

Young Adult author John Green hanging out the annual American Library Association conference in Washington DC.

John Green is the author of Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines and most recently Will Grayson, Will Grayson (a colaboration with Young Adult author David Levithan).

READ:

Find John Green books in our catalog

Find David Levithan books in our catalog

Dreaming of an Ivy League college?

Got Ivy League dreams but need a way to pay for it?  Did you hear this news? 

Harvard University announced recently that from now on undergraduate students from low-income families will pay no tuition. In making the announcement, Harvard's president Lawrence H. Summers said, "When only ten percent of the students in elite higher education come from families in the lower half of the income distribution, we are not doing enough. We are not doing enough in bringing elite higher education to the lower half of the income distribution."



If you know of a family earning less than $60,000 a year with an honor student graduating from high school soon, Harvard University wants to pay the tuition. The prestigious university recently announced that from now on undergraduate students from low-income families can go to Harvard for free... no tuition and no student loans!


To find out more about Harvard offering free tuition for families making less than $60,000 a year, visit Harvard's financial aid website at: http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/ or call the school's financial aid office at (617) 495-1581.

Want to know more about this college or others?  Check out CollegeSource Online to answer lots of the important questions, like...

• what will it cost?
• what are the application requirements?
• what majors do they offer?

Transworld Skateboarding Magazine @ the Library

Transworld Skateboarding Magazine at some Hillsborough County libraries. Check it out!

Go Skateboarding!

June 21st is Go Skateboarding Day! In honor of this event, some parks are offering free skate sessions, including the skate park at the New Tampa Community Park. The session starts tonight at 8 p.m. Helmets and waivers are required. For more info, call the Tampa Parks and Recreation Department New Tampa Community Recreation Center at 975-2794.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games trilogy final installment)

Mockingjay, the final installment in the Hunger Games trilogy, will be released on August 24.

Place a hold Today for Mockingjay!

Catch up with the series and check-out:

Book 1: The Hunger Games
Book 2: Catching Fire

In "The Hunger Games":

Twenty-four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives.

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are
forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve
and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight
to the death – televised for all of Panem to see.

Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Summer Time Travel

Wanna go back in time? Play old-school games, whip up some tie dyed shirts or shrinky dinks, or maybe even take home a pet rock? Get in touch with the past at our Catch A Wave programs, happening at your library this summer.

Choose your destination, McFly:

1960s
Lutz Branch Library - Tuesday, July 13 @ 3:00 PM

1970s
Bloomingdale Regional Library - Saturday, June 12 @ 2:00 PM
New Tampa Regional Library - Thursday, June 24 @ 2:00 PM
78th Street Branch Library - Wednesday, July 14 @ 3:00 PM
Lutz Branch Library - Tuesday, August 10 @ 3:00 PM

1980s
Lutz Branch Library - Tuesday, June 15 @ 3:00 PM
New Tampa Regional Library - Thursday, July 15 @ 2:00 PM
78th Street Branch Library - Wednesday, August 4 @ 3:00 PM

Mmm, braaaaaains...

Zombies. They're everywhere. Okay, maybe not everywhere-everywhere (although have you checked under your bed lately?) but they're definitely at your local library this summer! Live it up the undead way by attending a GOT BRAINS? zombie program at the library. Learn practical tactics to survive the zombie apocalypse, play zombie games, eat brains, and more. Make sure to arrive in your best zombie camouflage, in order to enhance your chances of survival. After all, you're going to need that brain of yours once school starts next fall. It would be a shame if something ate it. Nom nom nom.

Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library - Thursday, June 24 @ 6:00 PM

Bloomingdale Regional Library - Saturday, July 10 @ 2:00 PM

Seffner-Mango Branch Library - Monday, July 19 @ 3:00 PM

New Tampa Regional Library - Thursday, July 29 @ 2:00 PM