Librarian's Pick of the Week: Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging

Title: Angus Thong and the Full-Frontal Flogging
Author: Louise Rennison
Published: 2000
Age: 13+

If you have thus far miss this series, then HURRY! GET TO THE LIBRARY! This is one of the most hilarious book series that has ever graced a young adult section. You will not be disappointed.

Synopsis: "Angus: My mixed-breed cat, half domestic tabby, half Scottish wildcat. The size of a small Labrador, only mad. Likes to stalk Mr. and Mrs. Next Door's poodle. I used to drag him around on a lead, but, as I explained to Mrs. Next Door, he ate it. Thongs: Stupid underwear worn by old Swotty Knickers, Lindsay What's the point of them, anyway? They just go up your bum, as far as I can tell. Full-Frontal Snogging: Kissing with the trimmings, lip to lip, open mouth, tongues...everything (apart from dribble, which is never acceptable). As taught to me by a professional snogger. In this wildly funny journal of a year in the life of Georgia Nicolson, British author Louise Rennison has perfectly captured the soaring joys and bottomless angust if being a teenager. In the spirit of Bridget Jones' Diary, this fresh, irreverent, and simply hilarious book will leave you laughing out loud. As Georgia would say, it's "Fabbity fab fab!"'

Review: "American readers wondering what on earth "full-frontal snogging" is will find the answer in the helpful (and hilarious) glossary appended to this antic diary of a year in the life of an English girl named Georgia Nicolson. Snogging is, simply, "kissing with all the trimmings," and it's much on 14-year-old Georgia's mind these days. For even though she's still reeling from her devastatingly bad decision to go to a party dressed as a stuffed olive, she has fallen in love with an older man (he's 17), a Sex God named Robbie. The trouble is, S. G. is dating a girl named Lindsay who--brace yourself--wears a thong. Honestly, how wet (idiotic) can you get! In the meantime, life on the homefront is spinning out of control. Dad has gone to New Zealand in search of a better job, and pet cat Angus, who can usually be spotted stalking the neighbor's poodle, has gone missing. Although performer and comedy writer Rennison clearly owes a large debt to Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary (1998), her Georgia is a wonderful character whose misadventures are not only hysterically funny but universally recognizable. This "fabbity, fab, fab" novel will leave readers cheering, "Long live the teen!" and anxiously awaiting the promised sequel." - Booklist


If you're intrigued, don't forget to check our library's catalog for this book!

On the Big Screen: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The next book from the series The Chronicles of Narnia is being released on the big screen in a few months, and I am psyched! The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is set to be released on December 10th.

Who else is going to go see it? Have you read all the books? What are some other books you'd like to see be made into movies?

Click here to check out more great books that have found their way into movie history.

For Video Game Buffs Everywhere!

So you think you know a lot about video games? Maybe you can name all of the temples in The Ocarina of Time or perhaps you know all the secret passages to the Warp Zone in Mario Brothers. And you probably even play Runescape at our library for about 8.5 hours a day!

But I guarantee that the free online game Geek Mind is going to stump you on a bunch. This game has over 300 levels that feature screenshots of everything from Triple A titles to small independently produced games.

Good luck, and let me know how well you do! (I can't seem to get past 500 points!)

An Anne-Themed Picnic

Since as a general rule I am naturally inclined toward anything literary, be it a pillow with Sherlock Holmes silhouette (hmm.. future craft project?) or a comic strip about Jane Austen, it only makes sense that I am excited to have stumbled across this Anne of Green Gables inspired cook book by Kate McDonald. Have you seen it before? If you like to cook and also love the series, this book is  amust read!

Here are a few of my favorites from the cookbook:

Marilla Cuthbert's Raspberry Cordial

{Image from The Independent}

"That's awfully nice raspberry cordial, Anne," she said. "I didn't know raspberry cordial was so nice." (Anne of Green Gables)

Ingredients:

• 2 packages of unsweetened, frozenraspberries
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• 8 cups boiling water
• 3 lemons

Directions:

1. Place raspberries into a large pot and add the sugar.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes, or until all the sugar has dissolved.
3. With a whisk or spoon, smash the raspberries thoroughly.
4. Pour mixture through a strainer to extract the juice. Discard remaining pulp.
5. Squeeze 2 of the lemons, and add the lemon juice to the raspberry juice.
6. Boil 10 cups of water and add the water to the raspberry juice.
7. Let the raspberry cordial cool. Add thin slices of lemon to the cordial, and then chill it in the refrigerator.
8. Add more water to taste.

Crab Apple Preserves

{Image from DaJanzen on Flickr}

"In vain she nibbled at the bread and butter and pecked at the crab-apple preserve out of the little scalloped glass dish by her plate." (Anne of Green Gables)

Ingredients:

• 6 cups Peeled-cored-sliced apples
• 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
• 1 Lemon (thinly sliced)
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 package pectin
• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Mix apples, water, lemon juice in large pot.
2. Simmer covered 10 min.
3. Stir in pectin and bring to full rolling boil, stir frequently.
4. Add lemon slices and sugar and bring to full rolling boil again. Boil for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
5. Remove from heat and add nutmeg.
6. Pour into hot jars or cool and put into freezer containers. If canning, process 10 min in boiling water bath

Jane's Plum Pudding

{Image from Lara Ferroni on Flickr}

"But one day she flew too high and produced for dessert something that a charitable person might have called a plum pudding." (Jane of Lantern Hill)

Ingredients:

• 4 oz flour
• 4 oz breadcrumbs
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 pinch of salt
• 4 oz currants
• 4 oz raisins
• 3 oz of shredded suet
• 2 tablespoons of treacle
• ½ teaspoons of mixed spice
• 1 apple (chopped)
• 3 oz sugar Directions:

Directions:

1. Mix the flour and breadcrumbs together in a bowl.
2. Then add the apple, sugar, suet, raisins, currants, spices and salt.
3. Slightly warm the treacle and it to to the milk.
4. Combine ingredients and mix well before turning into a greased basin.
5. Cover with greaseproof paper and steam for six hours.
6. Any fat on top of the pudding will be absorbed.
7. Cover with paper to store. On serving day, steam for three hours.

Anne's Ginger Tea


"She slept poorly and was so pale and tragic at breakfast next morning that Marilla was alarmed and insisted on making her take a cup of scorching ginger tea. Anne sipped it patiently, although she could not imagine what good ginger tea would do." (Anne of Avonlea)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of water
• 1/2 cup of fresh ginger root
• honey
• lemon

Directions:

1. Peel the ginger root and slice it into thin slices.
2. Boil the water in a saucepan.
3. Add the ginger slices once the water is at a rolling boil
4. Cover the saucepan and reduce heat to a simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5. Strain the tea to remove the ginger slices.
6. Add honey and lemon to taste

Jimmy's Taffy

"After dinner Ilse and I played games in the kitchen and Cousin Jimmy helped us make taffy. We had a big supper but nobody could eat much because they had had such a dinner." (Emily of New Moon)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 7/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Boil the sugar, water, molasses, salt and winegar in a saucepan
2. When nearly done, a small amount of the mixture dropped in a cold water mixture will become brittle.
3. Then add the butter and the vanilla.
4. Pour into a pan.
5. Cool, and mark in squares.
   
   For more Anne-inspired recipes, check out the Anne of Green Gables Cookbook.