Enter BPL's Teen Writing Contest!
Brooklyn Public Library's Teen Writing Contest is still accepting submissions, through March 31! The contest is open to middle and high schoolers all over NYC. Get the details and the link to submit here: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/teen-writing-contest Need some inspiration? Here is a list of books selected by BookMatch Teen for their spectacular writing.
Storytime with the Pajama Club
New York City high school student Madison Xu is launching a free virtual storytime for children, filled with stories from around the world! Read on for some background, and program details, from Madison. When I was younger, my mom was always there to help me find amazing books about different cultures and people. I loved the way that the words could transform even the most distant living experiences into something familiar. I’ve always noticed the lack of more diverse and international narratives within our educational institutions and our popularized children's books. This…
Top Five Scary Movies You SHOULDN'T Watch!
If you’re a horror fan like I am, chances are that during quarantine you’ve been binge watching every scary movie out there, you're now used to cheap jumpscares, and nothing has gotten you. Well, this list contains five of the highest rated horror movies, all of which are filmed as found footage! Watch at your own risk.... Gonjiam Haunted Asylum- This movie gave me the chills and it has to be the scariest one on this list. It follows the story of six people who break into an abandoned haunted asylum, livestreaming the whole thing. It takes a while for all the…
COVID-19 Day of Remembrance with BookMatch Teen
Sunday, March 14 is COVID-19 Day of Remembrance, an official day of remembrance in New York City. In honor of this day, BookMatch Teen members have created a list of the books that got them through this past year. What books, or shows, games or songs, helped you? Want more good reads? Fill out this short form, and BookMatch Teen will send you a personalized booklist.
Black Heroes You May Not Have Heard Of
Everyone has heard of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Rosa Parks, but there are others out there who have made a huge impact. Here are five Black heroes you may not have heard of. Linda Brown- Does Brown v. Board of Education sound familiar to you? Well, this was the little girl who was barred from attending an elementary school because she was Black. She fought for equality in education and brought up the idea that segregations in schools was unlawful. She is one of the many reasons that schools aren’t segregated these days. Thanks, Linda Brown! Fred Jones- A…
Revamping High School Reads
I think high school literature needs a serious update. There are the “classics” we’re always required to read—Romeo and Juliet, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men—and while they’re great books that have valuable themes, they’re also so stale. They’ve been assigned on a loop to kids, and their parents, and their parents' parents. Most high schoolers can’t connect with or don’t care about Jay Gatsby and Holden Caulfield: they’re all often white, very Eurocentric, and authored by men. Anyone who has read a book published in the last five to ten years knows that there’s…
Where Did My Democracy Go?
I have always loved America. The idea that everyone’s opinions can be represented through democracy makes me feel validated as a citizen. Lately, I feel like this right of mine is being pried from my hands. All across social media, respect for others and their opinions has become a foreign concept. People are being attacked and unfollowed for their political views. Peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters are labeled as violent. Recently, a student at my school told her friend that he was brave for telling people who he was voting for. Why should we have to be brave in order to express…
The Joy in Quarantine
It’s absolutely wild to think that we are approaching the one-year anniversary of our lives being put on pause. Many of us were so busy before being abruptly forced to stay at home with limited options of how to occupy ourselves. I confess that the first few months, sitting around being overwhelmed by my boredom were pretty rough. I realized that this period in my life was going to last longer than I initially anticipated, so I decided that I needed to find some things to make quarantine more bearable. Taking up a New Hobby With my days now free, I wanted to put all that extra time to good…