Knox Youth Short Film Festival

Just wanted to give a bit of a plug for the Knox Youth Short Film Festival. There's only a couple of weeks left to submit entries to the Festival. Submissions are sought from filmmakers 10-25 years old.

Entries can be any genre but you need to follow these guidelines:

• The majority of the film crew lives, works, studies or hangs out within the City of Knox
• All films need to be of PG Rating
• All films need to be submitted on VHS or DVD
• All films to be no longer than 10 minutes long

Important dates:
Applications and entries due Wednesday 25th February 2009
Short films will be shown on Monday 30th March 6:30–9pm at the
Knox Community Arts Centre, Bayswater, as part of National Youth Week 2009.

Check out an ad for the Knox Youth Short Film Festival on Youtube - Green Foot Flicks



Cheers, Maryanne

Books - Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

Rate the book: 10

By the same author as "Looking For Alibrandi", is another great book about a teens life. Even though the main character, Francesca is Italian (like in Looking For Alibrandi), this book focuses moreso on the troubles she faces when she is sent to a school that has only just become co-ed, leaving her friends from her old school behind.This book is also about boy troubles rather than trouble because of her ethnicity. A great read for those who love romance/friend/family type books.

----reviewed by sarah

Books - Trixie Belden Series by Julie Cambell, Kathryn Kenny

Rate the book: 8

For those who like Nancy Drew this is a great series of 39 books that are focused on the main girl Trixie, and the mysteries she gets herself into with her brothers Mart and Brian, best friends Honey and Di, romantic interest (and Honey's adopted brother) Jim, and Dan Mangan. This group of teens from 13-16 y/o form a club together. Whilst it is similar to Nancy Drew, this is a more old fashioned setting. Trixie is also a tomboy compared to Nancy being a tall, beautiful, confident blonde. The series starts off with the first book being "The Secret of the Mansion" and then "The Red Trailer Mystery" which both set up the series. Great innocent reads.

----reviewed by sarah

Books - One For The Money (Stephanie Plum series) by Janet Evanovich

Rate the book: 10

This book is the first in a ongoing series (currently still being written) about a woman in America who becomes jobless and is force to appeal to her cousin Vinnie for a job as a Bounty Hunter. Starting this job leads her to meet her to main romantic interests Joe Morelli (her on-off again boyfriend) and Ranger, the dark, mysterious man who pops in and out of her life. These books are great chick-flick type books, full of laughs, adventure and romance. A great series for slightly older readers (15+).

----reviewed by sarah

Note: this is in the adult fiction section of the library