{"id":3248,"date":"2016-09-07T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-09-07T16:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/?p=3248"},"modified":"2018-03-13T19:03:56","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T02:03:56","slug":"interview-with-shannon-messenger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2016\/interview-with-shannon-messenger\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Shannon Messenger"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hadley
Hadley interviews Shannon via Skype<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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In August, one of our teen reviewers got the chance to snag a Skype interview with Shannon Messenger, one of the authors who will be featured at our annual Pasadena Loves YA book festival on September 17. The two series under her name are the ongoing middle grade <\/span>Keeper of the Lost Cities<\/i><\/b> series and the newly completed YA series she\u2019s here today to talk about, <\/span>Sky Fall<\/i><\/b>. Read on to learn all about it. (Any of her responses that contain specific spoilers will be preceded by a warning.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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SM: Shannon Messenger<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

HW: Hadley Willman (from the Teen Advisory Board)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> We\u2019re here to talk about your newly completed <\/b>Sky Fall<\/i><\/b> series that finished with the release of <\/b>Let the Wind Rise.<\/i><\/b> Could you give us a quick rundown of the basic need-to-know facts of the series as a whole?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> Yeah! When you have to do that elevator pitch, I call it <\/span>Last Airbender<\/span><\/i> meets <\/span>Twister<\/span><\/i> with kissing. It\u2019s basically about air elementals who are caught up in this big wind war that\u2019s been going on for a while and that one of the main characters is very crucial to, even though he has no knowledge or training of his world. And then, of course, there\u2019s a love story; it\u2019s sort of a little bit of both. It\u2019s not necessarily <\/span>just<\/span><\/i> a romance, but if you don\u2019t like love stories, then it\u2019s probably not the right book for you either. And I like to also point out that one of the funnest things about the series for me is that it\u2019s a <\/span>dude<\/span><\/i> in distress. In this kind of book, a lot of the time it\u2019s this hopeless female character who doesn\u2019t have any powers or abilities and then meets this supernatural [male] character who then saves her over and over again. While I enjoy that story, I kind of wanted to do something different, so I flipped it and this time we have a guy who is just completely clueless and the girl who is constantly kicking his butt and saving him throughout the series, which is very fun to write.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> Fun to read, too. I read in the acknowledgements of the first book that there was just one idea for this series that kept you up at night and you couldn\u2019t sleep so you just started writing. What was this idea?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> This is when you\u2019re going to realize just how boring my dreams are. It was a <\/span>word<\/span><\/i>. I woke up with the word \u201cwindwalker\u201d in my mind. I don\u2019t know <\/span>why<\/span><\/i> but I did. From that point on, I could not stop thinking about it and every time I thought about that word, I would picture this teenage boy walking on the wind. I would picture Vane\u2014at the time, I didn\u2019t know his name\u2014but I would picture him walking on the wind and I just kept thinking about him. Every song I would hear on iTunes, I would think, \u201cThat could be related to him!\u201d Then the same thing happened with the female character; I realized that there would be a girl in the story and everything just made me think of her, too. It was specifically the word \u201cwindwalker,\u201d which was the original title that I pitched the book to my editor under. She immediately said, \u201cI love everything except the title, no, we\u2019re not doing that title.\u201d So I\u2019m really good at titles.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> So you say that you originally came up with Vane before Audra, which is interesting because it seems like Audra is slightly more of a main character in the first book. Did you, at the start, just plan to have Vane or did she come along pretty quickly?<\/b><\/p>\n

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(SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t completed the <\/span>Let the Sky Fall<\/span><\/i> (book one), skip to the next question.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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SM:<\/i><\/b> She came along very quickly. It\u2019s funny, their characters really took shape from two songs. Vane, there was this song called \u201cThe Haunting\u201d by Anne Berlin that was about being haunted by a girl. That came up not long after I had woken up and had this dream of this word and kept thinking about this boy. That song came on and it uses the word \u201cwind,\u201d which is probably why I gravitated toward it. The song is supposed to be about an ended relationship and you\u2019re feeling haunted by it, but I kept thinking, what if he actually sort of <\/span>was<\/span><\/i> being shadowed by this girl? And then Audra came to me from a song called \u201cMisguided Ghosts\u201d by Paramore. And what was interesting is for some reason as soon as I heard it I knew not only was it the girl\u2019s song, but I knew it was the girl at the end of her story, which if you\u2019ve read <\/span>Let the Sky Fall,<\/span><\/i> then you know the decision that Audra makes at the end, and <\/span>that<\/span><\/i> was what fascinated me. I wanted to know: what would possess this girl to go through all of these things and yet still do what she does at the very end of the book? I wanted to write their story to that fitting point and I think that\u2019s probably why to some extent the first book did focus so much on Audra because it was sort of like, I want to understand this journey that she goes on: she sort of gets everything she wants and then still does this slightly unexpected thing at the end but that also felt very inherent to her character because I knew she was going to do it before I even knew her. The first line of the song is, \u201cI\u2019m going away for a while.\u201d I don\u2019t usually give the title, because if you haven\u2019t read the book, then it\u2019s like, well, now you know the ending<\/span>.<\/span> I knew right away that <\/span>that<\/span><\/i> was Audra, and it was just sort of about piecing together how we got from Vane at the beginning of the story, wondering if he\u2019s being haunted by this girl, to her at the end not really wanting to leave but knowing that she needs to leave for a little while. I was like, I want to write that story.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> Did you always plan to have two points of view?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> I went back and forth on it a little bit, just because I wasn\u2019t sure if I would be able to make the voices sound distinct enough. The very first thing that I woke up at four in the morning and wrote\u2014it\u2019s the very first chapter of Vane and the very first chapter of Audra, those two really really short little snippets. That\u2019s what I wrote. I had those things in my head, I\u2019d heard the song, it wouldn\u2019t go away, and it was keeping me up so I finally just grabbed my laptop at four in the morning and wrote it down. They really didn\u2019t change. I sent it to my friend to just sort of say, \u201cHave I lost my mind here? This is YA, I\u2019ve been writing middle grade, and it\u2019s dual POV, first person, and I do third person, like what am I doing here? Please tell me if this <\/span>sucks!\u201d<\/span><\/i> She wrote back and was like, \u201cSo, I want the rest of the book.\u201d So I kept writing it. I sort of was testing it out to see if the voices would feel distinct because there\u2019s nothing more annoying than reading a book with two POV\u2019s and you have to keep flipping back to go, \u201cWait, who\u2019s talking in this chapter?\u201d because they sound so similar. I didn\u2019t want to do that. I was like, if I\u2019m going to do dual POV, then I want it to be that you can know from the first sentence, even if we\u2019re not seeing the name at the top of the chapter, exactly what character it is. Otherwise, I\u2019d rather do third person.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> Were there any other significant differences between writing the <\/b>Keeper<\/i><\/b> series and <\/b>Sky Fall?<\/i><\/b>
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\n<\/span>SM:<\/i><\/b> My big thing was obviously YA, middle grade, that kind of thing, but I really wanted to not have to invent the sylph world. I wanted the sylph world to just be among us, and yes, I had to write a little bit of the rules of their mythology and how their abilities worked and things like that, but I didn\u2019t want to have to create cities and towns and things like that because I was already doing that for <\/span>Keeper.<\/span><\/i> I wanted to write a book where I didn\u2019t have to spend an hour trying to figure out what they would eat, where they would just go, and have them eat somewhere that exists. They could go to In-N-Out and eat a cheeseburger and I didn\u2019t have to spend an hour inventing a new food that they would eat. And it wasn\u2019t just laziness; I just thought that it would be a fun challenge of trying to mix fantasy in with our world and make it believable where you would think, \u201cYeah, there <\/span>could<\/span><\/i> be a sylph in In-N-Out,\u201d and you would buy that because that\u2019s a hard sell, too. It\u2019s strangely just as hard to sell that these magical beings were walking among us as it is to invent your own world.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> Do you have any general interest in mythology that led you to the sylphs and did you do a lot of research before expanding them into your own species?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> It\u2019s actually funny. What drew me to sylphs is, while I was doing the research for <\/span>Keeper,<\/span><\/i> I have this book called <\/span>the Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures,<\/span><\/i> and I\u2019ve read every page in it because with <\/span>Keeper,<\/span><\/i> I knew I would be incorporating so many different creatures that I wanted to familiarize myself with everything that was out there. That was how I discovered sylphs, and what caught my attention about them was that it literally only had one sentence about them. It just said, \u201cSylph: an air elemental.\u201d And it didn\u2019t give any mythology or anything, and that appealed to me for two reasons. One, because the <\/span>Keeper<\/span><\/i> series is about elves which have a nightmare of mythology about them, like books and books and books, and here I was wrestling with that, trying to deal with the question of how do I incorporate this much mythology into a series? It was a really big headache for me and a creature that had <\/span>zero<\/span><\/i> mythology was just like, \u201cYay!” It was also cool because then it meant I could make up whatever I wanted. And the wind is something that has always fascinated me. I\u2019m very much a nerd and I get fascinated by weird things like words and wind. The setting of the books is actually where I grew up, so growing up in the Coachella Valley, the wind is really weird there, and there were so many times where I would go out to check the mail and there would be one of those little dust devil, mini tornados in my front yard and it would stroll around for a second and then whisk away, and it would be like, \u201cWhy?\u201d So the idea of somebody controlling the wind and somebody who could harness something that can be this amazing gentle breeze that feels so good on a hot day or that\u2019s also a tornado that destroys an entire town, that was a fascinating idea because the wind is so dynamic that way. And I just loved that I would not have any existing lore about sylphs that I would have to try to incorporate. I could just say, you know what? I\u2019ve decided that sylphs are this, and nobody could say, no, they read that they work at the North Pole like I had to deal with with <\/span>Keeper<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> So you\u2019ve said you didn\u2019t necessarily want to have to invent the sylph world too much in terms of making it so separate from what already exists but you also did have to do a lot in terms of generalizing what exactly sylphs could do and some of the commands they issued to the winds. What was the process like to come up with some of those terms and rhyme schemes?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> It\u2019s hard to say because the process of building the world for <\/span>Keeper<\/span><\/i> was so painful. It took like a year and a half, so everything by that account for <\/span>Let the Sky Fall<\/span><\/i> was like, \u201cOh, that\u2019s easy,\u201d even though it wasn\u2019t necessarily. But it wasn\u2019t the nightmare that was creating the <\/span>Keeper<\/span><\/i> world. I knew that I wanted each language of the wind to do something different. I knew that if I was going to have Westerlies be valuable, it was stupid to have it be that <\/span>only<\/span><\/i> Westerlies did something different and the other three did something else. I found that in things like Greek mythology, they would have a different god or goddess for each direction of the wind, so I started there, seeing what mythology existed for the wind and what things they generally attributed to the wind and then went from there. That was sort of my starting point, but it was a lot of little charts.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> When you first did come up with the idea of \u201cwindwalker,\u201d did you know that you were going to expand it into a full-blown series or did you originally plan to cut it off somewhere early on?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> I always thought that it made the most sense for it to be a trilogy. It felt like the villain was too big of a villain to be taken down in one book. It\u2019s one of those things where it\u2019s like, the villain\u2019s been tormenting this world for years and years and years, and then the teenager takes him down in one book? Oh, that was easy! I knew that it would probably take me three books to get the villain taken down in a way where it would feel like, \u201cYeah, okay, they really fought, they struggled.\u201d I knew there would be three. At one point I felt like we should do just two, but then I would have to cut something out, so I decided to keep it at a three book arc.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> Were there any big developments, scenes, or character moments in the series that you knew from the beginning that you wanted to happen throughout the series?<\/b><\/p>\n

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(Slight spoilers if you haven\u2019t finished <\/span>Let the Sky Fall.)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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SM:<\/i><\/b> I knew that I wanted to have the character Solana, who is just sort of mentioned in book one. She comes in and plays a huge role in book three. I always knew I wanted that. I knew that I wanted to do more with Solana, but I wanted to be very clear that it wasn\u2019t a love triangle. To me, what I define a love triangle as is where you\u2019ve got one character who\u2019s like, \u201cI <\/span>might<\/span><\/i> love this one, but <\/span>maybe<\/span><\/i> I love this one, and I don\u2019t know <\/span>who<\/span><\/i> I love!\u201d To me, that\u2019s a love triangle, and having more than one person is just real. We always are choosing from a variety of people and so I kind of wanted it to be that yes, there\u2019s this girl that everyone is steering Vane toward, but that doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s a love triangle because he\u2019s like, no. I wanted that complication there because it just made sense that their world would have this betrothal and everything and I found that idea really interesting, but I wanted it to be very clear that Vane doesn\u2019t waver. He\u2019s not like, \u201cGosh, she <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> kind of cute, and we <\/span>do<\/span><\/i> have a lot in common!\u201d He just doesn\u2019t want to be a jerk when he starts to realize that she\u2019s actually a nice person and he feels bad for some of the crud that she has to go through because of him deciding to end their betrothal. But it\u2019s not like he\u2019s ever thinking, \u201cGosh, maybe I should go for Solana!\u201d And that was really important to me, so it\u2019s obvious that some people will go: one guy, two girls, love triangle! It is, but it isn\u2019t, and that was something that I knew early on I was going to do. It was fascinating to me about the story to have that idea of, just because there\u2019s another option, to me that feels more like it really does show how committed you are to the other person if you have this perfectly good other option but you\u2019re like, \u201cBut I want her. That\u2019s the one I\u2019m choosing. That\u2019s the one I want.\u201d I wanted to be able to do that.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> I really liked that about the series. If you could choose one scene that was most memorable for you to write, which would it be?<\/b><\/p>\n

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(More spoilers for book one.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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SM:<\/i><\/b> Probably the In-N-Out scene. I used that as an excuse to eat at In-N-Out quite a lot, which makes me sound like I do nothing but eat cheeseburgers. I really wanted to really capture what it\u2019s like to be in California and be a teenager and where they would go on a date and that kind of thing. Then you add in the whole fact that Audra has been depriving herself for so long, so to have it be that her first meal in a really long time is this In-N-Out cheeseburger, it was way too fun for me. I kept saying, \u201cI don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve captured this scene <\/span>just <\/span><\/i>right. Maybe we need to go to In-N-Out <\/span>one<\/span><\/i> more time so that I can really make sure that I\u2019ve described the cheeseburger accurately.\u201d Yeah, my job is hard, sometimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> A little bit more of a specific question. Are there any real-life counterparts or metaphors for some of the more dark and resounding parts of the story?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> I\u2019m one of those authors who tends to be very light-handed with that kind of stuff. I mean, yes, there is deeper meaning that can be read into anything, but I think it\u2019s because I despise those essay questions in English class, like \u201cTell me the meaning of the red curtains.\u201d That wasn\u2019t something that I particularly enjoyed, having everything over-analyzed, so I try to be more light-handed with that stuff actually and leave it more, what does it mean to you, to the reader? Because I just feel that the more I tell you what it means, the more I\u2019m sucking any joy out of it, like those English classes I had that made me despise all literature because I had to pick it apart so deeply. It took me a long time. By the time I graduated high school, I only read if I was required to read because reading was no longer fun. So I try not to do that too much.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> Say that the Westerlies had originally always had it in their nature to give up the fourth language without a fight and technically the series didn\u2019t happen and all the four winds had all along had their representatives. Which wind do you think would take more of a lead in that situation if the pressure wasn\u2019t on for the last Westerly to lead?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> I feel like the Easterlies are the ones who probably are the most versatile; they\u2019re powerful and they\u2019re able to make the hard decisions and make the sacrifices, but they\u2019re not as power-crazy as the Northerlies are. I feel like the Southerlies are a bit too laid back, and it would kind of be the equivalent of Italy. You know, if you\u2019ve ever been to Italy, it\u2019s just like, \u201cWow! It\u2019s really relaxed here!\u201d And you look down the freeway and you\u2019re like, \u201cI can\u2019t tell, is that car\u2019s driving in a lane or not?\u201d That\u2019s what it would be like if the Southerlies were in charge, and the Northerlies are kind of like Germany, and really rigid. Then you have the Easterlies that are a little bit more of an in-between for those two extremes. Honestly, I feel like the Westerlies, they aren\u2019t really meant to be leaders. It\u2019s just that at least they\u2019re peaceful and so I think that\u2019s kind of why I went the way I did with the end in the final book, which I won\u2019t spoil. I really do feel like any of them alone aren\u2019t necessarily better. I feel like you kind of need a little bit of all of them, but out of all the winds that I created, the Easterlies were the most versatile and could sort of do the most things and were the most balanced out of all of them, so if I had to pick one, I would say them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> One last serious type question, and then I have some fun ones. Are there any possible plans for a short prequel or spin-off novel?<\/b>
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\n<\/span>SM:<\/i><\/b> I have thought about that. Short stories scare me because the <\/span>Keeper<\/span><\/i> series actually started as a short story, and if you\u2019ve seen how long those books are and how many of them there are, I feel like I fail epically at short fiction. I have a feeling if I tried to write a short story it would end up becoming another series. As far as going on with it, it would just depend on if I felt I had a story worth telling. I always wondered if I would struggle to say goodbye, and it was a little sad to say goodbye. When I wrote those final chapters, it was like, \u201cI\u2019m never going to write these characters again!\u201d But it also felt very much like their story was done and there really wasn\u2019t something that I felt like, oh, I haven\u2019t done this yet. There are a couple other characters like Aston and Solana that I haven\u2019t done as much with that I could maybe someday try to write a short story with, but I fear that short story would turn into some sort of epic monstrosity of a beast of 700 pages like the <\/span>Keeper<\/span><\/i> series, so I have not started down that road yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> Are there any other books in the works?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> Let\u2019s just say for all of next year and even into the year after that, my writing calendar is full, and I have some other middle grades under contract that I\u2019ll be announcing soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Her response here has been shortened to avoid spoiling the news before anything is officially announced before a set date, so check out her social media and her website in the coming weeks for announcements! Exciting things are happening!)<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> Now for the fun questions. My first one is\u2026 which wind are you?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> I would probably be a Westerly, just because I\u2019m pretty wimpy, and so any sort of fighting I feel like I\u2019d be useless at. I feel like that would probably be me. If Westerly was out, I would probably be a Southerly. I\u2019d just be like, \u201cWhy do we all care so much? Can\u2019t we just go relax somewhere?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> Would you ever consider making a Pottermore Sorting Hat-esque quiz for your website to help readers find their winds?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> It\u2019s one of those things where I would love to; it\u2019s just a matter of finding time. I would love to someday, but it\u2019s on my list, and I get that with the Keeper series, too, because there\u2019s all the different abilities. People ask, \u201cCan you make a quiz?!\u201d and I\u2019m not good at writing quizzes and it would take me a while. But I hope someday I will have the time and I\u2019ll have a good idea for how to make it not lame. Or maybe someone else will decide to make one for me and I\u2019ll be like, \u201cGo do theirs!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> Which character would you say has the qualities that best reflect yourself in the series?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> I feel like Vane has my sense of humor without a filter on, like he sort of thinks and says things that I know better than. I feel like the way that Audra really internalizes everything and takes everything personally upon herself, I do think that comes from me. I\u2019m the type who, I\u2019d rather just step up and say, \u201cI\u2019ll do it, what do you need?\u201d and that\u2019s very much Audra to an extreme degree because of her guilt and everything. She\u2019s very much \u201cLet me do it, let me take it on.\u201d I\u2019m not good at asking people for favors; I\u2019m more the type to say, \u201cJust give it to me, I\u2019ll do it!\u201d I feel like she gets that from me.<\/span><\/p>\n

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HW:<\/i><\/b> Are there any characters that are based on anyone you know specifically? Friends, family?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> I actually try really hard not to do that because I like to let bad things happen to my characters. If I\u2019ve based them off of someone I know, then I have to worry if that person is going to get mad at me and wonder why I killed them off or let something horrible happen to them. If someone starts to remind me of somebody, I usually rethink the character a bit and shift it so that I won\u2019t have that problem.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

HW:<\/i><\/b> There are a few characters like Gus and Solana that have gifts related to the wind, like enhanced strength or wind storage for later use in battle. What would your gift be if you could choose one?<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> I would probably want enhanced strength, just because I\u2019m really wimpy, like I can never even open the jar. I have to wait until my husband gets home. \u201cHoney, can you open the jar?\u201d So being able to just step outside and get some enhanced strength from the wind would come in really handy because I am totally a wimp.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

HW:<\/i><\/b> Me, too! And to finish off, just three words to describe the finale.<\/b><\/p>\n

SM:<\/i><\/b> Oh, boy. Three words to describe the finale. Do they have to be connected? <\/span>(No.)<\/span><\/i> Okay, so, <\/span>surprising (1),<\/span><\/i> and\u2026 I can\u2019t think of anything to say that isn\u2019t a spoiler, see what happens when you try to limit me with words? This is why I fail at short fiction! <\/span>Extreme\u2026?(2)<\/span><\/i> And, gosh, I want to say something but that feels like a spoiler! <\/span>Hopeful?(3)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

HW:<\/i><\/b> Perfect! Keep them guessing.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

(We continued to talk for a minute about the cats running behind her in the background of our Skype call.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Meet Shannon Messenger at Pasadena Loves YA<\/a> 2016!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In August, one of our teen reviewers got the chance to snag a Skype interview with Shannon Messenger, one of the authors who will be featured at our annual Pasadena Loves YA book festival on September 17. The two series under her name are the ongoing middle grade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":3249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[51,145],"class_list":["post-3248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-authors","tag-teen-facilitated"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2016\/08\/plya_messenger.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZwbD-Qo","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3986,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/teen-volunteer-awards-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":3248,"position":0},"title":"Teen Volunteer Awards 2017","author":"Jane Gov","date":"August 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Our teen volunteers are amazing! During the 2016-2017 school year, our volunteers collectively: worked nearly 5,000 hours wrote 64 articles helped increased library teen program offerings by more than 35 programs helped increased library teen program attendance by nearly 1,500 In addition, there are some star volunteers we want to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Agendas & News"","block_context":{"text":"Agendas & News","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/agendas-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/08\/volunteer-title-image.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/08\/volunteer-title-image.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/08\/volunteer-title-image.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/08\/volunteer-title-image.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2420,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2015\/teen-advisory-board-november-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":3248,"position":1},"title":"Teen Advisory Board — November 2015","author":"Jane Gov","date":"November 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Teen Advisory Board 11\/4\/2015 \u00a0 Present: \u00a0Julia, Meep, Hadley, Kara, Madison, Chris \u00a0 Agenda: recap murder mystery recap PHS project recap YA Services Symposium recap TAB tasks--establishing sub-teams Readers Advisory Team (RAd): \u00a0Responsible for selecting top ten & other featured teen book lists, leading YA Book Club, updating online teen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Agendas & News"","block_context":{"text":"Agendas & News","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/agendas-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3364,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2016\/teen-advisory-board-october-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":3248,"position":2},"title":"Teen Advisory Board — October 2016","author":"Jane Gov","date":"October 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Teen Advisory Board meeting 10\/8\/2016, and working meeting 10\/17\/2016 TAB members & prospective members: \u00a0Mckenna, Nina, Haneen, Lauren, Kara, Madison, Hadley, Liliana, Imelda, Maya, Laura, Genevieve, Frissiel, Meep, Bella, Brittany, KC, Jane L, Lucy, Luke, Chris We're in the final crunch period for our murder mystery! \u00a0TAB has been working\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Agendas & News"","block_context":{"text":"Agendas & News","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/agendas-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2905,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2016\/teen-advisory-board-may-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":3248,"position":3},"title":"Teen Advisory Board — May 2016","author":"Jane Gov","date":"May 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Teen Advisory Board 5\/14\/2016 Present: Bella, Chris, Hadley,\u00a0Haneen, Jane L, Lauren, Madison, Maya, Meep Special guest: Ms. Deb Takahashi, Librarian from Santa Catalina & Linda Vista Branch Library Announcements & summer projects: Pasadena Loves YA: \u00a0Those of you who have volunteered to read & review this summer, I\u2019ll connect back\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Agendas & News"","block_context":{"text":"Agendas & News","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/agendas-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mentalhealthamerica.net\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/interior_page_banner\/public\/Internal%20page%20header.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mentalhealthamerica.net\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/interior_page_banner\/public\/Internal%20page%20header.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mentalhealthamerica.net\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/interior_page_banner\/public\/Internal%20page%20header.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3834,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/teen-advisory-board-april-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":3248,"position":4},"title":"Teen Advisory Board — April 2017","author":"Jane Gov","date":"April 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Pasadena Public Library, Teen Advisory Board, 4\/10\/2017 \u00a0 Present: \u00a0Angel (Meep), Brittany, Genevieve, Liliana, Lucy, Madison, Maya, McKenna, Nina, Sophie \u00a0 Pre-meeting assignment: suggestions for Teen SRC prizes \u00a0 Agenda \u00a0 Debrief - (3 minutes each; 15 minutes) Breakin\u2019 News - Nina, Maya Teen Game Night - Jane G. Youth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Agendas & News"","block_context":{"text":"Agendas & News","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/agendas-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/04\/src2017_prizes_samples-1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/04\/src2017_prizes_samples-1.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/04\/src2017_prizes_samples-1.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/04\/src2017_prizes_samples-1.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2630,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2016\/teen-advisory-board-february-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":3248,"position":5},"title":"Teen Advisory Board — February 2016","author":"Jane Gov","date":"February 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Teen Advisory Board 2\/20\/2016 Present: \u00a0Haneen, Kara, Madison, Julia, Bella, Nathan, Meep, Lauren Agenda: The focus of this month's meeting is technology. 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