Will YOU Survive the Zombie Apocalypse?

That's the question I asked a few hundred middle schoolers today. I got to visit my old home, Mountain View Middle School, for their annual Health Fair. Now, if you can remember back to your middle school days, the idea of a health fair doesn't exactly inspire excitement in your average 7th grader (although getting out of class is always nice). So, each organization that comes tries a different tactic to get the kids' attention for a few minutes. 

Giveaways, particularly candy, are always good, but many kids will just grab and go. My friend Maureen always has hula hoops, and they stay pretty busy with kids trying to best each other. Mike from the Space Hall had a mini operation center with realistic open torso, where kids could try to tie a knot with surgical instruments. The guys from HAFB always bring local critters in formaldehyde, plus their pet boa constrictor, which is TOTALLY cheating because it's not as if those are native (but yes I did go take it out and play with it before the kids came in).

Since the Library is all about feeding your brains, of COURSE we go with zombies! As kids (or adults) approach, I ask them how they think they would do in the zombie apocalypse. Answers range from a straightforward, "I would die. Quickly." to "Aw, man, I'd kill those zombies, I play Call of Duty ALL the time."

The latter group gets me mentally rubbing my hands together and laughing my evil laugh. First, I tell them, you have to make sure you will SURVIVE the first few days. You'll never get to shoot zombies if you do something dumb right off the bat. Let's see how you do on this quiz, shall we?

I had six questions from the Zombie Survival Guide, with answers on the flip side.

I picked ones that I thought would be good for discussion, and they were! It was fun listening to kids debate with their friends, and then discussing the 'whys' of each answer (do you know which of the above is correct?)*

Guessing they hit the Fire Department table first.

If they missed a bunch, I handed them a list of some of our zombie books, so they can come and brush up a bit! 

Then they could move on to firing practice.

Yes, I brought a gun to a middle school. And handed it to adolescent boys. It only shoots about two feet, though, and the bullets kept bending sideways, so I felt pretty safe. Especially after some of them looked down the barrel of the gun to see if it was loaded. "DUDE! You're not going to survive the week that way, let alone the apocalypse!" 

Overall, sixth grade boys and girls did evenly well. At seventh grade, girls became more thoughtful, while boys started showboating. By eighth grade, the girls were travelling in smaller groups, generally avoiding the boys, who...well...let's just say many of them will need some guidance during the zombie apocalypse. Some strong guidance. And for a few, possibly, a shock collar.

Of course, I also passed out candies ("Smarties or a Dum-Dum?") and flyers for upcoming events ("Did I mention we will have FOOD?"). I also got to network with a few of the other groups there, setting up some possible Summer Reading partnerships, and visit with teachers who stuck around a lot longer than I did. Thanks for having me, MVMS, it's a great way to spend a work day!

* A is the one you should NOT do. Zombies go down, so people need to go up. Stashing all your supplies in the basement would not seem like a good idea for very long.

If You Give a Librarian a Barbie...

...she probably won't leave it alone. Because librarians can't leave anything alone. And when you add teens into the mix...

Our plan for this month's Teen Cafe was a sort of "Frankentoys" program, where we would take pieces of old toys and put them together in bizarre but creative ways. Remember the rotten neighbor kid in Toy Story? We solicited broken toys, but all we received were old Barbies, so - we switched it over to a Zombie Barbie program!

Preparation is pretty cheap and easy, once you have a collection of dolls and clothing. I mixed up some brown goop to soak the clothes in (coffee, coffee grounds, and cocoa mix. Everyone now smells like mocha lattes, yum!)

The coffee grounds added a nice, gritty texture, especially when it got smeared in the hair.

I spent $3.80 on a spray can of grey primer, and gave the dolls the opposite of a spray-on tan.

It only took a few minutes to dry out in the sun, and I gathered the other materials between sides, so I was ready to go in less than half an hour.

There were no instructions from there, just experimenting. I used wadded paper and white paint to sort of soften the plain grey, then spattered some red all over.

I had whited out the eyes, and later added a single black dot. When I was spattering blood it covered one eye, which I didn't want, but when I tried to wipe it off it made a nice garish smear, so it was all good.

Add some blood to the clothing, still drying from the goop:

And here we have our lovely ladies - one who didn't quite make it home from Prom, and one who got up in her jammies to see what that noise was outside...

I didn't have permission to photograph the teens, but they had their own techniques:

Spattered blood being the predominate theme. Clothing was deemed extraneous.

A fun and easy project - not for everyone, but perfect for your teens who want an art project they probably won't get to do at school!

Middle Schoolers and Zombies (was that redundant?)

With all the required testing and test prep and test review and...stuff that schools have to fit in, it is getting harder and harder to organizations like the library to get in and do outreach these days. When you get the chance, you jump on it, so I said of course we would take a table at the middle school health fair this week.

Then I had to figure out how I was going to get 450 teens to spend ten seconds at the library booth, when I was competing with the medics giving kids fake wounds, and the guys from base who had all sorts of desert critters with them (FYI, guys, a boa constrictor is NOT native to NM, and that is TOTALLY CHEATING! But, thanks for letting me hold her.) I'm not totally unfamiliar with the audience, I taught at this school when it first opened. So, what attracts middle schoolers?

A) Free candy

B) Zombies

I had this dress from a zombie prom we ran a couple years ago, and I love it SO much more than any other prom dress I ever wore! The picture doesn't show the shiny black clunky boots, which I also love. I didn't do much makeup, because I wasn't sure how receptive the faculty might be - and then I saw the group doing fake wounds. The kids all looked worse than me! Next time.

When kids approached my area, I was holding my tub of candy, and asked them if they were dum-dums or smarties.

In addition to fitting the theme, both are extremely cheap to buy in bulk. I did wander around after and pick up stray sucker sticks on the floor, so hopefully the custodians don't totally hate me.

Then I asked them how they thought they would do in the zombie apocalypse. The answers were mostly either, "I would totally kick a**", or "Die. I would die." I had six questions on my board, taken from the Zombie Survival Guide, with answers on the back, so I challenged them to test their knowledge. 

They were mostly questions you could argue, like "what is the best mode of transportation in a zombie apocalypse?" which offered some engagement. "Dude! A Tank? You'd be trapped! You can't maneuver, you can't get through tight spaces, and what happens when you run out of gas?"

I had printed lists of our zombie books to hand them, so they could brush up a bit. Almost everyone took one! Library card info, not so much, but a list of books about things that will chew my face off? Heck, yeah! There were also flyers about our upcoming tween event, and the CDC's graphic novel about zombie preparedness. As they were wrapping up, I would tell them, almost as an aside, "You know, I really don't care if you get these right. You are using your brain, which is making it grow, which means...more food for me!" (See, I was educational - using your brain makes it work better. End of health lesson.)

I had a great time. The kids were hilarious. Until...remember when I said I used to teach there? A seventh grader I didn't recognize gave me a hug and told me her name. I used to teach...her mother...in seventh grade. I. am. old.

Towards the end I was invited to go to the high school next month, which I have been trying to get to do for ages. Full makeup this time! I will also spruce my board up a bit, but for the most part this was an easy to set up and inexpensive outreach. And most of all, fun!

Teen Cafe: Zombie Prom!

Like many librarians, I spend much of the year trolling blogs and listserves for ideas to steal borrow, and every once in a while one comes up that makes my eyes pop open with an "Ooooh, let's do that!"

Judging from reactions, the Zombie Prom idea was as big a hit with the teens as it was with me. I started hearing last month from girls who already had their dress picked out - just like any other prom, I guess! I had one stashed away in my closet, so I just needed to add a few finishing touches - a snip here, a bloody handprint there:

Drying in the multipurpose room, because I didn't think dripping red paint blood on the new carpet would make me very popular.

Perfect!

Now, every prom needs a them. Under the Sea? A Night Under the Stars? Or...

Totally stolen from another library.

Next, we need a king and queen. When prom-goers arrived, they each received one pink and one blue brain, to bestow upon the gentleman and lady zombie of their choice.

The winners, i.e. the zombies with the most brains, received these lovely crowns:

and the adulation of their peers:

Aren't they lovely? Our queen had some very nice touches, including one broken heel, and this quaint accessory:

Time to touch up the make-up,

And then, of course a promenade! Just a quick trip around the block, chasing (slowly) the yummy munchies who didn't come in costume:

They got too far ahead of us to make it into the picture. We did pass some random citizen, and I had to remind our zombie king rather sharply that we were NOT munching on pedestrians this evening.

Strange thing: I often hear people complain that NM drivers are distracted. Nearly every car that passed us, however, the driver was staring straight ahead, hands gripping the wheel, focused entirely on the road in front of them. 

I see nothink!

The promenade ended with a spontaneous group picture that I think needs to be the new masthead on the city's web site:

All that promenading made us hungry, so back into the room for snacks befitting a zombie horde:

Grey Matter Cupcakes topped with Bloody Chunks of Flesh

With tthe new fiscal year and no purchase order, I had to be creative with what was on hand.

Mmmm, brains!

Of course, everyone who goes to prom wants their picture taken with their friends and/or date - zombies are no exception.

Jakayla's "I'm a zombie too" ruse is discovered when her friends come close for the group shot and discover her flesh is still warm.

The evening does not end well for Jakayla.

Aww, just kidding, we wouldn't really eat you! 

Probably.

Zombie selfie! I love this picture so much, I almost used it as my profile picture on Facebook. I settled on this one, though:

46 'likes' so far, and one comment directed at my husband that perhaps I am in need of a rest.

Now, I know you have probably been wondering, "What do zombies do for fun?" I know it's something I've thought about often. What exactly do these denizens of the undead, these wild, night-stalking flesh-eaters, do when they get together to party?

Do you want to know? 

Are you sure?

Can you handle it?

Cover the children's eyes!

They...

Sew.

Yes, there was music blasting, but relatively little dancing. Most of our zombies sat down to make some little feltie friends:

Aww, it's a baby zombie! His head, anyway. The body did come later, but I didn't get a picture.

Apparently, zombies like glitter glue.

And unicorns. Who knew?

Giggle.

Now, remember boys and girls, keep reading books! Books make your brain grow nice and big, and...

...we're hungry.