Hope you're reading this blog...

For the student who has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the latest book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series, Death Bringer, IT'S HERE! I should have it processed and ready to be borrowed by lunch on Tuesday.

MORE NEW BOOKS!!!

If you are a fan of the weird, wonderful, and truly unbelievable, you'll be first in line to snap up the 2012 Guinness World Book of Records or Ripley's Believe It or Not 2012 which will be available Monday at lunch.

Here are some other great reads...

PERFECT by Ellen Hopkins

Many of you have already discovered the amazing emotional intensity of Hopkin's unusual prose verse in earlier novels like Crank, Glass, and Identical.  

 Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there.

Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect?

SIDEKICKS by Jack D. Ferraiolo

Batman has Robin, Wonder Woman has Wonder Girl, and Phantom Justice has Bright Boy, a.k.a. Scott Hutchinson, an ordinary schoolkid by day and a superfast, superstrong sidekick by night, fighting loyally next to his hero.

But after an embarrassing incident involving his too-tight spandex costume, plus some signs that Phantom Justice may not be the good guy he pretends to be...moreBatman has Robin, Wonder Woman has Wonder Girl, and Phantom Justice has Bright Boy, a.k.a. Scott Hutchinson, an ordinary schoolkid by day and a superfast, superstrong sidekick by night, fighting loyally next to his hero.

But after an embarrassing incident involving his too-tight spandex costume, plus some signs that Phantom Justice may not be the good guy he pretends to be, Scott begins to question his role. With the help of a fellow sidekick, once his nemesis, Scott must decide if growing up means being loyal or stepping boldly to the center of things.



THE WEDNESDAY WARS by Gary D. Schmidt

While all his classmates are enjoying (?) religious instruction, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood shares Wednesday afternoons with Mrs. Baker, his Camillo Junior High teacher. Not surprisingly, Holling lacks enthusiasm for mid-week appointments with an instructor who assigns him Shakespeare as out-of-class reading. Holling has other things on his mind besides English While all his classmates are enjoying (?) religious instruction, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood shares Wednesday afternoons with Mrs. Baker, his Camillo Junior High teacher. Not surprisingly, Holling lacks enthusiasm for mid-week appointments with an instructor who assigns him Shakespeare as out-of-class reading. Holling has other things on his mind besides English Renaissance drama. For his dad's sake, he's trying hard to stay out of trouble, but with hovering bullies and other impinging crises, that seems to be a full-time job. Fortunately, help arrives from an unexpected source. Another funny yet gripping novel from the author of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.

THE HUNCHBACK ASSIGNMENTS by Arthur Slade

This is a new steampunk fantasy series by the Canadian author of Dust. We have the next two books in the series, The Dark Deeps and The Empire of Ruins. Enjoy!

GAME OF THRONES (#1 in The Song of Ice and Fire series) by George R. R. Martin.
There has been a tremendous resurgence of interest in this epic fantasy series since the televised version came out on HBO and the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons, was released this summer. Here is a synopsis:

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective wall. To the south, the King's powers are failing, and his enemies are emerging from the shadows of the throne. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the frozen land they were born to. Now Lord Eddard Stark is reluctantly summoned to serve as the King's new Hand, an appointment that threatens to sunder not only his family but also the kingdom itself. A heroic fantasy of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and evildoers who come together in a time of grim omens. 

We have all five books.


MONSTER HIGH (#1 Monster High series) by Lisi Harrison

On the heels of her popular Alphas and The Clique series, comes a brand new series from Lisi Harrison. We will soon have the next two books in the series.

They prefer to call themselves RAD (Regular Attribute Dodgers), but some call them monsters. So far, the "monster" community has kept a low profile in Salem, but this year two new girls enroll at Master High School, and the town will never be the same.
 
Created just fifteen days ago, Frankie Stein is psyched to trade her father's formaldehyde-smelling basement lab for parties and cheerleading. But with a student body totally freaked out by rumors of monsters who might be stalking the halls, Frankie finds that life in the "normi" world can be rough for a chic freak like her.
 
She thinks she finds a friend in fellow new student Melody Carver--but can a normi be trusted with her big secret? 


TIME RIDERS by Alex Scarrow

This first book in the series is an adrenaline pumping ride through time. I hope to have the next three books in very soon.


VIOLA IN REEL LIFE by Adriana Trigiani

When fourteen-year-old Viola is sent from her beloved Brooklyn to boarding school in Indiana for ninth grade, she overcomes her initial reservations as she makes friends with her roommates, goes on a real date, and uses the unsettling ghost she keeps seeing as the subject of her first short film.








THE DEMON KING (#1 Seven Realms series) by Cinda Williams Chima

This novel marks the first giant step in a momentous fantasy journey orchestrated by Cinda Williams Chima, the author of the popular Warrior Heir series. Its two chief protagonists are ex-thief Han Alister, an impoverished commoner, and Raisa ana'Marianna, the headstrong Princess Heir of the Fells. The Demon King brings them together, creating part of a volatile mix of action, magic, and danger. 

We have the second book, The Exiled Queen, in the library. 


PASSING STRANGE (#3 Generation Dead series) by Daniel Waters

Karen DeSonne is used to pretending to be something she’s not. All her life, she’s passed as a normal all-American teenager; with her friends, with her family, and at school. Passing cost her the love of her life. And now that Karen’s dead, she’s still passing this time, as alive.

Meanwhile, Karen’s dead friends have been fingered in a high-profile murder, causing a new round of anti-zombie regulations that have forced nearly all of Oakvale’s undead into hiding. Karen soon learns that the “murder” was a hoax, staged by Pete Martinsburg and his bioist zealots. Obtaining enough evidence to expose the fraud and prove her friends’ innocence means doing the unthinkable: betraying her love by becoming Pete’s girlfriend. Karen’s only hope is that the enemy never realizes who she really is because the consequences would be even worse than death.  

BOOK  LOVE

  

 

Ramblings of a librarian...

Last week was a perfect week in the library. Admittedly, it was very busy - I think I saw more than half the students in the school as they came down in their Humanities/English classes for booktalks. Virtually everyone checked out a book or two and I'm hoping that books and readers are well -matched. If your first choice doesn't work for you, come down during lunch when there's time to chat with me about other books you will love - I'm pretty good at suggesting great reads. Some books have already been read, returned and borrowed by other students. I can see that some of you readers who simply inhale books will keep me racing to provide you with more and more titles, but I'm up for the challenge.

It was particularly fun to meet our brand new students in grades seven and eight.  I'm still working on building our collection of books for middle school, so all of your suggestions are very welcome - keep them coming!

Lots of students showed interest in the Library Club; some even started work in the library last week. My thanks go out to all of you for helping out and giving the library a true sense of community. If you wish to join the Library Club, just come in and talk to me at lunch or after school. Everyone is welcome!

Several boxes of crisp new books arrived last week and I'm trying to process them into our system as quickly as possible. Students have already been hanging over the front counter, paging through them and begging me to "Do this one next." Patience - there are enough amazing stories in the library to keep everyone thoroughly entertained. I'll post a list of new books in a few days.

Human beings have always been fascinated by stories, using them to understand and define themselves, their relationships with others and the world around them. Originally the story experience was communal: tales told aloud by the fire at night or represented visually by drawings in caves or carvings on totem poles. With the development of written language, people were able to experience a more personal, more profound connection with stories. Just compare the reading of a book to the watching of a movie based on the book and you know that reading is almost always the more rewarding activity.

Our lives are full of stories; they are found in films, television shows, sporting events, video games, song lyrics, newspapers, and history textbooks.  We post our own stories on social media sites and seek out the stories of others in their tweets and blogs. Never underestimate the power of stories to unite us, inspire us, motivate and enlighten us.

While talking to classes this week, I was reminded that there are people who  resist the magic of the written word. Either they have never found a book they liked or they have been forced to read books they hated or they struggle with reading. I believe that every single person can find enough terrific books to fill a lifetime; they just need help to find them.  I also believe that reading difficulties will sometimes fade away if the reader is captured by a wickedly good story. Anyone who has never been carried away while reading a book is missing one of the most wonderful and rewarding of all human experiences. So, if you have a friend who simply refuses to read, start talking up the stories you've loved. Make them curious about this pastime of reading. I once had a student who started reading for pleasure because whenever I talked about books I made it sound as though she was missing something in her life because she wasn't reading. She was missing something - and then she wasn't. It's as simple as turning to the first page.

Have a great week!

WEEK TWO

Well, we made it through the first week! It was a terrific week for me as I got to see last year's members of the library club, along with some of the library's most loyal patrons.( If you're interested in joining the library club, just check out the Library Club page on this blog for more information. ) Since last year was my first at HPSS, it was wonderful this year to see all the familiar faces come through the door.

This week, the library is open regular hours (see the About the Library page). Beginning with grade seven and eight students, Humanities/English classes will be invited down starting Tuesday for book talks. I know students are anxious to find great books for silent reading in their classes.

If you can't wait for a book talk, check out this blog for new titles in the library or come down during lunch to ask me for suggestions. I love to match readers to the perfect books!

WELCOME!

Ah, the first day back! The library will open at lunch on Friday so you can borrow a book for the weekend.

Welcome back to a new school year, everyone!  I’d like to extend a special welcome to students in grades seven and eight who are new members of the HPSS community.  Last year was my first year at Heritage Park, and I know you too will find the people here to be amazingly friendly and helpful.  It’s a beautiful school with one of its finest features being the large and comfortable library located between the high school and the college. I hope to see all of you in here in the first weeks of school.

Last year, we added well over a thousand new books to the library collection, mostly fiction.  As a result, the fiction shelves became badly overcrowded, so I undertook a major reorganization this summer. You will now find the nonfiction reference books on the shelves around the outside of the room while the fiction takes up almost the entire middle section.  Literature Circle books are shelved with the general fiction, so when you browse through the fiction, you will now see everything we have to offer.  Graphic novels have been moved up to the front of the library with a special round display of new graphic novels.

Dozens of new books have arrived in the library since the end of June! We have next-in-the-series books, brand-new-series books, stand alone fiction and nonfiction, and graphic novels. There are spy thrillers, action adventures, romantic fantasies, magical comedies, social dramas, dystopian horrors and steampunk mysteries. We have books for every taste and every grade. Come in to explore the new books display or browse the greatly expanded fiction section. There are treasures to be discovered!

Over the next few posts, I will introduce many of our new titles.

Here's to a year of great stories!