GET A PRIZE during Teen Read Week Oct. 12-18

Teen Read Week 2008 is next week and the library has some fun activities going on! Don’t miss out on the fun!

•Tuesday is our field trip to see Rick Riordan. This is going to be an awesome experience for the 34 7th and 8th graders who are going!

•The library will be open both lunches on Wednesday and Thursday next week to celebrate, and there will be fun games where you can win a prize!

•All students who check out a book next week will be entered in a drawing to win a free book.

•To encourage students to renew or return overdue books, all students with no overdues as of next Wednesday morning will be entered in a drawing. There will be three winners, one from each grade level. Winners will get a $5 scrip card for Borders! Get your overdues renewed or returned ASAP so you can be entered in the drawing.

The Mysterious Benedict Society - Trenton Lee Stewart

I just finished listening to the audio version of this delightful mystery about four brilliant young people who bascially save civilization. Pretty tall order for four young people, but Reynie, Sticky, Kate and Constance are up to the challenge.

The story begins when the young orphan Reynie Muldoon finds an ad in the newspaper asking, "Are you a gifted child looking for Special Opportunities?" Reynie's not SURE he is, but it sounds interesting, so he shows up. Reynie and the other children all make it through what turns out to be quite a rigorous testing regimen - each using his or her very different strengths to make it through.

After they've made it through, they're each invited by the very wise Mr. Benedict to be a part of a special group whose job it will be to infiltrate the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened (LIVE) and figure out what exactly is going on there. Mr. Benedict is quite sure that messages detrimental to society are being broadcast from the institute directly into the minds of the world's citizens, and he wants desperately to discover the origin and end the problem.

Once the children arrive it becomes clear that there is something REALLY strange going on here, and it becomes crystal clear as to why Mr. Benedict himself cannot show up here (although there is quite a scare until they've figured this last part out).

There is a lot of suspense and intrigue in this story, and the characters are very well developed, which you know I love. This is the result, of course, of excellent writing, but it also stems from the fact that the book is pretty long, so Trenton Lee Stewart had a good amount of time to flesh out his characters. I think the story has enough suspense and intrigue that most readers won't mind the length, though, and may even be surprised at how fast they can get through it. Listening to this story read aloud I think may also have contributed to my connection with the characters, but these four children are indeed very special, and grew to really love their personalities, even Constance Contraire who certainly lives up to her name.

I'd highly recommend this book to all middle school readers. This would also be a fun read-aloud at home!

This book is available at the WOMS library and at Multnomah County on audio (and in print there, too, of course). We also have the sequel, but I haven't read it yet.

Teens Top Ten/Teen Read Week

Want to vote for the Teens Top Ten books of the year? If you're ages 12-18, you're in luck! CLICK HERE, or just copy and paste this address into your browser:

www.ala.org/teenstopten

At the WOMS library we have a lot of fun things going on for Teen Read Week, too!

•Tuesday is our field trip to see Rick Riordan. 7th and 8th graders, we still have a couple spots left, but come see Mrs. FB by Tuesday morning, October 6th if you want to go but haven’t turned in your paperwork yet because she’s going to give our unused spots up to another school this afternoon.

•The library will be open both lunches on Wednesday and Thursday next week to celebrate, and there will be fun games where you can win a prize!

•All students who check out a book next week will be entered in a drawing to win a free book.

•To encourage students to renew or return overdue books, all students with no overdues as of next Wednesday morning will be entered in a drawing. There will be three winners, one from each grade level. Winners will get a $5 scrip card for Borders! Get your overdues renewed or returned ASAP so you can be entered in the drawing.

Join the fun @ Your Library!

I Love Your Blog Award for me - THANKS, Ms. Yingling!

I got some exciting news when I opened my email today, and it was that Ms. Yingling had nominated me for an "I Love Your Blog" award! And now I get the joy of nominating other awesome blogs that I enjoy. I'd encourage you to check out these blogs, too.

Before I get so busy telling you how great these blogs are, I'd better give you the fine print (the rules of getting this award)

1. Add the logo of your award to your blog (which of course I proudly did!)
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

Ms Yingling Reads is one amazing blog you should definitely check out. Ms. Yinlging is a librarian in Ohio (where I have a niece and 2 nephews, so I feel extra connected to her), and she's on on a quest to read every book in her library. Unlike me, who just pretends I've read every book (all the kids think I have anyway!), she's really doing it! I love how she basically creates my order lists for me with her excellent reviews.

Here are 7 other blogs that I really like. They're interesting and fun, and I always learn a lot when I check them out.

Sarah Dessen is my very favorite YA author, and her blog is hilarious. She talks about writing, of course, but she also talks about all these other things, like shopping, shrimpburgers, television (she's a TV junkie!), and her adorable baby. She's a very stream of consciousness writer in her blog, and I feel like I know her personally even though I've never yet gotten the chance to meet her. But someday I will, I'm sure of it. I'm pretty sure we'll be BFFs as soon as we do meet.

Justina Chen Headley's blog is another author blog of someone who's writing I really enjoy. She has two books out now, Nothing But the Truth (And a Few White Lies) and Girl Overboard. And she has a new book coming out soon which I'm excited to read. Its title is North of Beautiful. I just came across her blog recently when I was checking out some Readergirlz stuff - she helped start that website - and I thought it was really great. She's living in China this year - lucky duck - and there are a lot of funny stories about her experiences there. She' coming to Portland next week for the Oregon Association of School Libraries conference, and I'm really hoping to meet her. Meeting an author for me is like meeting a rock star for most people.

I mentioned Justina helped create Readergirlz which is an online book community for girls and here's a link to their blog. Their website is also very cool. They often have contests and fun stuff going on. It's totally worth checking out. during Teen Read week they're going to have live online chats with authors. There's more info about that in a previous entry on my blog.

Fuse #8 is another fantabulous blog I like to check out. It's more for librarian type people, or booksellers, but if you're interested in finding out some cool books or interesting things going on in the publishing world, I'd highly recommend it. I guess this is technically now a School Library Journal blog, but I still call it Fuse #8.

The children's book buyer who's studying to be a children's librarian and writes on Wizards Wireless always provides me with interesting possibilities and she (well, I think it's a she, although I don't know if I've ever seen a picture now that I mention it...have I?) always has these fun little polls on her site that I love to do. Plus pictures, lots of pictures. It inspired me to put more pictures on my blog!

Here's how the YA YA YA's describe themselves: Three Young Adult Librarians blather about YA literature, YA librarianship, and maybe even the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And they write about YA (young adult) all the time. How could you not love a group that incorporates the name of a book and a genre into their blog name and it fits so perfectly?

Sometimes as a middle school librarian I find myself struggling to find literature that is, well, I guess "wholesome" might be the word, although that sounds a little old-fashioned. But it's hard to find a balance between things that are appropriate for older, more mature readers and younger, less mature readers and to ALSO find stuff kids will enjoy. That's where Deliciously Clean Reads comes in. They will only recommend books that are free of profanity, sex and graphic violence. It's a great resource for me, and I appreciate that someone out there is hitting this angle.

So that's seven of the blogs I like to read that I feel are definitely award worthy. I hope you'll find sometime to check some of them out and get some great new ideas!

As Sarah Dessen always says, have a great day, everyone!

Readergirlz Night Bites - author chats live and online 10/13-17!

READERGIRLZ PRESENTS “NIGHT BITES” ONLINE AUTHOR CHATS
More than a dozen authors to converge on rgz forum to chat with ravenous teen readers

In celebration of Young Adult Library Services Association’s (YALSA’s) Teen Reed Week™, readergirlz (rgz) is excited to present Night Bites, a series of online live chats with an epic lineup of published authors. The chats will take place at the rgz forum, Oct. 13-17, 2008.

Playing off of YALSA’s theme of “Books with Bite,” Night Bites will feature five themed chats designed to appeal to an array of literary tastes. Sure to suck in even the most reluctant teen readers, the complete Night Bites schedule is as follows:

o Monday, Oct. 13: Multicultural Bites with authors Coe Booth (TYRELL), An Na (THE FOLD), and rgz diva Mitali Perkins (SECRET KEEPER)

o Tuesday, Oct. 14: Verse Bites with rgz diva Lorie Ann Grover (ON POINTE), Stephanie Hemphill (YOUR OWN SYLVIA), and Lisa Ann Sandell (SONG OF THE SPARROW)

o Wednesday, Oct. 15: Contemporary Bites with Ally Carter (CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO SPY), rgz diva Justina Chen Headley (NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL), and Maureen Johnson (SUITE SCARLETT)

o Thursday, Oct. 16: Fantasy Bites with Holly Black and Ted Naifeh (THE GOOD NEIGHBORS), rgz diva Dia Calhoun (AVIELLE OF RHIA), and Tamora Pierce (MELTING STONES)

o Friday, Oct. 17: Gothic Bites with Holly Cupala (A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT), Christopher Golden (SOULLESS), Annette Curtis Klause (BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE), and Mari Mancusi (BOYS THAT BITE).

It all happens at the rgz forum (http://groups.myspace.com/readergirlz) beginning at 6 p.m. Pacific Time (9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time), Oct. 13-17.
Watch the Night Bites video at rgz tv www.youtube.com/readergirlz

About readergirlz
readergirlz is the foremost online book community for teen girls, led by five critically acclaimed YA authors—Dia Calhoun (Avielle of Rhia), Lorie Ann Grover (On Pointe), Justina Chen Headley (Girl Overboard), and Mitali Perkins (First Daughter: White House Rules). readergirlz is the recipient of a 2007 James Patterson PageTurner Award.
To promote teen literacy and leadership in girls, readergirlz features a different YA novel and corresponding community service project every month. For more information about readergirlz, please visit www.readergirlz.com and www.myspace.com/readergirlz, or contact divas@readergirlz.com.

Seen Art? - Jon Scieszka

This is another picture book and I totally and completely fell in love with it. I bought it for our library for Mrs. Mandis to use with her classes and it ROCKS!

It's about a little boy who's looking for his friend Art in New york City? He walks up to someone on the street and asks them if they've "Seen Art?" As in, have you seen my friend named Art. But this person misunderstands him and thinks he wants to see ART, so they direct him to the Museum of Modern Art, called MoMA. When he gets there, he keeps asking different people again and again if they've "Seen Art?" Each person wants to show him a different piece of art, and the book is full of reproductions of some amazing and varied art that's in MoMA. It's an adorable story with fabulous art reproductions and wonderfully drawn characters who are going through the museum.

At the end of the book, the two friendsare re-united, and the main character definitely decides he HAS seen art.

This book didn't get raves from reviewers, but I think they must have been having a bad day because I think it's fantastic. I would highly recommend this picture book for kids through grown ups!

First Daughter: White House Rules - Mitali Perkins

This book is actually a sequel, but silly me, I didn't know that until after I read it. It didn't really matter, but I did feel like I should have known a few things. Ooops.

Sameera, the 16 year old adopted Pakistani daughter of the man who has just become President of the United States is moving into the White House and discovering that this life is going to be pretty amazing and also sort of not so hot in some ways.

I really like how spunky Sameera is, and how she is thoughtful about important issues. I also like how she has a blog. We're basically sisters, I guess :) This story is rich with opportunity for discussion. About friendship. About religion. About politics. About ethics. About how people who have money are treated and how people who don't are treated. About equality (or not) in the education of children in our country. About love and what it means.

This book was a quick read and required some suspension of disbelief, but I really enjoyed it and I think middle school girls will really like it.

P.S. Mitali Perkins is a fun author who is one of the co-founders of the way cool website Readergirlz. http://www.readergirlz.com/issue.html You should really check it out.

Sweetheart - Chelsea Cain

This book was the sequel to Heartsick which I read last year, and both books are definitely grown-up books. They're about a female serial killer, and while I love them, for their mystery and suspense they are definitely not for middle schoolers.

Chelsea Cain, the author, came to my book club last night to talk about her book, and I am always so excited to meet an author and talk with her (or him) about the process of writing a book. It's so interesting to me how someone can create a whole world, and characters, and action and suspense and all that. How do they do it? It was super awesome to get to hear her ideas and how she did her writing and what she was thinking about while she was writing. I you ever get a chance to meet an author, I'd definitely recommend it!

And Tango Makes Three - Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Welcome to Banned Books Week, the week that librarians across the country remind people about the First Amendment and its importance!

For Banned Books Week I decided to set up a display of picture books that have been challenged and/or banned and have students try and guess why. And Tango Makes Three was one of the most often challenged books in the country last year, so I had to read it to find out why.

This picture book, done in lovely watercolors, is the story of three penguins. And you should know that it's based on a TRUE story from the Central Park Zoo in New York City. In the Central Park Zoo there are two chinstrap penguins, Roy and Silo, both male, who have decided that they like each other instead of liking female penguins. So they do everything together, and one day they build themselves a nest and begin sitting on it, just like they see all the other penguins doing. Except two males aren't going to produce an egg. A zookeeper notices the two penguins and brings an egg from another nest that might not have otherwise made it and gives it to Roy and Silo, and they sit on the egg until it hatches - enter Tango. The three of them are a very happy family and do everything the other penguins do.

This is a lovely, sweet story about penguins. Can you guess why it was challenged so many times? Make a comment and let me know what you think about why it might have been challenged and what you think about challenging books. Should people be able to say books should be taken off the shelf in a library? Why or why not?

If you'd like to see this book, you can get it at the Multnomah County Library.

Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature - Robin Brande

Wow, would I NOT like to be Mena. She's a high school freshman who is shunned by many of her peers, people who USED to be her best friends. Mena has done something, clearly, but there are only veiled hints as to what it is for the first probably half of the book. Whatever it was, it surely made some people VERY angry. Angry enough that while they profess to be Christian, they call her some very unkind names.

Luckily, Mena finds a new friend, Casey, but there's one big problem. Casey's a boy. Mena's already in big trouble at home for whatever it is she already did, and now she wants to go to the house of a BOY?!? He is her only friend, and it is for science class, well, at least at first, but still. She knows her parents would never go for it, and so she begins to lie. And when was the last time you ever read a novel (or saw a real life situation for that matter) where the lying worked out? Mmmmm-hmmmm.

And then there's this whole other part of the story which is about Mena's science class where her teacher is teaching about evolution. But one of the town's pastors is very against this, and wants Intelligent Design included in the curriculum. Ms. Shepherd, the teacher, is having no part of it. Mena is a thoughtful Christian girl. She has trouble understanding the great rift between evolution and Christianity. In fact, she even finds some places in the Bible where she sees evidence of evolution.

As she tries to makes sense of all this - the behavior of her pastor, her so-called friends, her parents - for herself and for others (The Bible Grrrl says), she learns a lot of important lessons about leadership and doing the right thing even when it's hard. She learns a few things about puppies, Lord of the Rings and first love as well.

I'd highly recommend this to 8th graders and up who like science and a novel that makes you think a little. I think some of the science concepts might bog down younger readers.

Thwonk - Joan Bauer

I read this directly after reading Squashed, and it's the Joan Bauer novel I've like least of all her books that I've read. It has a sort of cute premise. The protagonist, AJ, finds a cupid who can grant her one "area of improvement." She, of course, picks love over grades or talent, and it turns into quite a fiasco when the boy who suddenly is in love with her goes WAAAAAY over the top and actually ends up making her kind of nuts.

Unfortunately, I thought it was a little overdone and while it was funny in parts, I didn't think it was of the same caliber as her other novels. An OK read, but just that.

Squashed - Joan Bauer

I REALLY liked this story!

Ellie is trying to grow a champion super-sized pumpkin for the town fair, and so far it's been a very good year. but growing a champion is NOT easy stuff. Did you know you had to inject those babies with a super secret potion through a slit in the stem? Or did you know that sometimes at night you had to cover them with a heating pad? Or did you know that if the hail's a comin', you'd better get out there with 10 layers of blankets and maybe even a trap tent or a lean-to? Well as someone who had trouble growing even zucchini this summer (must amend soil!), I was pretty fascinated by all the effort it takes to grow a pumpkin!

And then there are all the other issues:
* the problem of pumpkin stealers!
* the problems of the parents (or of only having one parent in this case, and not a
farmer one at that)
* the problem of the cute boy
* the problem of the extra 20 pounds and the pants that are seriously going to burst
at the seams...ever worn a pair like that?

I thought this story was a lot of fun. Joan Bauer tends to be a funny author, and this story, like many of her others had quite a lot of humor in it. I also cried in some parts when Ellie's desperately missing her mother. It had great suspense, and readers will find themselves cheering Ellie on right up until the end. A lovely fall read! Highly recommended for all levels of middle school.

Her Royal Spyness - Rhys Bowen

I thought this would be a sleuth/spy novel sort of like I'd Tell You I Love you But Then I'd Have to Kill You or Maisie Dobbs, but it was more grown up than those. It wasn't super complicated in its plot or anything, but the main character, a young woman 34th in line for the throne of England, is a little older and I don't think this story would be very interesting for middle schoolers. I liked it ok as an adult, but it didn't really move along quite fast enough for me.

The Princess and the Pauper - Kate Brian

This is a typical trade lives book, but even though I sort of knew what was going to happen, I didn't know all the details, and I thought it was a fun little read.

Princess Carina, on a trip to America, is dying to get away from her bodyguards so she can go to a concert and meet the rock star she's been e-mailing with. This is proving quite difficult. But then they meet Julia; she's practically Carina's TWIN! With some work on Julia, they're pretty sure they can pull it off. But Julia doesn't really want to participate...until they offer her $10,000 which she and her mother, who are about to be evicted from their apartment for not paying their rent on time, REALLY need.

They manage the switch-off, and it seems to be working, at least at first it's working. Needless to say, things quickly unravel, and before she knows it, Carina is stranded in the desert and Julia is on a plane across the ocean.

It's a story with some sweet moments and some funny ones. This is definitely a more girl oriented book than boy oriented, but if you're a girl and you like princess stories, I'd recommend it.

Accidental Love - Gary Soto

This book wasn't as good as I was hoping it was going to be, but it was still good. The premise is that a girl gets in a fight, like a real fist fight, and in the course of that two of the people involved drop their identical cell phones. Of course, they pick up the opposite person's phone without realizing it.

14 year old Maria is the protagonist in this story. And she's a pretty tough young woman. Rene (a boy) is the owner of the other phone. He is an absolute NERD. Marisa surprises herself by becoming attracted to this little nerd, despite his high-water pants and his white socks. His personality wins her over. And Marisa begins to see that he has opportunities that she definitely does/ will not at the school she's currently attending. She figures out a way to transfer, and things are really looking up for her academically. Rene's mother, however, is NOT keen on Marisa, and she does everything she can to keep them apart.

There are a lot of struggles in this book which many teens will relate to in some way. Hispanic teens will particularly appreciate the smattering of Spanish phrases thrown in, and they will be easily understood by all readers. A not-so typical teen romance novel.

Do the Math - Secrets Lies and Algebra by Wendy Lichtman

If you like math, this is a GREAT fiction book for you. If you don't like math, but you like stories about middle schoolers and the things they're thinking about, this is a book for you. If you like both, it's your lucky day.

This book is about an 8th grade girl who's really good at math, and she figures out how math is really related to everything else. She can apply it to people's personalities, to situations, to relationships, everything. I like math ok, but I'm not really a math person, so it was interesting to me to see math applied in these kind of not usually math kinds of situations.

The plot isn't too complicated or earth shattering, but it's very like what's going on in middle school, and for this reason, I think many students will enjoy it.

The Snow Baby - K. Kirkpatrick

The full title of this book is The Snow Baby: The Arctic Childhood of Admiral Robert E. Peary’s Daring Daughter. This is an award winning, non-fiction book about the childhood of Marie Ahnighito Peary, and it is fascinating. There are TONS of photographs in this book, and they're all very interesting. Marie's father, Admiral Peary was trying to reach the North Pole. The story is full of fascinating tales of Marie's experiences and those of her father's explorations. Sometimes Marie went on the explorations with her father, but other times she did not. Often they were separated on different continents. There were many, many struggles for her father and for the whole family.

It's a super good book, and it's not that long, so it doesn't require a huge investment of time. I'd highly recommend this book, and we have it in the WOMS library.

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

This is my new "Little Girls Book Club" book for my book club I do with my 10 year old niece. I don't know how I missed this book in the past. It's awesome! It's a little bit challenging because there's some discussion of things that were taking place in India when it was under British rule, and if you didn't know what an "ayah" was, for example, it might get confusing. There's also a lot of English dialect that makes it a little challenging, but it's SO worth it.

It's a lovely story about a young girl who becomes orphaned and has to go live with her uncle who is a very sad and depressed man. At her new home, she discovers there's a garden where no one is allowed to go, and she's determined to find it. She also discovers a little boy there, and he is NOT a particularly nice little man. She, however, is equally not nice, so they make a perfect pair. But together, with the help of a perfectly WONDERFUL young man of the moors, they form a friendship and grow into people who are not only nice, but really quite wonderful. And their friendship works many miracles, both for themselves and for others.

It's quite a delight, and I'd highly recommend it!

5 OBOB books this week!

Here are the 5 OBOB (Oregon Battle of the Books) books I read this week:

The Pinhoe Egg
Ark Angel (my favorite of the five)
The Stouthearted Seven
Atherton: House of Power
Fablehaven

Can I just say that for some reason I wasn't that excited about this group when I read the titles? Now though, it's a whole different story. I really, really liked ALL these books. I'm excited to tell you all about them and get teams signed up for OBOB. the regional competition is Feb. 28th here a our very own school, and I'll be getting students signed up next month for school competition teams. We'll also have hte all 6th grade competition as usual. Ms. Darby's hoping to retain the trophy that's been in her room for 2 consecutive years now, but Mrs. Gatlin's determined to take it away! Look for many more details later.

Princess Mia - Meg Cabot

A totally typical Princess Diaries book, and of course I liked it a lot. You'd think I'd grow out of these, but I haven't. I think it's just that I know Mia so well now, it's like having an old friend come by for a visit. What is this number 7 or 8 in the series or something? And she's still the same old Mia. Maybe it's that somewhere inside I still hope that someone's going to tell me I'm a princess...I really ought to be one, you know. And every time I have a summer vacation I realize more that I was meant to live a life of luxury...but alas, I don't think it's to be if it hasn't happened by now. Good thing I have the next best job to being princess---school librarian :)

If you liked the rest of the series, this one's a sure thing. If you haven't ever read a Princess Diaries book and you, like me, wonder what it would be like to be a princess, check this series out. Although I'm warning you, even princesses have to pass Algebra!