With Thanksgiving around the corner, we decided to add an interactive library display:
Students write their names on their "turkeys," along with a book for which they are thankful. They even get to add faces and legs to their turkeys!
The other new library display is inspired by a recent post on Pinterest from the group Epic Reads. They pictured several "shadow" books with the phrase "What we read in the shadows." Here's our inspired display:
All of our DCG libraries use the Destiny library management system which allows students to create a personal account. Once logged in, users can access Destiny Quest, allows users to do a variety of things:
search the catalog.
manage virtual bookshelves.
view their accounts.
send and receive friend requests.
make book recommendations.
and, write book reviews.
Recently, 6th and 7th graders reviewed the options that Destiny Quest offers, and they have the opportunity to recommend books and write book reviews. These reviews now appear in our catalog and allow students to see what others have to say about the books in our collection.
Students wrote down web address and username/password information in their planners so they would be able to access Destiny Quest in study hall or at home. All they need is a device that can access the Internet. Why not check the catalog to read the reviews that they're writing? Maybe you'll find a book that others have recommended as a great read!
The American Library Association recognizes Banned Books Week every fall, and this year we do so from September 27 - October 3.
According to the ALA's website, there is a clear difference between challenging a book or banning a book:
The Office of Intellectual Freedom tracks the books challenged in a year's time, and the following books were the top 10 most frequently challenged titles in 2014:
To recognize Banned Books Week and to bring the topic to students' attentions, we have two library displays that have sparked great questions and conversations with students.
Are you talking with your students about Banned Books Week? Have you had conversations about your rights related to reading? Maybe you've even noticed that you've read a challenged or banned book!
We're featuring a new library display in our two-sided display case at the entrance to the library--check it out!
We featured our top 9 titles--all of them Iowa Teen Award nominees--along with items from Starbucks to find out if anyone was "thirsty for a good book."
With the Iowa Teen Award nominees ThingLink presentation ready to share, students in 6th and 7th grade reading classes visited the library over the first two weeks of school to learn more about the 15 titles featured this year. (See post below.) After talking about the book nomination process, students received a handout to use to record their thinking about the books.
Students then had most of a class period to watch book trailers and read book-related content or visit author websites to learn more about the nominees. After three full days of classes visiting the library, every single title is checked out, and some titles now have a double-digit number of holds on them! Students definitely are interested in talking about and reading the books from this year's list!
Check out the ThingLink presentation in the post below and consider which of the titles might interest you. We'd love to have you stop by the library to check out one of them!
Each year we celebrate and promote the Iowa Teen Award nominees with different activities: maybe a Prezi presentation (click HERE for the post) or QR codes (click HERE to see this post). This year, we're trying another different approach--using Thinglink to introduce and promote the titles.
Thinglink will allow students to use interactive content related to the ITA nominees and encourage them to move through the titles that interest them.
Check out the presentations below, and come back later to read about students' use of them!
Today's (late!) post is also a former Iowa Teen Award nominee and one of our favorite books here in the library: The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen. This is the first book in the Ascendance Trilogy that also includes The Runaway King and The Shadow Throne.
This is the first in a trilogy that follows four young orphan boys as they are pitted against one another to try to assume the thrown of the long-thought-gone crown prince. A scheming nobleman believes that if he can train one of these boys, he, too, can step into power and control the young "prince." Jaron, one of the orphans, isn't sure he wants to be a part of this traitorous plan, but readers will want to keep reading to learn of Jaron's own secrets.
Author Jennifer Nielsen has a website that features this series, as well as other books she's written, including The Mark of the Thief, her newest book which is also popular in the library.
If you're looking for adventure, revenge, mystery, and intrigue, the Ascendance Trilogy is a series to try!
Today's featured book is a former nominee for the Iowa Teen Award--Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan.
In this realistic fiction novel, main character Willow Chance has to face the unimaginable when her parents are killed in a car accident. Where will she live? Who will take care of her? How can she move forward? And how do an ineffective guidance counselor, a Vietnamese nail salon owner & her daughter, and a typical teenage boy help her?
Today's featured book is the first in a planned series and written by an already popular author in the library, Brandon Sanderson. His Reckoners series with Steelheart and Firefight is often checked out. His newest series includes The Rithmatist.
Harry Potter fans might think of this book as a "Hogwarts in reverse" as this book's main setting is a school where the magical students are targeted and kidnapped, leaving the non-magical students behind to solve the mystery. Like the Harry Potter series, this book includes several instructors and other adults whose motive may be unclear or who may not be who they seem.
The Chalklings are some of the most creative characters we've seen in fantasy in a while--why not check out The Rithmatist to uncover the mysteries at Armedius Academy?
Fans of Graceling and The Selection will perhaps find today's Title Talk interesting. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard has the fantasy and adventure of Graceling along with a touch of romance seen in The Selection. Thrown in for good measure are scheming, intrigue, and revenge.
Interested? Here's what the publisher Harper Collins says about the story:
And here's the official book trailer:
This is the first book in a planned series; be sure to pick up a copy and find out if Mare can survive and pass in the Silver world. Whom can she trust? And will she be found out?
In keeping with popular titles for the Tuesday Title Talk blog post, today's post features the book Beneath by Roland Smith.
It's likely you may have already read something by Roland Smith as his books take up most of a shelf in the library, and they are often recommended by teachers and other students alike. Maybe you've read one or more of these?
In his latest book Beneath, we meet 2 brothers--Pat and his older brother Coop, who has been missing for more than a year. Here's what Roland Smith's own website has to say about the book:
And here's a trailer for the book:
What do you think? Are you intrigued about what lies beneath? Get your hands on the book to find out!
Today's title is one of the more popular fantasy titles in the library: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo.
This has been a recommended read if you're a fan of the Graceling series or of The Red Queen. Here's what our catalog description provides as a summary: "Orphaned by the Border Wars, Alina Starkov is taken from obscurity and her only friend, Mal, to become the protege of the mysterious Darkling, who trains her to join the magical elite in the belief that she is the Sun Summoner, who can destroy the monsters of the Fold."
Strange and deadly monsters? Check! Dark magic? Check! Manipulation and revenge? Check! Still not convinced? Take a look at the trailer:
This is the first in a trilogy--the next two are Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising. You can read about all three books, and the author herself along with all of her other books, at the Grisha Trilogy website.
Yep, it's THAT Stan Lee--the man you know as the creator of Spiderman is now an author with a new book called Convergence in The Zodiac Legacy series.
Think of the first book in this series as a Chinese mythological adventure similar to the adventures in Greek mythology we saw with the Percy Jackson series or Egyptian mythology with The Kane Chronicles. Here's what The Zodiac Legacy website has to say about their book:
Check out the trailer that features Stan Lee himself:
For fans of the first book, you can look forward to the release of Book 2 The Dragon's Return later in October:
