The state award nominees for the coming 2017 - 2018 school year were announced earlier in the year. Our DCG Middle Schools students are encouraged to read from the Iowa Children's Choice Awards nominees, as well as the Iowa Teen Award titles:
Over the course of the coming school year, students are encouraged to read at least two of the nominees from their lists, and should they complete the reading by late February/early March, they will be eligible to vote for the building and state-wide winner. Feel free to read any of the books over the summer, and stay tuned for many activities related to these great books!
We're so excited in the library about our newest display! A recent Twitter post with the hashtag "ReadIt" showed a student holding a book in front of a Twitter-inspired space, and an idea took hold. A quick Instagram search showed more than 186,000 posts with the "#ReadIt" tag. How could we not add our own #ReadIt pictures?!
To kick off the display, Mrs. Howard and I each showed off what we'd read (and loved!), and now we're ready for you to join us. Stop by the library, grab one of your favorite books, and get ready to be part of our #ReadIt display! We'll add posts to Instagram--be sure to follow us at @DCGLibraries!
Book Club met again today to talk about Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. As students came in from lunch, we watched this short clip from the movie:
Our conversation centered on the new characters introduce in Book 3, like Professor Lupin (whose name could NOT be a coincidence, right?), the dementors, and Sirius Black. We also shared what form we believed our own patronuses might take. The most popular responses? Check out below:
Other patronus shapes included the phoenix, a griffin, bunnies, kitties, a rhino, and big cats like tigers and jaguars.
We wrapped up our conversation about the book with a little Harry Potter Would You Rather. . . game playing. The blue bars are from the 6th grade group while the red bars represent students from the 7th grade group:
Finally, we talked about books we've read recently and would recommend to others; the list appears below:
Book Club will meet again at least one time before spring break. Join us when we'll be talking about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Once upon a time there was a book series about fairy tale characters who got a new treatment from talented author Marissa Meyer. . . Have you read any of the books in the Lunar Chronicles?
The release of the fourth book Fairest is set for January 27, 2015; here's a peek at the cover:
Can't wait until then to get more of Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Prince Kai, and Captain Thorne? Why not visit The Lunar Chronicles website?
One of the latest features on the website is the link that allows users to "glamour" themselves as Queen Levana does. Upload a picture of yourself, then watch as the magic mirror uses "glamour" to change your image.
Also on the website, you can read more about the books & author Marissa Meyer, as well as follow the blog for the series. Enjoy! And see you at the bookstore on January 27 to purchase Fairest!
Every year, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) puts together a list of Top 10 books as determined by teens. Last year, the top three books included Insurgent by Veronica Roth and The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen.
And the winner for 2013: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.
So what books made the list for this year's nominees? Check out the video below:
You might recognize a few of them as books we already own in the library--some of your favorites like these:
Want to see book trailers for all of the nominees? You can access them all at YALSA's YouTube Channel. Take a look--you might see something you like!
The most recent issue of Rolling Stone has recognized young adult literature with their list of the 40 best YA novels, When Holden Met Katniss.
The list includes some great YA lit from years past, like S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, but it also includes some of your favorites from today, such as The Hunger Games.
If you want to see the entire list along with book descriptions, you can CLICK HERE to access Rolling Stone's website. Want just a sneak peek of some of the titles? Check out some of them below:
With so many people excited about the popularity of the dystopian society novels and the success of the movies like Divergent, there's bound to be some asking, "What can I read that's like Divergent?" (Or The Hunger Games, or Legend, or Delirium, or. . .)
The website Hunger Games Lessons has a great post about popular books for teens--and their recommendations include a lot of read-alikes if you're a fan of these dystopian society novels. Not a fan? Well, there are plenty of other books on the list for you, too!
Want to read something like The Fault in Our Stars? They have suggestions for you. So, too, for fans of The Mortal Instruments series. Interested in a particular author? They have author read-alikes for Stephen King fans as well.
The Hunger Games Lessons site has everything arranged for you to keep track of great read-alikes--check it out to know what you can read this summer!
Recently author Laurie Halse Anderson gave a keynote address discussing resilience literature, and the same topic was featured in a Twitter chat among librarians and teachers. All that talk had me thinking: What is resilience literature? Here's what I learned. . .
Many great titles were recommended as resilience literature, so that meant a new library display!
Some popular resilience literature titles you might recognize include:
Think you might want to read some resilience literature? Stop by the library to browse the display or the shelves for resilience lit books we missed, or feel free to recommend some titles!
Book Riot recently put together a list of books and called it, "Kids Who Save the World: A Reading List." Here's what they had to say about their list:
"Who doesn't remember putting on a cape, tearing through the house or around the back yard, and pretending the future of humanity rested on their shoulders? As kids, we dream of being able to save the work, and as adults, we can revisit through fiction."
So what's on their list? How about these series books--recognize any of them?
If you're interested in seeing how the kids in the stories are able to save the world, stop by the library to check them out!
