New Library Display

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."

Promoting the Iowa Teen Award Titles, Part II

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.

You can access the entire handout HERE.

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!

Promoting the Iowa Teen Award Titles

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!

Tuesday Title Talk: The False Prince in the Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer Nielsen

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!

Tuesday Title Talk: Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

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?

Tuesday Title Talk: The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

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. 

On Brandon Sanderson's official website, this is the summary provided for the book:

Take a look at the trailer for the book:

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?

Tuesday Title Talk: Slated by Teri Terry

Today's featured book is the first in a dystopian trilogy--Slated by Teri Terry.

On the official website for the author, we learn about main character Kyla's past and learn hints about her future:

The series includes Books 2 & 3, Fractured and Shattered, both of which are in the library.

If you're a fan of dystopian fiction, this is definitely a series to try--check out the trailer: