WE READ - Bringing a community of readers together

Mysterious appearance!

2011-05-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

The winter Bloombury Review mysteriously appeared on my desk this morning. Thank you to my benevolent gift giver! Inside I found two YA graphic novels I instantly put on reserve at the library: How to Understand Israel in 60 days or Less by Sarah Glidden and How I made it to Eighteen, A Mostly True Story by Tracey White.

Having once been an elementary librarian, I also discovered some marvelous picture books I added to my reserve list: A Bag in the Wind by Ted Kooser, The Boy in the Garden by Allen Say, Spork by Kyo Maclear, and Mirror by Jeannie Baker. Can't wait to read them all!

Not a fork or a spoon, but a lonely mixture of both... but not for long!

NEW Books to browse and borrow...

2011-04-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Both of these books have received star-studded reviews !

Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

For thirteen years , Ben Tomlin was an only child. But all that changes when his mother brings home Zan-an eight-day-old chimpanzee. Ben's father, a renowned behavioral scientist, has uprooted the family to pursue his latest research project: a high-profile experiment to determine whether chimpanzees can acquire advanced language skills. Ben reluctantly agrees to treat him like a little brother relieved that now he's not the only one his father is going to scrutinize. Half Brother isn't just a story about a boy and a chimp. It's about the way families are made, the way humanity is judged, the way easy choices become hard ones, and how you can't always do right by the people and animals you love.

Countdown by Deborah Wiles (Book 1 of Sixties Trilogy)

It's 1962 and all Franny Chapman wants is some peace. But that's hard to get when her best friend is feuding with her, her sister has disappeared, and her uncle is fighting an old war in his head. Her saintly younger brother is no help, and the cute boy across the street only complicates things. Worst of all, everyone is walking around just waiting for a bomb to fall.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS-YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE

2011-03-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Edelstein got me started reading these and I was happy to discover I'd already read several. What about you? Have you read any? I've put an asterisk by the titles in MMS's library.

1996: *Parrot In the Oven: Mi Vida by Victor Martinez

Manny relates his coming of age experiences as a member of a poor Mexican American family in which the alcoholic father only adds to everyone's struggle.

1997: *Dancing on the Edge by Han Nolan

A young girl from a dysfunctional family creates for herself an alternative world which nearly results in her death but which ultimately leads her to reality.

1998: *Holes by Louis Sachar

As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

1999: *When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt

During the summer of 1971 in a small Texas town, thirteen-year-old Toby and his best friend Cal meet the star of a sideshow act, 600-pound Zachary, the fattest boy in the world.

2000: *Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan

When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India's tradition or find the courage to oppose it.

2001: *True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Living in the inner city amidst guns and poverty, fifteen-year-old LaVaughn learns from old and new friends, and inspiring mentors, that life is what you make it--an occasion to rise to.

2002: *The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patrón, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the
United States.

2003: *The Canning Season by Polly Horvath

Thirteen-year-old Ratchet spends a summer in Maine with her eccentric great-aunts Tilly and Penpen, hearing strange stories from the past and encountering a variety of unusual and colorful characters.
2004: Godless by Pete Hautman
When sixteen-year-old Jason Bock and his friends create their own religion to worship the town's water tower, what started out as a joke begins to take on a power of its own.

2005: The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

While vacationing with their widowed father in the Berkshire Mountains, four lovable sisters, ages four through twelve, share adventures with a local boy, much to the dismay of his snobbish mother.
2006: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson
Various diaries, letters, and other manuscripts chronicle the experiences of Octavian, a young African American, from birth to age sixteen, as he is brought up as part of a science experiment in the years leading up to and during the Revolutionary War.

2007: *The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Native American is the school mascot.

2008: What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

In 1947, with her jovial stepfather Joe back from the war and family life returning to normal, teenage Evie, smitten by the handsome young ex-GI who seems to have a secret hold on Joe, finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies whose devastating outcome change her life
and that of her family forever.

2009: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose

In Montgomery, AL, in March 1955, 15-year-old Colvin refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. She was arrested, and although she received some help from local civil rights leaders, they decided that the sometimes-volatile teen was not suitable to be the public face of a mass protest. Later that year, Rosa Parks sparked the famous bus boycott. Colvin was left with a police record and soon faced the additional problems of an unwed pregnancy and expulsion from school. In spite of those troubles, she consented to be named as a plaintiff in the court case that eventually integrated Montgomery's buses.

2010: *Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.

What are YOU reading?

2011-02-08T07:52:00.000-08:00

We would love to hear about what YOU are reading! Have a favorite book? Tell us about it. Want a new book we don't have in the library? Give us the title and we'll try to get it for you.

To write a comment just click on the word comments right under the post. You no longer have to have a Google account to post.

LOOKING FOR A GOOD BOOK, BUT DON'T HAVE TIME TO COME TO THE LIBRARY?

2011-02-07T13:49:00.000-08:00

TRY THIS:

Check out these blogs created by award winning middle school librarians:

OMS Book Blog - Great middle school reading lists! (I love this blog-lots of genre lists, new titles, and book reviews);
Another terrific blog is Reading Rants! Out of the Ordinary Teen Booklists!

Read the monthly newsletter dedicated to teen readers: TeenReads
and take a look at James Patterson's blog: ReadKiddoRead.com

Browse Muirlands library catalog from any computer with Internet access. To do that, click on our library site: http://destiny.sandi.net/?site=222 and then the catalog tab.

REARCH RESOURCES at MUIRLANDS...online anytime!

2010-12-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

Begin at: http://destiny.sandi.net/?site=222 which takes you to Muirlands' library catalog and is the gateway to excellent district online resources;
Click on the CATALOG tab;
Next, type in your search term and click ENTER;
The results will list the book titles the library has on your subject and, if you look at the right side of the screen, you'll see a tab next to the titles tab which will give you good quality web sites you can click on to gather information.
You can also find magazine and newspaper articles, photographs, encyclopedia entries and WorldBook Online by going back to Destiny's homepage http://destiny.sandi.net/?site=222 and logging on to elibrary or WorldBook Online (see user names and passwords in the table below) .

We're here to help you, so just ask!

Usernames and Passwords: case sensitive

Database UserName Password

WorldBook Sandi1 library

e-library muirlands muirlands

CultureGrams muirlands muirlands

Teen Health

and Wellness diego diego1

WOW! What a find!

2010-11-30T08:47:00.000-08:00

I happened upon this site and recommend it to anyone looking for a good teen read: http://www.teenreads.com/ Not only will you find great books, but authors, reviews, features, and an online newsletter.

Looking for a book in Muirlands Library? Easy !

2010-10-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

You don't have to be in the library to search our library catalog (called Destiny) all you need is Internet access:

From any computer: Go to http://destiny.sandi.net/?site=222

Click on the CATALOG tab at the top of the page, then type in the title or genre you're searching for.
Next press ENTER and the title or a list of titles will appear.
If you want to read a summary of the title, click on the title itself and the summary, number of pages, and reading level will be shown.
To go back to your search, click on SEARCH RESULTS or LIBRARY SEARCH on the green bar at the top of the page.

Don't hesitate to ask for help if you get stuck!

Mrs. Zagami recommends...

2010-08-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt

Fourteen-year old Henry Smith's father told him, "If you build your house far away from trouble, trouble will never find you." But trouble comes careening down the road one night in the form of a pickup that strikes Henry's older brother, Franklin. Driving the truck is Chay Chouan, a young Cambodian from Franklin's school. The accident sparks racial tensions in the school and in the well-established town where Henry's family has lived for over 200 years. Caught between anger and grief, Henry sets out to do the only thing he can think of: climb Mount Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine, which he and Franklin were going to climb together. Without his parents' knowledge, Henry sets out to hitchhike to the mountain with his best friend Sanborn and Black Dog. Prejudice takes on a different face when the three are picked up by Chay, whose personal story has made him leave his family with nowhere to go. Their journey includes moments of danger, discovery, and reconciliation. Franklin's death and the Cambodian atrocities committed against Chay's family, while not graphically described, may be a bit much for the squeamish.

A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata

Since he first touched one of the elephants kept by his village, all thirteen-year old Y'Tin ever wanted was to become an elephant handler. When he is given charge of Lady, Y'Tin becomes the youngest handler of his clan. But in 1975 his life in Vietnam is threatened by the North Vietnamese army after the U.S. forces withdraw. His village is attacked and those who do not escape are murdered or imprisoned. When Y'Tin is ordered to help dig a mass grave, he knows escape is his only hope. He escapes into the jungle with another boy and is reunited with his beloved Lady who is about to calve. This historical adventure, the conflict of the Vietname people, Y'Tin's personal battles with friends and enemies, and his love for Lady make A Million Shades of Gray an engaging read.

Welcome Back to School, Readers!

2010-08-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

New books await you, old favorites have missed you...and we can't wait to see you again or to meet you if you are new to Muirlands. For a quick persual of what's new to our library check out the NEW BOOKS sidebar. You might want to look, too, at the BLOGS WORTH BROWSING sidebar. These blogs by middle school librarians across the country are a rich source of books you'll want to consider reading.

If you want to contribute comments to any post (and we hope you do), you may need a gmail account which is free by request from GOOGLE.

Summer Books That Make The Critics' Cut

2010-06-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

NPR (National Public Radio) offers a readers' advisory weekly that is well worth browsing. Today, Sunday, June 20th (already!) it posts from its radio broadcast Summer Books that Make the Critics' Cut. Listen or read and enjoy. http://www.npr.org/

Summer Reading...what's on your list?

2010-05-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

We're on the lookout for good titles to read and would love to learn what's on your summer reading list. Would you share what you, and perhaps your book club, have read or will read that you'd recommend? Just jump onto the comment section of this post or send us another post to publish. Here are three books I've loved recently: The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Every Last One by Anna Quindlen, and Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. (A warning though, Every Last One is not for the faint hearted, but it's haunting and beautifully written.)

to read or not to read...Graphic Novels

2010-04-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

I've been a graphic novel fan for a long time, but there's quite a bit of controvery among educators about them. Some say they're worthless, while others vehemently disagree. I'm in the latter group; I like them very much. Here are a few of my favorites and a bit about them.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Persepolisis is Satrapi’s memoir-in-comic–strips. It is the story of an unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution. It chronicles a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.

Stitches by David Small

One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the fourteen-year-old boy had not been told that he had cancer and was expected to die. In Stitches, Small, the award-winning children’s illustrator and author, re-creates this terrifying event in a life story that might have been imagined by Kafka.

Maus I : a survivor's tale : my father bleeds history

A story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father's story and history itself.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

In this wordless graphic novel, a man leaves his homeland and sets off for a new country, where he must build a new life for himself and his family.

Enjoy!

Why read?

2010-03-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Richard Peck said it best, I think, in his poem I Read Because...

I Read Because...

I read because one life isn't enough, and in the page of a book I can be anybody;

I read because the words that build the story become mine, to build my life;

I read not for happy endings but for new beginnings; I'm just beginning myself, and I wouldn't mind a map;

I read because I have friends who don't, and young though they are, they're beginning to run out of material;

I read because every journey begins at the library, and it's time for me to start packing;

I read because one of these days I'm going to get out of this town, and I'm going to go everywhere and meet everybody, and I want to be ready.

Are YOU ready?