Thursday, April 02, 2009

Gift Bag Goodies and More!

Thanks to the 2009 Debutantes, a group of YA and MG authors whose first novels will be published in 2009, our library has won a gift bag full of goodies, including bookmarks and postcards, advanced release copies of several books, and signed first editions! Be sure to stop by to take a look.

National Library Week is coming, and events will include a book swap/sale, and our annual Live READ event. Watch for your favorite teachers reading in the Circle of Life!

Our books to round out the year will be The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins -- one of the hottest novels of the past year -- and Big Fish by Daniel Foster Wallace. We are planning on an end-of-the-year celebration in which we'll watch the movie and do other fun activities.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

From Teenreads.com :

Nominate Your Favorite Books of 2008 for the Teen Choice Book Award!

In association with the Children’s Book Council (CBC), Teenreads.com is giving you a very special opportunity to let your voices be heard by telling us your five favorite books of 2008. The five titles that receive the most “votes” will serve as the finalists for the CBC’s 2009 Teen Choice Book Award. Later we will tell you where you can go vote for them once the five finalists have been announced. The winner will be announced in May 2009.

All you have to do is fill out the form found here between now and January 31, 2009. Your top five selections may come from the list provided here, or you can vote for titles not on the list.

Important Note: Please be sure that the book(s) was released for the first time in 2008; this means that paperbacks originally published as hardcovers will not be accepted. If you’re uncertain about a book’s release date, we suggest you search for that title on Amazon.com.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

A book nobody really checks out but SHOULD

Check out Repossessed by a chick who's last name is Jenkins.
At a thin 217 pages, 24 chapters, it's a quick read, and you'll find yourself turning the pages to take on the next chapter at the end of each chapter, trying to find out what the heck is going on.
It's fun. It's about this demon who possesses this dude's body. What more do you need to know? That's what I thought.
GO CHECK IT OUT. NOW.




-Rissa

Monday, November 17, 2008

It's here! TWILIGHT!

Don't forget! HHS Reads Twilight by Stephenie Meyer this Thursday, Nov. 20th -- and we will be having a private showing for only HHS students this Saturday, November 22nd at Valley Square Cinema! Please turn in your permission forms ASAP if you will be attending. We will meet at 9am at the high school, with the showing at 10am, and will return after noon on Saturday.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Miscellaneous BITES!

I'll be putting up a Teen Read Week retrospective of all we did for 'Books with Bite', but before I put up pictures and summarize the past week, I'd like to call attention to a few neat opportunities that are available now, or coming up!

First off, author Lauren Myracle (ttyl, ttfn, l8r g8r) has sent us some BLISS-ful goodies -- just in time to highlight her as this month's Author Spotlight to go along with the release of her spooky new book BLISS. More information will be forthcoming soon -- we'll be doing a special BLISS event in the library, and displaying Lauren as the October author.

We've decided to host a regular board-card-roleplaying-game night afterschool in the library. You're welcome to bring the games you'd play at lunch and join us -- watch for advertisements on dates and times. Thanks to those who came to the Teen Read Week gaming events!

Author Alan Gratz has decided to promote his new sequel, Something Wicked: A Horatio Wilkes Mystery by releasing his FIRST Horatio book, Something Rotten, for free on his website. Find it here and be sure to check out the sequel when Junior Library Guild sends it to us later this fall.

Be sure to pick up your copy of our next book club book, the graphic novel The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg, that's now available in our library. Next month: TWILIGHT! We'll be putting out a sign-up to see the movie in the theater very soon!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Contests, Links, Fun!

Just a reminder -- for those who love entering contests for the best free book-type stuff, not only does your own library hold a monthly drawing with our reading incentive program, but we provide you with links to other contests you can sign up for! Last year, our very own Haley won a signed advanced release copy from Carrie Jones. A good first contest to try is at TeensReadToo -- it's simple, free, and their swag is the very best.

Another great new site to be aware of is What Should I Read Next?, a book swap and recommendation site that helps people find new reads based on the last book they enjoyed. So far, I've gotten some great suggestions from playing with this search engine!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

First Meetings!

Per the sidebar to the right -- please join us for our first HHS Reads meeting on Thursday, September 11, and for our second meeting to discuss our first book, Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher!

On September 11, we're meeting to eat some of Mrs. Bennett's delicious Better'n Anything cake, discuss the Teen Top Ten nominees and how teen award nominating processes work, and activities throughout the year. Come to hear more about book club through the year! Freshmen are welcome!

On October 2nd, HHS Reads discusses Whale Talk for Banned Books Week. Chris Crutcher has the interesting honor of being one of the ten teen authors most targeted by banning and censorship efforts, and Whale Talk in particular is one of the top challenged books of the last five years. This book is the story of The Tao 'T.J.' Jones, a terrific biracial athlete who doesn't like team sports, and is so a constant source of frustration to his championship-sports-obsessed school, its coaches, and certain redneck elements within the school booster organization. When T.J. is badgered into helping a teacher create a swim team, a different incident inspires him to recruit a team of misfits in an effort to thwart the school's ridiculously strict policies on lettering in sports.

Much like last year's ...Part Time Indian, this is a book that's about much more than its summary, touching on family dynamics, past mistakes, race and class issues, violence, forgiveness, and the emphasis on sports over academics in schools. It's funny and unexpected, and we hope to see you come to discuss it with us!

This summer

I did not do a whole lot of reading this past summer. I read a few books for A.P. Lit and that was about it. I read Lord of the Flies and of Mice and Men. Both were really good, and somewhat sad. I re-read the Time Travelers Wife. My biggest dissapointment was Breaking Dawn. But even though it was not every thing that i thought it would be i still really enjoyed it and am very upset about the leaking of Midnight Sun.

Good Books

Has anyone read good books. I have not been reading many books aside from the teen top ten ones. But the ones that i have read other than them seem to be very interesting. I really enjoyed Chosen. I can hardly wait to read the next books in the series.

Teen Top Ten

I have read a lot of the books so far and most of them seem like they are really good. Sun, Moon, Ice and Snow reminded me a lot of the book East, and I have to say that I thought East was a lot better. I still have not read Harry Potter i guess i will have to get aroud it.