Friday Five

I've stolen today's post title from Sarah Dessen, one of my favorite authors. I'm not nearly clever enough to copy the way that she does it, but I wanted to do a Top 5 of sorts, and this was the only title that seemed to fit. So, for your Friday enjoyment, here are the Top 5 things about the Evergreen Library this week:
(1) The Hunger Games series remains 1, 2, and 3 in our "Top 10" (based on circulations). While it obviously does deserve the spots, I am sure this is because our incoming 6th and 7th graders (who were all at elementary schools last year as 5th & 6th graders) CANNOT get enough of these books. Most of them did not have access to the books in their elementary library, so they think we are pretty cool here! (By the way, we are pretty cool).

(2) I think that Mark of Athena, Rick Riordan's latest book in the Heroes of Olympus series, is going to knock one the above-mentioned books out of the Top 3 spots when it is released on Tuesday. I put the book in the catalog on Wednesday after school, and we already have MANY holds. Hoping I ordered enough copies...and that they show up on Tuesday, as promised by Amazon.com!

(3) If you build it, they will come. Or in our case, if you call it a series, they will read it. This is the first year we've tried "series shelving." Some of my favorite series that struggled on the shelves in the past (Artemis Fowl, Nicholas Flamel, Leviathan, Bloody Jack) are just a few of the books getting new life now that they are front and center on our "Series" shelves. (One cute little 8th grader was so excited to see the Bloody Jack series on the first day of school that she had to let me know how happy she was that I "finally" bought the books. I had to tell her that we've always had them here...but they had been getting lost in the Twilight books). I've discovered two things: First, we didn't need a shelf for The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner because none of the books are ever checked in anyway. Second, I've noticed that we can be very flexible with what we call a series (what, you mean all the books by Andrew Clements aren't a series?). If it's on the "Series" shelf, my kids want to read it!

(4) We can't get enough graphic novels this year. WOW, do I need a bigger budget. Our great graphic novel display spinner (which we've had for years) is almost EMPTY right now because these books are constantly checked out. This has never been that popular of a collection in the past. #7-#10 on our "Top 10" this week are all graphic novels (3 of the Maximum Ride mangas, and 1 of the Artemis Fowl graphic novels). Obviously I need more! Any suggestions of great series you have would be much appreciated! (We do have Bone, Amulet, some great classic adapatations, and the above mentioned series, as well as other single titles, but would love to hear what is popular where you are).

(5) It's possible that Mrs. Yusko has scored an author visit by the author of a pretty cool series sometime in the next two weeks. Details are hush, hush right now, but I AM VERY EXCITED about it! Still hammering out details and final approvals. Stay tuned...you will be very happy...

That's the news from our little corner of the library world! Have a great weekend, and happy reading!

Trailer Tuesday

Yes, we're back! After taking a year off because our school name and grade configuration changed (we wanted to make sure that we were starting off fresh this school year), we are up and running again. Here's the trailer for The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens. I've been booktalking this one a lot this week for several reasons. #1: IT'S A GREAT BOOK! #2: the audiobook is read by the amazing Jim Dale (of Harry Potter audiobook fame). #3: the sequel is coming out in a few weeks! Enjoy...and welcome back to the blog.