Book Spine Poetry Fun!

We have been having fun with Book Spine Poetry in the library throughout April. So much fun, in fact, that I'm going to continue to make it available for the first couple of weeks in May.

I have always wanted to do this in the library, but was honestly worried about how successful it would be with middle school students. Well, I need not have worried. It was well-received with students (and teachers) and became quite a popular activity to flex creative muscles.

I will continue to post some of my favorite students book spine poems over the next few weeks, but thought that I would start you with some of the ones that I posted to the library Instagram account.

FYI: The top poem, "Seriously, Norman! Suck it up. This is what happy looks like. So. B. It" is mine, but the rest are students.

March Madness!

Tuesday marked the beginning of Evergreen Library's March Madness tourney! Students AND staff can compete and win prizes. 

Will your favorite book(s) make it to the Final Four???

Round 1 voting is open until Friday, 3/21 @ 3pm. (Sweet 16 voting starts Saturday, 3/22). Stay tuned to see which books advance.

Details:

WHAT IS IT?                                                                                                                            
A contest to pick the best book at Evergreen! (The Top 32 books based on circulations this school year are competing).                                                                                                                                                                  
HOW DOES IT WORK?                                                                                                                               
Students and staff will vote for their favorite books. Books are divided into brackets, starting with 32, then Sweet 16, Elite 8, and then the Final 4 & Winner.                                                                                                                                
Vote each round to ensure your favorite books make it through the bracket.
                                                                                                                                
ARE THERE PRIZES?                                                                                                                               
YES! There will be prizes awarded each week (fun stuff) and grand prizes awarded at the end of the tournament.                                                                                                                                

VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN?                                                                                                                         
Campaigning for your favorite book IS allowed (and I've already seen one instance where campaigning for a book is making a HUGE difference in the voting)…but you can only vote ONCE each round. If you have a favorite book and want it to win, get other people to vote for it. To see how your favorites are doing, check out the giant bracket in the library for updates!                                                                                                                            
Voting is open online (on Haiku) for Evergreen students and staff. If you would like to vote using the paper bracket, come to the library ASAP and fill one out!     
                                                                                                                

Read Across America

Our March reading challenge will celebrate Read Across America. 

We challenge students and staff to read their way across the USA all month long. 

Pick your favorite state, your dream destination, or plot a reading road trip using this book list. 

Happy Reading!

And thanks to Epic Reads for letting us borrow their image...

Friday Five

Here are the five interesting things about the library this week:

1) Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover was so much fun! And very popular, even in this last week of the challenge. Stay tuned next week to find out what March's challenge will be!

2) Reading is fun! Don't believe me? Just ask our 6th graders. I worked really hard on creating a FUN reading game (which will be used for 2nd semester) with a couple of our 6th grade LA/SS teachers. Well, they worked really hard on putting my vision on paper...I got to be the muse. I love working with people that you can walk into their classroom and say, "this is what we're doing. Ready? Go!" But now the entire 6th grade team is on board which means ALL these kids get to "play" the reading "game." LOVE IT! 

3) Many, many years ago, when I worked at a K-8 school, I took time out of library to read aloud to the middle school classes. Because no one reads aloud to these kids any more, just for fun (I'm not talking about reading aloud the assigned novel/textbook). And you know what? They enjoy listening...and they miss it from their "little kid" days. Read-alouds (or audiobooks) are important for any age, but almost more so in middle school (and high school) so they can be reminded of the magic of books. Last week, I checked out a book to one of our teachers who loves historical fiction. I told her that she had to read this book (Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys) because it was simply beautiful. Well, she took my advice and started reading it. And loved it so much that she decided to read it aloud to her classes a little bit every day until it was finished. YEAH! Of course the kids are enjoying it also, and this week several of them have made a dash for the library to get their own copies (probably because they want to know how the story ends NOW). But it reminded me of the power of reading aloud. And now this will become my next mission with our classes here...watch out!

4) Every book I read last week (and loved) was about a teen with cancer. Ugh. Why do I do that to myself?! But every book I read this week I found to be "meh." Now, I'm sure that they will be read and enjoyed by many of my students, but they just didn't make a connection with me. Meh. Desperately looking for the next great book to fall in love with...because I need a new "favorite" book every week and I just haven't found this week's.  :)

5) 7th graders are currently reading non-fiction titles for 3rd quarter. I really love this unit every year as there are SO MANY good books to choose from. (Yes, I could talk for DAYS about non-fiction books). Non-Fiction...not just for research any more! Want to find some of my past suggestions? Check out these posts:
Favorite 15 (from 2010)

Search all posts with "non-fiction" tag here. Make sure to click on "show all" OR when you scroll to the bottom, click on "older posts" also to get all of them, not just the most recent 10 or 15.
And stay tuned the rest of this year for random "Non-Fiction Friday" posts.

6) Yes, I know, it's called the Friday FIVE. But I couldn't resist this one. We have made some posters to display around school to remind students of important things (charging your laptop, saving your documents, etc.). These posters utilize some popular memes and have been quite the hit with students and staff alike. One student stopped me in the lunch room yesterday to say, "Mrs. Yusko, Mrs. Yusko! THANK YOU so much for making a Picard poster. I love it!" We had fun making them. Here's a sample of my favorites:

 

Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover!

Do you judge a book by it's cover? It's pretty hard not to. 

All this month we have been challenging students to choose a book to read without looking at the cover.  In order to ensure that they won't sneak a peek at the cover, we had one of our intrepid TAs wrap the books in thick paper. Here's a picture of our display:

I was actually very surprised with how popular this has been. Students have been clamoring into the library every morning and lunch to get their hands on one. We can barely keep the display stocked each day.

Tomorrow is the last day of the "challenge" and here are some of the highlights:

1) Watching students drag their friends into the library and read all the descriptions of the books out loud to each other to help them decide which book to choose. (Each book "cover" simply lists the genre, and 2-4 keywords about the book).

2) Very few students have picked a book that they've already read. I think only the Hunger Games (which, looking ahead to next time, I won't include) had been read by the person checking it out.

3) Students coming in and wanting the sequels and/or another book by the author.

4) When we survey they students (via a quick "review" form included with the book), most have remarked that they would not have checked out the book based solely on the cover, and now that they've read it, they want more of that genre/author/series. YEAH!

5) My favorite was the girl who came rushing into the library Monday morning desperate to read the sequel of the book she'd checked out on Friday. She said that she NEVER would have checked out the book if she'd seen the cover but now HAD to find out what happens.

One student was very sad today when I told her that no, we would not be doing this for the rest of the school year. (They don't realize that the novelty would wear off. And that my secretary would quit if we wrapped up books all year long). We might be convinced to bring it back more than once/year based on how much fun it was. 

In the meantime, we will have another reading challenge for March...stay tuned!

BFYA Reading Challenge, Update #4

,Oh please don't get me started on how far behind I am in my reading. When nominations finally closed, there were 91 books nominated for Best Fiction for Young Adults (BFYA). Because I was BUSY reading non-nominated titles so that I could complete my summer reading lists for all grades, I got behind! I am going to have to abandon my dream of reading everything before our committee meeting.

However, it's not as bad as you might think. Here's the update:

16 DAYS TO GO

34 BOOKS TO READ (oooh, that does look scary, but there are several weekend days and a LONG plane ride to the meeting).

Of the 34 books to read, I don't have 14 of them, so am unlikely to read them at this point. That brings the number down to 20. That feels better!

So, with the end of school madness, two kids birthdays, Father's Day, and packing for this trip, am I going to make it?

BFYA Reading Challenge, Update #3

If you haven't been keeping up...on Monday, 5/16/11, I began a new reading challenge. At the time, there were 48 nominated books left to read in the 40 days before my committee meeting at ALA in June. Here is an update on my progress:

I swear I've been reading! But I feel like I just can't keep up. Probably doesn't help that this weekend I read 6 books NOT nominated because they were more interesting to me than the ones I should have been reading. Whoops! (A list of those titles will be coming soon...I might even nominate one or two of them).


So, here's where I stand today: 3 more books have been nominated, bringing the total to 80. STOP THIS MADNESS! Luckily the cutoff for nominations is this Sunday, so I'll have almost a month to catch up without more being added to the pile.

Since the last update, I have finished: "Angry Young Man" (Lynch), "The Piper's Son" (Marchetta), "Jasper Jones" (Silvey), and "Bitter Melon" (Chow). I am still listening to "Chime" (Billingsly) though I am counting it as "read" because I'm so close. I also finished "BADD" (Tharp), "The Absolute Value of Mike" (Erskine), "Ten Miles Past Normal" (Dowell), and "Sharks & Boys" (Tracy). WHEW!

I am currently about to start reading "Anna and the French Kiss" by Perkins.

Grand total: 42 books to read in 32 days.

This percentage doesn't seem to be getting any better. However, it is worth noting that I do not currently have a copy of 16 of the titles, and I might not before the meeting. When you subtract these out, it leaves 26 books to read in 32 days. Ooooh, I like that much better!

Thanks for checking in to my updates. I promise reviews of these books this week, hopefully by the weekend. Stay tuned to the BFYA list here. And I would love to know what books are keeping you busy right now!

BFYA Reading Challenge, Update #2

On Monday, I began a new reading challenge. At the time, there were 48 nominated books left to read in the 40 days before my committee meeting at ALA in June. Here is an update on my progress:5/19/11:
Finished "The Queen of Water" (Resau), which was lovely, but not my favorite of her books.

Currently Reading: "Angry Young Man" (Lynch), "The Piper's Son" (Marchetta), "Jasper Jones" (Silvey), "Bitter Melon" (Chow), and "Chime" (Billingsly--on audio in the car), which are all nominated titles. The reason I've started and abandoned so many right now is that several of them just aren't "speaking" to me and I move on. Bad idea though since I will have to finish them at some point.

I am also reading "Sean Griswold's Head" by Leavitt which is not currently nominated (though I'm considering it).

The problem...more nominations keep coming in. Yesterday, there were three more added, bringing the total nominations to 77. Since I have now read 28 of the titles, that means I have 49 titles to read in 37 days. AAAH!

Must stop writing...back to reading...

Reading Challenge Update!

Just a quick update on my progress (because I'm actually making some)...

5/16/11 Total:

48 Books in 40 Days:
Yesterday, I finished 3 books..."The Running Dream" (Van Draanen), "The False Princess" (O'Neal), and "Exposed" (Marcus). I truly enjoyed all three, for vastly different reasons. But I have to admit that "The Running Dream" is my favorite of the three and likely rates a 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. I'm completely in love with it!

5/17/11 New Total:

45 Books in 39 days!


Currently reading:
"The Queen of Water" (Resau), and praying that no new nominations come in!
 

So Many Books, So Little Time...A New Reading Challenge

Much to the surprise of many of you, I'm sure, I have NOT dropped off the face of the earth. Between state-mandated classroom-based assessments and testing, my days are a whirlwind of "excitement." Luckily, the last of our CBAs (as we lovingly call them in Washington) are completed, and testing should be done this week (fingers crossed).

Please don't think that I haven't been reading! I haven't let you down completely, I've just been too busy/exhausted/trying to be a mom to blog about all the great books that I've discovered recently. AAAH! I promise to remedy that starting now!


There are about 40 days until my Best Fiction for Young Adults (BFYA) committee meeting, at ALA's Annual Conference in June. So far, there are 74 books nominated for BFYA, which we will be discussing at this meeting...meaning I have to read these books before we discuss them. I have just tallied the "read" vs "not read" and it appears that I have...drumroll please...48 books to read in 40 days! Good Lord! And that's assuming that no more books get nominated before nominations close on May 29th. Hmmm...this does not bode well.


In my defense, about 10 of these books JUST arrived on my doorstep over the weekend, so there is no way I could have read them yet. And there are another 5-10 that I still do not have, so I'm not feeling completely lazy. However, you can clearly see what I'll be doing for the next month and a half. I will attempt to keep you updated on my reading each day. Can I make it? 


40 Days, 48 Books
Currently reading:Half-way through 2 of the 48 titles, and I expect to complete both today! "Running Dream" by Van Draanen (which I already LOVE), and "The False Princess" by O'Neal (also really like, and I did not expect to).

Do you want to participate? Follow the BFYA link above to the list of nominated titles (only updated through April 1 right now, but will include all of them soon). Have you read any? What did you think? Want to read some? Let me know which ones you choose and which ones you enjoyed most. I'd LOVE to have your feedback!

YA Historical Fiction Challenge

Since starting my blog, I have spent time reading other people's blogs as well. It is always interesting to read postings and book reviews from people that share my reading interests. I have been quite behind in keeping up with everyone's postings, so I tried to catch up this weekend. I came across a great reading challenge this weekend, hosted by YA Bliss.  

The YA Historical Fiction Challenge encourages readers to read teen historical fiction. There are MANY great titles in this genre, and over the course of 2011, I will be attempting to read 15 Historical Fiction books. I will post reviews here and let you know when they are a "Challenge" title.

If you would like to know more about the Challenge, click here. Do you have a great YA historical fiction book to suggest? Let me know! Do you want to participate in the challenge with me? Comment and let me know. I am happy to post guest reviews!

Six Day Reading Challenge...update #4

As of 11:03pm on Monday...from the airport, because our plane is delayed.

Books read since Wednesday @ 7pm: 15!
Books currently reading: 1 (actually, I'm listening to it on my iPod)
Books to go: 0!!!!

Number of loads of laundry done: 100 (Okay, not really.  But it sure feels like it)
Number of suitcases packed: 3
Number of military personnel I am currently sitting by: 8
(And we decided that they have pretty cool backpacks.  One would hope there is at least a few perks to that job.  Safe travels all!)

So, even though I only read 15 books, I actually made my goal.  The 16th book that I thought I had to read...I really did not have to.  It is not on our BFYA nominee list, so it will have to wait for later this summer.  My next goal?  I have 10 more books to finish before my award committee meeting on Saturday.  Thank goodness it is a LONG plane ride...

What's your reading goal this summer?????

Six Day Reading Challenge final tally

In case you didn't check the comments of each Reading Challenge update, here is a list of the 15 books I read in the last 6 days:

In no particular order:
Shadow Hunt (Langrish) I love this author's other books too!

Half World (Goto) Fantasy

Toads and Diamonds (Tomlinson) Enjoyable

Dirty Little Secrets (Omololu)  If you like Hoarders or Clean House, you will like this.

Whisper (Kitanidis) What if you could "hear" everything people around you were thinking?

Compromised(Ayarbe) Survival; sad

Borderline (Stratton) Interesting!

Sorta Like a Rock Star (Quick) It's a happy story, then a survival story, then a sad story...hoping for a happy ending (but I'm not going to give it away).

The Line (Hall) Dystopian future USA; interesting

Mistwood (Cypress) Shape shifters and kings

Bullet Point (Abrahams) for high school readers, probably the best of the bunch.

Birthmarked (O'Brien)  Dystopian future

Bleeding Violet (Reeves) for high school readers only, and maybe not even then.

The Death-Defying Pepper Roux (McCaughrean) Can you escape your destiny if it is supposed to be death?

Thief Eyes (Simner) Fantasy adventure.  I'm not a fan of the genre, but I actually enjoyed this one.

Six Day Reading Challenge...update #3

As of Sunday, 10:45pm...

Books read since Wednesday @ 7pm: 11
Currently reading: just started # 12
Books to go: 4

Number of baseball games watched today: 2 (and it was raining so I couldn't read between innings)
Number of tournament championships won: 1 (Yeah! Worth sitting in the cold and rain all weekend).
Number of ferry rides today: 1 (Thank goodness, or my book count would be less).

Four books to read tomorrow...hmmm, can it be done?  I'm not sure.  Especially since there is one that I'm not that wild about and I've unfortunately saved it for the last day.  Not a good plan.

Six Day Reading Challenge...update #2

As of Saturday, 9:45pm...

Books read since Wednesday @ 7pm: 9
Currently reading: just finished #9
Books to go: 7
(Hmmm, beginning to think that 16 books might have been a crazy goal.  But book #7 was almost 500 pages, so I think it should count as 2!)

Number of baseball games watched today: 2
Number of ferry rides taken: 1
Wishing the baseball tournament was somewhere warm like Kennewick instead of in windy, cold Bremerton.  But ferry rides offer enough time for reading.

Need to start book #10, but also have many television shows to catch up on.  More baseball games tomorrow...

Six Day Reading Challenge...update!

11am on Friday morning...

Books finished since Wednesday @ 7pm: 5
Books currently reading: 1
Books to go: 10

Number of children's birthdays celebrated: 1
World Cup games watched: 1
World Cup games currently watching: 1
Beginning to wish that we had planned our summer vacation to South Africa!

Enough distractions, back to the reading!

Six-Day Reading Challenge!

I am starting a self-imposed reading exile.  Starting Wednesday evening (school is out--yeah!), I will continue through Monday when we leave for Washington, DC.  My goal?  Finishing all the books I need to read before my award committee meetings so I don't have to pack them...16 books!!  That is not exactly all the books that I have to finish, but there are a few galleys/advance copies that are slim that I've already planned on bringing for the long plane ride.   

I will keep you updated on my progress.  But don't be surprised if I don't post any reviews until I am all done!