The Queen of Kentucky

Adding this book to the MNMS collection today.  Gifted my 6th, 7th and 8th grade reading teachers with a copy for their classroom libraries.  Hoping to host this author next school year.  Wanting feedback from readers who've read it.  I'll be starting it soon.  

Why am I interested in this author?  This book?  A fellow lms suggested I host her.  Whitaker is a born and raised Kentucky girl who made it BIG and is currently living in NYC.  She loves to travel home to KY to discuss her books with middle and high school readers.  I'd love to expose our students to an author who grew up here and found success.  I'd love to have her read aloud from her book.  I'd love for her to sign copies for my students.  I'd love for them to meet a real, live author.  But most of all, I want to provide them with another reading opportunity.  Another chance to get together and discuss books.  Many of my students have blossomed as readers since we have begun giving them more opportunities to get together.  

If you read it, please give me feedback.
Happy Reading!
RC

Today in the library...

Today in the library, we are writing Japanese Haiku poems inspired by Vivaldi's Four Seasons so that we may learn to write a traditional haiku poem for entry into the annual Young American Poetry Digest Contest.  Having so much fun teaching them about haiku.  The sixth graders today find it unbelievable that the poem only has 17 syllables!  And the frustration they exhibit when they attempt to write one of their own usually comes as a result of having not enough or too many syllables per line.  To inspire them, I'm playing Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter for them by Vivaldi.  Many of them recognize these movements and it really does get them in the right spirit for their favorite season.  

At least one of my students gets their poem published each year.  Nine students were honored last year.  We keep a copy of the book in the library.  It's a delight to see them so excited to finally be "published".  

Happy Reading!
RC

Cress

One of the most anticipated books on my reading list this year is the third in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer...Cress.  So excited to sit down with a cup of coffee Saturday morning to continue the saga.  The new character, Crescent, is inspired by Rapunzel.  She's kept in solitary, high above the world, in a satellite that orbits earth every sixteen hours.  Her mistress, Sybil, sees to her basic needs, but she's otherwise alone.  Held captive and waiting to be rescued, she plots and plans and hacks to seek revenge upon the Lunar Queen who threatens to kill thousands of humans so that she may eventually rule Earth.  Cinder, from the first book and Scarlet, from the second, return to join forces with Cress to bring about justice!  So thrilled with the book so far.  It's an easy read.  The chapters flow so smoothly together.  I appreciate the author's unique play on fairy tales and how she masterfully blends them with science fiction and dystopian stories, which are so popular right now.  Bravo!

Here's a quick blurb from Meyer's own website:

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and prevent her army from invading Earth.
Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker – unfortunately, she’s being forced to work for Queen Levana, and she’s just received orders to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.
When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is splintered. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a higher price than she’d ever expected. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai, especially the cyborg mechanic. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

Happy Reading!
RC 

I Love Books

Happy Valentine's Day to my fellow lovers of books!  Isn't there just something special about choosing a new book to read?  Sitting down with it for the first time...opening it up.  (That smell!)  Clearing your mind and opening it up to the journey the author has prepared...the world they have created.  It's as if we get pulled in physically...the book doesn't become real for us, we become part of the book!  I love that feeling.  

A Valentine's Day gift to my reading teachers looked something like this!

I also adore the pull a really great book has on me when I'm not able to read.  I'm constantly thinking about the characters..."What are they doing now?"  The story has come alive for me.  I like to ponder what the characters will do next.  What their next big decision will be.  What would I do?  Would I react the same?  I also like to observe the world around me to see if I notice anyone who looks like the characters.  Most of the time I have to Google actors and actresses that I'd cast in the movie!  That's fun, too!

Reading Graffiti bulletin board outside library doors

What's most fun for me is the effect a book has on me.  I always learn something new about myself after finishing a book.  And if I have the opportunity to discuss that book with another reader, well that's just my cup of tea!  

So for all the lovers of books...the day is yours.  Make sure you sit down and spend some time with your book today...whether it be an old favorite, a new favorite or something unexpected and fresh.  Fall in love with yourself as a reader today.  

Students and teachers shared memorable quotes from what they've been reading since Christmas.

As you can see from the pictures above, reading is something we LOVE to do here at North Middle.  We encourage our students to read, discuss and share what they're reading.  Hopefully, the effort we put forth will help them be life-long readers. 


Happy Reading!
RC

Operation Oleander

Currently reading Operation Oleander, a young adult book that I came across some time ago and neglected to put in my reading stack.  Once I rediscovered it, I snatched it up and then waited to read it because other, more exciting books (to me) were released.  Having read nine chapters, I can say that not only would many of my students enjoy this book, I'd like to use it next year for book breakfasts and/or book frenzy.  

Jess, the main character, lives on a military base in Florida with her parents and little sister.  Jess has two best friends, Meriweather and Sam, who also have parents in the military.  So far, I know that they have created a mission to help an orphanage in Kabul, Afghanistan where their parents are stationed.  They sit every morning in the summer, at the PX, collecting donations and supplies for the children.  They mail care packages and communicate with their parents via email as much as possible.  The only other thing I know about them is that they worry a lot about their parents.  Not only the soldiers, but the husbands and wives who live on the base and struggle to make ends meet.  I'm learning a lot about how our military families live and the issues they face.  I foresee some tragedy soon...there has to be a conflict.  

Middle school boys who live to read about modern war will appreciate the setting and the facts presented throughout about how modern military families cope during war time.  Middle school girls will appreciate the narration and point of view.  They'll consider this a page turner.  

We're still on break for snow...and I'm not getting as much reading done as I thought I would.  I interjected a few Jane Austen novels spontaneously into my lineup.  I love Northanger Abbey and since Lady Susan is coming to the big screen in 2015, I had to reread that!  

Happy Reading...no matter what it is.
RC

Desert Tales

We're on our 10th snow day and I'm reading, cooking and cleaning up another snow storm!  Literally...there's another snow storm forcasted this weekend.  Anyhow...I've been thinking about what to read next and realized that I forgot to blog about this adorable companion novel to the Wicked Lovely series by one of my favorite young adult authors, Melissa Marr.  Desert Tales is a short, sweet story that fits perfectly within the series right after Fragile Eternity.  Here's the blurb from Amazon:

Return to the world of Melissa Marr's bestselling series and discover how the events of Wicked Lovely set a different faery tale in motion. . . . Originally presented as a manga series and now available for the first time as a stand-alone novel, Desert Tales combines tentative romance, outward strength, and inner resolve in a faery story of desert and destiny.
The Mojave Desert was a million miles away from the plots and schemes of the Faerie Courts—and that's exactly why Rika chose it as her home. The once-mortal faery retreated to the desert's isolation after decades of carrying winter's curse inside her body. But her seclusion—and the freedom of the desert fey—is threatened by the Summer King's newfound strength. And when the manipulations of her trickster friend, Sionnach, thrust Rika into a new romance, she finds new power within herself—and a new desire to help Sionnach protect the desert fey and mortals alike. The time for hiding is over.

 As usual, I loaned this copy out right away and forgot to mention it here.  So sorry!  

Happy Reading!
I've got to decide what's next...looks like we'll be snowed in for a few days.
RC