Author Visit- Sandra Feder

On Wednesday, November 29, we were lucky to host children's author, Sandra Feder.  The first book in her new series about a little girl who loves words is called Daisy's Perfect Word.  Ms. Feder introduced Daisy to the Kindergarten through 5th grade students at Town Meeting and met with smaller groups of students in the Umansky Library.  She helped the Kindergarten and 1st grade students make lists of their favorite words in a variety of categories.

Sandra Feder making the K-1 Favorite Word list.

K-1 Favorite Words

• apple
• bunny
• precipitation
• forgiveness
• fluffy
• squash
• pistachio
• family
• kindness
• lily
• sandwich

Library Words

• books
• quiet
• pictures
• reading

Sparkling Swain School Words

• cooperate
• education
• tech
• SMARTBoard

To learn more about Sandra Feder and her book, Daisy's Perfect Word, check out her website www.sandravfeder.com.

Sandra Feder reading from Daisy's Perfect Word.

What's your Bookprint?

A bookprint is the list of five books that leave an indelible mark on our lives, shaping who we are and who we become. 
You are what you read.  Check out these celebrities' bookprints:

http://www.scholastic.com/readeveryday/celeb-bookprints.htm

Then let me know what 5 books are in your bookprint.

What's your favorite book?

Leave a comment with your favorite book that you think we should buy for the library.

Just found this cool app called Tiled and made this tribute to Divergent by Veronica Roth. 

Do you keep a book journal?

Check out this WSJ article about the importance of keeping a record of all of the books you read.  The author mentions several options for your book journal, but there is also Goodreads.com.

The Benefits of a Book Journal

Vote for your favorite YA books of all time?

NPR is doing a survey.  Vote for your Top 10 favorites of all time!

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/24/157072526/best-ever-teen-novels-vote-for-your-favorites

Powerless

Powerless is one of the best books I have EVER read! (Probably because Matthew Cody is one of the best authors in the history of the world!) Powerless is an exciting book about a boy named Daniel Corrigan who moves from Philadelphia to Noble's Green, PA, the safest town on Earth. Daniel had no friends until he meets two of the Supers, Mollie Lee and Rohan. All of the Supers have powers: Eric and Clay are Super Strong, Bud is Super Stinky, Mollie is Super Fast, Louisa is Super Light, Rose is Invisible. Eric and Mollie are the only Supers that can fly. Someone has mysteriously been zapping the Supers' powers and memories that they ever had powers when they turn thirteen. Daniel and the Supers (Eric, Clay, Bud, Mollie, Louisa, Rose, and Rohan) have to defeat this mysterious thing before all of the Supers' powers get zapped!

                                      Reviewed by Hayley A.

Click here to see the Powerless book trailer.

TumbleBooks

I know we have told you about TumbleBooks before, but we have a trial subscription for the summer, so you don't have to access it through the public library website.  Just go to:
http://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/
And login with the following info:
username: summer12
password: trial

TumbleBookLibrary is an online collection of TumbleBooks – animated, talking picture books which teach kids the joy of reading in a format they'll love. TumbleBooks are created by adding animation, sound, music and narration to existing picture books in order to produce an electronic picture book which you can read, or have read to you.  There are even many books that you can access on your iPad.

The House of the Scorpion - 8th Grade Summer Reading Book

Do you like the book? Do you have any questions or comments? Let us know what you think . . .

Peter and the Starcatchers - 7th Grade Summer Reading Book

What do you think about the book? Do you like it? Any comments or questions? Let us know by commenting below . . .

The Thief Lord - 6th Grade Summer Reading Book

What do you think? Any questions or comments? Did you like it? Let us know . . .

A Wrinke in Time - 5th Grade Summer Reading Book

Any thoughts or questions about the book? Are you enjoying it so far? Tell us what you think . . .

Looking for a good book to read?

The Houston Area Independent Schools Library Network puts together great lists of recommended books for Preschoolers through 12th graders. Need an idea of a good book to read? Why not check it out?
http://haisln.org/recommendedreadinglists.html

The New York Public Library also has extensive reading list by grade. They even have a short video that shows the covers of the recommended books. http://www.summerreading.org/booklists.php

Another great resource is the 2012 Notable Children's Book List put together by the Association for Library Services to Children. http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb

And for middle schoolers, the Ethical Culture Fieldston School has an extensive list of books in a variety of categories, including classics, books for Harry Potter fans, books for Lightning Thief fans, graphic novels, and more.  http://www.ecfs.org/files/ms-booklist-general.pdf

Summer Reading!

We are getting ready for summer reading! The students will be getting their logins for the Scholastic Read for the Record site next week in library class. The website to track their minutes is http://www.scholastic.com/summer/. There is also a cool Reading Timer app that you can download on your phone, iPad, or other tablet, where you can time how long you read and track your minutes directly from the app! Click here to download it!