Books Everyone is Reading

Want to know what everyone's reading? Here are the top circulating books in the LMC since September:

1. The Death Cure by James Dashner
2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
3. The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
4. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
5. Birth of a Killer by Darren Shan
6. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
7. Crank by Ellen Hopkins
8. For the Win by Cory Doctorow
9. Identical by Ellen Hopkins
10. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Teen Read Week 2011

Teen Read Week 2011, a set on Flickr.

Carlos Will be President!

We've had two amazing sessions with with author Matt de la Pena today. We just finished lunch....Matt predicts that our own Carlos C. will be president some day. CC made a great observation about We Were Here. I am totally cool with CC being our nation's leader in a few years :)

Here's Matt eating lunch and Juan being Juan:

We've had great conversations about author's craft... about where authors get (steal!) ideas for characters, about the musicality of language, and about the importance of revision (104 times?!).

Such a great day here in the library.

Author Matt de la Peña to Visit MHS!



Matt de la Peña

 This makes the second year in a row that small but mighty Melissa High School has hosted a nationally known author. Woot!

Matt de la Pena is the author of several highly-regarded young adult novels, including Ball Don’t Lie, Mexican White Boy, and We Were Here.  These are what I call “street stories”, stories of young people growing up in dire circumstances, facing big challenges. They are gritty and realistic. Matt went to college on a basketball scholarship and many of his stories involve sports. He is also a teacher of creative writing at NYU.

http://www.mattdelapena.com/

You guys will hear him in one of three sessions. See below:

All three sessions will be in the library. There will be no study hall that day.


Session One (All students who have English 1st or 2nd period)

9:05 to 10:05
All students will report to first period for attendance, then come to the library.
When students exit the library, they will be handed a pass to second period
Session Two (All students who have English 3rd or 4th period)
10:50 to 11:50
All students will report to third period for attendance, then come to the library.
When students exit the library, they will be handed a pass to 4th period

Session Three (All students who have English 6th, 7th, or 8th period)
1:45 to 2:45
All students will report to 6th period for attendance, then come to the library.
When students exit the library, they will be handed a pass to 7th period.

Teen Read Week 2011!

Look out, Cardinals! TRW 2011 is coming soon: October 17th - 21st. We've got a full week of activities to celebrate books:

Monday: Wear Your Teen Read Week Shirt! (See Mrs. Niche to order. Order by November 5th)
*Film a book trailer: Create a short commercial for your favorite book then come into the library during English to film it. Just talk on camera about a favorite book. That's it! Going on all week. Videos go on our YouTube and TeacherTube channels. Make a commercial, get an ice cream party ticket.
*Quote Graffiti: Pick a favorite line or quote from a book and write it on the sidewalk during English class.
*Voting for the Talon Awards begins

Tuesday: Character Costume or T-Shirt Day

Dress like a character from a book or make and wear a t-shirt representing that character. Stop by the library to be photographed in your costume/shirt. Everyone who is photographed gets a ticket to the ice cream party on Friday.

 

Wednesday: Poster Contest

Advertise your favorite book/series/author. Everyone who turns in a poster to be judged gets a ticket to the ice cream party. Turn in posters by the end of lunch (5th period) Wednesday. Must show effort to earn ticket!

 

Thursday: The Pajama Read-In & Make a Music Playlist (NEW!)

 Read-in during second and third periods: Come dressed in appropriate pajamas. Bring your pillow, your blanket, and something good to read. Read!

Or...

Make a music playlist to go with a book you like. Tell which songs go with what action in the book and why. Print it out for display. Give to Mrs. Niche to earn an ice cream ticket!

 

Friday: Ice Cream Party Hot fudge, banana splits, whoo hoo!
• Ice cream party during lunch for those who’ve earned ice cream tickets
• The Talon Awards announced.
• Costume and poster contest award winners announced

• Book trailers unveiled

 

Things That Bugged Me About Deathly Hallows, Pt.2 (Movie)

Don't get me wrong....I loved it. Great spectacle, Dan Radcliffe was terrific, I cried. But:

• Harry is still supposed to have his scar at the end. To change that was awful.
• McGonagall never sent the Slytherins to the dungeon. No true Hogwarts teacher would do that. 
• Harry didn't break the Elder Wand and pitch it over the (nonexistent) bridge. He put it back in Dumbledore's tomb.

Anything bug you?

List Me: Most Memorable Characters

So it's like 107 outside. Time to crank the AC, stay inside and read. Time for another list. Something about characters, I think. Not best-loved, not favorite exactly but characters who stick with you for some reason. And let's make this list good guys. We can do villains later.


My most memorable characters is Young Adult (YA) literature list (protagonists).....

In no special order...

1. Ponyboy Curtis, The Outsiders
2. Miles Halter, Looking For Alaska
3. Anonymous, Go Ask Alice
4. Bee, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series
5. Harry Potter, Harry Potter Series
6. Meg Murry, A Wrinkle in Time
7. Lyra Belacqua, His Dark Materials Series
8. Matt Cruse, Airborn series
9. Simon, Mortal Instruments Series (oooh, or Magnus Bane)
10. Peeta Mellark, The Hunger Games series
11. Kristina, Crank
12. Kidd, I WIll Save You

Runners up: Darren from Cirque du Freak, Percy Jackson,Johnny Cade from The Outsiders, T.J. Jones from Whale Talk, Connor from Unwind.

I did not put Katniss Everdeen down. I sympathize with her and admire her but find her strangely sterile. That girl is emotionally broken. I like my characters to ooze pain and passion!

Yours?

Road trip to the Texas Library Conference Teen Event!



We got Everfound!

Graham, Nikita, Corey, Sky, and Willie joined me on a road trip to Austin last week...wow, did we have fun. Some highlights of the trip were:

• Getting free advance reader copies (ARCs) of about 30 books each, including Everfound by Neal Shusterman.
• Hanging with authors like James Dashner (Maze Runner) and Carrie Ryan (Forest of Hands and Teeth). We have video to prove it!
• Lunch on Sixth Street
• A midnight dinner at IHOP where we saw many interesting sights (you'll have to ask them). Hint: A floral sundress was involved.
• Being stuffed into the district truck, hopping curbs because I can't drive a dualie, singing old 80s songs to drown out Sky's disturbing fondness for country music.

Hope I can take more of you guys next year. It was a blast.



Getting ready for lunch
on 6th Street







James Dashner

 

In Honor of Night by Elie Wiesel