Monthly Archives: January 2014

For the past few years, I have volunteered at a local Teen Book Convention called TeenBookCon at Alief Taylor HS in Houston. This year, I have the pleasure of serving on the board. We are feverishly planning for 29 authors to speak with students, answer questions, and of course, sign books! Please visit the website, twitter, and facebook for all the latest author announcements! You do not want to miss this event on April 26, 2014!

The opening speaker is the one and only Laurie Halse Anderson. Her newest book THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY was just released! So, I will be reading it this weekend.

 The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

For the past five years, Hayley Kincaid and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.

Copyright © 2014 Follett Library Resources, Inc.

What are you reading this weekend? Post it to the blog!

The Tompkins Library is preparing for love. That’s right! We are encouraging students and staff members to stop by the library before Valentine’s Day and go on a blind date with one of our incredible library books.

When you find your match, just follow these directions:

 

After your date, be sure to stop by the library and fill out the “rate your date” bookmark and drop it in the ballot box. We hope your date is HOT! 🙂

Will you fall in love at the Tompkins HS Library? We hope so! If you don’t like your first date, there are more “fish in the sea” at the Tompkins Library!

The Tompkins Library has started its own YouTube channel! We have step-by-step videos on how to access and search the library catalog. We will also be adding more videos on how to use the Katy ISD databases, how to checkout ebooks/audiobooks from the Tompkins HS library, and many many more! So stay tuned!!

Click HERE to visit the Tompkins High School Library YouTube channel!

Image from flipthemedia.com

Meet our new library intern, Mrs. Wright! She has a BA in History and a MLIS (Master’s of Information Library Science) both from Florida State University. Go ‘Noles! She lived in Dubai for 14 years before moving to Katy a year ago. She has been a librarian for 20 years, mostly in colleges/universities and elementary school. In Texas, a school librarian must be a classroom teacher for at least 2 years before becoming a school librarian. After finishing her school library certification, she is looking forward to teaching history to gain her classroom teaching experience.

Mrs. Wright is married with 2 children (1 in Dubai and 1 in 7th grade at SLJH). She also has 3 stepchildren (2 in England and 1 at SLJH). She likes to read, enjoys classical history, dinner parties, playing games, and Chinese brush painting.

Mrs. Wright will be here for 2 weeks, so make sure you stop by and say hi! 🙂

I’m reading one of our Read it Forward books! Have you found one yet? If not, keeping looking! We also have the books available in the library!

Curveball: The Year I Lost my Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick

After an injury ends former star pitcher Peter Friedman’s athletic dreams, he concentrates on photography which leads him to a girlfriend, new fame as a high school sports photographer, and a deeper relationship with the beloved grandfather who, when he realizes he is becoming senile, gives Pete all of his professional camera gear.

Copyright © 2014 Follett Library Resources, Inc.

Read the first 21 pages HERE!

Watch Jordan Sonnenblick introduce the book below.

What are you reading this weekend? Post it to the blog!

Our 2014 Read It Forward program starts the week of Jan. 13-17th!

If you aren’t familiar with Read It Forward (or RIF) then here’s the scoop:

• 90 copies of our RIF book will be placed randomly around school. We will place a few copies out each day of the week. They may be in the cafeteria, hallway, office, and even some classrooms. You never know where a RIF book may appear!
• If students find a RIF book, they can pick it up, give it a read, and forward it to the next person to enjoy! Not your thing? Then simply find someone to pass the book to who will enjoy reading it.
• These are not library books, so please do not return them to the library!
• After students finish reading the book, they can sign the inside, forward it on, and come to the library to sign an “I read the RIF book” emblem and we will add their name to a roster of students who will have the opportunity to see Jordan Sonnenblick, who will be visiting our school on Thursday, May 1st during Enrichment! He will be giving a large group presentation to our RIF book readers! This is an incredible opportunity for our students! (please note, students do not have to read a copy of the RIF book that they find around the school. If some students can’t find a copy lying around campus, they can check out a copy here or at the public library as well.)

So, if you see one of these lying around campus—

—please know that it is not a suspicious package! It is our Read It Forward book!

Check out our RIF Google Presentation on Jordan Sonnenblick for book trailers and more information about his books!

Joelle Charbonneau, author of The Testing trilogy, visited with about 100 OTHS students on Tuesday, 1/14, after school. She spoke about her experiences as a writer and even shared her musical talent by singing some Puccini! Simply incredible!

One of my favorite aspects of the presentation was when she discussed her writing practices with the students. She relayed the importance of writing the way that works best for them. For example, many people may write a story first and then decide on a title that fits. However, she starts with the title before beginning any writing. Writing is an individual and personal process.

Joelle Charbonneau was inspired to write The Testing trilogy by thinking about students and the important tests (like STARR) that they are required to take. She took that idea and created an amazing dystopian novel that follows protagonist Cia through the adventure of  her testing to her graduation. Let me just say…this Testing is nothing like the STARR test. 🙂

Would you pass The Testing? Test yourself HERE!

Graduation Day (Book #3 in the trilogy) comes out in June. Download the prequel for FREE!

My daughter, Kellie, is a huge fan and came over from Beck JH to meet Joelle Charbonneau!

Staying true to my New Year’s resolution, I’m excited to start my year off with a very informative and interesting nonfiction book!

For the Good of Mankind? The Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation by Vicki Oransky Willenstein

 Experiment: A child is deliberately infected with the deadly small pox disease without his parents’ informed consent. Result: The world’s first vaccine. Experiment: A slave woman is forced to undergo more than thirty operations without anesthesia. Result: The beginnings of modern gynecology. Incidents like these paved the way for crucial, lifesaving medical discoveries. But they also harmed and humiliated their test subjects, many of whom did not agree to the experiments in the first place. How do doctors balance the need to test new medicines and procedures with their ethical duty to protect the rights of human subjects? Take a harrowing journey through some of history’s greatest medical advances—and its most horrifying medical atrocities—to discover how human suffering has gone hand in hand with medical advancement.

Copyright © 2014 Follett Library Resources, Inc.

What are you reading this weekend? Post it to the blog!

It’s that time of year again when people all over the world start thinking about changes they hope to make during the new year. Here are some that the library staff have planned for their reading habits this year!

Michelle Tuttle: This year I plan to read more nonfiction books. I tend to read LOTS of fiction titles, but struggle with finding nonfiction books that grab my attention. This year I will work extra hard to find quality nonfiction titles to add to my literary repertoire. I also want to stay up-to-date with new releases by reading at least one each month. Another goal of mine is to write better reviews of the books I read on Goodreads. I have been using Goodreads for years and the book reviews always help me in deciding what to read next. I hope my reviews will encourage others to find their next book, too!

Julie Scanlon: During 2014, I want to read more books out of my genre comfort zone. I want to read more realistic fiction and nonfiction books that read like fiction. I really just want to spend more time reading!

Image credit: http://donnamarieauthor.wordpress.com/