Weekend Reading

weekend reading

One of the books I meant to read before Teen Book Con in April was To all the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han. I have heard such great things about it! I just finished reading Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick and really need something fun and light. I’m hoping this is the right choice. 🙂

to all the boysTo all the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control in this heartfelt novel.

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once?

Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

Copyright © 2014 Follett School Solutions, Inc.

Student Library Advisory Council!

SLAC

The Tompkins Library will be starting a new organization in the fall called the Student Library Advisory Council. The council will be made up of students that advise the library staff on ideas and concerns with regards to the library program, services, and resources. If you are interested in making a difference in your school, join SLAC! More information to come in the fall, so stay tuned…

Want to get a jump on the action? Click HERE to apply today!

 

Get excited about Tompkins faculty guest bloggers!

guest bloggerI am thrilled to announce that our library blog will soon have visitors. Not just any visitors, but an invasion of Tompkins faculty members! Each month, one of our fantastic Falcon teachers will guest blog about reading, books, technology, their content area, or anything else that interests them.

If you want to see your fave teacher be a guest blogger on the Tompkins Library Blog, let us know!

Remembering our heroes.

MemorialDayFlag

There has been a lot of discussion…sometimes heated…about our district making up a bad weather day on Memorial Day. Although I wish I was home enjoying this time of remembrance with my family, I wanted to share what I have witnessed today.

We began the day with Command Sergeant Major David G. Carpentier leading the pledge of allegiance. He also gave a brief history of Memorial Day and read the names of those veterans that have passed from VFW Post 9182.

Command Sergeant Major David G. Carpentier and our principal, Mr. Grisdale

Memorial Day at OTHS

Throughout the morning, there have been multiple conversations between students and staff about Memorial Day and their loved ones. Some of these students have loved ones that were veterans and wished they were home celebrating with them. Also, many teachers have taken the opportunity to speak with their students about the true meaning of Memorial Day and have showed videos of veterans speaking about what Memorial Day means to them. If we were not at school today, these conversations would not have taken place. I truly feel that we are honoring those that have fought and sacrificed for our country by remembering them and sharing our stories.

Most of us know someone that has or is serving in the military. Today and everyday, let them know how much you appreciate them!

Here is a picture of my brother when he was in ROTC at Texas Tech University and my son, who is now a freshman at Tompkins High School. (1999)

David and Michael

This picture was taking several years ago of my brother serving in Afghanistan.

David in Afghanistan

Thank you to the brave for fighting for and protecting our freedom!

Bring on the summer reading!

Are you ready for some summer reading?!

If you are taking a Pre AP/AP English class next year, you are required to read a certain book this summer and be prepared to complete a variety of activities relating to the book once you return to school in the fall. Read the book next to the grade level that you will be going into next school year. These books are available in either/or ebook/audiobook format and can be checked out online throughout the summer.

9th Grade/Eng I – Enders Game by Orson Scott Card

Available from the OTHS Library in audiobook format!

 enders game
10th Grade/Eng II – The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

 Available from the OTHS Library in audiobook AND ebook format!

the book thief
11th Grade/Eng III – The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Available from the OTHS Library in ebook format!

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas An American Slave

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Katy ISD Summer Reading Challenge! 

Here’s what to do:

  • Read books for fun.
  • Tell us when you finish a book and what you thought of it.
  • Sign up to get book suggestions from Katy ISD librarians.

There will be drawings for prizes in the fall! Click HERE to join!

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#TompkinsBookTalk 

Whether you are traveling, hanging out at the pool, or just relaxing at home this summer, let’s talk books!

You can find me on Twitter at @TompkinsLibrary.

Use #TompkinsBookTalk

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For more information about summer reading and how to access the OTHS audiobooks/ebooks, click HERE!

Weekend Reading

Some of our students are reading this in class, so I thought I would check it out. Wow!! It is incredible! I hope to finish it this weekend!

SplitSplit by Swati Avasthi

Sixteen-Year-Old Jace Witherspoon arrives at the doorstep of his estranged brother Christian with a re-landscaped face (courtesy of his father’s fist), $3.84, and a secret.

He tries to move on, going for new friends, a new school, and a new job, but all his changes can’t make him forget what he left behind–his mother, who is still trapped with his dad, and his ex-girlfriend, who is keeping his secret.

At least so far.

Worst of all, Jace realizes that if he really wants to move forward, he may first have to do what scares him most: He may have to go back.

Copyright © 2014 Follett School Solutions, Inc.

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

Get in SYNC this summer with audiobooks!

SYNC is a program that gives away two complete audiobook downloads–a current Young Adult title paired thematically with a Classic or Required Summer Reading title–each week to listeners ages 13+.

Here are the titles being given away this summer for FREE! Don’t miss this great opportunity!

SUMMER 2014 SYNC TITLE LINEUP

May 15 – May 21

WARP: THE RELUCTANT ASSASSIN by Eoin Colfer, Narrated by Maxwell Caulfield

THE TIME MACHINE by H.G. Wells, Narrated by Derek Jacobi

May 22 – May 28

CRUEL BEAUTY by Rosamund Hodge, Narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden

OEDIPUS THE KING by Sophocles, Performed by Michael Sheen and a full cast

May 29 – June 4

CONFESSIONS OF A MURDER SUSPECT by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, Narrated by Emma Galvin

THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE by Agatha Christie, Narrated by Richard E. Grant

June 5 – June 11

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS by Cristin Terrill, Narrated by Meredith Mitchell

JULIUS CAESAR by William Shakespeare, Performed by Richard Dreyfuss, JoBeth Williams, Stacy Keach, Kelsey Grammer, and a full cast

June 12 – June 18

CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein, Narrated by Morven Christie and Lucy Gaskell

THE HIDING PLACE by Corrie Ten Boom, John Sherrill, Elizabeth Sherrill, Narrated by Bernadette Dunne

June 19 – June 25

I’D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I’D HAVE TO KILL YOU by Ally Carter, Narrated by Renée Raudman

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L.M. Montgomery, Narrated by Colleen Winton

June 26 – July 2

FORGIVE ME, LEONARD PEACOCK by Matthew Quick, Narrated by Noah Galvin

OCTOBER MOURNING: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman, Narrated by Emily Beresford, Luke Daniels, Tom Parks, Nick Podehl, Kate Rudd, Christina Traister

July 3 – July 9

TORN FROM TROY by Patrick Bowman, Narrated by Gerard Doyle

PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Narrated by Jim Dale

July 10 – July 16

CLAUDETTE COLVIN: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose, Narrated by Channie Waites

WHILE THE WORLD WATCHED by Carolyn Maull McKinstry with Denise George, Narrated by Felicia Bullock

July 17 – July 23

THE CASE OF THE CRYPTIC CRINOLINE by Nancy Springer, Narrated by Katherine Kellgren

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES II by Arthur Conan Doyle, Narrated by David Timson

July 24 – July 30

HEADSTRONG by Patrick Link, Performed by Deidrie Henry, Ernie Hudson, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine and Scott Wolf

THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE by Robert Louis Stevenson, Narrated by Scott Brick

July 31 – August 6

DIVIDED WE FALL by Trent Reedy, Narrated by Andrew Eiden

THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE by Stephen Crane, Narrated by Frank Muller

August 7 – August 13

LIVING A LIFE THAT MATTERS by Ben Lesser, Narrated by Jonathan Silverman and Ben Lesser

THE SHAWL by Cynthia Ozick, Narrated by Yelena Shmulenson

© 2014 SYNC.

Weekend Reading

weekend_reading

I’ve been wanting to read this book for awhile! So excited!

o-OCEAN-AT-THE-END-OF-THE-LANE-facebookThe Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn’t thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she’d claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

Copyright © 2014 Follett School Solutions, Inc.

Want a bedtime story? Click HERE and Neil Gaiman himself will read this story to you!

What are you reading this weekend? Share it on the blog!

And that’s a wrap…

read-it-forward

Our Read it Forward program concluded today when author Jordan Sonnenblick stopped by the Tompkins Library to chat with students about his books and the writing process. All of the students were familiar with at least one of his books, so they had lots of thoughtful questions to ask him. When Sonnenblick began discussing his latest book, Are you Experienced?, which involves time travel and Jimi Hendrix, students took notice. In fact, both library copies were checked out immediately after the presentation. 🙂

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Jordan Sonnenblick also autographed all of his books for the library!

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He also enjoyed looking at the author pictures on my “author wall” in my office. Now I can add this picture to it!

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Keep Calm and Read On, Falcons! Read it Forward will continue next spring!

Our 1st annual Poetry Cafe was a success!

We held our 1st annual Poetry Cafe in the library yesterday after school and it was incredible! The students could not quit smiling all afternoon, so I’m assuming they had a great time. 🙂

We announced the winners of the library sponsored poetry contest and then spent the rest of the afternoon reading and listening to poetry. Each grade level had 3 winners and each winner went home with a bunch of “kisses.” The 1st place winners in each grade level also received a coupon for a FREE Chick-fil-A  sandwich! It was great to see the winners sharing their “kisses” with other poets. 🙂

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Flavored coffee was available for $.25. Deal of the century!

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Students read their own poems, poems written by others, and some students just came to listen. In between poems, we jammed to some jazz music. We did have a student request to have a karaoke night soon. Maybe…

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Coach Cherry even shared his 1st Place award winning poem!

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Thanks to all our incredible Falcon poets and faculty judges for making our 1st annual Poetry Contest and Poetry Cafe a success! Keep writing, Falcons!