Staff Picks

We have a new display in the Mepham High School Library over in the main seating area called "Staff Picks." Each month we will select a new staff member from the Mepham community to choose 5-6 of their all-time favorite books to display along with an artifact to tell you a little bit more about the person. Our first selection is Marie Netto, W.C. Mepham High School's English Department Chairperson (she also gets credit for the idea!). 

Ms. Netto selected the following: Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Brontë, Hamlet and King Lear by William Shakepeare, The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Nell Scovell and Sheryl Sandberg and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Accompanying note cards explain why Ms. Netto selected these books as her favorites. All books are available for check out.

New display in the school library. 

Painted by Marie Netto, Mepham High School's English Department Chairperson. 

I know what you are thinking! What about a display of "Student Picks"? Coming soon! 

Meet me in the Library!

Irish Cultural Society Writing Contest

Irish Cultural Society Writing Contest
Due: Tuesday, March 17, 2015

In this year’s Annual Writing Contest, they are asking you to identify a main idea in a speech by President of Ireland, Eamon de Valera, and to analyze how he used rhetorical devices to develop the main idea. President de Valera’s radio address, delivered in 1943, is posted on the society's website.

For more information, contest materials, and helpful hints, click here.

The DUFF at Mepham!

Author, Kody Keplinger, visited us via Skype on Tuesday, February 10, 2015 (just ten days before her debut novel, The DUFF, is released as a major motion picture!!!). The movie stars Bella Thorne, Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell and Allison Janney. Kody came to discuss how she wrote The DUFF while still in high school. She talked about getting a literary agent at the tender age of seventeen and how her book got optioned before it was even officially published. Her discussion was insightful and our students found her totally relatable. It was fun to chat about the casting of the film, her favorite books, her process when she writes and so much more during our Q&A. 

Author Kody Keplinger visited Mepham High School via Skype.

We raffled off copies of The DUFF and students received autographed bookmarks from the author. 

Raffle winners pose with the author.  

Thanks Kody Keplinger! We had a blast and can't wait to see the film. Field trip!

This event was sponsored by the National English Honor Society and is a sanctioned ELITE event.

Meet the Author of The DUFF!

Kody Keplinger

Author, Kody Keplinger, will be visiting us via Skype on Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 2:15 pm in the school library. She has penned five young adult novels. Her debut novel, THE DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend), has been turned into a movie starring Bella Thorne, Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell and Allison Janney. The film is set to be released this month (February 20th)! Kody’s visit will include a reading from her debut novel, a Q&A period, and a book raffle (6 paperback copies of THE DUFF).

This event is sponsored by the National English Honor Society and is a sanctioned ELITE event. All students are welcome to attend.

From her Website:
Kody Keplinger was born in raised in small-town western Kentucky. She wrote her first novel, The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) during her senior year of high school. She now lives in New York City with her German shepherd, Corey, where she writes full-time and teaches the occasional writing workshop. When she isn't writing, Kody is probably exploring the city, eating Thai food, or creating a new plan to become Tina Fey's best friend.

"I always felt like the 'ugly girl' in high school, so when I was introduced to the word during my senior year, I knew I was the Duff. The idea of writing a book with DUFF as the title started as a joke, but when I realized that my friends felt like Duffs, too, I knew I had to write this story!"
—Kody Keplinger on her inspiration for THE DUFF, her debut novel