New Books

We have a bunch of new books here at the Wellington C. Mepham High School Library. These books have come in just in time for mid-winter break. Pick one or two up today and stock up for your vacation. We have been diligently making sure that most of our fiction books have genre labels, which will hopefully make finding books a little easier for everyone. A few of my favorites are on this display. Looking for recommendations? Just ask Mrs. Stack! For a listing of all our new titles, please see Mrs. Gellerman at the front desk.

Display in the Mepham High School Library

Made on Canva.com

Happy Valentine's Day!

Display in the Learning Center

Since it was so popular last year, Ms. Donnelly, the English Department Chairperson, has decided to bring back "Blind Date with a Book." Last year, over 65 books were taken! This year we have even more books to give away. All books are FREE for students, teachers, and faculty to keep. The ONLY rule is that you must not unwrap your book until you've committed to taking it home with you!

P.S. Thanks to our English Department intern, Jaclyn Scheel, for wrapping the books! 

#MephamBookLove 

#mephamreads

Neema's Reason to Smile

POSTPONED DUE TO AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES BEING CANCELLED DUE TO POOR WEATHER CONDITIONS. NEW DATE: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6th at 2:15 PM IN THE SCHOOL LIBRARY.  

Book based on the Jambo Jipya School in Mtwapa, Kenya

This year's author visit is a little unconventional - there is no author. There is no illustrator either. This year we are hosting Donna Rosenblum, a former librarian and now the supervisor of School Library Services for Nassau BOCES and the Executive Director of Reason2Smile, a non-profit organization on a mission to help provide educational opportunities for children attending the Jambo Jipya School in Mtqapa, Kenya. This organization also supports the needs of children living at the Jambo Jipya children’s home with food, clothing and healthcare.

This note is from the author, Patrica Newman of Neema's Reason to Smile.

"Story ideas come from a lot of different places. The idea for Neema's Reason to Smile grew out of a phone call with Donna Rosenblum, a librarian from New York. One of my author friends suggested to Donna that I would be a good fit for a project about the power of education. Donna picked up the phone and called me."

This year's visit focuses on research and how much of it goes into writing a book like this. Although Neema's Reason to Smile is a work of fiction, it is based on the real-life students at Jambo Jipya School. Author, Patrica Newman spent countless hours asking hundreds of questions to Donna and others associated with Jambo Jipya School to get a true understanding of the school, its teachers and students, and the surrounding community.

Mrs. Rosenblum will speak to our students about the conception of this book and how it came to be published. There will be an reading from the book. She will show us photos and videos of the students at Jambo Jipya School. She will discuss primary source interviews from the students in Kenya. Our students will have an opportunity to ask questions and color in their own dream basket (which we will display in the school library).

This visit will take place on Tuesday, February 12 at 2:15 pm in the school library. It is open to ALL of our students. It is an ELITE event. You can sign up here to attend.

Fragments: Drifting

Fragments (Mepham's literary magazine) has a new contest!

Drifting.

Submit your original poetry, short stories, essays, artwork, or photography on the topic "drifting" to win a prize and the chance to be published! (Please try to keep word count under 1000.)

Deadline: Friday, March 1, 2019

Place all entries in Mrs. Maresca's mailbox in the main office or email them to Fragments at FragmentsEmail@gmail.com.

Mepham's Mobile Library

Ms. Donnelly poses with the Mepham's Mobile Library 

It's hard to keep popular titles in stock at the Mepham High School library. Thanks to Ms. Donnelly, Mepham's English Department Chairperson and Mr. Gomez, our Principal for purchasing multiple copies of our favorite books. There are currently 16 titles on this bookshelf including:

• A Work in Progress by Connor Franta
• Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini
• Dear Martin by Nic Stone
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson'
• It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
• The Martian by Andy Weir
• Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
• Odd One Out by Nic Stone
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
• Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
• Solo by Kwame Alexander
• The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

We are looking to secure another cart for next year. Do you have any recommended titles we should include?

Skyping with the Other Mrs. Stack

When our friends from Missouri couldn't Skype with us on World Read Aloud Day, Mrs. Stack called on her sister-in-law, the other Mrs. Stack, who teachers 6th grade at Park Avenue Elementary School in North Merrick, New York. These 6th graders learned the poems from the book, You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman and did a fantastic job. Our 12th graders from Mr. Achtizger's and Mrs. Dell'Olio's AP class had a wonderful time reading too. We all win when we read together. Check out the video above to see the two classes reading to each other. #worldreadaloudday