Book Club: Book #2

Tomorrow (November 30th) the Mepham Book Club will meet to discuss our second book, Internment by Samira Ahmed. Snacks and bookmarks are available for participants. We will also choose our next book club read. It's never too late to join. All students are welcome. 

Book Club: Book #1

Tomorrow the Mepham Book Club will meet to discuss our first book, Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. Snacks and bookmarks are available for participants. We will also choose our next book club read. You don't want to miss it. 

About the book: 

Daunis, who is part Ojibwe, defers attending the University of Michigan to care for her mother and reluctantly becomes involved in the investigation of a series of drug-related deaths.

Mepham Book Club - The Sequel

Mepham's Book Club is back for year 2. We are excited to have new students join our literary circle. Our first meeting will be held in the school library on Wednesday, September 28th. Students - please join our Google Classroom; the code is below. Snacks will be provided and books will be distributed. 

See Beyond the Spectrum

April is National Autism Awareness Month. Let's remember to embrace neurodiversity in school, at home, and in the community. Check out our display of books that feature diverse characters.

Book Club #5

Mepham's Book Club will meet in the library after school on Wednesday, April 27th to discuss Every Day by David Levithan. All students are welcome to attend this book club. Snacks will be provided.

About Every Day:
Every morning A wakes in a different person's body, in a different person's life, learning over the years to never get too attached, until the teen wakes up in the body of Justin and falls in love with Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon.

6 Second Summaries

Check out the Underlined YouTube channel "for everything you need to know about the best YA books, the coolest authors, and the latest trends." One of my favorite features is their 6 Second Summaries Video Series. This one below features Nic Stone author of the bestselling novel DEAR MARTIN. Watch as she races against the clock to summarize these popular books in 6 seconds (or less). Can you do this with some of your favorite books?

 

About the Book

This week we are featuring some hidden gems from Follett in an effort to "get students to read what they want - and how they want - to foster a lifelong love of reading." #AllBooksForAllKids

Follett's About the Book allows viewers to hear from authors about their background and inspiration behind some of their popular books. With over 17 videos there is something for everyone!

Author Takeovers

This week we are featuring some hidden gems from Follett in an effort to "get students to read what they want - and how they want - to foster a lifelong love of reading." #AllBooksForAllKids

Follett's Author Takeovers for Students "give students a chance to hear from popular authors about their books and writing process to inspire a generation of future readers and writers." There are currently seven videos in this series and most are approximately 30 minutes long.  

Behind the Book

This week we are featuring some hidden gems from Follett in an effort to "get students to read what they want - and how they want - to foster a lifelong love of reading." #AllBooksForAllKids

Do you love books and want to know more about them from the authors that write them? Follett's Behind the Book gives you that glimpse in short videos ranging in time from 3 minutes to 14 minutes. There are over 52 videos to take a look at. We linked the ones that are specific to young adult authors, but Follett also features elementary and middle-grade authors as well.  

First Chapter Fridays

Check out Follett's First Chapter Fridays! Looking for your next title, but don't know what to read? Over on Follett's First Chapter Fridays you can listen to authors read the first chapter of their books! Running time ranges from 4 minutes to over 30 minutes depending on the book title. All grade levels and interests are presented. Click here for titles specifically for high school students. 

Women's "Herstory" Month

This year for Women's History Month, student-teacher Mrs. Hirsch choose to feature graphic novels (illustrated texts) written by or about women. Check out our display. If you are looking for more titles, just ask!

Mepham High School Library Women's Herstory Month Display

Book Club Book #4

Mepham's Book Club will meet in the library after school on Wednesday, March 23rd to discuss The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. All students are welcome to attend this book club. Snacks will be provided.

About The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything differently, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?

Interactive Images with Thinglink

Students used their knowledge of photography to create Bento Box inspired images using symbols and imagery from their favorite books. The results are some of the most beautiful book recommendations you could ask for.

Mepham High School Library student-teacher, Mrs. Hirsch, devised a lesson plan to use with Mrs. Desmond's Photography 4 students using Thinglink in conjunction with their Book Bento Boxes. What is Thinglink? Thinglink allows you to add text, images, links, and video to any image using tags. Students uploaded an image of their Book Bento Boxes to Thinglink and then created tags for the book and each artifact. Once they had their image uploaded they could change the layout and icons for each of the tags. Each student was required to write a book summary and/or review. They also had to tag each artifact with an explanation for why they selected it and how it is important to the story. When they were finished creating these interactive tabs, they were able to download a QR code and import it (along with their original photo) to our Book Bento Gallery Slideshow. Here are a few examples of how they turned out!

Students had an opportunity in class to present their interactive images. We then printed out all of these slides and displayed them around the library. Students from all grade levels can now scan the QR codes with their phones and be transported to Thinglink to learn more about these wonderful books.

Interactive Book Bento Boxes are on display in the Mepham High School Library. It might just inspire you to pick up a copy!

Book Tweets

Mr. Acthziger's 9th-grade classes created book tweets this week with library student teacher, Mrs. Hirsch. A book tweet is a short book summary or review written in tweet form. Students used hashtags to emphasize key phrases that hint at the story, and were required to include the book title and author’s name. It was a challenge to create the tweet in 280 characters or less, but Mrs. Hirsch provided the students with some great tips listed below.

Instructions were given to students

Keep it short:

• Avoid long words or extra words.
• Avoid unnecessary qualifiers.
• Ex: “really”, “basically”, “very”
• Use “&” instead of “and”.
• Replace a phrase with a word.
  Ex: “In the event that” can be replaced with “if”
• Use social media common abbreviations
  Ex: SMH (Shake My Head), IRL (In Real Life)
• Combine words to create a hashtag.
  Ex: #familysecret, #bookswithaconscience

Example from student teacher

Here are a few of the student's final products. 

 

Book Bento Boxes

Mrs. Desmond's College Photography class consisting of 11th and 12th-grade students came to the library this week to learn about Book Bento Boxes. It was part history lesson, part culture appreciation lesson, part English lesson, and part photography lesson. The students taught by library student teacher, Mrs. Hirsch, learned what a bento box is - a Japanese term for a single-serve takeaway meal that is served in a box, traditionally lacquered wood with separate sections for different portions. Applying this structure to a literature response strategy results in book bento boxes. Students selected a book that they have read in the past year and got to work brainstorming what objects they would include in their boxes. The requirements were: 5-7 physical objects that hold meaning or represent something from the book (no photos of objects); the photo had to be square, and students could be as creative as they wanted.

Mrs. Desmind went over flat lay photography. She discussed lighting, background, props, composition (symmetrical vs asymmetrical). This year students worked with DSLR cameras instead of cell phones. The photos above show students putting their book bento boxes together to be photographed.

Stay tuned for the final projects coming soon!

Book Club Book #3

Mepham's Book Club will meet in the library after school on Wednesday, February 2nd to discuss Far From You by Tess Sharpe. All students are welcome to attend this book club. Snacks will be provided. Our next book club book will be selected by the students after our meeting concludes. 

About Far From You:

After Sophie Winters survives a brutal attack in which her best friend, Mina, is murdered, she sets out to find the killer. At the same time she must prove she is free of her past Oxy addiction and in no way to blame for Mina's death.

Book Club Book #2

Mepham's Book Club will meet in the library after school on Wednesday, December 8th to discuss The New York Times bestseller, More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera. All students are welcome to attend this book club. Snacks will be provided. Our next book club book will be selected by the students after our meeting concludes. 

About More Happy Than Not: 

In the months after his father's suicide, it's been tough for sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again—but he's still gunning for it. With the support of his girlfriend Genevieve and his overworked mom, he's slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely.

When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron spends all his time hanging out with this new guy, Thomas. Aaron's crew notices, and they're not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can't deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself, despite the tensions their friendship is stirring with his girlfriend and friends. Since Aaron can't stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute's revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is.

Why does happiness have to be so hard?

Award Winners

The Michael L. Printz Award awards an author displaying excellence in literature written for young adults. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association. Stop by the library to check out past Printz Award-winning books. 

The Alex Award awards authors for the best adult books that appeal to a teen audience. The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18. The award is sponsored by the Margaret A. Edwards Trust. Edwards pioneered young adult library services and worked for many years at the Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore. We also have many past Alex Award-winning books in our school library. One of my favorites over the years has been Educated by Tara Westover. 

Book Club Book #1

Mepham's Book Club will meet in the library after school on Wednesday, November 3rd to discuss One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus. All students are welcome to attend this book club. Snacks will be provided.

About One of Us is Lying:

When the creator of a high school gossip app mysteriously dies in front of four high-profile students all four become suspects. It's up to them to solve the case.

This book has received numerous accolades including:

A #1 New York Times, USA Today, ABA IndieBound, and international bestseller
A YALSA 2018 Teens’ Top Ten Selection
An EW.com Best YA Book of the Year Selection
A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of the Year Selection
A Goodreads Best Young Adult Book of the Year Nominee
A New York Public Library's Best Book for Teens Selection
A Popcrush Best Young Adult Book of the Year Selection
A CBC Teen Choice Book Award Nominee
A YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction Book Nominee
A YALSA 2018 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers