The End and The Beginning

The school year will soon end and this blog will go on hiatus for the summer. I have enjoyed telling you about new books in our library collection throughout the school year. Now we are putting all the books back on the shelves so they will be ready for the new school year in August.

For those of you who still want to hear about new great books -- fear not! Over the summer I will start a new blog in the Summer Reading Program section of the Lakeview Library webpage. The link will be in a table right above this one. This summer I have decided to talk about what I am reading -- the brand new books which will be added to the collection in the fall -- the books I didn't have time to read during the school year -- Oprah's Kids List which I have been waiting to get to -- and any more that I can find. My summer plan is to sit out on my patio during the warm summer afternoons (it's shaded) with a tall cool drink and a great book. You are all invited to share your thoughts about the books I am reading or make suggestions of books I should read. Maybe we can start a dialogue -- reader to reader.

Dive into Summer Reading

The Lakeview Summer Reading Program begins on June 2nd. Students are challenged to keep a reading log of all the books they read over the summer. Copies of the Summer Reading Log are available in the IMC starting next week and online at the Lakeview Library webpage beginning June 2nd. All completed book logs must be turned in by August 27th to be eligible for prizes. After an individual discussion of their summer reading with me, students will receive prizes. Information about the summer reading program will be posted on the Lakeview Library webpage.

Looking for ideas of summer reading, then participate in the Lakeview IMC Summer Paperback Check-out OR read my summer reading blog where I talk about the books I am reading this summer and you can make suggestions for me. Details about the Paperback Check-out are available in the What's Happening in the IMC blog. I plan to spend my afternoons on my patio with a cool drink and a great book. I hope you will, too.

Outer Space Silliness

When I was growing up, there was a class of movies in the science fiction genre called B movies. These were silly, often cheaply made movies that usually featured BEMs (bug-eyed monsters) who terrorize humans, but the humas always won in the end. The Doom Machine, by Mark Teague, reminded me of those B movies. It starts in a small town where Jack Creedle and his Uncle Bud live. Uncle Bud is developing a gadget (a space traveling machine) that will make him millions of dollars. Jack is a mechanical wiz who soup up any moving vehicle, spaceships included. Into their town come serious-minded Isadora Shumway and her mother, a brilliant scientist, just at the time an alien spaceship lands near the town. The aliens, known as the Skreeps, look like giant spiders with multiple eyes and have come to Earth looking for treasure that will allow their captain Xaafuun to become the leader of their home planet. The aliens capture the four humans and Uncle Bud's gadget and take them into outer space where all kinds of weird and crazy adventures happen. This silly story will keep you chuckling throughout all the strange events. Oh yes, and the humans win in the end.