Thank You P.T.O.

The Lakeview P.T.O. sponsored a Book Fair this week. Unfortunately book sales were low -- maybe students were too focused on spring break. So instead of a cash profit for the P.T.O., the IMC was able to take a profit in books. The books we selected (listed below) will be the first books we work on after spring break. We hope to have them ready for the students before the end of April. Thank you very much for this donation.

767 Sports Questions Your Friends Can't Answer
Dolphin Song, by Lauren St. John
Eon, by Alison Goodman
Faithful, by Janet Fox
Guinness Word Records 2011
I Survived
Hurrican Katrina, 2005
Shark Attacks of 1916
Sinking of the Titanic, 1912
I Was a Non-Blonde Cheerleader, by Kieran Scott
Last Leopard, by Lauren St. John
Scholastic Book of Firsts
Trackers 1 & 2, by Patrick Carman
Wish, by Alexandra Bullen

New Books for Persuasive Speech Research

This week Mrs. Wilson and I have been working hard to get all the new books for persuasive speech research ready for check-out. We are adding 34 new pro/con books to the collection. Since it is important for students to be able to find books on their topic even if there is only a chapter of information, I type into our automation system the table of contents for each non-fiction book. While this takes a lot of time, it is very valuable to the students. A keyword search will bring these books to the student's attention.
Students will be able to check-out these new books, but only one book at a time and only for one night. Check-out begins at 3 PM as the students are on their way to the buses. This is our general policy for books being used for research and insures that the books are in the IMC during the school day but still gives students an opportunity to continue their research at home. Some of the new title are: Is Global Warming a Threat?, Overweight America, Electronic Devices in Schools, Organ Transplants, Offshore Drilling, The Right to Die, Gun Control, Illegal Immigration, and America's Prisons. These books and the other new books present both sides of the controversial topic and are very helpful for persuasive speech research. If anyone has trouble finding a book for their topic, they should see a librarian for assistance.

What Happens When You Reach Your Limit?

In Kristen Landon's new book The Limit, we found out how one possible future deals with families who spend more money than they earn. Matt and his family seem to be always buying things, but one day on an ordinary shopping trip, they find that they are over their limit. At home they learn the consequence -- Matt is taken away from his family and put in a workhouse until his family can reduce their debt under the limit. At first things at the workhouse seem pretty good. Matt, a math and computer genius, tests to the top floor where he is challenged to do computer work for various companies along with keeping up his computerized school curriculum. Top floor residents can order anything they want -- food, clothes, things. However, Matt soon realizes that something is very wrong. Some kids get terrible headaches or are removed from the top floor. Matt finds that he cannot get any e-mails from home or even leave the top floor. Can Matt discover what is really happening in the workhouse and help his family get out of debt?
This book and many other new books are available in the New Book Display section by the windows. Come an have a look.

Mysterious Package

Three men are waiting at 221B Baker Street in London for Professor Sigurdsson, but the professor never shows up. Instead a mysterious package is delivered by an unusual little man shortly followed by monsters who are apparently after the package. A dangerous flight to an old-fashioned ship saves the men, but the adventure has just begun. This is the start of James A. Owen's book Here, There Be Dragons, the first book in the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica. John, Jack, and Charles, the three waiting men, are brought together in this wild adventure to protect the Imaginarium Geographica, an atlas of all lands that have existed in myth, fable, and fairy tale -- and the lands are real. Join the adventure! You can find this book in the New Book display area by the windows.