BULLETIN BOARD DISPLAYS

A great way to find interesting books to read is to take a look at the bulletin board displays at the back of the IMC. Each year I pick a theme for each board and rotate displays throughout the year. This year the board nearest the Exit Only door is entitled Read Across the U.S. A. Each month a different section of the United States will be displayed with books about that region. To kick off this display I have chosen our home state of Illinois. Books, fiction and nonfiction, are on display. You might find a book by Richard Peck like A Long Way from Chicago about shotgun-toting Grandma Dowdel OR the intriguing art thief mystery Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett OR an new book, Cold Fury by T.M. Goeglein, about a girl on the run from the Mafia hiding in Chicago.

The bulletin board behind my desk is entitled Fiction Based on.... Each quarter I will choose a different concept to highlight. For first quarter the books are based on fairy tales. They might be retellings of favorite tales like Donna Jo Napoli's Beast (based on Beauty and the Beast). Or they might be sequels or follow-up stories like Gary D. Schmidt's Straw into Gold (based on Rumpelstiltskin). Or they might be a story fairy tales are woven into the story like Penny Blubaugh's Serendipity Market (where fairy tales told by side characters can save the world) OR Michael Buckley's The Fairy Tale Detectives (where fairy tale characters help to solve a crime).

Keep your eyes on these changing displays for new ideas of books to read.

SUMMER PAPERBACK CHECKOUT

All students in grades 5, 6, and 7 were invited this week to participate in the Lakeview IMC's Summer Paperback Checkout. Each student was allowed to checkout up to 5 paperback books for the entire summer. Books are not due back in the Lakeview IMC until Tuesday, September 3rd. Students who would like to return books early are welcome to place their books in the special Summer Book Return Box in between the main doors at Lakeview. Many students took advantage of this program and picked out some fine books for their summer reading.

Starting next week this blog will stop and my summer reading will be reported in my summer blog. Let me know what you are reading this summer and if you have read any of the books that I am.

All students are also invited to participate in the Lakeview Summer Reading Program. Read more about in the What's Happening blog.

JERRY SPINELLI

Spinelli's books are always popular with students. I had a chance to read one of his newer books Smiles To Go which starts with a scientific discovery and ends with a family discovery. Will Tuppence and his friends Mi-Su and B.T. play Monopoly every Saturday night following the same routine. For Will this is a perfect life until he sees B.T. and Mi-Su kissing one night at an Astronomy Star Party. Now Will has to take a look at his feelings for Mi-Su. Also Will has to deal with his five-year-old sister who is a pest, always trying to bother him. It takes a family tragedy for Will to understand that the world and life is always changing. And that's a good thing!

WHAT I'M READING

Currently I am reading several great books. My bedside book is the third Kane Chronicles book, The Serpent's Shadow, by Rick Riordan. Here Sadie and Carter enter their final match with Apophis in order to save the world. It has lots of fighting and lots of magic.

My table book is The Rise of Nine, by Pittacus Lore and the third book in the Lorien Legacies. This science fiction series which began with I Am Number Four seems to be leading to the reuniting of the teenage aliens as well as fierce training to prepare for a showdown with their enemies the Mogs.

My lunchtime book is already in the IMC collection -- Paranormalcy by Kiersten White. Evie, who is able to see through the glamours of vampires, werewolves, faeries and other magical creature, begins to question whether her ability makes her a paranormal, too.

Finally, my purse book (for waiting at railroad crossings or in doctors' offices) is Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner. It's also a science fiction book that takes place in the near future when the planet Earth is plagued by killer tornadoes and monster storms much more frequently than we are now. Unfortunately this book got a little wet during the storms of this past week, but that hasn't interfered with my enjoyment of the story.

Let me know what books you are currently enjoying.