What's going on?

Sorry it's been so long since I updated the blog!  There's been so many cool things happening in the library that I forgot.

For starters, we've added over 1600 books to the JMS library!  We've doubled the number of books in Spanish and the graphic novels.  We've added e-books!  You can find the link on the JMS library webpage..the User name is "Johnston" and the password is "greyhounds."

The Johnston Name that Book team won 2nd at the preliminary and DISTRICT rounds!  That's quite an accomplishment.  This team of 6 students collectively read over 2 million (that's right MILLION) pages and over 327 books!!  Stop by the Library and see the gorgeous trophy!!

Two of the media students, Steffannie and Zoe won the American Association of School Librarians' Video Contest with their 3 minute video entitled "Think, Create, Share & Grow the JMS Way!"  It was so much fun to work with these students and to see their hard work rewarded.  Because of them, we'll get to add more books to the library collection and the Media class gets another FLIP camera.  Check out their video on SchoolTube or at this link: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learning4life/involvement/studentvideo.cfm

Oh, I almost forgot!  Three students won books for their participation in the Library Web page "Secret Sports" object contest.  Congratulations to Cameron, Tasha, and Dominique!!

Name That Book Media Contest

Like to read? Love to use computers? Consider participating in the "Name That Book" mutli-media contest. You don't have to read all 36 books...only a few of them. Then you'll work by yourself or with a partner to create a 3 minute multimedia project that captures the essence of the book(s). You'll have lots of flexibility and choices. Let me know if you're interested....

Here's an example for The Great Wide Sea by M. H. Herlong

The Missing: Book 1 FOUND

Margaret Peterson Haddix is one of the those prolific authors who just keeps writing good series. Her latest series, The Missing, begins with Found. Siblings Jonah and Katherine join with the new kid in the neighborhood, Chip, to unravel the mystery behind some anonymous mail the two boys have received. The first letter contains 6 words, "You are one of the missing." The second letter warns "BEWARE! They're coming back to get you." (I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty freaked out by now!) As the plot develops, the boys discover they are part of a group of children who were all adopted 13 years ago and something (or someone) is drawing them all together. With a little FBI involvement and the mysterious guy who seems to appear and disappear by magic, the suspense grows. So the question is....who is missing? AND who's coming back to get them?

Read Found, one of this year's Lone Star Books and let me know what you think. Is it possible to go back in time to fix mistakes from the past?????

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

For those of you who've read and loved Epic by Connor Kostick, you'll certainly enjoy this book, too! Set in a future time, North America has been divided into 13 regions based on their natural resources and all the regions are under the thumb of Capital City, a place full of luxury and excess. Once a year, each district is required to hold a lottery, drawing two names from those 12 to 18, one male and one female to participate in the Hunger Games. Only one winner is allowed...and anything goes during the games. We experience the competition through the experiences of Katniss, a 16 year old huntress who volunteered to replace her 12 year old sister, and Peeta Mallark, the baker's son who has been in love with Katniss since he first saw her. The games are televised to all the districts sort of like the Super Bowl. Try to imagine an event that is part beauty pagaent, Survivor, and soap opera and you've got a start on The Hunger Games.

Full of action, adventure, some blood and guts (check out the "tracker jacks"), romance, and psychological elements, this is the beginning of a new series and I can't wait for the second book to be released! Take a read..and let me know what you think!

I.Q. [Book One: Independence Hall]

Roland Smith is one of my favorite authors and it was so cool to hear him talk about how he writes books last spring at the Texas Library Association Conference. He writes them by hand in little "journal-like" books called moleskins that he can carry around with him while he travels. I can't imagine writing a 300 page novel by hand, can you?




Anyway, I.Q. is the first novel in a series that kind of reminds me of James Bond's 007 (Bet you didn't know there were books before the movies?!). Book One begins with a wedding between two musicians, who each have a teenager. The guy's daughter is Angela, a fifteen year old "wanna be" spy and martial arts expert, and the woman's son is "Q" (stands for Quest), a thirteen year old magician. While the parents are making music and becoming famous, the two kids become partners in unraveling a terrorist conspiracy with the help of some retired intelligence agents and a really old gap-toothed dog named Croc and ends with a trip to the White House. In between, Angela and Q discover a mutual love for Big Macs and use their special skills to save each other.



This is quite a page turner...full of suspense, foreign terrorists, counter-terrorists, and has more twists than a roller coaster. Just when you think you've got the bad guys figured out, Smith throws another curveball into the plot! I can't wait for Book 2! In the meantime check out the IQ series website at http://www.iqtheseries.com/. You can learn Q's magic tricks, here music by the parents' band, and all kinds of really coooool stuff!!

The Possibilities of Sainthood

Mamma Mia! This is one fun book. Fifteen year old Antonia Luchia Labella is still waiting for her first kiss AND she wants to be a saint. You might think that first kisses and sainthood can't possibly go together. I mean, aren't saints supposed to be holy, virginal and untouched? Oh yeah, they're also supposed to be dead!

Antonia has it all worked out. She wants to be the Patron Saint of First Kiss and Kissing. She thinks she knows exactly how her first kiss will happen and who the kisser will be...but is she right?

Along her way to sainthood, Antonia's life is full of twists and turns as she navigates life with her stereotypical Italian mama who refuses to let her date until she's sixteen, her forgetful grandma, her best friend Maria, her hateful cousins and Andrew, the boy she wants to kiss and Michael, the pesky, good looking creep who always turns up in the most impossible places (like the fire escape outside her window!).

This book's on the Lone Star list and will be one of the Name that Book titles for 2009-2010. Move it to the top of your "must read" list!