United We Read

The Cook Memorial Library in Libertyville has been leading a community read program, United We Read, during October and into November. The selected books are Fern Schumer Chapman's Is It Night or Day? and Motherland.

All of the lunch bunch book clubs will be reading Is It Night or Day? for our November meetings. And on Thursday, November 10, Fern Schumer Chapman will be coming to Highland to speak!

Battle of the Books

Highland will field a team in the 6th Annual Lake County Battle of the Books on March 8, 2011. The event, which will take place at Deerpath Middle School, will challenge students to test their knowledge about the books on the 2011 Caudill Readers' Choice Award list. It's a game show like activity where students buzz in with the title of one of the twenty books on the reading list after questions are asked. Several area middle schools will be participating in the Battle of the Books.

Students interested in the Highland team are invited to come to our first meeting/practice on Tuesday, 2/8, after school in the Learning Center.

Go HORNETS!

Write in the Middle - Call for Writing and Artwork

photo © 2010 John O'Nolan | more info (via: Wylio)
Write in the Middle, Highland's literary magazine, is looking for submissions for the third volume of the publication. Highland students and staff members are invited to submit poetry, short stories, essays, and artwork for consideration.

Work should be submitted electronically to Dr. Wyatt at ewyatt@d70schools.org by February 4, 2011.

Highland Learning Center Starts to Check Out iPods and Audiobooks

The Highland and Adler Learning Centers are introducing a pilot program called Literacy on the Go this year thanks to a grant from the Partners for Educational Excellence.

Students can check out iPod Shuffles loaded with an audiobook in order to listen to a book. We are taking requests about which books to purchase. So far we have three eAudiobook titles available. We can also load any CD that the library owns on to an iPod to be checked out.

Stop by today to check out an audiobook and try this new service!

Highland Kicks Off Virtual Author Visits

This year, through a generous Partners for Educational Excellence grant, Highland is going to be doing a series of virtual author visits to connect students and writers.

The first visit was a big success. Mrs. Fox's classes got to meet with Joseph Bruchac. The students read his book, Skeleton Man, as a class novel earlier this year. Our first attempt using Skype to connect with an author went relatively smoothly.

The visit got a really nice write-up in the Libertyville Patch. Check out the article to see what Highland students had to say about the visit.

Works Cited
Skeleton Man Cover. LibraryThing. Web. 12 Jan. 2011. .

Caudill and Lincoln Program 2011

The Readers' Choice Program at Highland is underway for this school year. While many of the eighth grade students have reading requirements from these book lists, there is enthusiasm and wide-spread participation among many other students in the school as well.

The Caudill Award is an annual award given to a book by 4th - 8th grade students from around the state of Illinois. Each year there is a new list of twenty Caudill nominated books. We've also added ten of the books from this year's Lincoln list into the mix of the program at Highland.

In order to be eligible to vote for the award, students must read three of the nominated Caudill titles before the end of February.

We have some extra rewards students can earn at Highland. For reading ten of the books on the list, students will earn a free lunch. And for reading twenty of the books on the list, students will earn the grand prize.

Happy Reading!

Hunger Games Fever

I just had a conversation with a couple eighth grade guys who were wondering about the length of the hold list for Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. (Currently, there are 22 students waiting for one of the four library copies of Mockingjay.) Her trilogy, which begins with The Hunger Games, is definitely the hottest series at Highland this fall. It appeals across grade levels and genders. It really does have something for everyone action, adventure, violence, romance, psychological struggle.

I first read Hunger Games several years ago (long enough that I had to wait a year for book #2, Catching Fire, to be released), and I was hooked. I've read lots of dystopian fiction since then. I thought I'd share a couple favorites. We've also got a read-alike list in the library's catalog if you are looking for some suggestions.

Here are some standouts if you are looking for a series after Hunger Games or while you wait for one of the books:

• The Maze Runner by James Dashner  - finished it last night and am now anxiously awaiting The Scorch Trials (out October 12)
• Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
• Gone by Michael Grant  - I read book three this summer and was suprised the series stayed fresh and took some interesting turns
• The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness - I'm anxiously awaiting book three

If you have suggestions of other books I should pick up, I welcome them!