Students in Ms. Prem's 8th Grade Honors Language Arts classes created poetry around the theme of love. They were given a topic to focus on and then wrote from their own personal, unique perspective. With writing complete and poems practiced, students recorded their poetry and created podcasts in the library. You can listen to their poems here.

National Book Award winner Pete Hautman spoke to King Science students in January.  During two presentations he shared his writing process and talked about the evolvement of Snatched and Rash, which the students read prior to his visit. Hautman also read an excerpt from his favorite book, Invisible, that had students laughing and wanting more. His visit will definitely increase the books on the library hold shelf as students left the presentations eager to read more of Hautman’s books.

A small but mighty band of Ally Condie fans traveled to McMillan to hear her talk about the final book in the Matched trilogy, Reached. Condie was gracious and down to earth upon our arrival. She chatted with students, signed books and took photos before even beginning her presentation. One student said, "I haven't met many famous people but she seems very normal." 

Condie shared that she believes to write or do anything creative you have to be inspired. She shared many different things that inspire her from people in her life to places she has been. This led to an interesting discussion between students about what inspires them and how they could use it in their own writing on our way back to KSTM.

During the Q&A session we learned that Matched is being made into a movie and the connections the cover art has with the books. It was interesting to hear about the process of publishing a book and how much input an author actually has.

Check out Matched, Crossed, and Reached at the library today!

Which explorers were actually Spanish Conquistadors? Who died believing he had traveled to lands he had not? Which explorer never went on any explorations? Learn the answers to these questions and more when you watch 5th grade interviews with explorers here.

Check out these web sites for a frighteningly good tale.

American Folklore: Scary Ghost Stories
Castle of Spirits: Spookiest Stories Ever
Ghost Stories of North Carolina
Haunted Nebraska
The Moonlit Road
PoeStories
Scariest Urban Legends
Scary for Kids: Ghost Stories
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
TLC: Ghost Stories

Image from http://www.morguefile.com/

Time lapse video of the space shuttle's journey through Los Angeles.

Learn more about the space shuttle:

The History of the Space Shuttle
A Photo History of the Space Shuttle Program
NASA: The Shuttle
30 Years of the Space Shuttle Program

Banned Books Week in an annual observance that celebrates the First Amendment right of the freedom to read. Click here to see the top ten most frequently challenged books each year of the 21st Century as compiled by the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. You might be surprised to discover you've read some of them!

I love seeing the enthusiasm our students have for books! All the 5th and 6th grade students have had the opportunity to visit the library over the past two weeks and the books have been flying off the shelves. Looking forward to getting YA books into the hands of 7th and 8th grade students next week!