Giving Back at Christmas

Our December read was Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick. This book told the story of a teen who had to grow up very quickly as a US Army soldier stationed in Iraq. The story gave the kids a perspective about life "outside their bubbles" and made us appreciate the freedoms we often take for granted. We decided to combine the spirit of the holidays with some patriotic spirit and give back to those soldiers and veterens who have given so much for us. The Varsity Nooksters made holiday cards that were sent to soldiers and their families serving oversees through the American Red Cross. The kids got very creative and took the time to write heartfelt messages. The JV Nooksters decorated Christmas cookies that were delivered to veterens in three different Maryville nursing homes.

I personally found this month's meetings to be two of our best because I was so impressed with how seriously the kids took the subject matter of the book and how eager they were to give back to others. Hopefully we helped to make some people's holidays a little brighter.

A Beastly Adaptation

November meetings are a wrap for the Nook. We discussed Beastly by Alex Flinn and found the book to be deeper and much more thought-provoking than we had expected. Some of the kids who had seen the movie adaptation agreed that the book was much better! (Isn't it always?) In fact, our book covers used a photo from the movie, and the beast looked nothing like that in the book! So we redesigned the covers in a group competition. Topics like bullying, vanity, and compassion were at the core of our discussion, and I challenged the kids to spend the next month "paying it forward" to family, friends, foes, and strangers. Hopefully they will step up to the task!

Our book for December is Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick. We expect this book to be a heavy read as it is about the War in Iraq, but I know my readers have the maturity to handle it.

As first semester comes to a close, we need to collect dues for second semester. Please turn in your $10 by our next meeting either to the public library or to Mrs. Nolte at the middle school library.

Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Hopefully you can use your days off to curl up with a great book!

Beastly Movie- Anything like the book?

It's a New Nook Year!

We are into month two of year two of the Nook Book Club, and so far I am loving the mix of new and returning members. In September we met for the first time to discuss the book Hate List by Jennifer Brown, a current Gateway nominee about the after-effects of a school shooting on the shooter's girlfriend. Seventeen sixth through ninth graders attended the first meeting, which shows quite a commitment considering how busy teens are... especially our Nook members who are now in high school!

Our October book is After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick, the sequel to Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie which we read in club last year. All paid members received a copy of the book. The eighth and ninth graders met last Thursday, and the sixth and seventh graders will meet this coming Thursday. Prepare yourself for book trivia and discussion along with a little music trivia! (But that's all the info you're getting from me now!)

FYI: Calling the groups eighth/ninth graders and sixth/seventh graders gets a little long and confusing (for me anyway), so I will now be referring to our separate groups by Varsity and Junior Varsity. :) Varsity=eighth/ninth grade, JV=sixth/seventh grade.

VARSITY Nooksters will now be starting club at 4:15 instead of 4:00 to accomodate our high schoolers who are involved in after-school tutoring. Please plan to be here from 4:15 to 5:45. JV will continue to meet from 4:00 to 5:30.

Welcome to the Nook

Summer Passport WINNERS!

Congratulations to the following teens who have won our BIG prizes for Summer Passport!

 

The winners of our Movie Night Extravaganza raffles are.... Hyrum Galbraith and Jessie Mahoney!

 

The winners of our book trailer competition are... Mariah Patterson (1st place, winner of the pocket video camera!), Leticia Tate (2nd place, winner of a Hangar movie package), and Anna Bagoly (3rd place, winner of a Hangar movie package).

 

All of our winners may pick up their prizes at the library at any time. Be ready to have your picture taken! :)

 

Thanks to everyone who helped make this a great summer at the Maryville Public Library! I hope to see many of you in September at our first Nook Book Club meeting. Inquire at the front desk if you are interesting in joining!

Nook Book Club 2011-2012

Our first book for the new year of book club has arrived! We will be reading Hate List by Jennifer Brown. (The Book Thief was unavailable.) This is a current Gateway nominee so I expect that several of you have already read it, but I HIGHLY encourage you to read it again so that it's fresh in your mind. Copies will be behind the front desk and ready to check out Friday morning.

Remember, you must turn in your permission slip along with the $10 fee to come to the first meeting. (This fee covers the entire semester.) If you are new to the club or if you are returning member who missed the last meeting, you can ask for a permission slip at the front desk when you pick up your book. You may bring the slip to the first meeting or turn it in at the library in advance but PLEASE put it in a clearly marked envelope.

Book Trailer 101

Several of you have been coming into the library to make your book trailers this past week. I've been noticing that we are struggling with where to begin. I'm here to help you with the technological aspects such as taking pictures and putting those pictures into movie maker, but I can't tell you what to take pictures of or write the whole trailer for you. :) So here are some simple steps to get you started so that you will have a plan when you come into the library. Remember, book trailers need to be finished by the beginning of August.

Steps for Making a Book Trailer

1. Read the book. (This may sound really obvious, but you cannot start a book trailer until you have read the entire book.)

2. Think about the concepts or the point that you are trying to get across. You want to entice the reader (tease if you please), not tell the whole story.

3. Make a book trailer scene list, scenes from the book that communicate your concept. What is the message you want to send? The trailer should be about the story, NOT the selling of the book or all the awards it has won. Sell the story don’t make a “commercial.”

4. Write a script. Try creating a spreadsheet with columns for subject (for example, man at desk), the photo, video, audio file name as you create them– for example, desk.jpg) and a third column for the description (man sitting at a desk looking bored) of each scene to help me keep focused and stay on track with the story. Stay organized – there are lots of pieces and parts to keep organized.

OR

Create a storyboard. Draw out your trailer frame by frame using short descriptions of what will be in each frame. Draw stick people to give yourself an idea of what you want. Whether you choose to use a script of a storyboard, you must have a PLAN for where you are going with your trailer.

5. Try to keep the trailer as short as possible. Don’t get caught up in telling about every character and every plot detail. It’s not easy but you don’t want to lose your audience. You want your trailer to entice them enough that they want to find out those details on their own by reading the book.

6. Do NOT under any circumstances use any media that you just happen to come across on the Internet. You must create your own images. You can take photos, draw pictures, act out scenes and videotape them… just make them original!

The Hunger Games- Not Your Typical Child's Play/ Book Review by Jill Emerson

I am usually slow to join the literature bandwagon. I avoided Twilight until the third movie was already out and my students’ declaration of its pure awesomeness finally forced me to read it. The Hunger Games trilogy was similar. Suzanne Collins did for dystopian societies what Stephanie Meyer did for vampires… create a new cult following amongst today’s teens, not to mention the equally large group of adult followers. The difference for me, however, was that I finished The Hunger Games trilogy; I quit after book two of Twilight. I just couldn’t force myself to read another 1300 pages of that monotonous vampire/werewolf battle-for-the-girl-with-no-self-esteem.

            The Hunger Games kept me hooked all the way to the last pages of its final installment, Mockingjay. I began the series only because the library’s middle school book club chose it as their February read. I cringed at their choice because I knew the premise: 24 teenagers are placed in an arena where they must fight each other to the death on national television. If you think that the violence must be watered down since it’s a “kids’” book, think again. The violence is graphic, the blood is abundant, and many, many characters—the majority children—die. In the second book, Catching Fire, the torture inflicted upon the characters only heightens, and in Mockingjay, most of our favorite characters perish in an all-out war. The only thing that makes this a “young adult” series is the fact that the main characters are teenagers.  If you can accept the idea of an entire nation following a sixteen-year-old girl in a rebellion, you will find that the series could go toe-to-toe with any adult futuristic war novel, except that like all YA, it gets to the point more quickly.

            You may be wondering why in the world anyone would let their child read this. First of all, Collins doesn’t glamorize the killings in these books. She forces the reader to consider the emotional, psychological, and moral consequences of them as we live through the experiences with main character Katniss. This isn’t like the bloody video games that many teens play daily, desensitizing them to violence. These novels evoked powerful book club discussions including how corrupt government can be in the wrong hands and what we would do if we were forced into a kill-or-be-killed situation. We also noted that, as far-fetched and repulsive as it at first seemed, the idea of watching people fight to the death would, sadly, probably be a hit in our reality-TV-obsessed society. And like any good teen novel, the series had a love triangle that sparked heated arguments over who should win the heart of Katniss who—unlike Twilight’s constant damsel in distress, Bella—was always coming to the rescue of her men. I’ll admit that as much as I thought the love triangle was complete overkill in the first book, I found myself picking a side in the Team Peeta/Team Gale debate and angrily slamming Mockingjay down on the table when Katniss didn’t end up with my favorite.

            YA is emerging into a category for youth and adults alike. The Hunger Games can connect teachers and students as well as parents and teenage children, with whom they often feel like they have nothing in common. Even though the content is intense, the story goes far beyond the entertainment value of war and presents many opportunities for lessons about survival, human decency, and compassion.

July Book Club Reminders

Be sure you have marked your calendars for Nook Book Club... Summer Edition!

7th/8th grade meets Thursday, July 14 from 3:30 to 5:30. We're discussing the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

5th/6th grade meets the following Thursday, July 21 from 3:30 to 5:30 to discuss Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen.

Please email me if you cannot attend!

The competition is ON!

Summer Passport participants, don't forget that you have been invited to make a book trailer on your favorite summer read. The creator of the best book trailer will win their very own pocket video camera, and runners-up will win movie passes to the Hangar! If you missed the informational meetings but still want to participate, contact me at jill@maryvillepubliclibrary.org for a handout of the information.

I will also be at the library next Wednesday, June 29 at 10am if you would like to work on your trailer. Cameras and computers will be available!

Not a little kids book...

Last Thursday, the 5th and 6th grade Nooksters met to watch and discuss The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The back cover of the book offered no information as to what the book was actually about and the pages of the book never came straight out and said it either. Told from the point of view of an innocent 8 year-old, the book read like a fable with simple words and thoughts. But the keen reader could tell that this book was about so much more than the simple day-to-day events of the main character Bruno. Nooksters soon realized that this book was actually about the Holocaust. The "pajamas" weren't pajamas at all but instead the uniforms of concentration camp captives. I personally think this is one of the best books we have read in book club, and the movie was excellent as well. This is one of those of stories that is heartbreaking and impossible to forget.

Our next book for the 5th and 6th graders is Flipped. We will meet Thursday, July 21 at 3:30.

Kicking off Summer

Last night, the seventh and eighth grade Nook Book Club met to discuss Freedom Writers Diary and to watch the movie adaptation starring Hillary Swank. Kudos to the Nooksters for continuing to read during the summer and for showing up on the right day, at the right time without Mrs. Nolte to remind them at school! :) I was a little nervous that the book would be a difficult read simply because it was broken up into so many different diary entries by different authors, but the kids had no problem with the format. They liked the movie, but they LOVED the book.

I was also pleasantly surprised by how much teens have already been reading for Summer Passport. We have some serious readers in this town! I am thrilled that 24 teens have already signed up for Summer Passport. We are currently out of passport books, but don't worry, more have been ordered. (What a great problem to have!)

Following book club was an informational meeting about the book trailer competition. If you missed it, don't worry, you can also come next Thursday from 5:30 to approximately 6:15. (But remember, you MUST attend one of these sessions to take part in the competition.) We will have a workshop on Wednesday, June 15 to take photos and video for your book trailers. If you have already finished a book in these first 10 days of June that you want to do your trailer on, meet at the library at 10:00 on Wednesday to get started on your project.

HAPPY READING!

Book Your Seat for Summer Passport!

Sign-ups have begun for Summer Passport! Teen age 12-18 are invited to participate. You will receive a passport book in which you will keep track of all books (YA or adult only) that you read in June and July. The more you read, the more passport stamps you will collect. Passport stamps transfer to travel tickets, and travel tickets earn you prizes! (PHEW!) You can also choose to enter your tickets into a raffle for bigger prizes.

As part of the program, you will be invited to create your very own book trailer on one of the books you read during June and July. You must attend one of the instructional meetings on June 9 or June 16 from 5:30 to 6:30 to participate. The person who creates the most outstanding trailer will win their very own pocket video camera! WOW!

Sign up today at MPL for more information. Happy reading!

Mmm...

In honor of the book Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, we held our own pie eating contest. (How could we not?) Three brave, or maybe just hungry, kids stepped up in the seventh and eighth grade group to compete. Although the girls made a great effort, Dominic and Chad had no trouble defeating the girls by practically licking their pie plates clean after only ONE MINUTE! The champions were awarded a lovely t-shirt. :)

VISIT THE NOOK'S FACEBOOK PAGE TO SEE A VIDEO OF THE PIE-EATING CONTEST!

After the pie eating contest, everyone got to enjoy a slice of delicious pie. But don't worry, we didn't just eat the whole time. We discussed the humorous, yet sad, novel, and we also took part in a Name That Tune Contest since the main character of the book loved music so much.  It was an awesome way to end the Nook year. However, we're not really done. Nooksters wanted to keep meeting during the summer, so we will have meetings in June and July as well.

The next book for seventh and eighth graders is Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell. We will meet on Thursday, June 9 from 3:00 to 5:30. **Note time change. Fifth and sixth graders will be reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. We will meet on Thursday, June 16 from 3:30 to 5:30. Books for the summer Nook Club were made available through inter-library loan, so please be EXTRA careful with the books and return them in a timely fashion.

Summer Passport Rules and Regulations

1. Teens ages 12-18 (preferably those going into 6^th-12^th grade) are eligible to participate.
2. Each teen will receive one passport book. No replacements will be issued for lost passport books. If you lose yours, you may keep track of your reading on a piece of paper.
3. You will receive one stamp in your passport book for every 500 pages read. You may only count pages read during the months of June and July, not those read previously. You will keep a running total of pages from all of your books and combine those to get 500 pages. Please do not count table of contents, about the author, index, glossary pages, etc. Only count those pages that tell the actual story. (Just be honest!)
4. All book selections must be checked out from the YOUNG ADULT or ADULT sections of the Maryville Public Library. MAKE SURE THEY ARE YA OR ADULT BEFORE YOU BEGIN. Young Adult books will have a “YA” in the call number. Adult books will simply have an “F” for fiction or a just a Dewey decimal number for nonfiction. Books in our YOUTH section (marked with a small “y”) will NOT be eligible. (Be careful of this. Books such as Mark Twain nominees like The Lightning Thief, for example, are considered youth books. If younger teens, i.e. sixth graders would prefer to read at this level, they may take part in the children’s summer reading program instead of Summer Passport.)
5. For every stamp you receive, you may either choose a small prize OR obtain a raffle ticket to be put into our drawing for larger prizes.
6. You will receive one additional stamp for participating in and completing the book trailer project. There will be an additional award given for the best book trailer.

How to Win a Pie Eating Contest

What are Nooksters Reading?

A Chilling Good Time

On April 14 and 21, the Nook Book Club discussed Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, the story of a teenage girl in love with her wolf, but surprise!-- he's not just a wolf, he's a werewolf! I'll admit that this storyline had a been there, done that in Twilight feel to it when I read the back cover. So as a person who was less than impressed with Twilight, I was kind of dreading reading this book. But I was soooo wrong! In my opinion, this book puts Twilight to shame. The love story is better (not so needy and desperate), the characters are more likeable (the guy has a sense of humor and the girl isn't terminally depressed), and the story more believable (as believable as werewolves can be anyway). But that's just my opinion. The overwhelming majority of Nooksters agreed with me although there were a few who weren't fans of the book. I personally thought the lovey dovey stuff would kill this book as far as my male Nooksters were concerned, but the fifth and sixth grade boys said that was their favorite part! :) In true Shiver fashion, we took part in a trivia contest with questions written on "snowballs" that the kids could throw at each other and then we enjoyed an icy popsicle during our discussion.

Our next, and final, book of the school season, is Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick. Seventh and eighth grade will meet Thursday, May 12, and the fifth/sixth graders will meet Thursday, May 19. Nooksters expressed that they do indeed want to meet over the summer, so we will meet in June and July during our regular times while taking August off. More information to come!

Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie- Our May Selection

Our April Read- Shiver

Court Adjourned!

Nooksters found themselves summoned to appear in court... the Nook court that is. Our March book was Monster by Walter Dean Myers, the story of a 16-year-old on trial for his involvement in a murder. Since this book was written in the unique format of a script, Nooksters were given their own scripts to take part in a mock trial at our meeting. Complete with costumes, these middle schoolers really got into their roles in the case of Cindy Charming (a.k.a Cinderella) vs. Wanda, Drizella, and Anastasia Perfect (a.k.a the evil stepmother and stepsisters. We may very well have some future attorneys, or maybe future actors, in our midst. Check out our facebook page for more pics from the night!

Our next book is Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. Seventh and eighth graders will meet April 14, and fifth/sixth graders will meet April 21.

Congratulations to Tyson Jackson, the winner of our Mockingjay drawing. Enjoy your book, Tyson!

Monster Video Trailer

The Nook Hunger Games

The last two Thursdays were SAVAGE at MPL with middle schoolers fighting to the death in our very own Hunger Games. Ok, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but we did have fun competing in Hunger Games inspired events. :)

The meeting started with a discussion of the book. We found that splitting the club into two groups made for much deeper discussion and more chances for everyone to be heard. The book evoked discussions about right and wrong, basic human rights, our culture's fascination with "reality TV," and what our future could hold.

After the discussion, we split into two-person districts and competed in the Nook Hunger Games. We started with a physical challenge (wheelbarrow races), and then we competed in a Cornucopia Challenge. Just like in the book, we raced to claim survival items including everything from crackers and water to weapons (don't worry, all plastic) and anti-venom medicine. Wearing flag football belts, we had to be careful to dodge the other tributes. If they stole one flag, you were "wounded." Two, you're dead! Most survived the Cornucopia Challenge, but a few unfortunate didn't survive for the last round, the intellectual challenge. This was a four minute book trivia quiz, and it was HARD! There could be only one winning district. Mariah P. and Shyan D. were the seventh/eighth grade winners while Chad S. and Christina D. won for the fifth/sixth grade. CONGRATULATIONS TRIBUTES!

See you on the 10th (7th and 8th grade) or the 17th (5th and 6th)! And remember, you must FINISH THE BOOK!

Here are a couple pics from the Cornucopia Challenge. Go to the Nook's facebook's page for more!

Hungry For More??

Phew! I don't know about you, but I can't get enough of The Hunger Games! I stayed up until 1:00am this morning finishing the second book in the trilogy, Catching Fire. Now it's on to the final book, Mockingjay! Speaking of which, how would you like to have your very own hardcover copy of Mockingjay? Become of a follower of this blog, and your name will be entered in a drawing to win the book. Click "LIKE" on the Nook's facebook page, and you'll be entered twice. The winner will be announced at our March meetings, so enter now!

We had our 7th/8th grade meeting last night to discuss The Hunger Games, and it was a blast! I won't spoil the activites for the 5th/6th graders who meet next week, but let's say that I was impressed by the deep discussions and greatly entertained by our very own version of The Hunger Games. Let's hope next week is just as fun!

Two new members joined last night bringing our total for both groups up to 27! WOW! Who said kids don't like to read? HA! Way to go!

We made the newspaper!

Click here to see the front page article in the Maryville Daily Forum about our book club! (Forgive the awful photo of me!)

The Hunger Games trailer

The Hunger Games Movie Gets Release Date

NEW MEETING TIMES!!

Due to the large number of members in book club, I have decided to split our meetings up by grade. Seventh and eighth graders will meet the second Thursday of the month as usual, but fifth and sixth graders will now meet the THIRD Thursday of the month. We will keep it this way until further notice. Hopefully this will allow for better discussion!

Sooooooo......

Our next meetings discussing The Hunger Games will be:

Thursday, February 10 for 7th and 8th grade
Friday, February 17 for 5th and 6th grade

May the odds be ever in your favor! :)

Our January Meeting is History!

And history is just what we talked about. We found that many kids were a little out of their comfort zone when reading historical fiction, but for the most part, were glad to be introduced to a book they never would have picked out on their own. We were exposed to what slavery was really like- more than just the surface information we learn from our history textbooks. We had some serious discussion, and then we lightened the mood with a competitive trivia game. We ended the night with some Revolutionary War era "turtle soup." :)

Our next book (voted on by YOU) is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I just started it, and I can honestly say that it is a page-turner!

Our next meeting is Thursday, February 10 from 4:00 to 5:30. Happy reading!