School's out for summer! Well, almost...

It's almost the end of the school year for us, so it's time to leave you with some ideas for summer reading. For 7th and 8th graders, remember to take a look at the NH Isinglass Award nominees for 2012-2013, in addition to the lists we handed out in your classes. There are extra copies of those lists in the library, so come see us before school ends if you need another one!

For high school students, check out the NH Flume Award nominees for 2012-2013. This is a great list for ideas. Also, there is a new app for Apple devices that you may want to download. It's called the YALSA Teen Book Finder app, and it's another way to get ideas for summer reads, and make yourself a list right on your device! The YALSA app for droids will be coming soon, so stay tuned...

Don't forget to visit the Hopkinton Town Library over the summer. Their summer reading theme is "Reading Fiesta!" Consider signing up for the Mexican Lunch on August 1st, for grades 6 and up. Sounds yummy!

Have a wonderful, relaxing, full-of-books summer and see you in September. Best of luck to our graduates as you start your next journey. We'll miss you.

Stay tuned...

Votes have been cast for the NH Isinglass and Flume Awards. Winners will be announced next week. Check back to see our school winners, as well as the state winners. Exciting!

Congratulations to our Hunger Games Trivia Contest Winners!

Last week, we held a trivia contest to celebrate the opening of The Hunger Games movie. Like the lottery in the book, names could be entered more than once depending upon the number of questions correctly answered. Here's how your chances were:

One question answered correctly = name entered once
Two questions answered correctly = name entered twice
Three questions answered correctly = name entered four times
Four questions answered correctly = name entered six times
Five questions answered correctly = name entered ten times

We had over forty students participate in the trivia contest, and three winners. First prize was a $20 Regal Cinemas giftcard, second prize was The Hunger Games READ poster, and third prize was the movie soundtrack. All three winners answered all five questions correctly, so the odds were ever in their favor. Congratulations to Emily, Kelly, and Jessi! Thanks to everyone who participated. It was a fun week.

Short Film

This short film was sent to me by a friend. It's titled, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore."It's just under fifteen minutes, and it's fantastic. Enjoy!

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo.

I Love Our Library Because...

Okay, HMHS staff and students, come visit the library and place a mitten on our poster that finishes the statement, "I love our library because..."

We'd love to see what you think! Mrs. Zecha will be placing some of the quotes from this project in our next library newsletter, so stay tuned.

We have just put out lots of new books so come take a look and stock up for vacation.

Finally, if you haven't yet, visit our online newsstand for current events in a variety of areas. The Online Newsstand Project was developed by Steve Butzel at the Portsmouth Public Library, and librarians around the state help contribute to the project. If you are accessing our newsstand at home, you will need to use the EBSCO username and password to read the articles. No password needed in school.

Have a great vacation!

LibGuides

Our library has a new resource for staff and students, called LibGuides. LibGuides are research pathfinders and collections of information/resources on a variety of topics. We will keep adding to these as the year progresses, but examples of current LibGuides include information on how to use GoogleDocs, Copyright and Plagiarism, Remembrance of 9/11, Website Evaluation, and Research Steps. Teachers may choose to create a LibGuides for a particular unit of study. Take a look!

As always, please talk to us about any ideas or feedback you may have regarding LibGuides.

Welcome Back to the 2011-12 School Year

September is almost over already. Bookclubs for all grades have begun, and students are busy with classes and sports. High school homecoming is next weekend. All the library Nooks are checked out, as well as lots of new books that came in over the summer. If you haven't visited the library yet, come see us to take a look at what's new.

Yesterday, I came across Hank Green's Read It 1st pledge, which is something he started to get people motivated to read the book before seeing the movie. In 2010, half of the top selling movies were based on books. Take a look at his YouTube video (it's funny!):




If you want more information, take a look at readit1st.com.

For a list of new titles so far this fall, you can take a look at our list.

Congratulations Class of 2011, and Happy Summer!

This past Friday, June 10, the Class of 2011 graduated from Hopkinton High School. Congratulations to all the graduates, and we wish you all the best in the future. For the rest of our students, school ends on June 23rd.

This has been a fast year, with many changes to our library. We started the year with new computers and netbooks, added Nook ereaders, and continued with very active book clubs for all grades. Our book clubs read a total of over ten books!

Finally, for those of you who haven't heard, the winners of our 2011 NH Flume and Isinglass Awards were as follows:

2011 Flume Award Winner:


Paper Towns, by John Green





2011 Isinglass Award Winner:

The Maze Runner, by James Dashner



For next year's list of Award nominees, stop by the library to pick up a brochure, or visit Barrington Public Library's Teen Zone to download your own Isinglass brochure, and Nashua Public Library's Flume Page to download your own Flume brochure. Happy summer reading!

Nook Update

An update on the Nook ereaders: The Hopkinton PTA delivered not two, but THREE Nook ereaders to our library on March 25, 2011. We have been cataloging them, purchasing Nook ebook titles, and getting ready to loan them out to our high school students. We are almost ready, with an anticipated date for circulation set for April 11, 2011. Come ask us about them!

Nooks Are Coming!

Thanks to the generosity of our Hopkinton PTA, we will be able to purchase two Barnes & Noble Nook ereaders. We chose the Nook over Amazon's Kindle because the Nook is compatible with the NH State Library's subscription to Overdrive, accessed through the Hopkinton Town Library. This extends the amount of titles that we can offer. We are really excited to offer this opportunity to our students and staff. The Nooks will check out just like a book - for a period of three weeks. We will provide more information on our library website, with tutorial information for students. Once again, a HUGE thank you to our PTA!

Award Winners

Yesterday, the American Library Association announced this year's award winners for Youth Media. In the Young Adult category, the Printz Award for Excellence in YA Literature went to the novel Shipbreaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi. The award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults went to Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing, by Ann Angel. Come to the library to get these books and to see if you agree!

Have a Great December Vacation

Next week is a shorter week because of holiday break. Get your books for vacation now! While you're at it, think about which books might be good choices for next year's Flume List or Isinglass list. You can nominate books for the Flume list by using the online form at the Nashua Public Library, or by filling out a form in the library. You can nominate books for the Isinglass Award by downloading a form at the Barrington Public Library, and turning it in to Mrs. Zecha or Ms. Moore. Nominations for next year are due by January 14, 2011.

Podcasts for the Isinglass Awards are ongoing. How many of the nominated titles have you read so far?

If you need suggestions for what to read next, remember that Mrs. Zecha and Ms. Moore are happy to help. Have a great vacation!

Happy Teen Read Week

Hello everybody! I have been maintaining two blogs, and have not updated this one in far too long. This week is Teen Read Week, so grab a book for the fun of it. If you check out a book from the library, you'll be entered in our drawing for Borders Gift Cards. Also, stop by and get a READ poster form, and you could be featured on the next READ poster!

We will have school-wide reading on the following days/times:
Tuesday, October 19: beginning of Z block
Wednesday, Oct. 20: beginning of block 4
Thursday, Oct. 21: beginning of block 2
Friday, October 22: beginning of block 2

Pageturners meet during lunch on Friday, both lunches.

Happy Summer Vacation

This school year is drawing to a close, and we hope you have a fun, sunny summer vacation. Congratulations to our seniors who graduated on June 18th. If you are looking for something fun to read, why not try something from the Isinglass or Flume lists?
See you in August, 2010, and keep reading!

Welcome back

Welcome back from vacation, everybody. Come to the library to see all the new titles we've just put out on display. There are lots! Also, thanks in part to our wonderful PTA, the library has just upgraded our quiz buzzer system to a wireless system. We now have 16 wireless buzzers for our students to use.

Finally, check out this fun video, featuring middle school students from Ocoee Middle School in FL, in conjunction with Full Sail University. It's called, "Gotta Keep Reading." As of right now, the embed code is not working. If I fix it, I'll embed the video here instead. For now, just click on the link to get to the video. Enjoy!

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=159726&title=Gotta_Keep_Reading