New Arrival!

From the Destiny summary of Hottie by John Bernstein:

"When a power surge during experimental plastic surgery turns fourteen-year-old Alison into a human flamethrower, she drops from popular Beverly Hills princess to social outcast, but with the help of a comic-loving "geek," she becomes a real-life superhero."

Library Tip of the Week

The holiday break is just around the corner! Swing by the library and check out some books so you have something to read over the long break.

BotW: The City of Ember

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau opens with a mystery. The beginning chapter entitled "The Instructions" discusses a city built by some mysterious engineers and a set of secret instructions that they locked in a safe and entrusted with the city mayor to keep safe for more than 200 years. Generations of mayors passed the safe to their replacements. All but one. And so the safe, and the instructions inside it, were lost.

The very next chapter focuses on the book's protangonist, Lina Mayfleet. It's job assignment day for the City of Ember and Lina hopes she gets messenger. Instead, she is horrified when she gets Pipeworks, an engineering job working underground Ember maintaining the cities plumbing system.

Why does Lina hate the job of Pipeworks so much? More importantly, why does a fellow student, Doon Harrow, volunteer to switch jobs with her? Check out The City of Ember and find out!

New Arrival!

Confetti Girl by Diana López is about a Texas girl trying to deal with the recent death of her mother and the gradual withdrawal of her father.

Library Tip of the Week

Get your overdue books back to the library! Overdue notices get sent to advisory classes every Monday. If you get a notice, be sure to come to the library and either renew the book(s) or turn them in.

Don't forget, you get to keep a book for two weeks and a magazine for three days.

BoTW: Me, Evolution, and Other Freaks of Nature

Based on the book's long title, you might have a tough time gleaning the meaning of Me, Evolution, and Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande. Don't let the rambling title deter you from reading a great book.

Mena, a high school freshman, angers both her parents and church congregation when she writes a letter. What could she have written to make so many people upset with her? You won't find that out until the end of the book and I'm not going to spoil it here. But I can tell you that Mena is a conflicted young lady, torn between her religious faith and her own unique sense of morality; the two don't always line up.

Does she ultimately reconcile the teachings of her church with her own sense of right and wrong? You'll have to read the book to find out! Be warned, however, that the book tackles whether or not evolution or "intelligent design" should be taught in schools.

New Arrival!

We recently got a new shipment of books, including a wide assortment of graphic novels of Spider-man and Superman.

Peter Parker finding the alien symbiote suit is probably one of the most interesting story lines in the Marvel universe. Read about Spidey's endless struggle with his own costume!

Library Tip of the Week

Don't forget, holds that you put on books don't last forever. Holds by students last 45 days and then expire.

Today, more than ten such holds expired for the book Unwind. To double check to see if you still have a book on hold, log into Destiny and check the "My Info" tab. It will have a listing of all the books you currently have on hold. If one of your holds expired, simply look up the book and place it back on hold.

BoTW: Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever

It's been nearly four years since I first read James Patterson's Maximum Ride: the Angel Experiment. I liked that book for a number of reasons including its action-packed plot, short zippy chapters, and interesting characters. It didn't hurt that the main characters had wings like birds and could fly at speeds approaching 200 mph.

School's Out Forever is the sequel to that pulse-pounding first book, picking up exactly where the last left off. Max and company desperately want to find their biological parents. Pursued relentlessly by Ari and the other Erasers, the flock finds themselves constantly on the run, with few clues on how to pick up the trail of their real parents.

Come for the teenagers with wings and super-strength. Stay for the tightly wound action and snappy narrative.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a great turkey break. We'll see you in the library next week!

New Arrival!

Scat is the latest book by Carl Hiassen. The book is about two students who try to track down the mysterious disappearance of their biology teacher, Mrs. Bunny Starch.

You can find the book in the fiction section, FIC HIAASEN.

Library Tip of the Week

The Book Fair has arrived! Check with your language arts and reading teachers to find out when your class will be visiting the fair. Each grade level has a day assigned to them:

8th Grade - Wednesday, November 18th
7th Grade - Thursday, November 19th
6th Grade - Friday and Monday, November 20th and November 23rd

Tuesday morning, November 24th is the make-up day for anyone that missed their assigned day.

Don't miss Sabercat Family Night Wednesday, November 18th from 6 pm to 8 pm!

We will see you at the Book Fair!

BoTW: The Thief Lord

Cornelia Funke is a German author with an impressive resume of outstanding young adult fantasy, including Inkheart, Indeath, and Igraine the Brave. The Thief Lord is one of her lesser known books about a gang of orphan thieves living in Venice, Italy. You need to read the book to find out who the "thief lord" turns out to be, a mystery highlighted by the beautiful Italian setting and air of intrigue and adventure.

New Arrival!

This week's new arrival is Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko, the second book in the Moose Flanagan series. The book is the sequel to Al Capone Does My Shirts, the story of a teenager who finds himself living on the famous prison island, Alcatraz.

Library Tip of the Week

The Book Fair arrives at the library next week! Check with your language arts and reading teachers to find out when your class will be visiting the fair. Each grade level has a day assigned to them:

8th Grade - Wednesday, November 18th
7th Grade - Thursday, November 19th
6th Grade - Friday and Monday, November 20th and November 23rd

Tuesday morning, November 24th is the make-up day for anyone that missed their assigned day.

Wednesday, November 18th is Sabercat Family Night! Come visit the Book Fair between 6 pm and 8 pm.

Check with Mr. Thomson if you have any questions!

BoTW: Crash

At first glance, you might think that Crash by Jerry Spinelli is just a book about middle school bullying. As you read, however, it slowly dawns on you that the book is really about issues closely related to the bullying the main character commits: fear, friends and family, and death.

Don't read Crash expecting a blatant condemnation of bullying. It's true that Crash undergoes a character transformation that forces him to rethink how he treats his Quaker neighbor. But Crash is as complex a character as the many reasons for why he bullied in the first place. The book is a great examination of teenagers and what makes them do the things they do.

New Arrival!

This week's new arrival is Best Friends and Drama Queens by Meg Cabot, part of the Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls series.

Library Tip of the Week

The Book Fair is coming to the library! The Fair starts November 18th and runs through November 24th. Feel free to visit the Book Fair before school at 7:15, after school until 3:15, and between passing periods, but don't be late to class or miss your bus! You can also visit the Book Fair during class if you get a pass from your teacher.

See you at the Fair!

BoTW: The Compound

The Compound by S.A. Bodeen is one of the stranger Lone Star books I read this past summer. The book is about a domineering father who saves his family from a nuclear attack by fleeing to a underground shelter he spent millions of dollars to build.

The book has a great premise, but the plot became quickly unbelievable. And you can see the ending coming a mile away, which sucked a lot of the tension out of the story. However, I'm still recommending the book because I think most teenagers will enjoy the macabre nature of the story, especially the depiction of six years of living in a state-0f-the-art bomb shelter.

New Arrival!

Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs is about a teenage girl who ends up going to high school on a remote Greek island where all the students and teachers are descendants of gods and goddesses. If you liked Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, check it out!

Library Tip of the Week

Did you know you can review a book you've checked out from the library? It's easy! Here's how:

• Log into Destiny, just like you do to put a book on hold.
• Search for the book you want to review. Click on the title.
• To the right, you should see a tab named "Reviews."
• Click on that tab.
• Write your review of the book. Or just rate the book, from one to five stars. Or do both!
• Hit the "Save" button and you're done!
• Mr. Thomson will read your submitted review, edit it for content, spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and then approve it to upload.

You can submit as many reviews as books you've read! It's fun and easy!

BoTW: Unwind

Unwind by Neal Shusterman is a book about a grim alternative future for the United States. Pro-choice and pro-life forces arm themselves and fight a civil war over the issue of abortion. Neither side wins the war, but instead compromises with a new amendment to the Constitution: The Bill of Life. As part of its tenets, the Bill states the following:

• Human life may not be touched from the moment of conception until a child reaches the age of thirteen.
• However, between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, a parent may choose to retroactively "abort" a child . . . on the condition that the child's life doesn't "technically end.
• The process by which a child is both terminated and yet kept alive is called "unwinding."
• Unwinding is now a common, and accepted practice in society.

The story begins when the main character, Connor, finds out accidentally that his parents plan to have him unwound. Knowing full well that will kill him, Connor runs away. He's quickly caught (his cellphone gives him away) but then escapes again. A fugitive from the government, Conner teams up with two other "Unwinds," attempting to stay out of sight until the day they turn eighteen and by law cannot be unwound.



Unwind is another 2009 Lone Star book and can be found in the new arrival shelf.

New Arrival!

As mentioned last week, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins just arrived! The book is the highly-anticipated sequel to Collins' The Hunger Games. Even though we've only had the book a couple of days, both copies are already checked out. If you want to read this title, login to Destiny and put it on hold today!

Library Tip of the Week

Did you get an overdue notice for books that you checked out? Turn those books in as soon as possible!

If you're still reading the book, stop by the library and renew it. If the book hasn't been put on hold, you can keep the book for another two weeks.

The Cutty Sark

Stop by the library and see the Cutty Sark, a beautiful model of the actual ship built back in 1869. John McClure, a teacher at Cy-Springs High School, lent the model to Smith as part of his "Storyboat Project." John builds ship models and then lends them out to schools to help teach students the rich naval history of the United States and world.

BoTW: The Dead and the Gone

The Dead and the Gone by Susan Pfeffer is a book about a Puerto Rican family trying to survive a devastated planet Earth. The story begins when a meteor slams into the moon, knocking it out of its typical orbit. The collision brings about catastrophic climate changes to Earth, plunging the world into a sudden Ice Age. As the temperature drops worldwide, crops fail, hunger ensues, and people starve and die by the millions.

Alex Morales, all of sixteen years old, must protect and provide for his two sisters. The entire books takes place in the middle of a New York City in the midst anarchy and destruction. Be forewarned, this book is stark and serious and not for the faint of heart. It deals liberally with a variety of moral issues, including the bleak choices that come with hard survival.

The Dead and the Gone is a 2009 Lone Star award winner. It can be found on the new release shelf with the other Lone Star winners.

New Arrival!

If you're looking for a new and . . . unusual book title, look no further than The Story Behind Toliets by Elizabeth Raum. This non-fiction title covers the entire history and mechanics of our favorite sanitary recepticals. Look for the book at call number 696 RAU.

Just try not to read while you're on the toliet!

Hot Titles Just Arrived!

Some of this year's hottest young adult titles arrived today at Smith, including Rick Riordan's The Last Olympian and Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire. Stop by the library soon to check these books because they won't be on the shelf long!

Library Tip of the Week

October 18th-24th is Teen Read Week. This year's theme is "Read Beyond Reality @ Your library," encouraging everyone (but especially teens) to read something out of this world! Check out the American Library Association's website devoted to Teen Read Week at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/teenreading/trw/trw2009/home.cfm

BoTW: Peter and the Starcatchers

Looking for a great fantasy book? Love Peter Pan and Tinkerbell? Then check out Peter and the Starcatchers, a retelling of the Peter Pan story by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Check out Wikipedia's entry about Peter and the Starcatchers, including summaries of the book and the major characters, comparisons between this book and the original written by Barrie, and critical opinions of the book.

And if you like Peter and the Starcatchers, read the sequels, Peter and the Shadow Thieves and Peter and the Secret of Rundoon.

Look for all three books in the Fiction section, under the call number FIC BARRY. For lots more information about the book, visit the website http://www.peterandthestarcatchers.com/

New Arrival!

The Seventh Daughter by Frewin Jones is a new fantasy title about an alternative world on the other side of modern day London. Tania and Edric must join forces to fight the evil Sorcerer King and save King Oberon and The Faerie Court. It's the third book in The Faerie Path series.

Library Tip of the Week

You can access Smith's library from the comfort of your own home! Here's how:

1. Go to Cy-Fair's homepage at http://www.cfisd.net/.
2. In the middle tool bar, mouse over to departments.
3. In the pop-up toolbar, click on "libraries."
4. Click on "middle school."
5. Click on "Smith."

That's it! The Smith library page works the same at home as it does at school, so feel free to search for hot titles, put books on hold, or check to see what you have checked out.

Cirque du Freak Movie

The Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan is a fan favorite here at Smith. Check out the trailer for the upcoming movie, The Vampire's Assistant.

You can check out more Cirque du Freak stuff at the official website: http://www.thevampiresassistant.net/

BoTW: The Traitor's Gate

Do you like a good mystery? Do you like historical fiction? If you do, you'll enjoy The Traitor's Gate by Avi. The story begins with a mysterious meeting between two shadowy men. Are they trading in government secrets? Yes! John Hoffman's father works for the navy and has access to a new rifle design that promises to revolutionize firearms in the 19th century. John himself gets sucked into the intrigue when his father gets thrown into debtor's jail. John must play the role of adolescent detective to save his family from shame and bankruptcy.

The best part of this book is the setting: 19th century London, inspired by the writing of Charles Dickens. In fact, Avi mentions Dickens often throughout his book, most often the novel David Copperfield.

New Arrival!

Anthony Horowitz is famous for his Alex Rider series, but his latest book The Switch has nothing to do with a teenage spy. The book is about a boy who wishes his life were different. He gets his wish when he's magically transformed into an entirely different person, the son of a poor carnival worker.

Look for it in the blue Fiction section with the call number FIC HOROWITZ.

Is the book checked out already? Log in too Destiny and put it on hold!

Library Tip of the Week

Have a pass to come to the library during class? No problem! Just keep in mind the following:

• Sign in at the circulation desk. Be sure to include the time that you arrived.
• If you see Mr. Thomson talking to a class, return to class and try coming another time.
• If you have books to turn in, hang on to them if you plan to check out more.
• If you don't see Mr. Thomson in the library at all, don't wait for him to come back! Return to class and try coming another time.

Remember the 10-10 rule! You can't be out of class the first and last 10 minutes of a class.

See you in the library!

BoTW: Antsy Does Time

If you look at the cover for Antsy Does Time by Neal Shusterman, you might think the book is about some goofy cartoon characters. It's not. The book begins with a group of boys witnessing a man plunge to his death in a bizarre hot-air balloon accident. Pretty heavy stuff.

In fact, the entire book is about death, though from a teenage boy's perspective. Even so, the book is funny. Antsy is a clever, witty young fellow. He has to handle the issue of life and death with a stranger, a friend, and eventually his own father. How does Antsy do it? Read the book and find out!

New Arrival!

The Devil's Paintbox by Victoria McKernan is a book about a young family that flees Kansas in 1866, making a long and dangerous journey to Seattle. A great book for fans of historical fiction and westerns.

Library Tip of the Week

Are you using Google or Wikipedia when you do research for a class project or paper? If you are, stop! Google is a search engine, and while it does a great job tracking down hits from your keyword searches, it does not guarantee the accuracy of any information from the resulting websites.

Wikipedia is just that: a wiki that anyone can add to and edit. In general, Wikipedia does have some broad editorial control over the accuracy of its content. In reality, however, anybody can post whatever they want. The bottom line is you can't trust what you read on Wikipedia.

So where can you turn? To your very own library of course! Smith's Destiny homepage has a wide variety of online databases and encyclopedias, all of them just a click away. Best of all? You can trust the accuracy and authenticity of the information you get.

Here's how you get started:

1. Go to http://www.cfisd.net/
2. Hover your mouse over "Departments" in the middle menu tab
3. Click on "libraries"
4. Click on "Middle Schools"
5. Click on "Smith"

The default home page should immediately come up. The online databases and encyclopedias list is in the middle of the page, to the right. Click on a database and begin your searching!

New Star Wars Display

Mr. Thomson's Ma used to work in a toy store. She saved for me a Star Wars promotional display that her store never used. Their loss is our library's gain. Check it out here on the blog and live in the library!

BoTW: Gym Candy

Gym Candy by Carl Deuker is another Lone Star award winner from this past year. It's about a young high school football player who feels so much pressure to excel, he turns to steroids to improve his game. The book paints a pretty bleak picture of steroid use, and doesn't pull any punches in describing the drug's many side effects. The ending is especially intense and hard hitting. Gym Candy is a must-read for any sports fan, but also has broad appeal for any reader that likes a good book.

New Arrival!

Erin Hunter continues the Warriors: Power of Three series with this latest title, Sunrise.


For more Warriors content, visit the official website.

Library Tip of the Week

Did you know you can put your own books on hold? You can!

Here's how:

1. Go to Smith's Destiny library page.
2. In the upper right hand corner, click "Login."
3. Enter your student id number (sxxxxxx) and password.
4. If you logged in correctly, your name should display in the upper right hand corner.
5. Now, do a search of the book you want to put on hold.
6. When you find the book, click on its title to bring up its detailed information.
7. Off on the right side, you should see a red symbol that says "Hold It."
8. Click on that symbol.
9. You're done! When the book comes in, Mr. Thomson will check it out to you.

Keep in mind that when you put a book on hold, you are put in a queue. There could be one or five or twenty people in front of you that get to check the book out before you do. Also, holds expire after a few weeks. So if you put a book on hold and you don't get the book in a month or so, put in another hold.

BoTW: Hunger Games

Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games is a fast-paced, action-filled book about a harsh gritty future where society forces its citizens to fight to the death in a game competition televised live. Think a modern day version of the Roman gladiator games. Katniss Everdeen takes the place of her younger sister for the games and has to use all her survival skills to out-think, fight, and even kill her fellow contestants.




















If you like The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins also wrote the Gregor the Overlander, the first book in the Underland Chronicle series. The Gregor series is more a fantasy title than The Hunger Games and much less violent, but a great adventure story.

New Arrival!

This week's New Arrival! is Zombie Blondes by Brian James.

Do you like cheerleading? Do you like zombies? If you answered "yes" to even one of those questions, then you'll love Zombie Blondes!

Library Tip of the Week

Did you know that you can check out a magazine? You can! Everyone at Smith can check out the following:

• Two books for two weeks
• One magazine for three days

You also renew a book that you have already checked out and put popular titles on hold. Stop by the library and talk with Mr. Thomson for more information!

Dr. Slobber!

Dr. Slobber is my second Champions Online toon. I know, I know, he looks like a Wolverine wanna-be. I couldn't agree more. But Dr. Slobber is so much cooler because he's a certified doctor! Of what, I couldn't tell you. Just don't ask Dr. Slobber where he got his medical degree. He's a little touchy about that.

BotW: How Not to Be Popular

This week's Book of the Week is How Not to Be Popular by Jennifer Ziegler, a 2009 Lone Star Award winner.

Maggie has a couple of hippies for parents. She loves them dearly, but Maggie has grown tired of constantly moving from town to town, leaving behind friends and boyfriends. The latest move to Austin, Texas is the last straw. Pained at the thought of making new friends and finding a new boyfriend, Maggie decides to do everything she can at this new school to NOT be popular, to be a loner right up until the point her parents move again. The results are as predictable as they are funny.

New Arrival!

All the books in the Smith library are new books, but in this case, "new" doesn't mean age, but recently released. Each Friday the Scrolling Scholar will showcase one of these recently released books that has just arrived at the Smith library. These will be the very latest and greatest books that Smith has so check the Scrolling Scholar to keep up!

This week's New Arrival! is Diary of Wimping Kid: the Last Straw by Jeff Kinney.

Mr. Thomson Plays Champions Online

I started playing the recently released MMO (Massively Multi-player Online) superhero game, Champions Online. I've rolled lots of toons, including Ice Bucket, Dr. Slobber, and The Fabulous Bulk. Below is a screenshot of Static Cling, my lightening based character.

Library Tip of the Week

This week's tip is all about book trailers! What's a book trailer you ask? Well, it's like a movie trailer except for books!

To begin with, I'm going to share with you book trailers created by librarians throughout the Cy-Fair district. Eventually, however, I want to show Smith students how to use the tools to create the trailers so that they can make their own! Exciting, no?

I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with a book trailer I made for Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. You can see it by going to my Schoolwires homepage. In the far left column menu, click on the "Book Trailers" link. Uglies is the only trailer there at the moment. Click on the Uglies wmv file and enjoy!

Board Games Today!

The Board Game Club at Smith met today. We played Pandemic, the game of fighting infectious diseases around the world and had a blast! The Board Game Club meets in the library every Tuesday from 2:30-3:30. Stop by the library and talk to Mr. Thomson for a permission slip and more information.

BotW: Uglies

BotW stands for Book of the Week. Every Monday, the Scrolling Scholar will highlight one book in particular.

This Monday's book is Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

First and foremost, Uglies is a science fiction book. It's about a society in the future that surgically modifies it teenage children to look beautiful. Before the surgery, a child is called an Ugly. After the surgery, they are a Pretty.

So the book is about a civilization of gorgeous models? Not even close. A minority of kids refuse to have the surgery. Instead, they flee New Pretty Town and form their own community. The government that runs New Pretty Town and conducts the transformations of Uglies to Pretties seeks to crush this rebellion and actively pursues any Ugly that chooses to think for themselves.

Looking for a great sci-fi story with a thought-provoking message about conformity and self-worth? Then look no farther than Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

Welcome!

We had a great first day here at Smith. Don't forget, the library is open! During library orientation next week, you'll learn that you have lots of different opportunities to visit and use the library:

• Before class, from 7:15-7:30
• During passing periods, you don't need a pass
• During advisory, with a pass
• During your class, when your teacher brings you for a scheduled visit
• During class, with a pass
• After school, from 2:30-3:15

Keep in mind that if you visit the library between passing periods, or before or after school, you need to make sure you get to class on time and that you catch your bus or ride home.

See you in the library!

New School! New Library! New Blog!

Welcome to The Scrolling Scholar! You’re reading the very first blog post for the Smith Middle School library. I’m James Thomson, the librarian at Smith and I am so excited to host a blog page exclusively devoted to the school’s library.

A little about myself: I’ve been a school librarian for four years. Before that, I taught 6th grade math and social studies for nine years. I love technology, including video games! I’ve got a PC and Xbox 360 at home and if you name it, I’ve probably played it. I'm hard at working getting the Smith library ready for August and the 2009-2010 school year!

So what’s going to be on this blog? Lots! I will post at least three entries each week with a theme assigned to certain days. In addition to weekly features about books, authors, and research, look for information about Smith’s Game Club, Book Club, book fairs, author visits, and much, much more. More about all these events in the months to come!

Basically, the purpose of this blog is for me to reach Smith staff, students, and parents via the convenience and ubiquity of the Internet. When the school year begins and the craziness of life hits full force, this site will stand as a consistent, constantly updated source of information for everything related to the library and its activities.

So make a bookmark, visit often, and make yourself an active member of a virtual community within the larger Smith Middle School family!