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.