Book of the Week: Penny From Heaven

This review brought to you by Caroline C. 

Penny From Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm

Do you like baseball, pecan ice cream, and summer days? Penny From Heaven is a story about an 11 year old girl named Penny. She is living in the 1950s struggling to be normal. Her grandpa talks to the radio, her mother is dating the milk man, she has a crazy hair cut, and her grandma makes smelly food. Something tragic happens that changes her life. Will she be able to hear her grandpa talk to the radio again? Or taste her grandma's smelly food again? Read this book to find out. 

Coding in the Library

It's computer science week, and we've had a lot of fun doing an Hour of Code on code.org! Then a student sent me a fun elf dancer coding game, and we had tons of fun with that as well! https://santatracker.google.com/codeboogie.html

Book of the Week: Number the Stars

This post brought to you by student blogger Ella C. 


Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
 
Do you like historical fiction? If so, you'll love the book Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. This book takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark when the Holocaust was happening. Annemarie and Ellen are best friends, and Ellen is Jewish. The Nazis could easily find her. Something horrible could happen. Ellen has to stay with Annemarie and be her fake sister. Will Ellen and Annemarie make it through this terrifying journey? Find out by reading Number the Stars. 

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Library Tic-Tac-Toe

Fourth and fifth graders had a ton of fun playing tic tac toe in the library! Here's how it worked. 

Students in pairs were given 9 book titles and authors on a sheet of paper. I had typed out the book titles/authors in advance, and tried to pick a mix of fiction and nonfiction, books that were in and books that were checked out. Students then wrote these titles/authors on their game board in whatever order they liked. In later classes, I realized we could save time (and prevent writer's cramp!) by cutting out the titles and pasting them onto the squares. 

Then students used our search computers or iPads to look up the books. If the book was in, they marked that square with an X on the game board, but needed to find the book on the shelf to prove it was in. If the book was out, they marked it with an O on the game board. Teams tried to get three X's or three O's in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally to win a tic-tac-toe!

I found this activity through my librarian friend Anna, who found it from her friend Shawna. I think in their version, only three X's in the row (and not three O's) counted as a tic-tac-toe. I did end up with quite a lot of winners allowing both X's or O's to win, but it was fun for students to feel successful!

We had a lot of fun, but most importantly, students polished their skills in looking up books in the catalog and searching for them on the shelves!

Book of the Week: Left to Tell

This post brought to you by student blogger Meghan. 

Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza

Do you like biographies? Read Left to Tell. Left to Tell is about a survivor of the Rwandan Holocaust. She writes about her journey and what she had seen. Like living in a really tiny bathroom with eight other women while hunters were coming and looking for them. In the bathroom she couldn't talk so she spent most of her time praying to God.  I couldn't put this book down while I was reading it.  Read this book to find out what happens and how her relationship with God helps her out. I would recommend this book for ages 12 and up. 

Book of the Week: The People of Sparks

This review brought to you by student blogger James. 

People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau

If you like adventure books, then you'll love The People Of Sparks. It is about two curious kids ( Doon and Lina ) who go on a secret mission to save Ember and all of its citizens. This isn't without loss. Death, struggle, and lack of motivation are only a few of things they had to overcome. When they finally make it out of the underground city of Ember it took them days to make it to Sparks. When they first arrived they were partly greeted and partly hated. As the stay grew longer so did the peoples' hate. Lina and her adoptive mother as well as her little sister Poppy were lucky enough to get a house to stay in with one of the doctors of the town. This was because after the long journey to Sparks, Poppy had caught an illness. The doctor had nephews that lived with her. Toren was one of the nephews and Casper was the other. Casper was a Roamer. Being a Roamer is a dangerous job, it means that you venture out into the regions of this post apocalyptic world. When Lina heard that Casper was going on an adventure to the city she'd dreamed of seeing, she had to go, so she did. Casper's goal was to find an old treasure buried in the rumble. The day of the departure, Lina snuck into a barrel on the back of the wagon... Do they make it out alive? Does Casper find the gem? Read The People Of Sparks to find out. 

Book of the Week: The Thing About Jellyfish

This post brought to you by student blogger Aidan. 

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

Do you like a book with sad and funny moments and twists around every single turn? If so, than you will loveThe Thing About Jellyfish.  The book is about a girl who loses her best friend at a young age. Franny has drowned, but Suzy is puzzled by this because Franny is normally a very good swimmer. Suzy investigates and finds something very strange. The book is sad and funny and happy and every single type of emotion there is. Read The Thing About Jellyfish.