Today’s featured library book is March: Book Three, the recently released concluding volume of the graphic memoir trilogy by John Lewis, co-authored by Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powell. The trilogy tells the riveting true story of Congressman Lewis’ fight for justice alongside civil rights heroes like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The book is a finalist for YALSA’s 2017 Nonfiction Award. Check it out!
On October 14th, Hill Top’s 8th grade attended a talk called “The Art of the Possible: Overcoming Adversity” with syndicated cartoonist, West Philly native, and Shipley alum Robb Armstrong. It was so inspiring to hear Robb’s life story – and to see him in action with his markers. After a long wait, we FINALLY received our copy of Robb’s new memoir, Fearless: A Cartoonist’s Guide to Life. It’s full of (literally) colorful stories about Robb’s rough and tumble siblings, dealing with early loss and hardship, and getting to meet his idol, Charles Schultz. Each chapter is bookended with an Art Lesson (“Learn to sketch fast and loose”) and a Life Lesson (“Stick to your dreams”). I love this book, and hope you will, too.
Posted in New Books, Uncategorized
Last week, Ms. Gargiulo, Ms. Gillespie and I attended a special author event at Children’s Book World. Laurie Halse Anderson, beloved author of Speak, just released her latest book, Ashes, the much-anticipated third installment in the Seeds of America trilogy. (Hill Top’s 8th graders read the second book in the series, Forge, this summer.) Laurie was a treat to see in person. She spoke passionately about her subject – the American Revolution – and the responsibilities authors have to be accountable to their characters, particularly when dealing with race, religious, or other differences. Ashes is a heart-thumping page turner that reveals the fates of Isabel, Ruth, and Curzon while exploring the meaning of freedom. Check out our signed copy in the Hill Top library.
Posted in Author Events, Historical Fiction, New Books, Uncategorized
Dear Students and Families,
It’s a beautiful day on the Hill as we approach the end of our first full week of classes. I’ve always loved this time of year: the still-warm days and cooler nights, and the excitement, anticipation – and yes, craziness – of a new school year, new schedules, new friends…and new books!
For those of you who don’t know me yet, I’m Anna Murphey. I’m thrilled to be back at Hill Top for a second year as the Librarian after assisting Ms. Gillespie in the library last year (thankfully, she’s still literally just around the corner in the Reading Room, making awesome things happen in her expanded role as Director of Post-Secondary Transitions).
I look forward to seeing some familiar faces and meeting many of you for the first time at today’s Back to School Night. In the meantime, here are two new books with back-to-school themes. Come check ’em out!
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne (based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling)
Some of you Harry Potter fans gobbled up this much-anticipated eighth installment to the series immediately after the book was released on July 31st. As you probably know, it’s the script to the new stage play which is being produced in London. Set nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts, the book follows Harry (now a middle-aged bureaucrat at the Ministry of Magic) and his reluctant son, Albus, who as the story opens is just starting his first year at Hogwarts.
Complex father-son dynamics, adolescent angst, and Time-Turners…all your favorite themes, characters, and magic are here. But it’s a play, not a novel, which makes for a unique reading experience. Once you get used to navigating the clunky-looking dialogue and stage directions, you may find your imagination is filling in the blanks – like a movie sequel playing in your head. Make some popcorn, find yourself an air-conditioned room, dim the lights, and read. It’s as good as going to the movies.
SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki
This book is weird and wonderful. Though it’s technically a graphic novel, there’s little in the way of linear story-telling here from the brilliant author of This One Summer. The book takes place at a private school that’s a little like Hogwarts – that is, for kids who have some kind of special magic ability and are, well, mutants. And they’re also typical teenagers grappling with crushes, class projects, and the existential question of what to do after graduation. I loved these characters and the dreamy artwork in each comic strip. Recommended for mature readers with an absurdist sense of humor.
Posted in Graphic Novels, New Books, Series Reading, Uncategorized
Okay, somehow I missed that yesterday was Thursday and forgot to announce the Sync downloads for the week. The contemporary book is 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith, which I really liked (which is saying something because I hated the first book I read by him and just had to stop reading another after only 51 pages). The classic book is This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff. Download them here.
As for the new-ish book. We’ve been taking the time this month to recognize mental health and we’ve had some wonderful presentations aimed at helping us understand how the brain works differently in different people. This seemed like a great time to talk about what has been my favorite book I’ve read so far this year.
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman is a very strange story in the best possible way. It is the story of Colin Bosch, artist in residence on a ship headed for the deepest ocean. It is the story of Colin Bosch, odd high school student. There are pirates and parrots and families.
I don’t want to give too much away except to say, give this book a chance and just trust the story. At the beginning it may not make a whole lot of sense and it may be difficult to follow. But there are amazing “A-HA!” moments in the book once everything falls into place. And there is a great author’s note at the end. You can read it first, if you want a heads up as to what’s going on in the story, but I recommend you leave it until the end.
In short…please read this book. It is wonderful, and beautiful, and amazing.
Oh…and next week…
We haven’t had many opportunities to meet and talk about books in April. And there are so many great books in verse for Poetry Month. With the few remaining days, I have a couple to highlight.
Today’s book is The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. How do I love this book? Let me count the ways.*
The book is a quick read…but don’t blow through it too quickly. You’ll miss some of the beauty of the poetry and the basketball.
*Junk to anyone who can name the literary allusion there. Mrs. Selinsky, you are not eligible.
…a lot of things. If you’ve been here long enough to remember the Great Snapple Incident of ’14 (maybe ’13), you’ll recall that it is both School Library Month and Occupational Therapy Month.
And it’s also National Poetry Month. Which I always find fun. And it’s a great time to highlight books written in verse, which I absolutely love. A book written in verse has such a different flow from a narrative story. There’s also a special beauty to reading poem after poem as they move together to form a whole story.
So, today’s book in verse is brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. Woodson has written some great fiction (After Tupac and D Foster is one of my favorites). In this book, she not only turns to poetry, but also to memoir. This is her autobiography in verse. She tells of living in Ohio, then moving to South Carolina to live with her grandparents, then moving again to New York with her mother. She tells about growing up in the era of Jim Crow laws. Of balancing religion in her life. Of finding new friends. Of struggling to learn. And of finding a voice in telling stories.
I really enjoyed this book. It won a few honors and awards last year when it came out, and for good reason. It would be an excellent choice for celebrating National Poetry Month.
Two really fun books about looking at things in a slightly different way.
Let’s start with Steal Like and Artist. This is a fun book about how to use art and the world around you to inspire your creative side. The premise is that all art comes from other art. We’re not talking plagiarism here, but rather inspiration. Learn about your favorite people, write fan letters (maybe during Lunch Letters?), surround yourself with art, create what you like, share with people. In essence, just do it! It’s a quick book with a lot of interesting and practical ideas.
Think Like a Freak is an interesting look at economics and what economics actually encompasses. The authors previously wrote a book called Freakonomics, and host a podcast by the same name (one of my favorites, you should totally listen sometime) . This is a book that encourages you to embrace the phrase, “I don’t know” and to quit, because sometimes to succeed, you need to quit. It’s an engaging look at how to think differently and why that can be a good thing for the world around us.
Both of these books are on the Outstanding Books for the College Bound list. Just sayin’.
As you well know, we’re celebrating Digital Citizenship Week this week. I was all set to talk about Feed, which is probably one of my favorite books about technology, but then this one caught my eye and I thought it works as well.
Armada by Ernst Cline (he of Ready Player One awesomeness) is the story of Zach, who wishes life were a little more like his favorite video games. (I’m certain that none of you understand that concept.) So, instead of wasting too much energy on school and college applications, he concentrates on being one of the best players of his favorite game, Armada, an alien invasion flight simulator.
Then one day, while he’s staring out the window instead of focusing on class, he sees an alien ship in the sky.
Maybe he’s going crazy. Or maybe this is the opportunity he’s been waiting (and training?) for his whole life.
This is definitely a fun book, especially if you enjoy video games, and enjoy being immersed in one particular game. There’s some interesting history of video games in here, as well as some pop-culture alien references. That’s part of what I find most fun about reading Cline’s books.
In my opinion, Armada is good. Although not as good as Ready Player One. I’m not sure if that’s because Ready Player One is actually better, or if it’s because I enjoyed that so much that I had higher expectations going into Armada. Either way, it’s fun. And if you want a justification for your video game playing, you may find it in here. Or you may find a reason to get off of the games and go read a book.
Posted in New Books
Tagged armada, digital citizenship week, ernst cline, ready player one, video games
Before I tell you anything else about these books, I’m gonna be upfront. Someone’s gonna die. Someone important. Someone you will like a lot. This is not a spoiler. You will know from the beginning. And no matter how much you think that the author won’t kill him off. She will. So you’ve been warned.
The Raven Cycle by Maggie Steifvater is a series of four books: The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily Lily Blue, and The Raven King (warning…the final book, the one where he dies, hasn’t been published yet…it comes out in April.
The stories follow Blue Sargent, who lives with her mother and aunt, all of whom have some sort of psychic ability. Blue is sort of the misfit. While she doesn’t have any psychic ability, she acts as a battery boost for other people’s powers. Against everything she believes in, she befriends some Raven Boys, boys who attend Aglionby Academy in her town of Henrietta. Typically, she regards students there as rich, entitled, and annoying. Until some of them end up in the restaurant where she works.
Ronan Lynch is dealing with the death of his father, banishment from his family home, and estrangement from his brothers. He’s also got powers of his own that may be trying to kill him. He has a pet raven named Chainsaw.
Adam Parrish is a local boy who is working his way through Aglionby on scholarships and hours at the local garage.
Noah is an Aglionby student who is a little different. But it takes a while for anyone to notice.
Richard Campbell Gansey III is the glue who holds them all together. He’s the one who first crosses Blue’s path. He’s the one who keeps they rest of the boys from killing each other. All in the name of searching for a dead Welsh king named Glendower. Legend says that whoever finds the sleeping king will be rewarded. And, oh yeah, Gansey’s gonna die. Blue knows. Her family knows. Adam finds out. No one else knows.
The book is full of magic and psychics and ley lines and trees that speak in Latin and crazy teachers and boys with powerful cars and boys with old broken down cars and boys who can fix cars and women who can see your future and can disappear in mirrors.
I LOVE this series. It’s been a blast to read, which says something. I often read the first book and then skip the rest of the series. With this one. I may be at the bookstore on April 26th.
In one of the first scenes, we’re told that Gansey is destined to die within a year. And this plays into a lot of Blue’s motivation. Out on the interwebz, there are lots of people who are convinced that the author has a planned loophole and Gansey will live (because he’s really a cool character). But she adamantly says that we should all be prepared; that he’s gonna die. Exhibit A from her Tumblr:
Posted in New Books
Tagged blue lily lily blue, dream thieves, gansey's gonna die, maggie stiefvater, raven boys, raven cycle, raven king
Hill Top Library Blog 