Christmas stories

It is time to bring out Christmas stories. A few of my favorites are Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, Santa Calls by William Joyce, and The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry. What are your favorites?

Books, books, books

I am a little behind reviewing latest releases because I have been trying to catch up on some classics. Recently, I've read "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "Fahrenheit 451", and "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman". They all deserve to be classics.

For fun I recommend "I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You" for 7th grade up, and for elementary, "Scared Witless". The later is a collection of short scary stories with tips on telling them effectively. "The Stranger" by Chris Van Allsburg, "The Ghost-Eye Tree" by Bill Martin, Jr., and "Diane Goode's Book of Scary Stories and Rhymes" are all favorites for this month (October). - Happy Reading!

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

A student recommended Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson the other day, so I took it home to read. WOW! Ms. Anderson has given her main character, Melinda Sordino, a very strong voice even though Melinda speaks very little.

Something happened at an end-of -summer party and Melinda called the cops. Now, she is an outcast at Merryweather High. Her friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know glare at her. The lies and hypocrisies of High School push her further into isolation and make her more mute. This makes it more difficult to avoid the painful memories haunting the edges of her consciousness. But, the truth will not be silenced.

Getting started

The hardest part of any new endeavor is getting started. This is my very first blog entry on my very first blog and I am nervous that this blog will appear amateurish (which it is, but I don't want it to look that way!).

The idea here is that our school community can use this platform to share ideas, feelings, concerns about books and other types of media (magazines, news articles, books on tape, websites, etc.). Well, let's get started!