CGHS Library

We Hope Santa Brings You Lots of Books!

 

Graphic by Chloe Johnson

Eleanor and Park (FIC Rowell)

I do not normally read anything that looks even remotely like a romance. Sap Fests do nothing for me and usually the only thing more annoying than the boy and the girl in a YA romance novel is a COUPLE in a YA novel. However, rules are made to be broken and Eleanor and Park showed up on so many Best Books lists that I decided I had to read the first couple of pages. I figured I would be able to tell right off if I could stand it.

Great characters, check.

Depth, check.

Humor, check.

Best conversations EVER, check.

Here is one sample conversation from the book:

" 'Cool?' he said.

God. She couldn't believe she'd said that. Talk about uncool. Like the opposite of cool. Like, if you looked up cool in the dictionary, there'd be a photo of some cool person there saying, What the eff is wrong with you, Eleanor?

'I'm not cool,' he said. 'You're cool.'

'Ha,' she said. 'I wish I were drinking milk, and I wish you were here, so that you could watch it shoot out my nose in response to that.'

'Are you kidding me?' he said. 'You're Dirty Harry.'

'I'm dirty hairy?'

'Like Clint Eastwood, you know?'

'No.'

'You don't care what anyone thinks about you,' he said.

'That's crazy,' she said. 'I care what everyone thinks about me.'

'I can't tell,' he said. 'You just seem like yourself, no matter what's happening around you. My grandmother would say you're comfortable in your own skin.'

'Why would she say that?'

'Because that's how she talks.'

'I'm stuck in my own skin,' she said." (pages 104 and 105)

(MHouse)

Slow Getting Up (796.332 JAC)

I have heard lots of people talking about concussions among football players, particularly pro athletes. One first-person account that looks interesting and that is new to our library is Slow Getting Up by Nate Jackson. The subtitle is "A Story of NFL Survival from the Bottom of the Pile" which kind of gives you a taste of what the book might be like. Football leaves me cold most of the time because, let's face it, I just don't get it, but I like good writing, and this looks like a pretty interesting book.

Look Up

Grace has gone crazy and is putting various collage constructions on the ceiling tiles in the library classroom. The fish is her first one.

Collage and Photo by Grace Wohlschlegel

Doctor Sleep (FIC King)

King's sequel to The Shining is supposed to be a terrific horror novel if you like that sort of thing. It is not quite the doorstop that some of King's other books are, but it still clocks in at over 500 pages. Must be worth it because it has been on many, many of the Best Books of the Year lists that are beginning to crop up.

The Longest Ride (FIC Sparks)

Nicholas Sparks has a new book out, and I bought two copies for CGHS Library because I know Sparks has a healthy fan base here. One of them is already checked out!

Beginning Coding Skills

LearnStreet is a good beginning coding site where you can get started learning JavaScript, Python, or Ruby. A movement is afoot to encourage students to learn to code early and often, and this site is a step in the right direction.

 

Trickster: Native American Tales (GN Trickster)

Trickster is a character that shows up in mythologies and folklore all over the planet.  If you have seen THOR, you know that Loki is a trickster character from Norse mythology. American Indian legend is full of trickster characters: raccoon, raven, coyote, rabbit, and man. Even Bugs Bunny is a trickster character of sorts. This trickster, whatever his form, plays tricks, disobeys rules and goes against conventional behavior. In Norse mythology, he succeeds in destroying the world!

Trickster: Native American Tales, a Graphic Collection is a compilation of tales from the Native American Indian traditions and each tale is illustrated by a different artist and told with a slightly different flair. Here are a couple of samples of the kind of artwork you can expect to see in this book.