to avoid burning your mouth on the *very hot* water, add 1/4 cup cold water from drinking fountain outside LMC before topping off with hot water and 2 hot chocolate packets.
Alternate hack, as shared by Emily: drink hot chocolate in first period, by when it may have cooled off a bit
Volunteer to be a student reader to help choose the 20 books nominated for the 2021 Illinois Teen Choice Award. Here's the volunteer form.
Summary: This spellbinding tale takes readers to a sinister, magical, and war-torn world filled with richly drawn characters like trickster fauns, murderous soldiers, child-eating monsters, courageous rebels, and a long-lost princess hoping to be reunited with her family.
Genre: fantasy
Bethany recognizes "Pan's Labyrinth" as a horror movie
Funke is the author of the Inkspell series and The Thief Lord
Summary: In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.
Genre: science fiction
Jenna brought The Girl in the Box, mentioned last week
Summary: When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat--but real life isn't always so rhythmic. She's an anomaly in her friend group: the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she's bisexual, she hasn't mustered the courage to tell her friends--not even her openly gay BFF, Simon. So Leah really doesn't know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It's hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting--especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.
Summary: Ashish Patel didn’t know love could be so…sucky. After being dumped by his ex-girlfriend, his mojo goes AWOL. Even worse, his parents are annoyingly, smugly confident they could find him a better match. So, in a moment of weakness, Ash challenges them to set him up. The Patels insist that Ashish date an Indian-American girl—under contract. Per subclause 1(a), he’ll be taking his date on “fun” excursions like visiting the Hindu temple and his eccentric Gita Auntie. Kill him now. How is this ever going to work? Sweetie Nair is many things: a formidable track athlete who can outrun most people in California, a loyal friend, a shower-singing champion. Oh, and she’s also fat. To Sweetie’s traditional parents, this last detail is the kiss of death. Sweetie loves her parents, but she’s so tired of being told she’s lacking because she’s fat. She decides it’s time to kick off the Sassy SweetieProject, where she’ll show the world (and herself) what she’s really made of. Ashish and Sweetie both have something to prove. But with each date they realize there’s an unexpected magic growing between them. Can they find their true selves without losing each other?
Summary: With Aelin locked in an iron coffin by Queen of the Fae, Maeve, Aedion and Lysandra struggle to defend Terrasen, Chaol, Manon, and Dorian face their own fates, and Rowan seeks his captured wife and queen
Summary: Nikolai Lanstov, the young king of Ravka, must battle old foes, forge new alliances, and safeguard his country's survival---possibly at the cost of his own life.
