Club news:
- LOTS!
- World Read Aloud Day is Wed Feb 7
- Ask your teachers to read aloud the last 10 minutes of class
- Read alouds in the LMC all periods
- VHHS students training to be preschool teachers will read aloud in LMC, ARC, and UC periods 1-2
- We ❤️ Books book swap Fri Feb 16
- bring a wrapped book that you're OK giving away
- and you'll get a new-to-you book in return!
- LMC will have wrapping paper and a few extra books so everyone can play
- Vote for your favorite book nominated for the 2024 Illinois Teen Choice Award!
- Each Fiday in February, up to 10 students who vote will win a free copy of one of the nominated books
- Vote online or in person in the LMC
- Volunteer to be a teen reader to help decide the 2026 award list; Mrs. Caldicott is an adult reader for the award committee, too.
- Share why you ❤️ our LMC!
- February is National Library Lovers Month
- Add your thoughts on a heartor this online form
- Book Club will sponsor a picture book drive Mar 1-22
- Some donated books will be added to the (growing) LMC picture book collection
- Some donated to Cougar Cubs preschool classroom
- Some saved for our future Little Free Library
- and the rest donated to Bernie's Book Bank
What we've been reading:
- Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher
- Genre: fantasy
- Summary of book 1 Stormfront: Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a—well, whatever. There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get interesting.
- "Harry Dresden is chauvinistic and full of himself, but I love the rest of this crew," especially his fairy sidekick that trades secrets for pizza crusts
- The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
- Genre: historical fiction
- Summary: It's 1947 and American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a fervent belief that her beloved French cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive somewhere. So when Charlie's family banishes her to Europe to have her "little problem" take care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister. In 1915, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance to serve when she's recruited to work as a spy for the English. Sent into enemy-occupied France during The Great War, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents, right under the enemy's nose. Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launching them both on a mission to find the truth... no matter where it leads.
- Bones And All by Camille DeAngelis
- Genre:
- Summary: Maren Yearly doesn't just break hearts, she devours them. Since she was a baby, Maren has had serious trouble accepting affection. Any time someone gets too close to her, she's overcome by the desire to eat them. Abandoned by her mother the day after her sixteenth birthday, Maren goes looking for the father she has never known, but finds much more than she bargained for along the way. Faced with a world of fellow eaters, potential enemies, and the prospect of love, Maren realizes she isn't only looking for her father, she is looking for herself. The real question is, will she like who she finds?
- "A coming of age story with cannibalism sprinkled in"
- Whalefall by Daniel Kraus
- Genre: Action/thriller
- Summary: Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year. The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out—one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.
- "Are you talking about Pinnochio?"