Attention all graphic novel fans!  Victoria Jamieson, author of Roller Girl, will be speaking in Vancouver on May 12.  Visit the Kidsbooks website to get your tickets to the event!

 

Tumblebooks has given Burnaby schools access to their library, for free for the rest of this school year!  You can find books online which will appeal to all grades and ages: graphic novels, ebooks, fiction, non-fiction, and picture books.  I especially like the feature that will read picture books aloud, great when you have a few minutes to fill waiting for an appointment or a bus.  Students can access them at school by clicking on this icon

on the school website.  To access from home you will need to log in, just email Ms. Collins to get the user name and password.

I am so excited to begin a new school year at Confederation Park!  It’s been nice to see so many familiar faces this week, and meet some new ones too.  I read lots of great books over the summer which I am looking forward to sharing with students.  If you’d like a sneak peek you can visit my own blog at mscollinslovesbooks.com

 

Tumblebooks is a collection of online ebooks, and they are offering free access to a different ebook every day. Check back daily to see the latest selection, and don’t forget to join the summer reading club at the Burnaby Public Library!

On Friday Division 1 found out about an exciting event which is happening at the end of March… the author Eric Walters will be visiting Confederation Park!  He is a prolific author, and we have 35 of his titles in our library.  I introduced Eric Walters’ newest book, Walking Home, about thirteen year old Muchoki and his sister in Kenya who journey to find their extended family after political violence in their village.  What’s neat about this book is that there is additional information online, inlcuding maps, audio clips, videos, and author’s notes.

Ms. Coutts is working out an idea for an author study, with the goal of having everyone read different books and discuss them.  I am hoping we can incorporate some technology too – we are still working out the details so stay tuned  Division 1 was eager to start reading Eric Walter’s books, the six I had pulled from the shelf were snapped up right away, and the students who didn’t get one chased Ms. Coutts around the library to pick one of the ones she had taken from the shelf.  It was so fun to see everyone excited to read books by an author we will get to meet!

I am so looking forward to the Polar Express show this week.  I know that the choir, the primary classes, and especially the actors have all been working hard to prepare.  The story is such a beautiful one, I read the picture book to all the intermediate classes over the past week.  I have two copies of the book that we will be giving away at the evening show to two lucky primary students.  Make sure that you are at the show for a chance to win!

I am always interested in whether or not I was smart enough to have purchased the winners of the Caldecott and Newbery books before they were announced in January. Well, this year I got 50%! I hadn’t even seen the Caldecott winner, Locomotive…

 

I am looking about for a good book to read over the holidays. Have any of you read anything that would be intriguing? I tend to like more realistic fiction. I finally read The Great Gilly Hopkins–even though I missed the actual Book Club meeting! It was a great read. You really had to have some empathy for Gilly in her search to belong. I would have enjoyed the discussion of this book as there would be so much to talk about.