No, I haven’t dropped off the face of the Earth, I’ve just been EXTREMELY busy. Quick update:

My intern is a gem! She has gone all out to help our library celebrate Banned Book Week and plan our Teen Read Week activities.

The photo is the sign on a box of snack size popcorn she brought in for our faculty.  Each packet had a sticker with the phrase you see on the sign.  She put the box out in the faculty workroom and it was empty before LUNCH!

I’ll post our plans for TRW once I get the okay from my principal to the activities we’re wanting to provide – I’m excited, but at the same time exhausted just thinking about them!

I’m buried up to my neck in High Schools That Work/Technical Assistance Visit preparations.  I’m steadily working to pull together our notebook that we have to send off in three weeks.  It’s huge and I’m not finished adding all we’re required to provide.  Send good thoughts my way!

Lastly, if you’re one of my faculty, you know this already, but for the rest of you: APPLE OPENED A STORE IN AUGUSTA!  Yes, I was there for the grand opening and was one of the first 1000 – got the free shirt! (Yes, Cathyjo, you’ll get it eventually so stop pouting!)  Both my guidance counselor and assistant principal came up to tell me I was famous now.

FYI: I gave into temptation and purchased the iPhone!  I’m loving it, even if there is no service in Wagener!  *Sigh*  Come on AT&T, get on the ball and expand your coverage!

Do some technical difficulties for which I couldn’t fix, I’ve had to move the Wagener-Salley HS podcast page to a new site.   Currently, the site contains podcasts for the 2009-2010 South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees.  I hope to move last years podcast over  to the new site soon.

My wonderful library intern, Amy, has created a bulletin board and book  display for Banned Book Week (September 26 – October 3, 2009).  If you aren’t familiar with BBW, it is a time to bring awareness to everyone’s, even childrens, freedom to read.   Our bulletin board shows just a few of the books our library carries that have been challenged in the United States within the last two years. Why not take some time to read a couple?

Up next is Teen Read Week – “Read Beyond Reality @ Your Library” – look for more details in the weeks ahead.

Each year in April, originally just out of curiosity, I run a report to determine which books are the most circulated.  I usually can guess, but sometimes there are surprises – this year, not so much.  The report also provides me with a great bulletin board and display option for the end of the year.  This year the top 10 titles are:

Number 10.  The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

“Bobby’s carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored baby daughter.” This is the third year the book has been on the list.

Number 9.  Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

“Having fallen for a human boy, a beautiful teenage werewolf must battle both her packmates and the fear of the townspeople to decide where she belongs and with whom.” This is the first time Blood and Chocolate book has been on the list.  I attribute the revised interest in this older title to be due to the Twilight phenomenon.  The Silver Kiss by Klause is also on the top 25 list.

Number 8.  Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

“A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda’s freshman year in high school.” Speak has been on the list off and on over the last seven years.

Number 7.  Shattering Glass by Gail Giles

“Rob, the charismatic leader of the senior class, provokes unexpected violence when he turns the school nerd into Prince Charming.” I have to plead guilty to “pushing” this title every year.  It is one of the two that I can usually entice the fellas into reading.  Ms. Giles made it so easy for me by writing such a grabbing opening paragraph.  I simply have the unsuspecting male read it and they’re hooked.   In case you haven’t picked this one up, the opening lines are:

“Simon Glass was easy to hate.  I never knew exactly why, there was too much to pick from.  I guess, really, we each hated him for a different reason, but we didn’t realize it until the day we killed him.”

Number 6.  Payback by Paul Langan

“Originally published as The gun.  Bluford freshman Tyray Hobbs, the class bully and tormentor of Darrell Mercer, is determined to get revenge on Darrell, the only boy who ever stood up to Tyray.” The Bluford High series is a relatively new series for WS.  I was lucky enough to receive a small monetary donation from our local public library’s “Friends of the Library” association to purchase two sets of the series.  Townsend Press is a godsend by selling them for only $1 each.  All of the titles in the series are constantly checked out!

Number 5.  Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

“After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle’s dangerous work for Britain’s intelligence agency, MI6.” This is another title I “push” with my male/reluctant readers.  I tell them it’s like reading an action-adventure television show – constant action.  Usually, they’ll come back for the rest of the books in the Alex Rider series.  Very few have ever brought it back unread.

Number 4.  Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

“Bella must choose between her friendship with Jacob, a werewolf, and her relationship with Edward, a vampire, but when Seattle is ravaged by a mysterious string of killings, the three of them need to decide whether their personal lives are more important than the well-being of an entire city.”

Number 3.  New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

“When the Cullens, including her beloved Edward, leave Forks rather than risk revealing that they are vampires, it is almost too much for eighteen-year-old Bella to bear, but she finds solace in her friend Jacob until he is drawn into a “cult” and changes in terrible ways.”

Number 2.  Breaking Dawn Stephenie Meyer

“Continues the story of the human Bella and the vampire Edward whose love is threatened by their difference, a werewolf named Jacob, and other outside influences.”

— drum roll please —-

And the number one circulated book at Wagener-Salley is…..

…. as if you haven’t guessed ….

Number 1.  Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

“When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.”

No shock to me that the most circulated book would be Twilight.  I guess to be fair, I should have grouped all of the Twilight saga together in order to give at least 3 other books a chance to be in the top 10, but I wanted to be absolutely correct in the top 10 list.   We also have a copy of The Host by Meyer and it is in the top 25 list.

For the first time since I’ve been running the report, there isn’t a Sarah Dessen title on the top ten list.  Sara Dessen and Melody Carlson books are EXTREMELY popular with the girls; however, no single title from these authors made the top 25 this year.

Wired: “Where Gadgets Go To Die: Facility Strips, Rips and Recycles” – interesting look at how a facility sorts and recycles old electronic equipment.

Library of Congress YouTube Channel – “Timeless treasures and contemporary presentations from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. As the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, we are the steward of millions of recordings dating from the earliest Edison films to the present…”

World Digital Library – looks interesting and will become active on April 21st.  “The World Digital Library will make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, architectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials…”

New York Times: “A Story of a Teenager’s Suicide Becomes a Best Seller” – article about the origins of the book TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY by Jay Asher.  This title is on our South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominee list this year.  The article also mentioned the YouTube video campaign that shows someone listening to Hannah Baker’s tapes.

Chicago Tribune: “Annoying ‘mosquito’ noise keeps students moving” – the article shares how an Indiana high school uses the mosquito machine to deter students from socializing in an area of the hallway between classes and instead get to classes on time.  I’ve written previously about this machine here and the mosquito ringtone here.  I am opposed to this device being used, especially INSIDE a school, and not just because I can still hear the tone.  There are other ways to ensure students keep it moving in the hallways – HELLO, teachers, stand at your doors and don’t let the kids stop to chat.  When I stand at the library doors, the students don’t loiter between classes.  When I’m not there, the do – doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out.