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.

A couple of recent posts by Linda Braun and Scott McLeod have got me thinking (not always a good thing) about the concept of the ‘digital divide’ in my school/community and how that impacts my library program as well as student learning.

Typically when people discuss the issue of the ‘digital divide’ they are referring to rural vs. urban access to computers and the Internet.   In Linda Braun’s post, “The Other Digital Divide,” she refers also to the ‘digital divide’ in software access (typically MSOffice products) between what is available at school (or not) and in students homes. She makes the argument that these technologies and access should be made available, not limited or eliminated, in our libraries BECAUSE they aren’t available to teens at home – this includes access to social networking sites like Facebook, to iPods/mp3 players, and to audiobooks/electronic materials!

Scott McLeod’s post asks “would you send your child to school with a laptop from home?“  His concern seems to be would the child feel awkward if they were the only one with a laptop?  Which is a high probability in my school!  Comments on the post are mixed and bring up interesting points.  The ones that caught my attention:

• laptops are/can be a distraction and detract from student participation in class
• puts the responsibility and care of the technology on the student/parents instead on the school for up keep and reduces tech cost to the school
• concerns for damage/theft/liability
• teacher buy-in and training on how to integrate the tech in the classroom
• educating students in the appropriate use of the tech during school
• if it’s just one more thing in a kids backpack it’s just another burden – however, if all of his/her textbooks were on it instead of hardcopy – how cool would that be!
• wireless access?  server security issues?

While most of the comments seem to bring up more concerns than positives, I have to say I lean on the side of why not let them bring them to school?  Of course the point is pretty much irrelevant in regards to my school, since we are a very rural and low socio-economic community – desktop computers and dial-up are are the norms.  I would be more interested in our district/schools developing policies/guidelines for using cell phones in the classroom – as I believe that the vast majority of our students have those mini computing devices instead!  Add iPods & MP3s in the mix and now we’re talkin’!  Unfortunately, all personal electronics are verboten.

Still what I take away from these discussions are that I need to push for technology, no transformative access for my students.  I need to look into the possibilities of iPods/MP3 players and downloadable materials, audiobooks/Playaways, relevant software, online access or cloud computing alternatives, filter overrides/unblocking of resources, etc. be made available in our school library.  Maybe I’m out of touch with my students and their needs.  Maybe it’s time for me to run a student tech and interest survey?!  Shoot, I should have done this last month before Teen Tech Week!  *sigh*

Photo Credit: “Laptop” by laRuth on Flickr

BBC News: “Primary eudcation ‘too narrow‘” – article arguing that early education focusing too much on math, English, and testing is leaving kids with a deficient education.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized – the video does a pretty good job of breaking down how our economy got the way it is today.

iSerenity – room too quiet (or has an annoying noise in the background)? Use iSerenity for soothing ambient noise?  I particularly like the Library Lullaby.

“My Top Tips for Teaching Teens” by Alan Sitomer – examines issues such as teaching teens to “bounce back,” change their attitudes, set goals, never give up, etc.  Well worth reading.

Last, but definately not least, two sites that highlight the Inauguration of President Obama.  The first is “The Big Picture” from The Boston Globe which has photographs of the event and from around the world.  The second is from Gigapan and has one large photograph that you can zoom or pull out to get the whole effect of the swearing in of President Obama.  Yes, it’s a little late in the scheme of things, but it’s still useful!

CNN.com: Falling asleep in class? Blame biology – study shows that starting school later would decrease the number of students sleeping in class – because they would be getting the needed 8-10 hours of sleep a night.  Hmmm, somehow, I don’t think pushing back the start of the school day would make that much of a difference, but I’m all for it – since I’m soooo not a morning person!

OnGuardOnline.gov – “… a multimedia campaign to help consumers be on guard against Internet fraud, secure their computers, and protect their personal information. …  Includes: tips, articles, games and videos in both English and Spanish. … Contains modules about … spyware, social networking, wireless access, laptop security, Internet auctions, and file-sharing…”  Created in partnership with the Federal trade Commission and other federal agencies.

BubbleComment – record a video comment on a website.  Would be a great way to direct students who were absent are homebound to areas or information on the site that you covered in class.

My friend, Fran Bullington shares “The Wally Principal” over at her Informania blog.  I’ve shared it with a few of my teachers, but think it is too good a point not to share with the rest of you!!  I agree we do our students a disservice by judging them solely by their ability to memorize facts.

My Brochure Maker – quick and simple way to create a basic brochure or flyer brought to you by DoodleLabs.  Could be a great way for your students who don’t have MS Publisher (or MS Word) at home to still create a brochure for your lovely projects!  Granted, you have limited choices and you cannot move the objects around, but sometimes, simple is better!

Suburban Journals: County library labels teen books with sexual content – Okay, this last item I debated on if I should post or not.  So I’ll just put it up and leave you with the comment, “WHAT!!!!” — Well, guess keeping my opinion to myself isn’t likely.  Hey, it’s my blog! — So if you get enough pressure from your patrons, does that mean you’re going to start labeling all of your books for each and every item they don’t like?  Too religious, too violent, crude language, promotes homosexuality, …  IMHO this is just another example of censorship – and isn’t that what libraries are AGAINST? Or am I off track here?