Hello readers! This wonderful December is filled with stressed – if you aren’t stressed then you are very lucky. Personally when I’m stressed I either bake cookies or clean, let’s just say my entire house is now sparkling and smells like chocolate chips. If you need some help reviewing for literature, English Exam is first, there are many great YouTube Videos that can give reviews. John Green, author of #1 New York Times Bestseller The Fault in Our Stars, has a channel called Crash Course. This channel is good for various subjects such as world history and biology but they are currently doing a side series about great literature. So far he has covered Romeo & Juliet and will soon cover The Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye. I just realized that by the time he posts these videos it will be a little late for us but check out the channel anyway it’s cool. Also check out VlogBrothers. If you haven’t read The Fault in Our Stars, do it, it’s an amazing book. Have a safe holiday and good luck on Exams. Stop by the Cone Café, it opens at 7:00 in the morning on exam days and will have pastries and coffee and such.

Annie

Haiku

Reading books is fun
There are many worlds to find
Trapped in the pages

Open up a book
Slay a dragon, be a knight
Sitting in your chair

So many choices
Many adventures for you
At the library

In The Mood For Something STRANGE???

Feeling strange? Want something weird? Well curl up with your cats and start brainstorming on that new cloning device! The library has some Emily the Strange Books which are perfect for reading over Christmas break!
The two Emily the Strange books are fascinatingly fun!

Book 1: Emily the Strange, The Lost Days

 

13 Elements You'll find in the first Emily The Strange Novel:

1. Mystery                       

2. A beautiful golem       

3. Souped-up slingshots  

4. Four black cats            

5. Amnesia                       

6. Calamity Poker           

7. Angry ponies               

8. A shady truent officer

9. Top-13 lists                  

10. A sandstorm generator

11. Doppelgangers              

12. A secret mission           

13. Earwigs                         

 

 

Book 2: Emily the Strange, Stranger and Stranger

 

 

!3 cool things you"ll find in this installment of Emily's Diary:

1. OtherMe                                                           

2. Epic sewer murals                                           

3. The Manifesto of Strange                               

4. Cat translator                                                  

5. Binery Larry                                                    

6. Radiac abrasive lightening rods                     

7. The Ladies of the Sillifordville Science Club

8. Spy diapers                                                       

9. Grand Ravenesque fiascos                              

10. A sun spigot                                                        

11. The family poltergeist                                       

12. Master pranks                                                   

13. Venus Fang Fang                                              





Cone Café

We are excited to announce the opening of the Cone Café!

The Library's Cone Café, run by the librarians and student library proctors, will offer hot beverages and morning snacks to students and teachers from 7:00 to 7:50 am during midterm exams.

All proceeds from selling the goodies go toward our ongoing fundraiser, naming Coach's successor. As a reminder, you are invited to see our progress or to donate to the cause at www.sitstaygive.org/coach.

Here is a little preview of what will be offered at the Cone Café:

Coffee

Frappuccinos

 

Hot Chocolate

Tea

Orange Juice



Shortbread

Biscotti

Cinnamon Scones

Chocolate Chip Scones

And Mrs. McLean's delicious chocolate truffles (which I unfortunately don't have a picture of).

Remember to bring to bring in cash during midterms. You can charge purchases of $5.00 and over!

Go SLPs!!!

The Hobbit

Many of us have seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and this December, the Hobbit will be coming to theaters. the Hobbit is the prelude to the beloved trilogy; masterful writing and rich characters ensure that the Hobbit is a delight to read, and no doubt will be a delight in theaters as well. Before seeing the movie, however, I highly suggest reading, or rereading, the Hobbit, which you can check out from the Cone Library. Happy Reading!

Library Film Festival

It's time to watch some Harry Potter....


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1



Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

The last two Harry Potter movies will be available for your viewing in the library from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. this Friday, November 16th.

Much thanks to Evan Miller for loaning his DVDs to the library!

We'll have pizza, popcorn, and butterbeer for your enjoyment:





Butterbeer



Hot pizza!

Scrumptious buttered popcorn

Sign up on the library bulletin board!

2012-2013 National Merit Semi-Finalists

SLPs rock!! All four of Berkeley's National Merit Semi-Finalists are either SLPs or once were SLPs:

Alex Farthing
Carly Schippits
Ari Tyler--who left the SLP program after sophomore year :(
Yunhan Xu

Notice something else? Yep, they're all girls!

Semi-Finalists are chosen based upon their 11th grade PSAT scores. Berkeley juniors took their PSAT in October, so hopefully we have some more National Merit SLPs in waiting!!

Conclusion: Being an SLP boosts your chances of becoming a National Merit Scholar! Haha, just kidding! :)

Breaksale Success!

The SLPs made over $260 at their Friday breaksale!!! We more than doubled our estimates with a brand new product: ice cream bars! They flew off the shelves, so to speak! :)

Reese's Ice Cream



Snickers Ice Cream

In addition to ice cream, we had cupcakes, doughnuts, and cookies that SLPs generously donated to the cause.

Oh, and Coach almost ate a doughnut :D  (Click here to see Mrs. McLean's blog post.)

As you can see from our http://www.sitstaygive.org/coach page, we have nearly broken $1,000!! With three more breaksales this semester, the Cone Café (which will be a later post), and manning the concession stand at Headmasters', we're crossing our fingers that the SLPs will be able to reach their $3,500 goal in time for the March Walk-A-Thon!

Our next breaksales are November 19th, November 26th, and December 3rd. We'll definitely have ice cream bars for the November 19th breaksale (and hopefully for the other two as well). So, if you're a Berkeley student, remember to bring in cash!!

Book Review: The Dresden Files

Welcome to another book review! I’m your host, Evan Miller, and today we are looking at a series called The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher. In the world of The Dresden Files, magic is real, along with ghouls, vampires, demons, spirits, faeries, werewolves, and other mythical monsters. Harry Dresden, the only wizard in the phone book (look under W), works to protect the general public, who are ignorant of magic and the dark forces conspiring against them. This makes it difficult for Harry to get by as a working wizard and private eye. The Chicago PD's Special Investigation unit, when led by Karrin Murphy, regularly employs Dresden as a consultant to help solve cases of a supernatural nature. Follow Dresden as he battles against dark forces and survives the horrors of *gasp* wizard politics! DUN DUN DUNNNN!!

The only professional wizard in the phone book

Ever wondered where wizard spells come from? In this series, spells are a kind of pseudo-Latin, using some Latin words to cast the spell. For example, the spell “Fuego,” similar to the word fire, allows Dresden to shoot fire from his staff. The spell “Ventas Servitas” calls a wind to do his bidding, “vento” meaning “wind” in Latin.

This series is very intriguing and magical. I rate it 15/17 pentagrams!

(★)(★)(★)(★)(★)(★)(★)(★)(★)(★)(★)(★)(★)(★)(★)(☆)(☆)

This book is for grades 9 and up.

Find it in the Fiction section up on the Mezzanine at Call Number: F BUTCHER JIM DRESDEN

Suggestions for the Library and Ramblings of My Mind

This week instead of the usual book review I’m going to do an actual blog post. Being a Berkeley Student is tough but that’s why we come to this school. We want to be challenged to learn and to do our best but at times it can be super stressful. I like the library because it is usually very quiet unless there’s a troop of 6^th graders learning how to use NoodleBib (which is an awesome resource btw). It’s a place where you can either attempt to eliminate some of your homework or you can just relax with a good book and maybe go and pet Coach. Currently we are asking for suggestions to improve the library and I suggest a space full of pillows to relax in, but since that is highly improbable: bean bag chairs. They have them in lower division, why not Upper and Middle? If you have suggestions on how to improve the library (even silly ones), please leave them on the bulletin board next to the circulation desk. Go Books J

We have broken $500 on our charity drive for naming a puppy!!!

In case you didn't know, the Student Library Proctors are trying to name a puppy this year.  Their goal is to raise $3500 to name a puppy for Southeastern Guide dogs so that Mrs. McLean can raise next year.  We have already been having break sales and kicked off our campaign and I am excited to announce that we have broken the $500 mark on Coach's Sit Stay Give site!!!  The SLPs have had a couple of break sales and Mrs. McLean has had some friends donate.  (Thank you Ko family and Timothy family!).  

But what is truly amazing is that we have student library proctors like Evan who have signed up for their own pages and are having their friends and family donate (Thank you Marcia & Mitchell Miller and Elyssa Schindler!), AND we have people we don't personally know on the web, like Robert and Myra Sann (below), who are donating!!

Thank you all so so much!!!

Photo of the bone graphic from the sit stay give campaign showing we have raised $525 so far!

Tomorrow night the student library proctors will be manning the concession stand at the Berkeley Buc v Tampa Prep volleyball game, which is a game you DO NOT WANT TO MISS!  It will be held in the Straz Family Fieldhouse.  Part of the proceeds for the night will go to our charity of naming the next Southeastern Library dog!!  So come and eat some food and watch a great game.

A photo of the front of the totes with each novelist showing.

And buy a tote bag.  Who doesn't need a great tote bag?  We have four different varieties and they all are by our very own Yunhan, a senior, who is a very talented artist.  You can choose from William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen and Harper Lee.  They are only $15 and make a great Christmas present!!  Those proceeds go towards naming the puppy as well. 8-)

A photo of Yunhan sitting with her totes in front of her.

It is really easy to donate:

1. Just go to Coach's Sit Stay Give site and click on the donate button.
2. Or, you can join our team and gather donations with us!!  There is a join our team button as well!

Thank you all for your support!!

New York Times Top 15 Fiction Books for the Week of October 7 

According to the New York Times, this week's top 15 fiction books are:

1. A Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling

2. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

3. Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. James

4. Fifty Shades Freed by E. L. James

5. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

6. Winter of the World by Ken Follett

7. A Wanted Man by Lee Child

8. Bared To You by Sylvia Day

9. The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

10. Rapture by J. R. Ward

11. Zoo by James Patterson

12. Low Pressure by Sandra Brown

13. A Fool's Gold Christmas by Susan Mallery

14. Fall of Giants by Ken Follet

15. Something Witchy This Way Comes by H. P. Mallory 

Happy Reading! 

SLP Breaksales

The SLPs had another successful breaksale on Friday, September 14th. We raised more than $100! Yay!

Where does the money go? This year, the SLPs have set the library's biggest fundraising goal ever: $3,500 to name the McLeans' SEGD puppy for the 2013-2014 school year. So, all the money we raise goes to a very good cause, helping to cover the costs of training and raising guide dogs for the visually impaired.

There are three ways you can help out:

1. Buy treats at the October 12th and November 9th breaksales! Both days are Fridays, but the items sold at the breaksales will be very different. October 12th is a baked goods sale; we will likely have lots of brownies, cookies, cupcakes, etc. and hopefully some doughnuts and bagels, too! We are pleased to announce that the November 9th breaksale will be a Boba sale! That's right, Boba tea!!


Picture from the Boba Tea Company's Facebook page

We are currently in the process of surveying students to identify the most popular flavors and then offer them at the breaksale! :)


2. Come to the homecoming football game (October 19th) and Headmasters' Challenge (January 12th) and pay a visit to the concession stand. The SLPs will be manning the concession booths at both events!

3.  Come join the Walk-A-Thon on March 9, 2013, to help the SLPs raise money for SEGD!

You can see our progress at www.sitstaygive.org/coach and watch a bone gradually fill in as we approach our $3,500 goal!

Looking For A Good Book?

Want a good book, but don't know where to start looking? Just check out the display near the circulation desk! There's always an array of fantastic choices all at your disposal! From books similar to your favorites, to cool series' you should check out! Also, if you like a book but it is not in the library, (meaning the library does not have it at all, not that it is checked out), tell one of the lovely librarians and we'll be sure to order it! If you still can't seem to find a book that really screams, "READ ME!!!", don't be afraid to ask the friendly SLPs if they've read a good book lately. Remember, the theme this year is "Literature is a Treasure", so happy hunting!

Mothership by Martin Leicht
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOW! The Hanover School is a school for pregnant teens...in space! And it starts off with our heroine falling on her behind, but she gets her tuchus up and she runs for the rest of the book!

The action never stops. So, it isn't giving anything away to say that Elvie is at the Hanover School because her baby daddy gorgeous high school boyfriend abandoned her as soon as he found out she was preggers and she is escaping her evil cheerleading nemesis Britta. Unfortunately, the Hanover school and fate are planning to deal Elvie a horrible blow: Alien teachers, Britta and her gorgeous boyfriend. All brought together in the floating school for pregnant teens.

Will Elvie ever tell Britta to stuff it? Will she and Cole get back together? Should they? What's up with these alien teachers? And why are all the guys so darn hunky?

If you want a truly hysterical read, try Motherhood. The characters are really delightful and I tore through the book in one day. I couldn't put it down.

View all my reviews

The Doomsday Vault by Steven Harper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Author Steven Harper has done a bang-up job creating a very interesting steampunk world with a clockworker virus being the cause of the Victorian technological accomplishments. It is a fascinating conceit. The only quibble I have is that for the first 1/3 of the book it really feels like it is two separate stories. It is hard to see the link up and the change between them is distinct. When they finally come together it is great!

What I especially liked about this novel was its unconventionality. There were gay characters in steampunk! The automatons have quirky personalities and the villians do as well. One is never quite sure what is what in this crazy, turned upside world. Just when you think you have a handle on what will happen, the rug is pulled out from underneath you. It is intricately plotted, just like the automatons are intricately created and it shows. I stayed up late many a night to get to the end because I could not put it down. At nearly 400 pages, it is a long, satisfying read!


View all my reviews

Book Review: Angels and Demons

Recently I read the book Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown. This book follows Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, as he tries to stop the Illuminati, a legendary secret society, from destroying Vatican City with the newly discovered power of antimatter. It is a very exciting read. You can try to solve the mystery with the main characters, but I guarantee that they will discover clues that confuse you to no end… at least until the end of the book. It is a mature read, but one that I think any book lover will enjoy. This is the first of Dan Brown’s books on Mr. Langdon, and if you like this book, I highly recommend the other two. Reading them in order allows you to understand the allusions to prior books in the others.

The image on the book cover above is called an ambigram. An ambigram is a word or image stylized so that it can be rotated 180 degrees and still look like the same image.

  The same image, rotated 180 degrees. What part do ambigrams play in this mystery? Read the book to find out!

Summary:☻☻☻☻☻ 5/5 Smiley Faces! Find it in the fiction section at Call #: F BROWN DAN ANGELS

SLP Retreat

As you all know, we had our annual SLP retreat a few weeks ago. Here is a log of all the fun things we did!



Raichell, Carly, and Elizabeth greet Coach!

Raichell and Coach had A LOT of fun together :)

One of the highlights of the day for the SLPs was having the opportunity to design this year's library T-shirt. Every year, our library T-shirt is inspired by our theme for the year. This year, the theme is unlocking the treasure of literature. So, each SLP drew up a T-shirt design based upon this theme.



A group of SLPs wait for paper to start designing T-shirts.

SLPs designing their T-shirts

Afterwards, we voted for our favorite design.

This is the winning T-shirt design!

Next, we had lunch from Moe's:

SLPs in line for quesadillas and nachos

We also had watermelon-themed cake pops!



And cupcakes!

 Later, we played a few games to break the ice and help learn everybody's names.
 

The SLPs in circle formation

 And, by the end of the day...

Coach under the atlas stand

...well, Coach was tuckered out.


Ms. Arcuri with an open-mouthed Coach in her lap

Welcome to the BPS Reads! Blog!!

We are extremely excited to launch our new library blog! It'll be run by Berkeley's Student Library Proctors (SLPs). SLPs run the library circulation desk, shelve books, and do a variety of other tasks to help keep the library running smoothly!

During our SLP retreat in late August, all of the SLPs had their pictures taken with Coach, the resident library dog. Our head librarian, Mrs. McLean is raising Coach, a black goldadore puppy, in preparation for the Southeastern Guide Dogs program. You can see the McLeanPup blog here.

Without further ado, here are our head SLPs for the 2012-2013 school year!


Elizabeth

Keebler

Here are our co-head SLPS, Raichell and Carly:


Raichell

Carly

Mrs. McLean and her SEGD puppy Coach:

Mrs. McLean and Coach

Mrs. Connors smiling with Coach (and trying to make him smile, too!)



Ms. Arcuri with Coach!

Our goal is to put up weekly blog posts on everything and anything from book reviews to what has been happening lately the library. We all hope you enjoy our blog!!