OKAY FOR NOW by Gary D. Schmidt

Our Final Book of the 2012-2013 School Year

Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt

Midwesterner Gary D. Schmidt won Newbery Honor awards for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boys and The Wednesday Wars, two coming-of-age novels about unlikely friends finding a bond. Okay For Now, his latest novel, explores another seemingly improbable alliance, this one between new outsider in town Doug Swieteck and Lil Spicer, the savvy spitfire daughter of his deli owner boss. With her challenging assistance, Doug discovers new sides of himself. Along the way, he also readjusts his relationship with his abusive father, his school peers, and his older brother, a newly returned war victim of Vietnam.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

Our next Book Club selection will be 

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. 

In this Newbery Honor-winning novel, Gary D. Schmidt offers an unforgettable antihero. THE WEDNESDAY WARS is a wonderfully witty and compelling story about a teenage boy’s mishaps and adventures over the course of the 1967–68 school year.

Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like Holling—he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam. His father wants Holling and his sister to be on their best behavior: the success of his business depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation—the Big M—in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself.

2013 Spring Semester Book Club

Our next book will be Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

It's almost the end of Miranda's sophomore year in high school, and her journal reflects the busy life of a typical teenager: conversations with friends, fights with mom, and fervent hopes for a driver's license. When Miranda first begins hearing the reports of a meteor on a collision course with the moon, it hardly seems worth a mention in her diary. But after the meteor hits, pushing the moon off its axis and causing worldwide earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes, all the things Miranda used to take for granted begin to disappear. Food and gas shortages, along with extreme weather changes, come to her small Pennsylvania town; and Miranda's voice is by turns petulant, angry, and finally resigned, as her family is forced to make tough choices while they consider their increasingly limited options. Yet even as suspicious neighbors stockpile food in anticipation of a looming winter without heat or electricity, Miranda knows that that her future is still hers to decide even if life as she knew it is over

WELCOME TO THE 2012-2013 SCHOOL YEAR

We're a little late getting started, but here we go! The CMJH's book club will be meeting each Thursday during lunch to read and share our thoughts about some awesome novels. Bring your lunch and meet us in the library. You can join book club at any time during the year!

Our first novels will be the award-winning Griffin Rising and Griffin's Fire. Both novels are set here in Colorado Springs, so you'll spot some familiar landmarks as you read.

Our next book will The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This one is amazing!

Any questions? Ask Mrs. Guthrie!

BOOKS ARE MAGIC

(re-posted with permission from the author)

Books are magic because they can break down barriers in amazing ways.

I'm fortunate to belong to a weekly book club that meets during lunch time at the junior high where I teach. Close to forty members strong (although not all come to every meeting) and with a mix of boys and girls.

Last Thursday was our final meeting for the school year. Bittersweet, in that half the club is going on to the high school next year. I will miss their insights, their passion for books, and their joyous spirits.

Kaci, our school librarian and my dear friend, began this club over four years ago. It has grown steadily and it has become not only a time and place to "talk books", but also a safe haven for young teens who need a break from social/academic pressures. 

In Book Club, there are no brains, no jocks, no geeks, no princesses, no goths. In Book Club, we are all just...us.

Now, that's magic for you.

In April, the Cheyenne Mountain Junior High Book Club will be reading Skellig by David Almond.

Michael was looking forward to moving into a new house. But now his baby sister is ill, his parents are frantic, and Doctor Death has come to call. Michael feels helpless. Then he steps into the crumbling garage and encounters a strange being who changes his world forever.

All students are welcome to join us during either lunch in the library. Just bring your lunch and a copy of Skellig. 

In January, the CMJH Weekly Book Club will be reading The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. Everyone is welcome to join! Stop by and see Mrs. Guthrie in the library to sign up for a copy.

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.