Wildly popular among advanced readers– by Eleanor Updale:  Montmorency Series. It’s a 4-volume historical fiction series set in Victorian England (1800’s) about a sometimes detective / sometimes criminal.

More Historical Fiction for

Historical Fiction fo Middle School Readers

Historical Fiction for Older Readers.

Books about Horses, including Misty of Chincoteague and Jane Smiley’s series The Horses of Oak Valley Ranch will also be introduced.

MYTH AMERICA: HISTORIANS TAKE ON THE BIGGEST LEGENDS AND LIES ABOUT OUR PAST Myth America: Historians Take On The Biggest Legends and Lies about our Past (2022)  has a short chapter called “Vanishing Indians” which is selected for study as possibly shaping national consciousness and the writing of American History (a.k.a. “historiography.) The 12-page chapter is available for us to debate/discuss– so come and get it anytime this month! It introduces the importance of an older book Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee (1970 by Dee Brown) which has shaped American History coursework for decades, but which may have inadvertently promoted misconceptions that have been limiting to American peoples.

See more library books on and about Native Americans

They’re a BALL to read! Sports Fiction. Sports nonfiction. Sports Memoirs. We’ve got ’em! Maggie will share on The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympics by Daniel James Brown– a story involving the sport of crew. Also featured: the memoir of basketball playing legend Kareem Abdul Jabar (we have the audiobook.)

Sports Memoirs and Biographies

Sports Fiction for Older Readers

Sports Fiction for Middle Schoolers

Behind the Berlin Wall – Books that deal with the Cold War. When you come, ask Maggie to show you her piece of the Berlin Wall and how she received it from a student who chopped it down.

Fiction recommendations: A Night Divided, My Brigadista Year, Letters from Cuba, The Surrender Tree,  (let’s grow this list!)

Non-fiction recommendations:  Cold War Culture, The Cold War on Film, Cuba: An American History, Who Was Fidel Castro?

Filmmaking – our library has over 55 resources that explore careers in film-making, roles of participants in film production, techniques and film-making eras, animation. Start browing the 791’s in non-fiction and note that H-B’s database called Gale Pop Culture helps research the topic, too. (Use MackinVia to access it.)

We’ll begin with and amazing film by our own filmmaker…

Greatest GRAPHIC NOVELS, Manga and animation- Has anyone read BATTLING BOY series?

See our non-fiction titles that discuss how anime is made, how animation is created.  How do you build a career in animation? We have books!

Maggie

Planning meetings: join us to discuss organization of I-block sessions that explore Eastern European culture, especially Russia’s and Ukraine’s. Specifically, we want to learn how to apply the Cyrillic “alphabet.” If there’s time and interest, we can learn together how have “Slavic” languages developed from different human migration patterns and empire building. There are opportunities to share videos of Ukrainian Dance: Hutsul Arkan Dance 1 and Arkan Dance 2 (Kyiv),  and Russian Folk Dance and Russian “Soldier’s Dance” with kick out, Ballet, to explore patterns in Ukrainian cross-stitch, the role of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Books: Russia, The Great Najinsky, The Romanovs… and videos from the Discovery Education collection.  Who wants to teach what?

1. serves 1 semester
2. can be a partnership (2 people, each for one semester, and learning the role together)
3. self-nominated for election at TM
4. functions to help get TM agenda and minutes up to date and online accessible; works with ITC to ensure such
5. provides PR and announcements to facilitate involvement and awareness of TM activities using “Spread the Word” from H-B home page
6. when possible, assists Chair and Secretary to access and use the TM minutes
7. seeks a means of archiving past year’s minutes for accessibility by all
8. helps encourage an understanding of Roberts Rules of Order among students, especially (perhaps helping TM to appoint a parliamentary procedure committee or conducting a FebFest on parliamentary procedure.

Visit anytime this month to browse our books on vampires and other scary stories. We have plenty of VAMPIRE books, Stephen King, Steven Jones and more!  Horror Books for middle schoolers.

Horror novels are featured in this “Invisibiilia Collection” of books for older readers, including adults. That fiction AND nonfiction relates to “invisible forces.”

Indigenous Peoples: enjoy exploring our “collection” of favorite titles about and by indigenous peoples— their cultures, and the stories they have inspired. See our marvelous display! Featured: Hawaiian Mythology.  See a video (see minute 5:45 and Minute 20) offering from authors Kate Messner and Traci Sorrell to broaden one’s understanding of Thanksgiving with a trending perspective that asks us to look back across history and the ways we have learned about it. What facts may have been distorted over time and straightened out by studying primary sources and under-represented voices instead of fiction about historical events?

How historical figures or events might be mythologized over time is also addressed in How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith who examines patriotism, museums, monuments, re-enactments, etc. where some facts or voices may have been marginalized and previously left out of the “record.” The end of the myth : from the frontier to the border wall in the mind of America explores the author’s thesis about how myths about our past have shaped today’s politics; he explores the power of American’s expansionism across the past centuries and unpacks “Manifest Destiny” and “American Exceptionalism.”

Jennifer Goen’s NOT JUST THE CLASSICS book club meeting on November 30, 7 pm on Zoom features the title Firekeeper’s Daughterdescribed at the top link and at this site with a more detailed summary, author info, etc. Tell your parents that they are invited to participate!

Adults and students will find INTERESTING  events scheduled this month at Arlington Public Library related to the Indigenous Peoples focus.

Join us at our library’s “Gratitude Station” to express thanks to the people who keep H-B’s Caring Community well appreciated! Take a card, say thanks, and if you need Maggie or Carol to deliver your note, let us!

Nov. 21

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (view summary) and other recommended sci fi / fantasy for middle schoolers. Place your favorite sci fi for high schoolers onto our recommendation list because we want to consider it for addition to our “collections” in the library catalog.Also fantastical! Maia presents on a great book on Hawaiian Myths of Earth Sea and Sky. With Hawaiian heritage, she suggested we add it to our collection and we’re glad she did!

Join us at our library’s “Gratitude Station” to express thanks to the people who keep H-B’s Caring Community well appreciated! Take a card, say thanks, and if you need Maggie or Carol to deliver your note, let us!

Reminder: Jennifer Goen’s NOT JUST THE CLASSICS book club meeting on November 30, 7 pm on Zoom features the acclaimed new novel the Firekeeper’s Daughter described at the top link and at this site with a more detailed summary, author info, etc. Tell your parents that they are invited to participate!

Mysteries and Thrillers! What’s better than a good MYSTERY as the weather gets bone-chilling chilly, foggy and atmospheric? What is an author’s “red herring” in a mystery?  Learn which books won the 2022 Edgar Awards for Mystery Writing!  Valentina will share her love of Nancy Drew and the Enola Holmes series by Springer.  We’ll mention the Agatha Christie mysteries solved by “Miss Marple” or “Hercule Poirot.” Let’s see what everyone else’s favorites are from the Middle School Mystery collection.  The Thriller Collection for High Schoolers has highly recommended high action and True Crime on it with mysteries to solve, too!

Nonfiction books on forensics for crime-solving are on the shelves around Dewey Decimal #363.25

Spanish Language books … and Author Focus: Gary Soto – Gabby will read a seasonal story, Too Many Tamales, and award winning story which centers around Hispanic Culture and the celebration of Christmas. Here’s the story review adapted from School Library Journal: Ages 3-6. More than the usual feel-good holiday celebration of ethnic pride, this warm picture book about a Latina child at Christmas is rooted in cultural tradition and in the physicalness of happy family life, with echoes of universal fairy tale. It’s also a very funny story, full of delicious surprise. The handsome, realistic oil paintings, in rich shades of brown, red, and purple, are filled with light, evoking the togetherness of an extended family, and making you notice individual expression and gesture. Maria is happily kneading the masa, helping her mother and father make tamales. When her mother takes off her diamond ring, Maria can’t resist secretly slipping it onto her finger. The ring falls off into the sticky dough, but it’s only after the 24 tamales have been cooked and her cousins, grandparents, and aunt and uncle have arrived for the festivities that Maria suddenly realizes the ring is lost. She begs her cousins for help, and the four kids doggedly, secretly, eat up all the tamales, searching for the ring. In one unforgettable painting, the queasy kids focus on the youngest child’s extended stomach: “I think I swallowed something hard,” he says. Tearful Maria finally owns up to her mother, but the ring is found, everything is cheerfully resolved, and the whole family moves to the kitchen to cook up another batch of tamales–despite the protesting groans of the stuffed children. Gary Soto is an accomplished poet and adult writer, and his children’s stories are widely popular.

More HILARIOUS books (mostly of short stories) by Gary Soto:  Baseball in April, Help Wanted, Buried Onions, Living Up the Street, and more. Find short stories in our Fiction section right alongside the novels by the same authors.

• MBM for Young Adults
• MBM for Middle Grades provide a focus for new books that are excellent for 9th graders to enjoy for QIRA.
• Ninth graders will love the list of recommendations from 9th graders for QIRA.
• Here’s more NEW YA Fiction!

Graphic Novelist Jerry Craft is coming to Arlington Public Library on April 27 at 4:30!  Register–> hereby the April 1 deadline to get a free copy of his newest book in the NEW KID series and to join their pizza party!

Today’s BnB gives a chance to learn about Srbanti’s favorite graphic novels, too! What are yours and have you tried any bt the popular authors Chmakova, Hale, Holm and Jamieson? We featured these titles: Compass South, Twins, and Nameless City as Ajun’s favorites. Are you aware of our popular Biographies in Graphic Novel-like format, too?  They include When Stars are Scattered (based on a true story of refugees from Sudan.) <– an audio link there gives a taste for the book! We mentioned El Deafo (with a discussion of additional sources to understand the voice and experience of people with diasbilities), Guts, Sisters, Smile, Cub and Biographic Churchill, too. What about myths and other classics that are presented in graphic format? Popular series like Artemis Fowl, Wings of Fire, Ender’s Game have been adapted for graphic format, too. Also: update on the March Book Madness tournament so far.

Ajun

Thanks for the caramel covered brownies!

• Biographies and Memoirs related to overcoming challenges.
• Topic: Depression and/or Mental Health

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn is a novel that explores systemic racism and grief. Lukie will introduce it.  Here is Tracy’s Web Site. Have you read other books at both levels that tackle racism? Consider… Older Readers (fiction) (non-fiction) Middle School Readers (link)

Collect from Meredith or Maggie your copy of Chapter 1 from The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education. Join our interest group on rje and track our efforts to consider establishing a Junior Honor Society at H-B. We will discuss Chapter 1 at I block next week on Wed. May 10 in the library with brownies!  We have resources to explore.

And on a topic relating to “privilege,” the library will sponsor a “Fascinator Friday,” so spread the word and make a fancy hat. See TM agenda / minutes for details. If you want books about the British Royal Family, our newest ones are Spare, and The Palace Papers, and Young Elizabeth.  We also have Princess Diana’s important “unauthorized biography” by Andrew Morton which was, of course, authorized by Diana herself. Because, you know, primary sources. History.

Horror! It’s well loved in MS and we have a good Middle School Horror set of recommendations! The Nightbook Series by J.A. White is gaining huge popularity, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, The Night Gardener by Terry  Fan, The Stars did Wander Darkling, by Colin Meloy, and the Cirque de Freak books by Darren Shan are also popular. Using our library catalog to search “Horror AND young adult” will yield lots of hits beyond the Stephen King favorites, too, like Dead Flip by Farizan, and the Nightmare series by Mindee Arnett.  Searching for “paranormal” can yield results like these for high schoolers interested in “invisible forces!”

Notice! Dungeons and Dragons about our resources like the fun book series at F – For!

Your BRAIN! How is it developing, and operating to help you meet your goals?  Stolen Focus: Why you Can’t Pay Attention– and How to think Deeply Again by Johann Hari discusses the past 15 years of technology use, how it was developed by Silicon Valley to wire your brain to keep your eyes on screens, and how the increase of screen is impacting your ability to focus and have an attention span sufficiently long to succeed in school and not feel anxious. (Reading longer pieces like novels rather than click-bait and doom scrolling combats that impact.)

We have many books in our collection that relate to the topic of diminishing attention spans and the technology and other factors that cause the problem:  Hooked, The Attention Merchants, Why we Sleep, Internet Addiction, Pause and Reset: A Parent’s Guide to Preventing and Overcoming Problems with Gaming, Memory Mastery, Screen Schooled, Internet and Social Media Addiction, The Case Against Sugar, Age of Anger, Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the  Teenage Brain, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, The Outrage Industry, Raising Humans in a Digital World, The Cyber Effect: A pioneering cyberpsychologist explains how human behavior changes online, and Science Comics: The Brain – The Ultimate Thinking Machine.

YA Murder Mysteries!The author in focus is best-seller Karen M. McManus who wrote the One of us is Lying trilogy.If mysteries and thrillers are what you love,  what is an author’s “red herring” in a mystery?  Learn which books won the 2022 Edgar Awards for Mystery Writing!

We’ll mention the Agatha Christie mysteries solved by “Miss Marple” or “Hercule Poirot.” Let’s see what everyone else’s favorites are from the Middle School Mystery collection.  Have you read any from this set of Mysteries for high schoolers and adults?  The Thriller Collection for High Schoolers has highly recommended high action and True Crime on it with mysteries to solve, too!Nonfiction books on forensics for crime-solving are on the shelves around Dewey Decimal #363.25

Modern Mythologies!Aanya and Ben will present about the Aru Shah series, based on mythology from India, as well as the Percy Jackson series. (We have Percy Jackson in Spanish, too!)Come share your favorites and any other books you want to promote for people’s summer checkouts!  Find related books on this Mythology collection. Maggie has discovered a few notable series when updating our Asia Pacific Islander list that relate to Eastern Mythologies, so they’ve been added!Notice our library’s home page for important links all summer! If you form a summer book club, you can apply our library’s resources for support. Learn more!

H-B’s magazine articles help you grow your attention span. Let’s explore the SORA app together!  You’ll find it in the list of databases that you get through Canvas. Here’s how.

• Rising 10th graders
• Rising 11th graders
• Rising 12th graders

• Mysteries for Middle Schoolers
• Mysteries for High Schoolers
• True Crime for High Schoolers

Credible Sources counter the spread of misinformation and disinformation on social media. Briefly discuss where your news comes from, the Journalist’s Code of Ethics, and notice great professionally created and curated news sources that we highlight here, including THE WEEK (which is digital in the SORA database), WASHINGTON POST, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, the GALE NEWS database. Other resources:

• Media Literacy Lessons for 7th graders and Media Examples that help us explore for bias.
• Evaluating Web sites lesson for 8th graders.

Bryony focused us on Horror Novels for older readers.  Some are listed in our Invisibilia Collection. <–That fiction AND nonfiction relates to “invisible forces.”H-B has many fans of Stephen King, and she’ll introduce you to his book called It.   

Check out photos from his home— he made it very creepy! ) Maggie will introduce you to Marcus Sedgwick whose frightening Midwinter’s Blood won him the Printz Award!

Related: our books on vampires and other scary stories.

Horror Books for middle schoolers.

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon is a VERY popular realistic / romance fiction. The author’s web site lists other books such as The Sun is Also a Star and Instructions for Dancing.

Read with a Friend Challenge:  Select a book to read with a friend and organize your BnB session.

Discuss how “fair” and “equitable” educational opportunities are in the US since public education is funded largely by local and state dollars. Old perceptions of “unfairness” maybe be outdated as this column by local Jay Mathews suggests. Need the Washington Post username and password? Ask in the library where it is prominently posted.

Interested in educational issues? Possibly for a PSP or NHD paper this year? Sit with Maggie to learn of the best databases and books to explore. We have a ton, and research strategies are here. Make sure you feed your learning with the library’s “Professional Collection” on a high shelf near Carol’s desk.

Fun Facts: APS spends an average of $20,000 per student per year. What costs money? Teacher salaries, resources, computing devices, bus transportation and more. Title I was a federal program designed to close the gap between rich and poor neighborhood schools.