Welcome Back!!

A new school year begins ... 

  Things were very different this time last year. Last September, Mrs. Shaw and I came back to a library that resembled a construction site, and library resources that were boxed up and put away. This year, we're happy that our library is as beautiful as it was in June, with the new reading area and bank of computers. Life at Mohonasen High School Library is changed forever!

   We want to welcome you back with new books, new databases, and other exciting new resources that will make your academic year ahead as successful as possible. And, as always, if you can't see what you need, ask. This is YOUR library!

Hispanic Heritage Month starts Sept. 15

  Fact Monster's Hispanic Heritage Month provides a variety of resources on people, places, language, and much more; the Library of Congress offers an exhibit on 1492: An Ongoing Voyage; and the Smithsonian offers  information on Hispanics who have affected science and technology in Impacto, Influencio, Cambio. Pass through the Library of Congress's Portals of the World to learn more about individual countries, brush up your language skills with Univision, your news source en Español, and test your knowledge of Hispanic culture with this quiz. Stuck for definitions? SpanishDICT.com is your  dictionary source.

Banned Books Week

Sept. 29 - Oct. 6, 2007

  This year's slogan is: "Free People Read Freely," so take the time to check out a banned or challenged book and proclaim your freedom!

  The process of banning a book begins with a "challenge". Challenges "are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library"--at the high school level, this is usually because some parents think the content is unsuitable for their children (they do this because they care about their kids). If the challenge is successful, and the book is removed, then the book is considered "banned."   Fortunately for us, most challenges are not successful.

   The ALA received nearly 550 challenges last year, among them such popular titles as Mackler's The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things and Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Crutcher's Athletic Shorts, and Cormier's The Chocolate War. Find out about other banned / challenged titles in our  collection; and check out the American Library Association page for more information.

Books, books everywhere ... 

  We begin the school year with a window display commemorating one of the most devastating days of our recent history: 9/11. We hope that you have an opportunity to spend some time in front of the awesome new sculpture in the courtyard, created by Mr. Turin and his students.

  The "New Books" shelves are full of exciting new materials (see some titles listed below left). In addition, we've created genre mini-displays all over the library (such as fantasy, humor, and novels-in-verse). If you see something you like, check it out! Other displays are forthcoming, but if you'd like to see books on a particular topic--music, sports fiction, GLBTQ--let us know and we'll set it up.

Our Featured Author ... E. R. Frank

   Author E. R. Frank was born in 1967 in Richmond, VA. As well as an author of several very successful young adult novel, Frank is a practicing psychotherapist and clinical social worker in New York City. She has worked with both adults and kids in the welfare and criminal justice systems, work that has been, she says, "humbling and inspiring." She brings her work experience to her many novels about young people who are dealing with a variety of difficult life situations. "I write from that which moves me," she says.

   Her first novel, Life is Funny (2000), was an ALA Reluctant YA Readers Selection. America, published in 2002, was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults as well as a Los Angeles Times Book Award Finalist. We have all of Frank's books in the library (check the catalog for availability).

   Read an interview with E.R. Frank that appeared in The St. Petersburg Times in 2004, and find more information on Frank in our new Biography database (see Databases page). 

Stop by with your questions, comments, book reviews, or suggestions