We need you!    The library will be holding an in-store and online bookfair through Barnes and Noble in Sunset Valley over the Thanksgiving break from November 28-December 2!

Use our code 11755709 when you check out in the store, or online at bn.com/bookfairs.   If you find yourself out shopping over the Thanksgiving break, even if you get a snack from the café in the bookstore, you can use our code for credit.  It also works for toy purchases, music, and other items in the store.

The store will have a table with required reading from the English department, as well as “recommended reading” selected by other WHS teachers. (list of titles here).   Part of the recommendation for the new SAT is to read more nonfiction, and the social studies department has suggested great titles for you that will be in the store.

On Wednesday, December 2nd, come by the store for special events!!  We will have student art in the café, and the WHS Chamber Women choir will be performing!  We will have free gift wrapping all day on Wednesday, too, and donations for the gift wrapping also go to support the library.

The library will receive a portion of the proceeds for all of these events, and it’ll help us support you with lots of new books!  P.S. We have flyers at the library front desk if you need the code or a reminder!

Brian Selznick, the author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret as well as Wonderstruck, is appearing at our PAC this Saturday at 6 p.m.   BookPeople, who is sponsoring his visit, very kindly offered WHS 20 free tickets.  He will be speaking about his new book The Marvels, as well as his other works.  

Selznick’s books are cool and inventive, which is why Hugo Cabret won the Caldecott award.  His background in art is obvious in books like Wonderstruck which is told partially through his beautiful illustrations.  Check out this website to interact with the book.     And if you liked the Invention of Hugo Cabret(which was made into the movie Hugo), check out some clips from the movie here!

https://larissakyzer.wordpress.com

Ask at the library front desk to see if there are any tickets still available!

This last week the library celebrated Banned Books week.   Did you know there is a difference between books that have been challenged(a complaint raised about) and books that have been banned(blocked from anyone reading)?   Over history, books have been challenged and/or banned for many reasons from political to personal.   In fact, ALA keeps a list of the top 100 banned/challenged books.  Sometimes the reasons a book is challenged also change over time as our societies change.

Commonly asked questions that we hear:

Does our library “ban” any books?   No, we don’t.

Do we ever have book challenges?  Yes, sometimes we do.  When we do, we have a committee that reads the book(including students), checks it against district criteria and book reviews, and makes a recommendation.

Do you think it’s harder to ban “books” or ideas with so much internet access across the world?  It is definitely much more difficult in our current technological world to ban the ideas found in books or to ban books themselves.  Some countries do still restrict access to the internet or to book titles, but the internet makes it very difficult for this to be successful anymore.

So, celebrate your freedom to read during Banned Books week!  And check out our display in the library!

flickr: xurble

Welcome back!  We hope you had a restful summer and did some great reading.   In fact, be sure to share your summer reading HERE and you’ll be eligible for prize drawings from the library!

Our website has been refreshed over the summer, too.  If  you need to look up books, check out how to do a bibliography, or need links for teacher projects, look for our links on the left sidebar.

The Research Center space has had some changes over the summer, too — drop by and check them out!   And the Shrieking Shack is now a great brainstorming place for classes as well as a laptop lab.  If you need help with your iPad, check out the Juice Bar during lunch periods.   If you need more iPad help, you can also check out the WIFI page on WHSChaps.

Remember, we are here to help YOU!

https://www.flickr.com/the_musical

We know you are reading this summer!   Add the books you read to our Summer reading form and  you’ll be eligible for prize drawings in the fall!  (And we always have great prizes!)

You can also tweet what you are reading to @whslibraryrocks!   Do any of those things and you qualify to win great gift cards when you come back to school in the fall!

Check out our EBOOKS page on our website for instructions on using our ebooks all summer!

Don’t forget Westbank Library will also have a summer reading contest plus volunteer days for community service this summer, too!