FINAL CIRC NUMBERS!

This year, the HSC Library has circulated 

6,558 BOOKS!

18,825 Items, 67 book holds (WOW!) 

I'm amazed, everyone. This year has been fantastic and I have high hopes for next year. Have a great summer! 

Library Word of the Week

Since today is Friday the 13th, I thought I would try to find a good word related to superstition and fear. A word I really like is: 

Triskaidekaphobia 
(from Greek tris meaning "3", kai meaning "and", deka meaning "10" and phobos meaning "fear" or "morbid fear") is fear of the number 13 and avoidance to use it; it is a superstition and related to a specific fear of Friday the 13th, called paraskevidekatriaphobia (from Παρασκευή Paraskevi, Greek for Friday) or friggatriskaidekaphobia (after Frigg, the Norse goddess Friday is named after in English). (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triskaidekaphobia) 

This means that if you see a word with "phobia" on a test, you know right away that it is a fear of something. For example: Ailurophobia is a fear of cats and Cynophobia is a fear of dogs. I'm a big Doctor Who fan (BBC TV show), so I like the word Anachrophobia, which is a fear of temporal displacement. That word was made up recently by an author (after all, Shakespeare made up words too), but it likely comes from "anachronism" mixed with "phobia."

Anachronism: something (such as a word, an object, or an event) that is mistakenly placed in a time where it does not belong in a story, movie, etc.: a person or a thing that seems to belong to the past and not to fit in the present

If you're a fan of Steampunk novels, you might already know "anachronism." Anachronism comes from Greek, with "chronos" meaning "time."

While I started with Friday the 13th, we found ourselves in Ancient Greece with time. I suppose the Ancient Greeks could have been pretty superstitious too.

Thank you, Commerce!

Over 6,000 books! That is AMAZING! We've just about doubled our book circulation of the previous highest year. I'm in awe of our amazing Commerce readers. 

Ms. D just finished reading ... City of Heavenly Fire

City of Heavenly Fire

City of Heavenly Fire is book 6 in Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series. I had been waiting for this one. I'd loved 1-5. This one, however, was lackluster. It wrapped everything up with a nice little bow and that's not how I expected this series to end. Clare hadn't been afraid to make unredeemable villains or to kill off characters. I feel that in Heavenly Fire, she stayed her hand and preferred a happier ending.

That being said, I'm glad I read it. It is a suitable ending for this series (which I honestly will re-read probably over the summer). Maybe the long wait between 5 and 6 is what made me disappointed and not the story itself.







Up next: Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess.

STCC Field Trip part 2

I've finally gotten the pictures from STCC from Mr. Couturier!

I think this is my favorite picture! 

and... POSE!

Library Word of the Week

In honor of our graduating seniors, the library word of the week is actually a list of the 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know.

Quiz your teachers. See if they actually can define and use all of these words.

100 Words That All High School Graduates — And Their Parents — Should Know BOSTON, MA — The editors of the American Heritage® dictionaries have compiled a list of 100 words they recommend every high school graduate should know. "The words we suggest," says senior editor Steven Kleinedler, "are not meant to be exhaustive but are a benchmark against which graduates and their parents can measure themselves. If you are able to use these words correctly, you are likely to have a superior command of the language." The following is the entire list of 100 words: abjure abrogate abstemious acumen antebellum auspicious belie bellicose bowdlerize chicanery chromosome churlish circumlocution circumnavigate deciduous deleterious diffident enervate enfranchise epiphany equinox euro evanescent expurgate facetious fatuous feckless fiduciary filibuster gamete gauche gerrymander hegemony hemoglobin homogeneous hubris hypotenuse impeach incognito incontrovertible inculcate infrastructure interpolate irony jejune kinetic kowtow laissez faire lexicon loquacious lugubrious metamorphosis mitosis moiety nanotechnology nihilism nomenclature nonsectarian notarize obsequious oligarchy omnipotent orthography oxidize parabola paradigm parameter pecuniary photosynthesis plagiarize plasma polymer precipitous quasar quotidian recapitulate reciprocal reparation respiration sanguine soliloquy subjugate suffragist supercilious tautology taxonomy tectonic tempestuous thermodynamics totalitarian unctuous usurp vacuous vehement vortex winnow wrought xenophobe yeoman ziggurat

And CONGRATULATIONS to the Class of 2014. Every graduating senior last night has been accepted to college! That is a huge achievement.

Congratulations, Seniors!

Congratulations to our seniors! I look forward to seeing all of you at graduation today! 

Ms. D just finished reading... "Crank" and "The Geography of You and Me"

 Crank by Ellen Hopkins is the first in her Kristina trilogy (Crank, Glass, and Fallout). While this book looks intimidatingly long, it is written in a poetry/free-verse style that tells you just enough to know what's going on, but not too much to bore you with details. Kristina is a girl-next-door type (based on Ellen Hopkin's daughter!) until she meets "the monster" and her life changes. Read it and find out more! 

Read more here: Crank

 

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith was very sweet. It was cute, almost mushy, romantic. Worth the read, especially if you have ever had a maybe-long-distance relationship. Jennifer Smith also wrote The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, which is a similar style book. This one was a little more fun, since we see from the perspective of both characters.

Read more here: The Geography of You and Me ebook







BONUS FEATURES:

 The Dumbest Idea Ever  Fun biographical graphic novel about the author writing a graphic novel.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever Another great installment of the Wimpy Kid books.