Skyview Middle School Library

The library is hosting a SPRING READING CHALLENGE!!

1. Complete just four squares on the bingo sheet for a single entry.
2. Every four squares you complete equals one entry. You can have up to four entries (you can use the same bingo sheet), but you can only use a square once.
3. Turn it in to the librarian by May 20, 2021
4. Get entered into a drawing for one of five $15 gift certificates from local businesses.
5. For complete details, click here. Bingo sheets are also in the folders on the wall by the front office.

This week’s First Chapter Friday is The Radium Girls by Kate Moore. It’s available for checkout at the Skyview Library, as well as on Sora from the Alaska digital library, in both eBook and audiobook format. Listen to the first chapter here.

Genre: Biography

About the book: The Curies’ newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.

Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these “shining girls” are the luckiest alive — until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.

But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women’s cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America’s early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers’ rights that will echo for centuries to come.

Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the “wonder” substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. Their courage and tenacity led to life-changing regulations, research into nuclear bombing, and ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives…

This week’s featured book is Batting Order by Mike Lupica. Listen to the first chapter here. It’s available for checkout at the Skyview Library.

Genre: Sports fiction; baseball

About the book: On or off the field, Matt and Ben couldn’t be more different. Ben Roberson is an all-or-nothing player: he’s big, he’s bold, and he’s brash. Ben’s swing can hit a ball right out of the park—but that’s if he can get a hit at all.

Matt Baker is small, and shy, and his stutter has him avoiding the spotlight—even if he’s the best all-rounder on the team. But while Matt knows he’s got the chops, a part of him has always envied “Big Ben” and his attention-grabbing charm.

So it’s a total shock when Ben asks Matt to help him work on his swing. Because Ben can’t put the ball into play, and his showboating comes at the expense of the team. And even though Matt’s trying to help, Ben doesn’t seem to take him seriously, especially when it means toning things down.

The end of the season is fast approaching—is there enough time for Ben to realize bigger isn’t always better? For Matt to understand that sometimes, being the bigger person means standing up for yourself?

Or will they have to accept defeat?

This week’s featured book is Hostile Territory, by Paul Greci. Listen to the first chapter here. It’s available for checkout at the Skyview Library.

Genre:  Thriller

About the book: In Paul Greci’s Hostile Territory, a catastrophic earthquake strands four teens in the Alaskan wilderness—and leaves them without a civilization to return to.

Josh and three other campers at Simon Lake are high up on a mountain when an earthquake hits. The rest of the camp is wiped out in a moment—leaving Josh, Derrick, Brooke, and Shannon alone, hundreds of miles from the nearest town, with meager supplies, surrounded by dangerous Alaskan wildlife.

After a few days, it’s clear no rescue is coming, and distant military activity in the skies suggests this natural disaster has triggered a political one.

Josh and his fellow campers face a struggle for survival in their hike back home—to an America they might not recognize.

This week’s featured book is rated one of the top books of 2020. Join me as I read the first chapter of Sanctuary, by Paola Mendoza & Abby Sher. This book is available at the Skyview Middle School Library.

Genre: Dystopian Fiction

Description: It’s 2032, and in this near-future America, all citizens are chipped and everyone is tracked–from buses to grocery stores. It’s almost impossible to survive as an undocumented immigrant, but that’s exactly what sixteen-year-old Vali is doing. She and her family have carved out a stable, happy life in small-town Vermont, but when Vali’s mother’s counterfeit chip starts malfunctioning and the Deportation Forces raid their town, they are forced to flee.

Now on the run, Vali and her family are desperately trying to make it to her tía Luna’s in California, a sanctuary state that is currently being walled off from the rest of the country. But when Vali’s mother is detained before their journey even really begins, Vali must carry on with her younger brother across the country to make it to safety before it’s too late.

Gripping and urgent, co-authors Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher have crafted a narrative that is as haunting as it is hopeful in envisioning a future where everyone can find sanctuary.

This week’s featured book is Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, by Chris Grabenstein. Join me as I read the first chapter!
This book can be found at the Skyview Library, the KPBSD Digital Library and the Alaska Digital Library.
Genre: Mystery
Description: When Kyle Keeley learns that the world’s world’s most famous game maker, Luigi Lemoncello, has designed the town’s new library and is having an invitation-only lock-in on opening night, Kyle is determined to be there! But the tricky part isn’t getting into the library—it’s getting out. Because when morning comes, the doors stay locked. Kyle and the other kids must catch every clue and solve every puzzle to find the hidden escape route!

This week’s featured book is Nyxia, by Scott Reintgen. This trilogy is available at the Skyview Library. The video is slightly over 15 minutes, so it’s in two parts. Listen to the first chapter here (part 1) and here (part 2)!

Genre: Science Fiction

Description: What would you be willing to risk for a lifetime of fortune?

Emmett Atwater isn’t just leaving Detroit; he’s leaving Earth. Why the Babel Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family. Forever.

Before long, Emmett discovers that he is one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden—a planet that Babel has kept hidden—where they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe.

But Babel’s ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won’t forever compromise what it means to be human.

Join me as I read the first chapter in this week’s book, Keeper of the Lost Cities, the first book in a series by Shannon Messenger.  Listen to the first chapter! If you’d like to read the rest of it, it’s available at the Skyview Library, and through Sora at the KPBSD digital library and the Alaska Digital Library.

Genre: Fantasy Fiction

Description: Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has a secret. She’s a Telepath—someone who hears the thoughts of everyone around her. It’s a talent she’s never known how to explain.

Everything changes the day she meets Fitz, a mysterious boy who appears out of nowhere and also reads minds. She discovers there’s a place she does belong, and that staying with her family will place her in grave danger. In the blink of an eye, Sophie is forced to leave behind everything and start a new life in a place that is vastly different from anything she has ever known.

Sophie has new rules to learn and new skills to master, and not everyone is thrilled that she has come “home.” There are secrets buried deep in Sophie’s memory—secrets about who she really is and why she was hidden among humans—that other people desperately want. Would even kill for.

Just for fun, here are a couple of free printable holiday themed coloring pages. Enjoy.

Snow Globe

Christmas Tree