Cameron’s Collection is a free eBook collection supporting mental health, especially for teens. It’s totally private, available 24/7 and covers issues from anxiety to bullying to depression. Just scan the QR code. If you are not logged in to a school resource (powerschool, canvas, etc.), or not on school grounds you will be asked for a password. Stop by the library to get the password.
You can also find it here on the blog under Library Collection
It’s time for #BigLibraryRead! Now through Nov. 16, borrow the featured title from the Sora student reading app: https://soraapp.com/welcome
Login with your student ID number and password
📘 Featured title: ‘A Snake Falls to Earth’
✍️Author: Darcie Little Badger
What’s it about? Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She’s always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories. Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he’s been cast from home. He’s found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake. Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli’s best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven’t been in centuries. And there are some who will kill to keep them apart. Darcie Little Badger introduced herself to the world with Elatsoe. In A Snake Falls to Earth, she draws on traditional Lipan Apache storytelling structure to weave another unforgettable tale of monsters, magic, and family. It is not to be missed.
Listen to the first chapter of The Ghost Road, by Charis Cotter here. If you’d like to read the rest of the book, you can find it at the Skyview Library.
Genre: Ghost Stories
What’s it about? For the first time, Ruth is heading to Newfoundland to stay with family she’s never met instead of spending the summer traveling with her dad. When she arrives, she finds life in the small community of Buckle very different from Toronto–everyone knows everyone else, and some of them believe in ghosts and The Sight and family curses. Ruth’s cousin Ruby is also staying for the summer, and the two discover they have a lot in common: they both lost their moms when they were two years old, they’re the same age and they even like the same food. But while Ruby believes in spirits and fairies, Ruth believes in science and cold, hard facts.
When they find ominous information on some tombstones in the local cemetery, Ruth and Ruby start investigating their family’s past and discover that twin girls are born in every generation, and every set of twins dies young, leaving their children without mothers. What’s more, one of the twins always has The Sight and can see the Ghost Road that leads to the mysterious lost settlement of Slippers Cove. What happened there? What does it have to do with their family? And who is the ghostly presence that keeps visiting Ruth late at night?
This week’s book is Brother’s Keeper by Julie Lee. Listen to the first chapter here.
What’s it about? North Korea. December, 1950. Twelve-year-old Sora and her family live under an iron set of rules: No travel without a permit. No criticism of the government. No absences from Communist meetings. Wear red. Hang pictures of the Great Leader. Don’t trust your neighbors. Don’t speak your mind. You are being watched.
But war is coming, war between North and South Korea, between the Soviets and the Americans. War causes chaos–and war is the perfect time to escape. The plan is simple: Sora and her family will walk hundreds of miles to the South Korean city of Busan from their tiny mountain village. They just need to avoid napalm, frostbite, border guards, and enemy soldiers.
But they can’t. And when an incendiary bombing changes everything, Sora and her little brother Young will have to get to Busan on their own. Can a twelve-year-old girl and her eight-year-old brother survive three hundred miles of warzone in winter?
Genre: Historical Fiction
Can’t decide what to read? Take a look at the titles (there’s only one this week), then come check it out in the library! There are other First Chapter Fridays from previous years if you’re interested. Find them on the links on the right in the library blog. This week’s book is Camp Shady Crook by Lee Gjersten Malone. 
Genre: Humor
What’s it about? For Archie, the start of summer means another stint at Camp Shady Brook, where there is a lot more to the camp than meets the eye—just like Archie and his now blended family. But thanks to a con Archie developed last year that parted many campers with their spending money, he’s finally somebody…and he’s not going to lose that status to the new girl, Vivian.
For Vivian, thanks to an incident That Shall Not Be Named or Spoken Of, her summer of exotic travels with Mom and Dad has turned into traveling to a dump of a summer camp in the middle of nowhere.
But thanks to perfect timing, Vivian soon finds herself in a ring of kids trying to out-con each other—and discovers Camp Shady Brook is more like Camp Shady Crook. And when one final, massive con could cost Vivian the first friends she’s had in a while, can she and Archie figure out a way to make things right?
Now, what next?
Before you visit the library, check out this short presentation. It will help you understand how to use the Skyview library!
If you’re thinking about joining Battle of the Books this fall, or want to get a jump start on reading the books, you can find them all on Sora! Check out my virtual Battle of the Books page to watch book trailers, and access the titles through Sora. Remember, login to Sora with your regular student ID number and password. Happy Reading!!
There are lots of opportunities to read for FUN and for FREE over the summer. Here’s a list of several resources for you to enjoy. Don’t forget that Sora now has a very large collection of comic books! Enjoy!
Introducing Teen Book Cloud! It’s a free resource where you’ll find graphic novels, enhanced novels, ebooks, classic literature, videos and audiobooks, all geared toward middle and high school students. Right now, it’s only available through August 2022, so check it out and give me your feedback! This is a SLED resource, which means you’ll have to login. If you don’t know the login information, stop by the library to get it, or call 1-800-440-2919. To see other free summer reading resources, click here.
TIME IS RUNNING OUT!!! It’s been a fun year, but it’s almost time to turn in your library books.