New School Year: New Books, Toys & Tools!

Welcome Back Murray Hillers! And as the blog post title says New School Year & YAY New Books & Toys! I just ordered some new HOT books for you! Our regular big book order will go in mid-October (get your book suggestions ready!) but I can't wait for these titles. I want you to have them NOW!
You know I'm always thinking about cool books & stuff for you guys...so when I got to the airport after the ISTE conference in Denver the week after school left out - I sat next to this super cool teen named Allie I met - along with her book loving Auntie - she was raving about this book Incarceron and I took a pic of her holding it with my celly. I knew I had to blog about it on our MHMS Media Book Blog! Bought this book for our school library!

Oh! & Leviathan! - "Full of nonstop action, this steampunk adventure is sure to become a classic." - starred, School Library Journal
Steampunk rocks! If you haven't heard of Steampunk before it's a genre of Science fiction, AND type of music and a fashion aesthetic - here's a definition from :-Joshua A. Pfeiffer a.k.a. Vernian Process

"Steampunk simply embodies a time and a place. The time... the late 19th century. The place... a steam powered world, where air travel by fantastical dirigibles is as common as traveling by train or boat (or submarine). A place where national interests are vastly different than our own version of history. A place where the elegant and refined are as likely to get pulled into a grand adventure, as the workers, ruffians, and lower classes. A place where the idea of space travel is not so far fetched. A place where lost civilizations are found and lost again. A place where anything is possible, and science can be twisted to meet ones own ends." From: Aether Emporium

So bookwise, think Jules Verne meets H.G.Wells - with a pinch of technology and Science!

Speaking of NEW books - on pre-order are Hero by Mike Lupica and the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth. We'll display it on the cool book pyramid once it comes in!

The other new books I got are two each of Mexican Whiteboy and We Were Here by Matt de la Pena, Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia, Homeboyz by Lawrence Stormer and Snitch by Allison Van Diepen. All of these stories are gritty reality teen dramas that are more fitting for 7th & 8th graders.

If you liked Monster by Walter Dean Meyers you'll like these!

Wanna help order new books?
Go to our wiki and help us!
Every year we order new books for YOU & every year we ask you what you want us to get for the MHMS Media Center...We'll still take your scrap paper suggestions for our Suggestion Bus but we're also taking suggestions here! YAY! Ms. Jones & Mrs. Black really LOVE to hear exactly what YOU want. Sure, we ask the teachers, too - but YOU are our FIRST and BEST customer! So tell us what you want and as long as it's approved for middle schools then we'll get it. Don't know the author but just the title? - we'll look it up! Is it part of a series? We'll try and get them all! Basically, help us spend the book money!

Now for TOYS (and Tools!)
I enjoy buying fun toys & display items for the circulation desk of our school library. The MHMS media center has a lava lamp, a plasma ball (so popular we have to clorox wipe that thing every other min!) and a host of bobble heads - all literary, of course!

Blue Planet Electra for $19.00
"Out of the box this hand-blown replica of the Earth in cool blue glass appears tranquil, but plug it in and witness the power of our planet as tendrils of electrical fury pulse through the interior, lashing at the surface! Place your fingertips upon the globe and feel the power as the mild current of electricity attempts to break through the glass."
Oh ahh and I also ordered the academic Explorer Globe to be placed next to our HUGE unabridged dictionary on the stand. YAY Learning!

Oh and speaking of toys? I also ordered some of those Silly Bandz as good answer swag because I can't give out Smartees anymore!













New Circ Counter Toys in Action! Blue Planet Electra!


PS.. My assistant is so very wonderful, talented, and long suffering (having to work with me day in and day out now in our 19th year together! LOL) that I sent her flowers on the first day back last week....still lookin good!