Reading Raiders Blog

Thank you to all who supported the Reading Raiders Book Fair at Barnes and Noble!!

2011-11-02T14:40:00.003-05:00

The Reading Raiders Book Fair was held early this school year. On Saturday, September 17, 2011, the we converged at Bloomington Barnes and Noble for the day. Reading Raiders manned tables, read to children, painted faces, and had a fun time raising money to buy books for the club. Thank you to all who came out and to those of you who purchased books on-line. Over $500.00 was raised(!) so the Reading Raiders will be reading books and e-books for another year.
Many many thanks to all of you!

November Reading Selections for 2011

2011-10-31T12:57:00.007-05:00

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Two Girls from Gettysburg by Lisa Klein

Prisoners in the Palace:How Queen Vicotoria became a queen with the help of her maid, a reporter and a scoundrel by Michaela MacColl

2011-08-25T22:44:00.001-05:00

2011-08-25T20:59:00.043-05:00

Reading Raiders First Meeting of the 2011-2012 school year was held on August 25 in the BHS library. We celebrated the inaugural meeting with a beautifully bookish cake from Tiers (cake bakery owned by Mrs. Hotz's daughter), and some

lively discussion about the upcoming Barnes and Noble BookFair and titles that we will be reading for September.

The Barnes and Noble Book Fair will be held on September 17,

2011, all day Saturday. Currently we are planning on sponsoring some face painting, an arts & crafts table and readings for children. We arehoping to also have a POETRY SLAM and we are considering some additional activities. Visit here for more information to

be posted at a later date.

September Titles

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the
Immortal by Nicholas Flamel The Truth: Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on Sept. 28, 1330. Nearly 700 years later, his is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day. It is said that he discovered the secret of eternal life. The records show that he died in 1418. But his tomb is empty. The Legend: Nicholas Flamel lives. But only because he has been making the elixir of life for centuries. He protects the secret hidden in the Book of Abraham the Mage, because if it falls into the wrong hands; it will destroy the world. And that is exactly what one evil-doer is planning. Only Sophie and Josh Newman have the powers to save the world as we know it. Sometimes...legends are true.

Graceling by Kristin Cashmore
Kasta is a graceling; one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. If her skill had been anything else, she would have lived a life of ease and privilege, since she is a niece of the king. But Kasta's grace, or special power, is one of killing; so instead of a life of ease at court, she instead serves as the king's henchman...thug...enforcer. This story is one of death-defying adventure, and a heart-racing romance!
Rise of the Heroes by Andy Briggs Four average kids stumble onto a web site called Hero.com and download super powers. Soon they are flying, teleporting and shooting lasers out of their eyes. But an evil villain interferes with their fun and things take a turn toward the dark side. The kids need to band together to ward off evil, and save the world from destruction.

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien A fantasy novel first published in 1937, but re-discovered bychildren and young adults generation after generation; now recognized as a classic. The Hobbit follows the quest of home-loving Bilbo Baggins in his effort to win a share of the treasure guarded by the dragon, Smaug. Bilbo's journey takes him from light-hearted, rural surroundings into darker and deeper territory. Bilbo along with the 13 fortune-seeking dwarves embark on an epic quest filled with high adventure and danger lurking at many a twist and turn. (from Wikipedia)

Field Trip

2011-04-14T07:19:00.032-05:00

The READING RAIDERS took a field trip to Barnes and Noble after school on April 13, 2011 (Wednesday). Aaron, fromB&N demonstrated some basic features of the e-readers for the members. He gave a great 30 minute overview on several different features available on the Nook. He entertained questions, during and after, his presentation. After all of their questions were answered, the Reading Raiders stopped by the Barnes and Noble cafe for a treat, then boarded the bus and returned to school; just in time to catch the 4:00 late bus home. All Reading Raiders present, had Nooks to use for the demonstration. Most students have checked out the e-readers and are reading one of the selections for the upcoming meeting. Since this month starts out with APRIL FOOL'S DAY, the genre for APRIL is HUMOR and/or SCHOOL DAYS. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin and Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal-Snogging by Louise Rennison are the APRIL SELECTIONS. Rennison's title is not currently available in e-reader format, but it is available in paperback from the BHS Library. On Thursday, April 14th, Phyllis Coulter, a reporter from the Panatagraph came to the District to speak to Mrs. Linn McDonald and her students at BJHS and to BHS to speak to the Reading Raiders about using the Nooks in an educational setting. Mr. Jim Peterson, Director of Technology of District87 is sponsoring this pilot program at the junior high and high school levels. He has provided direction, funding, support and enough leniency that each of the library media specialists have designed programs that suit their student populations. For instance, BJHS checks out some of the Nooks to students through the Learning Center, and she checks out others to reading teachers to be used in classroom settings. At BHS, some of the Nooks are checked out to members of the Reading Raiders Book Club, some are used as incentive in a reading techniques class, and a couple are checked out through the library for by students who are heavy users of the BHS fiction collection. Students expressed what they thought about using the Nooks. Molly Stevenson and Emily Schultz thought that textbooks should be offered on the Nooks. They are just a little ahead of the curve in their thinking. College textbooks are just starting to become available in the proper format for tablets/e-readers like the Nook.

VS It may be another year or two before high school textbooks are available in this format. The girls have a good point about getting textbooks in electronic form.

March Selections 2010

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Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories and Poetry. Members who wish to read Poe, will come to an agreement ofwhat will be read. The poem "Annabelle Lee", the short stories "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Pit and the Pendulum" and the poem, "The Raven" will all be selections that we will read. Other titles can be added to these by member recommendations.

...from Wikipedia:Wuthering Heights is the only novel by Emily Brontë. It was first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, and a posthumous second edition was edited by her sister Charlotte.
The name of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors on which the story centers (as an adjective; wuthering is a Yorkshire word referring to turbulent weather). The narrative tells the tale of the all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted, love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them and many around them.
Now considered a classic of English literature, Wuthering Heights met with mixed reviews by critics when it first appeared, mainly because of the narrative's stark depiction of mental and physical cruelty.[1][2] Though Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was generally considered the best of the Brontë sisters' works during most of the nineteenth century, many subsequent critics of Wuthering Heights argued that its originality and achievement made it superior.

Jane Eyre

Taken from the MOVIE's web page: After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meet the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Mr. Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Mr. Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?

Graphic Novels

Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver set sail not knowing what fantastic adventures await him. First he is shipwrecked on the island of Lilliput where the people are only six inches high! Then, he voyages to Brobdingnag, a land of towering giants. Will Gulliver ever make it back home?

Maximum Ride (Taken from School Library Journal)
Hiding out in the wilderness of Colorado, Max Ride, 14, and her ragtag family of mutant kids think they're safe from the clutches of The School, a secret government lab that has erased their memories and turned them into human/bird creations. When Angel, the youngest of them, is kidnapped by the Erasers–cruel half-man/half-wolf enforcers for The School–Max and several of the kids set off in search of her. Despite outwitting them in several instances, the Erasers are able to intercept them. But all is not as it seems when Max is released from her confinement only to be told the secret of her origin–that she was created to save the world. The story is based on Patterson's popular Maximum Ride series (Little, Brown), and Lee does a superb job of translating his text into attractive manga-style illustrations. Although the narrative is a bit slow at first, the action quickly picks up and is bound to keep readers turning the pages. Bridging the gap between contemporary YA fiction and manga/manhwa, Maximum Ride is a fine first choice for sci-fi/thriller-heavy collections.–Dave Inabnitt, Brooklyn Public Library, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.

March Meeting will be held on March 15, 2010. This is the TUESDAY before Spring Break!

Feb. Books

2011-01-21T07:53:00.004-06:00

This Months books are:
Spy High(?)(hard to get) by AJ Butcher
Reluctaut Heiress by Eva Ibbotson

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

Next Meeting

2010-12-07T15:55:00.002-06:00

Next Meeting is Jan 20.

December books

2010-12-07T15:33:00.011-06:00

2001 Space Odyssey

Arthur Charles Clarke

Deadline
Chris Crutcher
He Came to BHS last year.
Autograph Copy.

Inkheart
Cornelia Caroline Funke

Spanking Shakespear

Jake Wizer

November Picks

2010-10-22T13:49:00.008-05:00

The DaVinci Code

by Dan Brown

Amanda/Miranda

by Richard Peck

The Devil's Arithmetic

by Jane Yolen

Memoirs of a Geisha

by Arthur Golden

October Horror/ Thriller

2010-10-04T15:09:00.004-05:00

This month books are The Shining by Stephen King, The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd: 8th Grade Bites by Heather Bewer, The Love Bones by Alice Sebold, Pet Sematary by Stephen King, and The Graveyard By Neil Ganiman.

CLUB FAIR September 3 at Lunch

2010-09-01T12:57:00.001-05:00

Stop by the Reading Raiders table at lunch time and find out about our club.

Reading Raiders ROCK!

2010-08-19T15:28:00.003-05:00

2010-2011 Reading Raiders Officers
Co-Presidents:
Harini Madheswaran and Sarah Youngs
Social Secretary:
Megan Hosak
Treasurer:
Prathyusha Chenji

...ABOUT THE READING RAIDERS

2010-08-19T13:15:00.004-05:00

The Reading Raiders is the Bloomington High School Book Club; open to students, parents, faculty, staff and administrators. Reading Raiders was established in 2004 at a student's suggestion. There are no club dues, though donations are cheerfully accepted. The club meets in the library on the 2nd Thursday of each month. Meetings begin at 2:30 and usually last for one hour to one hour and 30 minutes (2:30- 3:30/3:45 or so).

September and October Selections

2009-09-18T07:58:00.000-05:00

Chris Crutcher, award winning young adult author, will be visiting Bloomington High School on September 30, 2009. His appearance coincides with Banned Books Week. The Bloomington Public Library, Bloomington High School/District 87 and Unit 5 schools welcome Mr. Crutcher to the community lecture at 7pm in the Bloomington High School auditorium. Please plan to attend, and bring a friend. The topic for discussion will be censorship and banned books.

The Reading Raiders have read Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes and are anxious to ask questions after the in-school lecture. The two main characters in this novel, Eric Calhoune and Sarah Byrnes, have been best of friends since elementary school. Eric believes that their friendship may be based on their designation as outcasts. That's why, when Eric begins to lose weight, because of his spot on the swim team, he forces himself to eat; so that he and Sarah will remain friends.

In Crutcher's books, his characters tend to be well-developed - teenagers, generally. The main teen characters tend to have a major physical, emotional and or developmental flaw; but are genuine, thoughtful, considerate young people facing nearly insurmountable problems. Crutcher understands that not all young people are altruistic, so he regularly includes flawed teens, and sometimes he will include a bully or two.

Dracula by Bram Stoker is a classic horror story suited for the scariest month of the year. Stoker was born in Ireland and died in England. This story seems to be a familiar tale to all Americans. Dracula is known more as a folktale; from stories passed down over generations. Although the Reading Raiders are familiar with the story, through oral tradition and from various films and videos; none of us had read the original book. The story begin with a young lawyer on assignment in Transylvania and he finds that he is being held as prisoner in the castle of his mysterious host. I believe that the films will prove to have created a different kind of monster than the one found in the original work. Stoker appears to have woven themes of philosophy, religion, doubt, mystery, and vampires into a decadent Gothic tale. In the process of telling this tale he created an iconic image of vampires that is embedded in the psyche of all those who celebrate the ritual of Halloween or those who might read Twilight, the novel by Stephanie Meyer.

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeir, published in 2005, is Brockmeier's second novel. This award winner describes the relationship of the living world with the afterlife. Critics claim that the novel is "moving and disquieting, a 'futuristic' novel that is really an elegy for how we live now". The story is set in the fictional metropolis called The City. To take up residence, citizens must meet two requirements: 1) They must be recently deceased and 2) they must exist in the memory of at least one living soul. Laura Byrd is the one living soul keeping our troop of residents in The City alive. The story moves between Laura's life and experiences on earth and those residents who have passed on to life in The City. Laura is a researcher in Antarctica with dwindling supplies. Upon her quest to stay alive, she fails to encounter one living soul. Soon, she realizes that virtually all of the residents of earth have succumbed to a lethal virus; and she may actually be the sole survivor. In sharp contrast to Laura's life-threatening difficulties, her counterparts in The City find that the are free from disease and aging, but only so long as someone on earth (Laura) remembers them.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman is best described as a creepy tale set in opposite universes. It's a disturbing correlation of Alice in Wonderland, where the Wonderland is more threatening and macabre than Lewis Carroll ever conceived. Coraline crawls through a door that leads her to an alternate universe where her mother and father seem to be the ideal parents Coraline has longed for. Yet, this other mother and other father have buttons for eyes. Since "the eyes are the window to the soul", Coraline's hesitancy proves to be her saving grace. This disturbing story is peopled with characters both evil and good. Horrific fiction seems to relish in these two poles battling it out for the soul of one good person. There are characters straddling the line of good and evil here in Gaiman's story, and that in itself is an underlying disturbing element. This story has also been published as a graphic novel and is available as an animated movie.

Stephanie Meyer's, The Host, rounds out our selections for October. In this science fiction fantasy Meyer incorporates aliens and humans but is still able to tie in a love story. The main character/human is Melanie Stryder. Although the entire earth has been invaded by a parasitic alien that take over the minds of most of humanity (leaving their bodies intact); Melanie refuses to give over her mind to the invader, known as "Wanderer" . Melanie fills Wanderer's mind with thoughts and visions of the man Melanie loves, Jared, who still lives in hiding. As outside forces combine to force Wanderer and Melanie to become unwilling allies, they set off in search of their one true love, Jared. Along this journey the reader will encounter a tale of survival, friendship and love. Critics cannot resist the temptation to compare this novel with the movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Chick Lit for February

2009-01-22T16:35:00.000-06:00

The titles selected for February

are romantic choices.

Can You Keep a Secret by

Sophie Kinsella

M or F by Lisa Papademetriou and

Chris Tebbetts

Jason & Kyra by Dana Davidson

and

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

Our next meeting is scheduled for February 19th at 2:30 in the library. Most meetings last for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. In March we will select adventure/thriller novels.

Reading Raiders BIG Event

2008-11-21T13:20:00.000-06:00

The Reading Raiders will be hosting their 2nd Annual BIG Event at Barnes and Noble, Tuesday night, December 2, 2008.
The following performances will feature BHS Students

Choral, orechestral and band

a Puppet Show

Comedy sketches and Humourous Duets

Athletes and Administrators will read in the children's section from 4:00pm until 8:00pm

An art table will be available for little ones.

Reading Raiders will wrap your Barnes & Noble merchandise

Cheesecakes from the Cheesecake Factory will be available for purchase, or orders can be placed for pick-up over the holidays

This is an fun-filled-event evening. Come out to Barnes and Noble and join us!

Fantasy and Sci/fi month

2008-09-22T11:19:00.000-05:00

What a great month it was! It seemed like every one had something good or critical to say about the three books we read. Plus: Everyone came back! We talked about the possibility of going to see a movie based on a book we've read (Twilight) and visiting Eli Wiesel, author of Night, and asking him questions about his experience with the Holocaust. (So make sure you read Twilight and Night!)

Here are this months choices:

Dead Until Dark

The Eyre Affair

Twilight*

The Uglies

Featured Book: Night*

*Please read!

Crime and Mystery Books for September

2008-09-04T12:33:00.000-05:00

The first Reading Raiders meeting started off without a hitch. We welcomed some 30 members into the library doors and we hope that they will continue to come. We discussed possibly going to see movies of books that we have read to make Reading Raiders more active.

Here are the books for the September Reading Raiders meeting that takes place on the 18th. Make sure to come socialize and eat some yummy snacks, even if you didn't get the chance to read the book, because you can always take part in the voting for next months meeting.

Acceleration by McNamee

Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay

Velocity by Koontz

Reading Raider Officers for 2008-2009 School Year

2008-06-16T11:52:00.000-05:00

Co-Presidents: Tarah Benner and Kristen White

Social Secretary: Miranda Buob

Activities Director: Amber Shaw

Final Reading Raiders Meeting May 15th!

2008-04-19T18:30:00.001-05:00

Don't miss the very last Reading Raiders meeting of the 2007/2008 school year! On May 15th, there will be a brief house-keeping meeting, followed by our featured film, Pride and Predjudice starring Keira Knightly. At the meeting, we will elect officers for next year and throw around some ideas to make next year even better. Please let us know if you can bring refreshments for the Film Fest.

Reading Raiders April Meeting!

2008-04-10T16:04:00.000-05:00

Don't forget! Next Thursday, April 17th is the last actual Reading Raiders meeting of the 2007/2008 school year. We are reading 24 Girls in 7 Days, Elsewhere, and Keeping the Moon. Stop by the library to check out a copy today!

2007-12-16T16:57:00.001-06:00

2007-12-16T16:56:00.001-06:00

2007-12-16T16:54:00.001-06:00

2007-12-16T16:50:00.001-06:00

2007-12-16T16:47:00.001-06:00

i-read ~i-rock Reading Raiders Fundraiser

2007-12-10T23:26:00.001-06:00

December 5, 2007 the Reading Raiders held the i-read ~i-rock event at the local Barnes and Noble Book Store. Rachael Lefler greated guests for an evening of great entertainment.

Entertainments was provided by the extended BHS community in a variety of formats.

Reading Raiders 11/15/2007 meeting

2007-11-15T18:37:00.000-06:00

It's 6:30 and I just got settled in at home after a full day of school followed by an energetic book club meeting. Tonight we discussed an upcoming fundraiser for our book club and the books we chose to read for this month.
First: the books
My group discussed Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone. Any book that makes you SEE the characters come off the pages is a successful read. Love 'em or hate 'em...they add to the fabric of your life. Delores was not a lovable character, but she added depth to our discussion. All of us agreed that she was a complicated and well-developed character. . .a products of both her environment, heredity and the time period. Undoubtedly, this is a controversial read with layers and layers that were peeled back and discussed tonight. Family relationships, betrayals, love, power and the lack of it, sexual relationships, religion, the real world and the little worlds people create for themselves and finally, personal responsibility.

IWater for Elephants was also discussed by another group, but we did not share our insights between groups....I hope someone from that group will discuss their thoughts here.

We will continue to plan for the December 5th fundraiser and fun-raiser for the Reading Raiders. Two local authors have agreed to come on the 5th to discuss the Power of Literature and the inspiration and development of characters. Mr. James Bennett, award winning young adult author and Mr. Scott Foley, BHS faculty member and short story writer will be at Barnes and Noble on Dec. 5. Details will be available soon.
Also being planned are performances by members of the BHS Drama Club and members of the Speech team. Lively short performances will likely be the venue.
We are asking elementary students to come between 4 and 6 pm because BHS student athletes will be reading stories in the children's section. We are hoping that elementary schools will submit student art work for display throughout the store. Door prizes are being considered. Meetings are planned for next week to firm up these and other plans. What an energetic and inspirational group of students comprise the membership of the Reading Raiders. I am truly grateful to all members for their competence, sense of humor, and enthusiasm.
Later, Mrs. J.

ISLMA CONFERENCE

2007-11-04T15:57:00.000-06:00

I attended a three day conference and just got home yesterday (November 3, 2007). It was the Illinois School Library Media Conference, and I learned a little bit about blogs and set this one up today. It's for bibliophiles. I have listed books that I like and will be adding books that we are reading in our book club, The Reading Raiders Book Discussion Club...along with other titles that I read for professional development and for pleasure. As this develops, I will also be adding comments about the books I read. There are a number of links to books lists and such. One of the links that are here is the WISH LIST. That is a wish list of titles that I would like to add to the school library. Students who are members of the club will be giving some of their ideas too. This site needs more work. more later....