eBranch Blog

August 28, 2007

A Modern Twist on High School Reading

Kids around the country headed back to school this week, some having spent those last few days of glorious summer freedom finishing summer reading list selections. If the words "high school reading list" make you think only of time-honored classics like A Tale of Two Cities and The Scarlet Letter, think again. This article in the Christian Science Monitor discusses new trends to broaden high school reading lists to include new players in modern literature with the long-standing veterans.

If you want to read one of the classics or a contemporary new pick, the library has something to offer you.

Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner
An epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, that takes us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present. The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption, and it is also about the power of fathers over sons-their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

Yann Martel. Life of Pi: A Novel
The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is it more true?

Alice Sebold. The Lovely Bones
This is the tale of family, memory, love, and living told by 14-year-old Susie Salmon, who is already in heaven. Through the voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and builds out of her family's grief a hopeful and joyful story.

Barbara Kingsolver. The Bean Trees
Taylor Greer hits the road and inherits a three-year-old Cherokee girl who manages to slowly wind her way into Taylor's heart.

Over 1000 Participate in HCPL's First Adult Summer Reading Program

The dog days of summer are drawing to a close. This year, kids aren?t the only ones who can talk about what they did over their summer vacations. Over 1,000 adults participated in the first ever Adult Summer Reading Program in Harris County.

Harris County Public Library and local Barnes and Noble bookstore locations hosted the program. Participants who read or listened to three books during the summer were eligible to win a Barnes and Noble gift card. The gift cards were purchased by the Harris County Public Library Friends Council.

Drawings for a $20 Barnes and Noble gift card were held at all twenty-six Harris County Public Library branches and participating Barnes and Noble locations. A grand prize winner was drawn from all those completing the program. Seabrook library customer, Veronica Nadalin from Evelyn Meador Branch Library, won the grand prize of a $150 Barnes and Noble gift card. The gift card will come in handy, since Veronica will be entering her sophomore year at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches later this month. Veronica just happens to be an English major! ?It was nice to have the Adult Summer Reading Program because I?ve always participated in the Children?s Summer Reading Program since I was little, and it?s good to be able to continue to participate in the reading program as an adult. This was the easiest $150 I ever made and for doing something I love?reading!? Veronica aspires to a career in writing as the author of children?s stories or as a journalist. Her favorite genres of books include science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, and gothic novels, but she still reads some young adult titles to get ideas for her own writings. Due to her love of reading, Veronica has volunteered at the library since her junior year in high school.

?This has been such a successful program,? Interim Library Director Rhoda Goldberg stated. ?The Adult Summer Reading Program is an opportunity to get adults involved in reading, not just kids and teens. Our grand prize winner participated in the Teen Summer Reading Program in 2006, which would have been her last reading program, had it not been for the beginning of the Library?s Adult Summer Reading Program this summer.?