Who Needs A Monster?

I Need My Monster

 by Amanda Noll

 is our up and coming Virginia Reader's Choice Nominee book.

How perfect to have a monster in our mist with Halloween right around the corner!

Do you need a pet monster? 

See what all the fuss is about at Ethan's house and why he needs his monster.

SPINDLERS ARE HERE!!!

The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver arrived after being released earlier last week!

Hoot! Hoot!! :)

Can you guess what I will be doing this long weekend?

I am so excited for the release of this book - making it her 2nd middle aged book!

Check out Lauren talking about her book. :)

I WANT MY HAT BACK

I got more giggles and smiles from this book this week. It happens to be one f our Virginia Reader Book Nominees for 2012-2013 school year!

The kiddos voted and so far they find this their favorite one! {Wonder if it's because of the funny voices I did? Hmm?}

I WANT MY HAT BACK

Annabel -eBook Release - December 26th

MARK YOUR CALENDAR - another amazing eBook is heading our way just in time to stuff our stockings so to speak!

December 26, 2012 , Lauren Oliver will release the 2nd eBook in her Delirium Trilogy! 

First we had Hanna, a story told by Lena's best friend and now we will receive Annabel - and hope that this will leave us feeling satisfied until the final book  Requiem is released on March 5, 2013.

Will Annabel be enough to hold us over? 

Maybe. 

 Maybe not.

But I guess it does give us time to sit back and reread this amazing Trilogy right before the final chapter comes out.

Lena Halloway's mother, Annabel, supposedly committed suicide when Lena was only six years old. That's the lie that Lena grew up believing, but the truth is very different. As a rebellious teenager, Annabel ran away from home and straight into the man she knew she was destined to marry. The world was different then—the regulations not as stringent, the cure only a decade old. Fast forward to the present, and Annabel is consigned to a dirty prison cell, where she nurtures her hope of escape and scratches one word over and over into the walls: Love.

But Annabel, like Lena, is a fighter. Through chapters that alternate between her past and present, Annabel reveals the story behind her failed cures, her marriage, the births of her children, her imprisonment, and, ultimately, her daring escape.

October 2nd - RELEASE DATE

Lauren Oliver will release her 2nd middle aged book next week on October 2nd!!! I am counting down the days to get hold of this new book of hers!!

Watch for it's arrival in our Library! :)

One night when Liza went to bed, Patrick was her chubby, stubby, candy-grubbing and pancake-loving younger brother, who irritated and amused her both, and the next morning, when she woke up, he was not. In fact, he was quite, quite different.

When Liza's brother, Patrick, changes overnight, Liza knows exactly what has happened: The spindlers have gotten to him and stolen his soul.

She knows, too, that she is the only one who can save him.

To rescue Patrick, Liza must go Below, armed with little more than her wits and a broom. There, she uncovers a vast world populated with talking rats, music-loving moles, greedy troglods, and overexcitable nids . . . as well as terrible dangers. But she will face her greatest challenge at the spindlers' nests, where she encounters the evil queen and must pass a series of deadly tests—or else her soul, too, will remain Below forever.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

Mark your calendar for one of my favorite events of the year ... Scholastic Book Fair!!!

Our books will roll in here on Friday, November 30th and we will be open for business 

Monday, December 2-7th!!

Shop by for your favorite reader!!! We always have a super selection for the youngest of readers all the way up to us grown ups!! They make super stocking stuffers with Christmas right around the corner.

PS - If there is a Night of Carols that Wednesday night we will be open just like in the past. :)

It's Yearbook Time Again!!

I'd like you to meet the newest members of The Old Plank Yearbook Staff!!!

These Seven Super Seniors  will be capturing  the school year and mixing it all together to make the most amazing yearbook ever for all of us!!

Thanks guys and dolls - looking forward to a fabulous year!! :)

PUB it on Barnes & Noble

 PubIt! NOOK Books

Discover Independent Authors

This summer I found a great thing that Barnes & Noble is doing - exposing us to Independent Authors who are out there battling the reading world without the help of a large publishing company to help them! And what a SUPER thing for the new authors coming into the book world.

{This is where I found Colleen Hoover , the amazing new author who wrote Slammed and Point of Retreat. In the weeks since I found this author she has made a deal with a top publishing company.}

I found some amazing books to read in the YA {teen} section that actually didn't break my piggy bank as well. { I  think really what I  liked was the price tags the best - haha!} They had books for adults, teens and young readers as well.

Take a minute a click the link above and see what's out there for you to read. I think you will be pleasantly surprised!!

Point of Retreat - Book 2

Did you wonder what happened to Will & Lake after Slammed was finished? 

Did Colleen Hoover leave you wanting more?

Well, you are in luck since there is a book 2 called Point of Retreat which will carry you over into this wonderful couple's life after it got turned upside down and then some what put back together. 

The couple has a long way to go in their wacky life that brought them together. Serious decisions need to be made about ... what next???

Colleen Hoover has done an amazing job closing in that gap for not only Will & Lake about what comes next in their lives , but also in the lives of the little brothers and their friends.

She transforms your heart and tugs on it yet once again and leaves you crying for more!!! 

*****FIVE GOLD STARS*****

SLAMMED & LOVED

I just finished reading this book - Slammed by Colleen Hoover! It was amazing!!! Actually beyond amazing! She is a new and up and coming YA Author and I must say she hit this one right out of the park!!! 

This book is rather lengthy, but it flows like water being poured that the length is non-existent!!  I am a slow reader - have I ever mentioned that?? Well, I am, but I read this is 2 short sittings and it's over 1,100 pages! Yup! 

The characters are amazing! 

The relationships touched me, it grabbed my insides and twisted them up and simply made me smile!!!

A MUST READ!!!!!

*****FIVE GOLD STARS*****

PS - Did I mention to you that it's a $2.99 download to your Kindle or Nook???

Race over and download - you will not be sorry!!!!!

18-year-old Layken Cohen misses her life back in Texas, harbors a deep hatred for concrete garden gnomes and has fallen hard for her new neighbor, Will Cooper. 

21-year-old Will Cooper misses his life before it became so complicated, has a passion for performing slams and has fallen hard for his new neighbor, Layken Cohen--despite her deep hatred for garden gnomes. 

Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart.

SA Summer Reading

 There is a tab for SA Summer Reading on the school website. 

There is a list of required reading for certain classes as well as suggested reading.

Lower School students - Don't forget to TRAIN YOU BRAIN and keep up with your minutes you read in your journals!! 

Did I Mention????

  ..... The 2011-2012 Old Plank Yearbook Staff won an award from Jostens???

I forgot to tell you?? Well, we did!! :)

Josten has a National Excellence Program and this years staff won!!!! YES!!! 

We were 1 of 239 school across the United States to receive this award! 

Amazing? Yes it is!!!

Am I proud? Yes, I am bursting with pride and excitement!!! 

The students did I great job! Did I ride them all year about getting things done - yes well just a little and their hard work paid off!!!

So congrats to my kiddos for a job well done!!!

Here's to an amazing year coming up and maybe a 2nd award? Who knows, but I look forward to my 2nd year and another challenge! :)

Before Wendy - there was Tiger Lily

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy...http://bit.ly/Kta0aL

(click the link to see the official trailer for this book  - you'll want to fly like tinkerbell to a bookstore near you or hit a download link for that nook or kindle you love to read on!)

This is my next read .. unless I get distracted my some other amazing author before I get to the end! ;)

Just finished !

I have been a lazy reader this summer ... I must admit. :(  We have been so busy visiting and still unpacking from the move in January.

HOWEVER, I think I have gotten my reading mojo back on track!

I finished in the wee hours this morning at 2 am Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews! LOVED IT!!! I loved the interpersonal relationships developed in this story - even the mean Step Mother-to-Be was great!!!

I fell in love with each character in this story for their own different qualities.

Pokey, the stay-at-home momma who is the sister to the Bayless brothers and best friends with the main character Annajane. She is a hoot, loyal and so loving.  

The crazy and wild Bayless brother Davis - well, who would not love having the good looking woman's man hanging around to keep everyone on their toes? 

Sophie, the sweet 5 year old that made me think of a cute pinkaliocious child who loved treasures she hoarded in her special purse . I just wanted to smooch her sweet curly blonde face!!

Sallie, the mother of the Bayless children ...well what can I say about her? Tough ... Southern Elegance ... Private! She had many different layers that were exposed throughout the story. Crazy old bird - you had to appreciate her - she surprised me!!

Mason, Total GQ! He was so handsome in my mind and so confused how he felt about the women in his life. Although, I must say he surprised me in his loyalty to family and tossed me a serious curve ball towards the end that I LOVED!!!

Annajane , is the perfect friend! I totally enjoyed her and felt my heart break as hers did page after page. She is a smart Southern woman and comes into her own in this story. She finds inner strength she didn't know she had and takes hold of her life. She blossoms and grows and reaches new levels!!!

Just when I think Mary Kay cannot top herself she goes ahead and does it!

Take a minute a check out Mary Kay Andrews and Spring Fever!

(Of course any of her books are simply amazing!!)

New Audio Books!

SYNC YA Literature into your headphones!!! Each week this summer SYNC is offering 2 new audio books for download until August 22, 2012.

Simply click the link above and you will head straight to the website for  your directions and downloads. How cool is that?? 

The website is full of information about YA Literature that is new and hot for teens , but I must admit .. I am secretly in love with YA Literature!!! I wish we had had authors like this when I was growing up! There is tons of new literature to feel thew minds of your youth today and I thank each and every author for this!!

So hop over to SYNC and download a book to listen to while you go for a quick run or lay around in the hammock in your back yard!!

Don't Forget!!!!

Don't forget to check out all the great summer activities at the branches of the 

Blackwater Regional Libraries!!!

www.blackwaterlib.org

Check their website - click on a branch, choose a  calendar and see what's happening!!

There is something for all ages - even the adults have a group!! :)

This is what I will be reading in 2 weeks!

The week after we get out of school - this is what I will be doing!!! 

Yes, you guessed it - READING!! 

One of my favorite authors Mary Kay Andrews is coming out with her next summer sensation on June 5th!!!

Annajane Hudgens truly believes she is over her ex-husband, Mason Bayless.  They’ve been divorced for four years, she’s engaged to a new, terrific guy, and she’s ready to leave the small town where she and Mason had so much history.  She is so over Mason that she has absolutely no problem attending his wedding to the beautiful, intelligent, delightful Celia.  But when fate intervenes and the wedding is called to a halt as the bride is literally walking down the aisle, Annajane begins to realize that maybe she’s been given a second chance.  Maybe everything happens for a reason.  And maybe, just maybe, she wants Mason back.  But there are secrets afoot in this small southern town.  On the peaceful surface of Hideaway Lake, Annajane discovers that the past is never really gone.  Even if there are people determined to keep Annajane from getting what she wants, happiness might be hers for the taking, and the life she once had with Mason in this sleepy lake town might be in her future.

So if you need a GREAT grown up book to read for yourself - here it is!!! 

I guarantee it will be rated a 5 star!!!

TOMORROW!!!!

Tomorrow.... we will be unveiling this year's 2012 Old Plank Yearbook which I had the privilege of over seeing and helping create!!

The students have worked hard and I am very proud of them. I am pretty sure it isn't mistake free, but it isn't because we didn't try.

I hope that you will all find as much pleasure reading this year's book as we have gotten in putting it together. We have tried to capture the essence of our school and the friends we hold dear to us.

Go Raiders!!!! :)

Summer Reading Kick Off

This past summer the students continued to amaze me with their love and enthusiasm for reading as they did all school year long.

With summer knocking at our doors yet again, we are ready to slide into summer vacation mode. Once again we invite and challenge you to fight that “summer slide” feeling.

Instead, count the minutes as you take off on a grand adventure, solve mysteries, travel the world or fight crime while turning page after page in your favorite books!

Join us in our “BOOK CAMP” reading log and tally up the minutes your child reads. Shade one block for every 10 minutes they read, sign the back cover at the end of summer, and send back to school on the first week back to school.

We want to see how many minutes we can read as a school this summer. Last summer we read 96,233 minutes together!

Are you ready to enlist?

Ready, set , READ !

-Mrs. Dilday

Pandemonium Strikes!

February 28, 2012 , the world of literature was turned upside down once again as the fear of the deliria struck !

Lauren Oliver's follow up book in her Delirium trilogy was released and we were faced with a much wanted and desired Pandemonium.

We find answers to questions we were left with in Delirium and found new ones that left us sitting on the edges of our futons!!

What will happen to Lena?

What is in store for her future in a world gone mad and scared of Love?

Find out Spring 2013 when the final installment of this fabulous tale of tragedy and love comes to an end.

(Don't forget her eBook only Hana - told from the view point for Len's best friend Hana.)

I fell in love with Lauren last spring when she came to visit our school. Her writing just leaves you wanting more. We were privileged to be able to swing down to Raleigh, NC and meet up with her at Quail Ridge Books for a delightful afternoon of a quick chat and book signing.

If you have not read any of her books - What are you waiting for? Run out to the library or download it quick! You will not be sorry that you spent an afternoon with this amazing author and her tales of life, love and adventure!!!

PS - She also has books for younger readers ... Liesl and Po and another one headed to press this Fall 2012! She also mentioned an Adult book that is in the works as well.