Is Everybody Relaxing?

Hi Girls! I hope you are all enjoying a bit of a break from the school routine and that you have enjoyed some fun family time over the past few days! I am in a bit of a turkey/perogy/chocolate-induced slug-like state myself, but have managed to hit the mall to check out some of the sales. No new shoes to report, though :(.  Most horribly of all, our favorite candy-cane lane tea seems to be sold-out EVERYWHERE!!! I'm hoping that you library tea drinkers have been stocking up.
Anyway, I've been reading some of Quinn's books; namely the Ghostgirl series by Tonya Hurley and I kind of like them.  I'm finding that many of these "supernatural" books actually use the whole afterlife or zombie theme to deal with regular teen issues like bullying, discrimination or that craving for popularity - normal stuff that anybody can relate to.   I think we may have discussed these at book club when I first bought them for Quinn - we'll talk about them again and decide if they are library-worthy.



Now, since you are all on holidays and have a little extra time on your hands, I'm going to post a video that I think is kind of inspiring.  It's a commencement speech that was given to the graduates of Princeton by the founder of Amazon.com. In his speech he asks, "How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?" Excellent thoughts as we approach a new year!


Looking forward to seeing all of you in 2011!

A new cool website to visit!

In my own internet exploration this weekend I stumbled upon a link to this website, which I absolutely LOVE!  Maybe some of you have already discovered it (I realize that I am frequently several steps behind you in my high heels!)  Anyway, it is part book reviews, part social reader networking, part creative writing forums, and part writing contests - I absolutely adore it.  It's called "figment" - read, write, connect.  Go here to have a look:  figment

Next, Nicole W. just returned our newest Lurlene McDaniel novel, Heart to Heart.  She told me she absolutely could not put it down.  So any of you who enjoy a "heartwrenching" read may want to check this one out;)

Finally, don't forget that Thursday will be Junior Book Club at lunch.  I think we will plan on meeting at 11:40 so that the basketball girls are able to attend too.  Listen for announcements to confirm times.  Senior Book Club will meet Tuesday at 11:40 as usual!

Any Old Magazines Out There?

If any of you are doing a bit of  cleaning and recycling with your Christmas decoratiing, please keep the school in mind.  Mrs. Sander is in need of some fresh decorating-type magazines for her interior design classes to use for their projects.  We often get donations of other types of magazines, but home decor magazines are few and far between!  If you are willing to recycle your collection, please pass them on to us here at Rivier - they will be greatly appreciated by the P.A.A. students who are very frustrated with scouring the same old magazines for pictures!

What's New

Those of you who come to Book Club will have heard me talking about Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments Series, which I really enjoyed reading. I found this video clip on the publisher's website of the author being interviewed by Holly Black (author of Tithe, Ironside, Valiant.) I think the interview shows how well-read the author is and how well she has planned this series. In other words, you don't just sit down and write a book! Anyway, I found it very interesting to watch and you can let me know if you are interested in reading her books!

For an interview with Cassandra Clare by Scott Westerfeld (author of the Uglies series), along with the trailer for the books and links to her blog plus much more, go here Simon and Schuster Publishers.  Be forewarned:  There is intermittent thunder crashing in the background which gets very annoying if you try to watch any videos while actually on this webpage!  Maybe I'm just not tech-savvy enough to figure out how to stop the thunderstorm....

In Response To Miss Campbell's "Cat Duet"

Hi Girls!
Well, a long day today clearing out that huge fruit order but does the library ever smell great! Good job to everyone who pitched in to help and thanks to the residents who helped get everything (almost) back to normal tonight.
Anyone who hasn't checked Miss Campbell's blog should pop over and look at her ADORABLE nieces and then watch the very amusing video of two serious choirboys singing Puccini's "Cat Duet." Actually, her niece Emily kind of looks like she's prepared to sing along, now that I think about it. Anyway, after watching that I just had to look at some related videos and came across this one, which apparently has appeared on the jumbotron in Tampa Bay because the cat is wearing their jersey and thus has gone viral. Also, he IS one cool cat. I think he should be considered for future Rivier dances - or perhaps I could train Frisby and/or Kooler to do something even better!

I promise a future post with something actually about books;)