Middle School Artist of the Month- update

It has been amazing to see the talent of the Middle School artists this year. Mr. Bladyke has chosen one 7th and one 8th grade student each month to display their work in the library. Check out the slide show below to see the dazzling artistry on display.

Pick of the Week- The Hate U Give

is The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I rarely have an emotional reaction after reading a novel, but this story was compelling from start to finish. Starr is a student at a wealthy private school in the suburbs, and she is from a poor city neighborhood. Almost everyone in her school is white, she is black. Starr has found a way to navigate her two worlds until she is the witness to the murder of her best friend at the hands of a police officer. Though she tries to stay anonymous, her identity is revealed. As people from her home neighborhood and school community intertwine Starr will find out who her friends really are. The political and social themes of this novel are highly relevant. Come check out this New York Times best-seller.

Content Note: This novel contains curse words, casual teen drinking, and a scene depicting realistic gun violence.

Pick of the Week- The House of the Scorpion

is The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. Though this books is more than ten years old, its themes are surprisingly relevant. The dystopian setting for this book is a future where the United States and Mexico no longer exist. The border region of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California are controlled by el Patron, a ruthless drug lord. The main character, Matt, is a clone of el Patron and must navigate the tricky politics of the rival drug families. Matt is prepared to take over the empire until a stunning revelation throws his future into chaos. Tackling themes of migration, the drug trade, and belonging, the world created by Farmer is sure to captivate readers.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

About 20% of people in the United States have some kind of mental health condition. There are many misconceptions about mental illness that often lead to stigmatization of people dealing with these conditions. This month, take some time to read and become more informed about what mental illness is and isn't. Consider these facts from the National Alliance on Mental Illness:

1 in 25 (10 million) adults in the United States lives with a serious mental illness.

60 million people in the United States face the day-to-day reality of living with a mental illness.

Half of all lifetime mental health conditions begin by age 14 and 75% by age 24, but early intervention programs can help.

African Americans and Hispanic Americans used mental health services at about half the rate of whites in the past year, and Asian Americans at about one-third the rate.

90% of those who die by suicide have an underlying mental illness. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, but suicide is preventable.

- See more at: https://www.nami.org/Get-Involved/Awareness-Events/Awareness-Messaging?utm_source=awareness&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=intoMH#sthash.qdVrbNBv.dpuf

For more information see these library resources:

Non-fiction:

Kemp, Donna R. Mental Health in America. 2009.

Miklowitz, David J. The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide. 2002.

Owens, Michael L. and Amy Gelman. I'm Depressed, Now What?. 2012.

Torrey, E. Fuller and Michael B. Knable. Surviving Manic Depression. 2002.

Watkins, Heidi. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. 2010.

Wylie, John V. Diagnosing and Treating Mental Illness. 2010.

Fiction:

King, Wesley. OCDaniel. 2016.

Scelsa, Kate. Fans of the Impossible Life. 2015.

Shusterman, Neal. Challenger Deep. 2015.

Whaley, John Corey. Highly Illogical Behavior. 2016.

In the News- Drought and Famine in North Africa

In the News

A devastating drought and famine are threatening millions of lives in North Africa and the Middle East. South Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen are experiencing record drought conditions. What is worse, political instability limits the amount of aid that can be distributed. Millions of people have migrated out of these regions which could potentially cause instability in other regions. The health consequences are already deadly illness to children and the elderly. 

Learn more about the causes of this humanitarian disaster here:

You can also check out these books for more background.

Hirsch, Rebecca E. Climate migrants : on the move in a warming world. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2017.

Kolbert, Elizabeth. Field notes from a catastrophe : man, nature, and climate change. New York: Bloomsbury Pub., 2006.

Rawlence, Ben. City of thorns : nine lives in the world's largest refugee camp. New York: Picador, 2017.

Singer, Peter, Bill Gates, and Melinda Gates. Famine, affluence, and morality ; foreword by Bill and Melinda Gates. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Singer, Peter. One world : the ethics of globalization. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.

Turse, Nick. Next Time They'll Come to Count the Dead. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2016. Print.

Withington, John. Disaster! : a history of earthquakes, floods, plagues, and other catastrophes. New York: Skyhorse Pub., 2010.

Pick of the Week- Underground Railroad

is Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for fiction, this novel is a compelling story of Cora a woman born enslaved in Georgia and who escapes through the Underground Railroad.  In a way, Cora's story reflects hundreds of years of United States History as she encounters different social reactions to race and slavery. Though the subterranean train and the societies she encounters are fictionalized, the journey and characters are compelling. One reviewer called the book "devastating;" I couldn't agree more. You will be riveted by Whitehead's latest triumph.