Week in Review: DRAMA

The library was bustling with activity this week, mainly human sexuality for the sixth through eighth-grade students. But when not in use by middle schoolers, the library hosted the High School drama class for a look at their play, Anxiety is Orange. Students performed several scenes from this thoughtfully funny play. Also happening this week was the final Leadership Lunch of the school year. Ryan interviewed Samhita and Saheb about their experiences on the Quiz Bowl and Science Bowl teams. We look forward to seeing them both in the future on Jeopardy!

Week in Review + May Book Club

The sixth graders were in the library on Monday with Ms. McGinnes to begin research for their passion projects. Student topics include various sports, animation, organic food, Lego, and music.

It’s hard to believe, but we held the final high school book club of the year on Tuesday. To start us off, Ms. Melinson shared a number of books she got on Independent Bookstore Day, including the Joan Didion classics Let Me Tell You What I Mean and The Year of Magical Thinking, Call Us What We Carry, and All About Love. She also shared some cool-looking books like The Coasts of California, a beautifully illustrated field guide, an oddly sized edition of 1984, the graphic novel adaptation of 1984, and the Maya Angelou poem Life Doesn’t Frighten Me with illustrations by Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Avery shared she’s only reading a school book right now, The Tempest. Jordyn talked about returning several books, including Scythe, which reminded Ms. Melinson to share that a prequel to Scythe will be released this year. Mrs. Strong read The Personal Librarian and liked it well enough. Samhita is re-reading House of Leaves, although it’s much less weird the second time around. Dra. Portillo read Circe and said it’s really good and makes you wonder about gender roles in that time period.

March and April Book Clubs

We only have one more book club before the end of the school year, but first, let’s recap our March and April meetings.

Our March book club was short but sweet with Ms. Melinson sharing some new books in the library. There were some new books to add to ongoing series, like Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson, and new Thrawn Ascendancy books by Timothy Zahn. Ms. Melinson also shared some new favorites by beloved authors like Amor Towles, E. Lockheart, and Anthony Doerr. She also shared a fun graphic novel cookbook called Let’s Make Dumplings, featuring adorable artwork and tasty recipes.

In the April book club, Ms. Melinson began by sharing that the Brooklyn Public Library was waiving its fee for teens across the country in order to access its ebook collection. This is in effort to combat the increasing book censorship nationwide.

Jordyn shared that she’s reading Sherlock Holmes and is enjoying it. She was expecting the book to be slow, but found that it’s well-written and translates well to modern times. Jennifer read Radium Girls and said it’s “so good!” Mrs. Strong mentioned that the book is getting the graphic novel treatment and is set for release this July.

Ms. Reynolds states that she has trouble talking about books without oversharing, but she discussed The Vanishing Half without giving anything away. She said she liked it, particularly the question the book asks – what is lost and what is gained when you hide who you are?

Anniston read What Once Was Mine: A Twisted Tale and said that she uses the Tangled movie voices in her head when reading. Samhita said she tried reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, but found it to be disappointing and misogynistic. However, she loves White Teeth by Zadie Smith and is also trying to read more books by Indian authors.

Mr. Wells finished our meeting by discussing what he’s been reading lately. He loved Libertie, but couldn’t get into Flights. He found it to be self-indulgent and couldn’t engage with the material. He also enjoyed book club favorite All the Light We Cannot See and Amor Towles’ latest, The Lincoln Highway.