Next Year's Bluebonnet Nominees Revealed!

On Saturday, October 22, authors Jack Gantos and Phil Bildner were on hand at the Texas Book Festival to reveal the 20 books selected as nominees for next year's Bluebonnet list!  There are so many great books - they will be fantastic reads for our third, fourth and fifth graders next year!  You can take a sneak peek at the 2012-2013 list here: http://www.txla.org/sites/tla/files/groups/TBA/docs/TBA_12-13.pdf

Mrs. Carter picked up some great new books for our library signed by their authors.  She also met up with a few other friends you might recognize.  You never know who you are going to run into in downtown Austin!

Jack Gantos and Phil Bildner share the 2012-2013 Bluebonnet List

Bad Kitty and Mrs. Carter

A couple of Star Wars characters, but no Origami Yoda today

Phil Bildner is Coming!

Jollyville 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders will have a visit with Phil Bildner on October 24!  Mr. Bildner is the author of the Bluebonnet Award winning book Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy. His book, The Hallelujah Flight  is one of this year's Bluebonnet Nominees, and he has written or co-written many other fantastic books.  Mr. Bildner has visited Jollyville for several years, and students always enjoy their time with him.  Our fourth graders will be treated to a Writing Camp led by Bildner, and 3rd and 5th graders will hear his author presentation.

Mr. Bildner will be available to personalize books that students order in advance.  All orders need to be in to the library by Tuesday morning, October 11. Order forms are going home this week, or you can print out the form here: Bildner Book Order Form

RRISD Partners In Education Grant, Reading Photos on Display!

Exciting things are going on in the Jollyville Library!  Last week we were awarded a $2500 grant from the RRISD PIE Foundation.  These funds will be used to expand our transitional chapter book collection.  These books bridge young readers from picture books to traditional novels.  Transitional chapter books usually have larger print and more illustrations than other chapter books, as well as easy to follow story lines.  Many series such as Junie B. Jones or Magic Tree House fit into the transitional chapter book category.  The familiar characters and repetitive story structures in these series support young readers.

Our library is also now decorated with the Special Reading Spot contest winners.  Ten entries were selected by our voters to be displayed in the library.  These photos will be on display until we have new winners from next year's contest. Thank you to everyone who entered!

Stop by the library to see our beautiful photos and our GIANT check on display!

Bluebonnets, Yodas and Readers, Oh My!

Welcome to the first installment of the Jollyville Library Blog!  Our school year is off to a great start and students are quickly learning library procedures and checking out lots of books.

Third, Fourth and Fifth Graders are reading the Bluebonnet nominee books in order to be able to vote in January.  Some students will soon be getting our Read It Forward going as we prepare for our Battle of the Bluebonnets!  They will have the opportunity to read a book from the Bluebonnet list and pass it along to a friend to read when they are done.  Students who read at least ten Bluebonnet books will be eligible to compete in our Jollyville Battle of the Bluebonnets.  Top scorers from our battle will represent Jollyville at the District battle!

Last week our fourth graders got to visit with Tom Angleberger, the author of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, via Skype.  Mr. Angleberger talked about the writing and publishing process and led us all through making our own origami Yodas.  This week third graders will have a visit with Mr. Angelberger!