The old adage that “time flies when you are having fun” is certainly true, as here it is already May! This year has been a whirlwind of activity at the EMS Library. Circulation at the library this year has been high. Hundreds of great books have been read and shared. A wealth of knowledge and information has been gained. The library staff hopes that EMS students’ love of books and quests for knowledge will carry on through the summer.

Does your student get bored a week after school is out? What better way to alleviate that lament than to enroll him/her in a summer reading program. The Wichita Public Library has an idea that would be perfect for those summer doldrums. A sample of one of the programs that can be found on the public library website is Teens Read: “Metamorphosis @ Your Library.” Registration begins Sunday, June 1 at all Wichita Public Library locations.

Teens 12-17 or entering grades 6-12 in fall 2007 may join either the Summer Reading Club or Teens Read. In Teens Read, participants will get the chance to win great prizes based on their time spent reading. Summer’s the time to read whatever you want, without book reports to write or presentations to give.  Reading is a great way to fight the summertime blues!  

Go to the Wichita Public Library website (http://www.wichita.lib.ks.us/) for more summer fun reading events. You might also visit the Goddard Public Library which is located at 118 N. Main Street in downtown Goddard.

If your student would prefer to design his/her own reading program, the William Allen White award books for 2008-2009 would be a place to start. The following is the new list of W. A. W. books:

Auch, Mary Jane - “One-Handed Catch” 
New York, Henry Holt and Company, 2006
Synopsis: After losing his hand in an accident in his father’s butcher shop in 1946, sixth-grader Norman uses hard work and humor to learn to live with his disability and to succeed at baseball, art, and other activities.

Balliett, Blue - “The Wright 3” 
New York, Scholastic Press, 2006
Synopsis: In the midst of a series of unexplained accidents and mysterious coincidences, sixth graders Calder, Petra, and Tommy lead their classmates in an attempt to keep Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Robie House from being demolished.

Larson, Kirby - “Hattie Big Sky”
New York, Delacorte Press, 2006
Synopsis: After inheriting her uncle’s homesteading claim in Montana, sixteen-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks travels from Iowa in 1917 to make a home for herself and encounters some unexpected problems related to the war being fought in Europe.

Lord, Cynthia - “Rules.”
New York, Scholastic Press, 2006
Synopsis: Frustrated at life with an autistic brother, twelve-year-old Catherine longs for a normal existence but her world is further complicated by a friendship with a young paraplegic.

Lowry, Lois - “Gossamer”
Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006 
Synopsis: While learning to bestow dreams, a young dream giver tries to save an eight-year-old boy from the effects of both his abusive past and the nightmares inflicted on him by the frightening Sinisteeds.

Myers, Anna - “Confessions From the Principal’s Chair” 
New York, Walker and Company, 2006
Synopsis: After participating in a cruel prank, her mother moves them to Oklahoma, where fourteen-year-old Robin is mistaken for the substitute principal and gets to see a new perspective on bullying. 

Pearsall, Shelley - “All of the Above”
New York, Little, Brown and Company, 2006.   
Synopsis: Four urban middle school students, their teacher, and other community members relate how a school project to build the world’s largest tetrahedron affects the lives of everyone involved.

Ray, Delia - “Singing Hands”
New York, Clarion Books, 2006
Synopsis: In the late 1940’s, twelve-year-old Gussie, a minister’s daughter, learns the definition of integrity while helping with a celebration at the Alabama School for the Deaf – her punishment for misdeeds against her deaf parents and their boarders.

Roy, Jennifer. - “Yellow Star”
Tarrytown, NY. Marshall Cavendish, 2006
Synopsis: From 1939, when Syvia is four and a half years old, to 1945 when she has just turned ten, a Jewish girl and her family struggle to survive in Poland’s Lodz ghetto during the Nazi occupation.

Shafer, Audrey - “The Mailbox”
New York, Delcaorte Press, 2006
Synopsis: When twelve-year-old Gabe tries to hide his uncle’s death from the local authorities, he is not prepared for what happens when this secret is discovered.

Tolan, Stephanie - “Listen!”
New York, Harper Collins, 2006
Synopsis: During her solitary convalescence from a crippling accident, twelve-year-old Charley finds a wild dog, and the arduous process of training him leads her to explore her feelings about her mother’s death two years earlier.

Weeks, Sarah - “Jumping the Scratch”
New York, Laura Geringer, 2006
Synopsis: After moving with his mother to a trailer park to care for an injured aunt, eleven-year-old Jamie Reardon struggles to cope with a deeply buried secret. 

Winthrop, Elizabeth - “Counting on Grace”
New York, Wendy Lamb Books, 2006
Synopsis: It’s 1910 in Pownal, VT. At twelve, Grace and her friend Arthur must go to work in the mill, helping their mothers work the looms. Together Grace and Arthur write a secret letter to the Child Labor Board about underage children working in the mill. A few weeks later, Lewis Hine, a famous reformer arrives undercover to gather evidence. Grace meets him and appears in some of his photographs changing her life forever. 

Have a great summer vacation!