Greetings from the IHS Library. The end of the school year is approaching quickly, and so is our annual Barnes and Noble Fundraiser, which is on Sunday, May 22 from 1-5 PM. Terry Pittman and his fabulous jazz band will be performing from 1-2 PM. We receive a percentage of the net sales made during that time. Those of you who are unable to come down to Barnes and Noble may still contribute by going online and purchasing a book for our collection from the wish list. Go to www.bn.com/bookfairs, click on “sign in” in the upper right; enter
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as the email address; the password is inlinehs; go to “My Account” and scroll down to “wish list.” This should bring you to our list. Upon check out enter our bookfair ID number, 10433795.
It is time to take care of some end-of-the-year business. All books are due in the library by May 31st. At the moment, we have over 50 overdue books still checked out. The usual charge for lost books is $10, but some, especially non-fiction, are more. Seniors must return all books and take care of any fines before graduation.
Recently we have been busy assisting students with finding books for pleasure and their research projects. In addition to print materials, students use three databases that are available to Washoe County schools:
• ABC CLIO is a social studies database widely used by our government, geography and history classes.
• EBSCO is a database for general reference, periodicals, current events, and more.
• GALE is an extensive database for general reference, science, world languages, magazines, periodicals, and much more.
Many students believe that everything on the internet is valid and true, so we teach and encourage them to use reputable sites and the ethical use of research materials.
Study Club meets in the library, three days a week: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 2:15 to 4:15. Teachers are on duty to help students with their assignments, so please encourage your child to attend and take care of homework before going home. Study Club will continue until the week before finals.
Mandarin classes, which are held on Tuesdays, from 2:15 to 3:00 PM have been very successful and well attended. Thanks to the teachers, Candy Perrine and Nancy Wong who donate their valuable time to our students.
We had our final Book Club meeting on Monday, May 9th. Our last choice was Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly—a young depressed teenager is transported back to the French Revolution through a diary left behind by the companion of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette’s doomed son. The novel is well-researched historical fiction and follows the parallel lives of these two young girls as they struggle with fear, loss, death, love, and redemption. I highly recommend this one for your child’s summer reading. Our group read and discussed seven novels this year, and we are so grateful to Linda Offerdahl for donating the funds that make this club possible.
Thanks again to our wonderful Boosters who have been so generous to the library this year, and also to an anonymous donor whose donation helped us purchase many books to update our non-fiction collection. We appreciate all your donations of used books and add all material that matches the needs of our library to the shelves. If anyone has gently used young adult novels that they wish to donate, please call Shelah or Milly at 832 4260.
I am working on updating the summer reading assignment which will be distributed to all students before the end of the year. Summer reading should be fun, so the books on the list are simply suggestions. All students should read two books during the summer for which they will be held accountable in their English classes. I suggest reading some reviews on amazon.com before making final selections. Of course, students entering into AP English Language or AP English Literature will have assigned reading and assignments.
Enjoy the long-awaited summer! Milly and I are looking forward to the next productive school year doing what we love—learning about our students’ needs and interests in order to foster an appreciation for literature.
On November 20th of 2009 Ellen Hopkins, the bestselling author of such novels as Crank and Glass, came to Incline High School to spend part of the day with the students.
“If you like certain types of books, say science fiction, then try reading and writing about things that aren’t science fiction—don’t get locked in one type of writing. ” She encouraged young writers to stretch to other writing styles.
improvements. Through the writing exercises Ms. Hopkins shared a bit on who she really is and showed the class that famous people aren’t just snobby and stuck up, but real people. 
