GRADUATE GREETINGS

Shmoop, one of my favorite websites, offers greetings to this year's graduates: click here to read it for yourself.
Some of their suggestions include:

I also like their "Quote of the Week":

"My only plan after graduation was to become

a full time gunter."

~ Ready Player One  (one of this year's Washington Evergreen Book Award nominees)

IT'S SO SAD - A recent report shows teens aren't reading for fun!

Not that it's a surprise, but I recently read in a Common Sense Media report that teens aren't reading for fun. I have always known high school students don't have as much time to read and that they have many distractions to keep them from reading, but I guess I still was saddened to read this report. If there is one thing I can impress upon you today, it is this: KEEP READING THIS SUMMER!!!! Reading is a skill like anything else, you have to practice and keep doing it to keep your skills strong and proficient. If you don't like to read books, then read the newspaper or magazines (print or online), blogs, eBooks, wikis or even the cereal box! Just READ! It not only will help keep you fluent in your reading, it might even increase your vocabulary and comprehension. I challenge you to read this summer and tell me what you read when you come back in the fall.

Books to movies

It seems recently there have been a lot of movies made from popular YA books (Maze Runner, Hunger Games, Divergent, Ender's Game, Fault in our stars, etc.). I haven't seen a lot of them, but from what I heard, some die-hard readers have been a little disappointed in the movie versions of their favorite books. This recent Unshelved comic says it all:

I love the last sentence, "Aren't great books miracle enough?".

5/28/14: I tried watching "Odd Thomas" this weekend and had to quit after just a few minutes. It was so disappointing - the book is WAY better!

Have you been on the CHS English Wiki???

Have you been to the CHS English Wiki recently? Mrs. Gemeinhart's 9th grade English classes are posting their "Personal Narratives" and I think you would find many of them very interesting. You can even make a comment (you have to "Join" the wiki first). The link in on the bottom left side of the CHS homepage or click the wiki photo above on this page. Have fun and read about the adventures of the Class of 2017!

DIVERGENT - Movie Trailer !

  

“Everyone’s afraid of something,” declares the new trailer for Divergent.

Based on the first book in Veronica Roth’s bestselling YA trilogy, the latest trailer for the highly anticipated film gives fans their most in-depth look yet at the dystopian world Tris (Shailene Woodley) and her community inhabit. Fans of the franchise will likely be most excited to see the first extended look at the fear landscape, where Tris will battle her demons and discover she may not be as ordinary as she once thought. There’s also a look at Tris and Four (Theo James) on the Ferris wheel, as well an a peek at sinister Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet).

“Fear doesn’t shut you down, it wakes you up,” Four explains to Tris in the trailer. “That’s what makes you dangerous.”                                                                                (from Entertainment Weekly)

It's time to vote for your favorite Evergreen Young Adult Book!

Which of the above books was your favorite?

If you have read at least two of the nominees you can VOTE!

Log onto the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award site to vote online or get a ballot from Mrs. Hightower. Voting closes April 1st, so do it today.

Have you used VIA???

We have eBooks!!! Have you looked at them? Find out more and watch the Mackin VIA video.





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