Happy Holidays from the Calhoun Library

2011-12-23T13:00:00.000-05:00

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T09:15:00.000-05:00

2011-11-10T10:11:00.000-05:00

Stop in and see our display in the Library

Teen Read Week

2011-10-11T10:54:00.000-04:00

Picture It @ your library®! October 16-22. Picture It at Calhoun High School Library during Teen Read Week! Pick up graphic novels, art books, photography guides, fantasy titles and more. Stop by today and find something that inspires you, just for the fun of it!

Banned Books Week September 24th-October 1st 2011

2011-09-27T12:27:00.001-04:00

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. The American Library Association sponsors Banned Books Week to highlight the “benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted banning of books across the United States.”

Looking for a great book to read? Want one that somebody thinks you shouldn’t be reading? Come into the library and take a look at our display of banned books.

Try one of these from the list of the 10 most challenged books of 2010: And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson; The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie; Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley; The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins; What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones; Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich; Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

Library Fines from June 2011 Donated to Challenge Day!

2011-09-21T08:40:00.000-04:00

Thank you to all the students who returned books at the end of last year and paid your fines. As a result we were able to donate $55 of your fine money to Challenge Day!!! Thank you.

A Color Printer has arrived at the Calhoun Library!!!!

2011-09-20T13:07:00.000-04:00

The Library now has a color printer available for you to use. Please ask at the circulation desk when you come in to see which computer links to the printer.

Welcome Back to School!

2011-09-01T15:15:00.000-04:00

Take a look at some of the new and exciting books we have in the library.

SUMMER -- A Great Time To Read!

2011-06-08T12:12:00.013-04:00

We are pleased to present the Calhoun H.S. Summer Reading Program. Each student is required to select a book from the appropriate grade-level list below. If you are having trouble choosing a book, ask a parent, teacher, librarian or the English department chair for help. The Calhoun High School Website has pamphlets on each list and the titles below are linked to Amazon.com with more information to help make your selection easier.

9th grade Reading List

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part –Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

© 2007
Fiction, YA
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only Native American is the school mascot. While this book is not a graphic novel, it does contain several inspiring illustrations.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

© 2008
Science Fiction, YA
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen accidentally becomes a contender in the annual Hunger Games, a grave competition hosted by the Capitol where young boys and girls are pitted against one another in a televised fight to the death

Driver's Ed by Caroline Cooney

Three teenagers' lives are changed forever when they thoughtlessly steal a stop sign from a dangerous intersection and a young mother is killed in an automobile accident there. Guilt-ridden and afraid of the consequences to themselves and their families, they finally reveal their secret and must face the victim's husband and child.

Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn

Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend, Caitlin, and ordered to keep a journal, sixteen-year-old Nick recounts his relationship with Caitlin, examines his controlling behavior and anger, and describes living with his abusive father.

Green Angel by Alice Hoffman

Haunted by grief and by her past after losing her family in a fire, fifteen-year-old Green retreats into her ruined garden as she struggles to survive emotionally and physically on her own.

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson

Joe Simpson shares the story of his miraculous survival after he was injured while climbing in the Andes in 1985 and left for dead by his partner. Simpson presents a gripping tale of adventure on the very edge of survival. This story has become one of the all-time classic epics of mountaineering and the book has reached far beyond the world of climbers.

10th grade Reading List

Feed by M.T. Anderson
© 2002
Science Fiction, YA
In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.
*Outstanding Books for the College Bound - 2004

The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy
© 1980
Fiction, Adult
This is the story of four young men at the Carolina Military Institute; friends, cadets and blood brothers. Together they encounter hazing, heartbreak, pride, betrayal, and, ultimately, humanity.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana DeRosnay
© 2007
Historical Fiction, Adult
Sarah Strazynski, a ten year-old Jewish girl, and her family are arrested during the brutal 1942 Nazi roundup in Paris, while her younger brother is left behind in a secret cupboard. When, 60 years later, American journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this dark day in French history, she stumbles upon a connection between her family and the Strazynski family that compels her to learn more.

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
© 2003
Historical Fiction, YA
Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has big dreams but little hope of seeing them come true. Desperate for money, she takes a job at the Glenmore, where hotel guest Grace Brown entrusts her with the task of burning a secret bundle of letters. But when Grace's drowned body is fished from the lake, Mattie discovers that the letters could reveal the grim truth behind a murder. Based on a true story.

Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
© 1982
Fiction, Adult
Shoeless Joe is about myth, magic, the power of dreams and baseball. From the first time Ray hears a voice whisper “If you build it, he will come,” his life is changed. He follows his heart and his dream, and finds the piece of him that was missing.

Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult
© 2009
Fiction. Adult
When Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe learn about their daughter's illness, they wonder if they should have known about it sooner and begin to question what constitutes the value of even the most fragile life.

11th grade Reading List

Twisted by Laurie Hall Anderson
© 1998
Fiction, YA
After finally getting noticed by someone other than school bullies and his ever-angry father, seventeenyear- old Tyler enjoys his tough new reputation and the attentions of a popular girl, but when life starts to go bad again, he must choose between transforming himself or giving in to his destructive thoughts.

Bleachers by John Grisham
© 2003
Fiction, Adult
When his old coach dies, high school football star Neely Crenshaw returns to his hometown after fifteen years, reunites with his former teammates, and struggles to resolve his mixed feelings about the man.

Into Thin Air: a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster by Jon Krakeaur
© 1997
Nonfiction, Adventure, YA
In this bone-chilling narrative, the author relates his experience climbing Mount Everest during its deadliest season and examines what it is about the mountain that makes people willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense.
*Notable/Best Books (A.L.A.) .

Cell by Stephen King
© 2006
Science Fiction, Horror Fiction, Adult
Maine artist Clayton Riddell, elated after closing the deal for his first comic book, comes down to Earth quickly when a brain-zapping energy burst--The Pulse--strikes, reducing cell phone users to zombie-like creatures, and leaving Clayton desperate to find a way home from Boston to see if his wife and son have survived.

The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer
© 2002
Fiction, YA
Twenty-three-year-old Carrie Bell, engaged to her high school sweetheart, is ready to make a break from a life that has become suffocating in its sameness, but her decision is complicated when her fiancee is paralyzed in a diving accident and everyone expects her to stay and care for him.

Absolutely American by David Lipsky
© 2004
Nonfiction, Adult
David Lipsky chronicles the experiences he had during the years he spent following the cadets at West Point Academy, learning about their daily lives, the reasons they chose to attend the school, and the impact it has had on their lives.

AP = required for E3AP English
*Writing assignment required as well. Choose ONE of the following:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
© 1969
Biography, Adult
The author tells of her painful childhood and adolescence, and how she grew out of a childhood fantasy that she was an enchanted white girl to self acceptance today.

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
© 1994
Fiction, Adult
An award winning tale of love and murder. In 1954 the murder of a local fisherman on an isolated island in Puget Sound stirs up memories of World War II, and the internment of the island's Japanese population. Ishmael Chambers is the reporter who covers the story of the accused-a man who married the Japanese girl Ishmael had once loved.
* PEN/Faulkner Award

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
© 1997
Fiction, Adult
Follows the life of Macon Dead, Jr., the son of the richest black family in a midwestern town, as he leaves home on a quest for personal freedom.
*National Book Critics Circle Award

The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
© 1991
Fiction, Adult
A Chinese immigrant, convinced she is dying wants to unburdening herself of secrets she has kept for more than 50 years. When she reveals the story of her life, her American born daughter finally understands her mother's many quirks and superstitions.

12th grade Reading List

Harbor by Lorraine Adams
© 2004
Fiction, Adult
Mystery, Suspense
Aziz Arkoun arrives in America cold, broke, scared, and hoping for a new start, but he soon finds himself drawn into a world of violence and terrorism as he is taken in by a group of Arab Muslims.

For One More Day by Mitch Albom
© 2006
Fiction, Adult
After years of drinking, being rejected by his wife and daughter, and a suicide attempt, ex-baseball star Charley Benetto returns to his childhood home where he encounters the ghost of his mother, who tells him family secrets and guides him in making his life better.

Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
© 2007
Fiction, Adult
After losing an important game for his team, NFL backup quarterback Rick Dockery is fired, but his agent finds him an opportunity to play for the Panthers of Parma, and even though he has never been to Europe, he moves to Italy hoping for a second chance.

Lucky by Alice Sebold
© 1999
Autobiography, Adult
The author tells the story of her violent rape at the age of eighteen, her accidental sighting of her attacker six months later, the resulting trial and conviction of the man, and the trauma she suffered for years afterwards.
*Outstanding Books for the College Bound - 2004

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
© 2007
Fiction, Adult
Sterling is an ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens--until the day its complacency is shattered by an act of violence. This book is about the people of that town,forever changed after a shooting at the high school leaves ten people dead, and the judge presiding over the trial tries to remain unbiased, even though her daughter witnessed the events and was friends with the assailant.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
© 2005
Autobiography, Adult
The author recalls her life growing up in a dysfunctional family with an alcohol father and distant mother, and describes how she and her siblings had to fend for themselves until they finally found the resources and will to leave home.

AP = required for E4AP English
*Writing assignment required as well.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
First Published 1959
Fiction, Adult
Set in an Ibo village in Nigeria, the novel recreates pre-Christian tribal life and shows how the coming the white man led to the breaking up of the old ways.

Search Our Gale Databases From Your Mobile Device!

2011-03-07T18:34:00.002-05:00

There is an APP for That

After a one-time log-in, AccessMyLibrary School Edition mobile app supplies you with free, unlimited access to your school library's Gale online resources--anytime, anywhere Download this free app from the app store. There is an app available for Andriod, and one for the IPhone, ITouch and IPad.

WELCOME BACK!

2010-09-12T15:56:00.002-04:00

The Calhoun High School Library Catalog has a whole new look! Check it out!
Calhoun Library Catalog

New Books For Spring

2010-04-19T18:49:00.002-04:00

Come into the Library and check out some of the new and exciting books we have just received! I will highlight some of the titles in the future in this blog.

Calhoun Student Book Reviews

2007-11-21T12:27:00.000-05:00

Students from Ms. Rosslee's English II classes wrote brief reviews of their Independent Reading Books and posted them on the Calhoun "Book Reviews and Recommendations" blog. If you want to find out what someone else thought about a book you want to read, click on the title and read the review. If you would like to post a review, click on the "reviews" link under the title. If your book is not listed, you could e-mail your review to: calhoun.library@gmail.com.

Recommend A Book

2007-03-21T17:12:00.000-04:00

Is there a book we don't have that you think should be in our library? Post the name and we will try to add it to our collection.

Calhoun High School Library Media Center