June News for St. Monica Library

June Library News
It’s almost the end of the year already!!!  Where has the time gone!  All students are encouraged to return their books to the library ASAP before year-end library notices are sent home. 

Parents should be aware that library books and resources that have not been returned will have to be paid for.  Notices for unreturned books will be sent home in June, so let’s get those books back in!!!!

Cathy Beveridge – Visiting Author

St. Monica students in Grades 3-9 enjoyed a visit from award-winning Calgary author Cathy Beveridge.  She spoke to enthralled audiences about her novels that are based on historical Canadian tragedies such as the Halifax Explosion of 1917, the Frank Slide in 1903, and the Great Storm of 1913 where 19 ships went down in the murky depths of the Great Lakes.

She also spoke of her two sports oriented books, “Offside” and “One on One”, and her writing process. It was interesting to hear about where her inspiration comes from and how long it takes to get a published book to our library shelves.  Sincere thanks to Cathy for a fun and exciting day!!

Calgary Public Library to visit on Tuesday June 5^th.

St. Monica will host a representative from the Calgary Public Library in June, to speak to our Grades 2-6 students about CPL’s summer reading program.   This is a fun way for students to keep up with their reading skills over the summer.  

Join the Calgary Public Library as they kick off Imagine!  the 2012 TD Summer Reading Club. Drop in at a CPL branch for a scavenger hunt and other fun activities. Collect your activity booklet from your local Library branch and read all summer to win great prizes!  More details can be found on the CPL website.

Have a Great Summer!!!

Mrs. Meakin wants to thank all the students and their families for another fantastic year!  Lots of great reading happened this year at the St. Monica school library and hundreds of awesome new books were added to our collection.  Please keep up your reading over the summer and I look forward to seeing most of you back in September!  Have great summer holidays!

Mrs. Meakin

St. Monica School Librarian

"Plain Kate" by author Erin Bow

Cover of Plain Kate

At the District's recent "LibraryFest 2012" event, we had the pleasure of having author Erin Bow speak to us about her latest award winning book titled "Plain Kate."  She also took the time to give us some insight into her individual writing  process.  Ms. Bow is the author of a number of other books, two of which are books of poetry.   She describes herself as: "poet, novelist, chewer of pencils."

You will notice a poetic style of writing in Plain Kate as well, even though this book is an intriguing YA (Young Adult) adventure novel set in Russia in days gone by.  A description of Plain Kate, taken from Erin Bow's website is below.

In a market town by a looping river there lived an orphan girl called Plain Kate ….

Plain Kate lives in a world of superstitions and curses, where a song can heal a wound and a shadow can work deep magic. As the wood-carver’s daughter, Kate held a carving knife before a spoon, and her wooden talismans are so fine that some even call her “witch-blade”: a dangerous nickname in a country where witches are hunted and burned in the square.

For Kate and her village have fallen on hard times. Kate’s father has died, leaving her alone in the world. And a mysterious fog now covers the countryside, ruining crops and spreading fear of hunger and sickness. The townspeople are looking for someone to blame, and their eyes have fallen on Kate.

Enter Linay, a stranger with a proposition: In exchange for her shadow, he’ll give Kate the means to escape the angry town, and what’s more, he’ll grant her heart’s wish. It’s a chance for her to start over, to find a home, a family, a place to belong. But Kate soon realizes she can’t live shadowless forever — and that Linay’s designs are darker than she ever dreamed.

Source: http://erinbow.com/books/index.shtml

Look for this book at the St. Monica school library!  We have a copy signed by the author! 

Author: Erin Bow

If you want to learn more about this intriguing author who once worked at the CERN (Centre for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland checkout her website by clicking here.

Congratulations to Bonnie Immel of St. Maria Goretti - the new John Stoeber Award winner.

Congratulations to Bonnie Immel on winning the 2012 John Stoeber Award. Bonnie you are an amazing school librarian!!! 

The John Stoeber award is given to an outstanding librarian each year who shows leadership and ability in service and management of a school library.  Runners up were Vivien Twogood of Bishop Grandin and Glennys Vevang of St. William. 

There were 10 other (yes! count them - 10!!!) librarians who were also nominated for this award.  We certainly have some amazing librarians working in this district!!!  Kudos to all of you who were nominated!!

I'm sorry to see the award leave St. Monica, but am happy that it went to such a deserving librarian - Congrats Bonnie!

Margie Meakin of St. Monica School,  winner of the 2011 John Stoeber Award.

We should have showcased this book in February !!! Henry's Freedom Box

Black History Month usually take place in February, but we might still celebrate just a bit here at the St. Monica Library.  We have recently received a new book in our collection that is OUTSTANDING!! It is called "Henry's Freedom Box".   This story is "a fictionalized account of how in 1849 a Virginia slave, Henry "Box" Brown, escapes to freedom by shipping himself in a wooden crate from Richmond to Philadelphia."  It is based on Henry Brown's true story. 


The book is officially classified as K-3 but grades right up to Grade 6 would enjoy this amazing book! I would actually recommend it for Grades 4, 5 & 6.  Is the winner of a Caldecott Honor - the artwork is breath-taking! And it is a "Teacher's Choice" award winner.


Author:  Ellen Levine
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson       

Boo Hoo Bird

Such a cute book for pre-schoolers:

Connect here for YouTube link of author Jeremy Tankard reading the book.