It’s Free Sync Audiobook Time!

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Every summer, the wonderful folks at Sync offer free audiobooks for teens. And, summer starts early at Sync: this week. From now through August 17, you can download two free audiobooks per week. For example, until May 11, you can download Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Katie Coyle (Dreamscape Media) and L.A. Theatre Works productions of The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial by Peter Goodchild. Each of the weekly selections pair a YA (young adult) title with a classic title on a related theme.

You can download either to your computer or to a mobile device. There are instructions on how to do both on the site. The important thing to note is that you must download and install the titles during the designated week or you will miss the opportunity for those titles. You don’t need to listen to them right away – they are yours forever once you install them. Here’s a link to the complete list.

I’m afraid I’m posting this late for Week one, so go to the site TODAY to get the first two books. They will be available until 4am PT on May 12. Then, the selection will switch to Week 2 books, which are The Sin Eater’s Daughter  by Melinda Salisbury (Scholastic Audio) and Divine Collision: An African Boy, an American Lawyer, and Their Remarkable Battle for Freedom  by Jim Gash (Oasis Audio).

Happy listening!

SYNC

 

What Books Do You Want in the Library?

Survey QR Code

The library club wants YOUR input on books to purchase for our library.  I have allocated the the book club with a portion of the school library materials budget to select and purchase books students want in their library.

Students, please complete the survey @bit.ly/mchsbooksurvey (or the embedded version here) by Friday, March 13 and let your voice for new library book purchases be heard!

 

American Library Association Conference

ALA books

Last month, I attended the American Library Association Conference in Las Vegas. In addition to the huge stack of free published books, advanced reader copies, and audiobooks you see above, I came away with an even bigger stack of new ideas and connections I’ll be implementing at our library and sharing with staff and students in the fall. Please read about my experiences in these two postings on my librarian blog:

Part 1

Part 2

 

Enjoy Free Audiobooks All Summer – Starting Now!

cropped-SYNC-header980wYes, I know it isn’t summer just yet, but we’re all starting to think about it, aren’t we? And, the folks at SYNC are ready to offer some great summer reading options with audiobooks. Each year, SYNC offers a total of 24 summer reading audiobooks free of charge. So what is SYNC? Here’s the explanation from the SYNC site:

SYNC is a program that gives away two complete audiobook downloads–a current Young Adult title paired thematically with a Classic or Required Summer Reading title–each week to listeners ages 13+ while SYNC is in session each summer.
Titles are delivered through the OverDrive Media Console.  You can prepare for the program by downloading the software to your desktop and whichever device you anticipate listening on.
SYNC is dedicated to introducing the listening experience to the young adult audience and demonstrates that Required Reading can be completed by listening.
SYNC gives away 2 FREE audiobook downloads every week each summer. In 2014, 26 titles will be given away over 13 weeks starting May 15th. 

 

And, even though it’s not summer just yet, the free give aways start this week, on May 15. Here’s the schedule:

May 15 – May 21 
WARP: THE RELUCTANT ASSASSIN by Eoin Colfer, Narrated by Maxwell Caulfield (Listening Library)
THE TIME MACHINE by H.G. Wells, Narrated by Derek Jacobi (Listening Library)

May 22 – May 28
CRUEL BEAUTY by Rosamund Hodge, Narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden (Harper Audio)
OEDIPUS THE KING by Sophocles, Performed by Michael Sheen and a full cast (Naxos AudioBooks)

May 29 – June 4
CONFESSIONS OF A MURDER SUSPECT by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, Narrated by Emma Galvin (Hachette Audio)
THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE by Agatha Christie, Narrated by Richard E. Grant (Harper Audio)

June 5 – June 11
ALL OUR YESTERDAYS by Cristin Terrill, Narrated by Meredith Mitchell (Tantor Audio)
JULIUS CAESAR by William Shakespeare, Performed by Richard Dreyfuss, JoBeth Williams, Stacy Keach, Kelsey Grammer, and a full cast (L.A. Theatre Works)

June 12 – June 18
*CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein, Narrated by Morven Christie and Lucy Gaskell (Bolinda Audio)
THE HIDING PLACE by Corrie Ten Boom, John Sherrill, Elizabeth Sherrill, Narrated by Bernadette Dunne (christianaudio)

June 19 – June 25
I’D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I’D HAVE TO KILL YOU by Ally Carter, Narrated by Renée Raudman (Brilliance Audio)
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L.M. Montgomery, Narrated by Colleen Winton (Post Hypnotic Press)

June 26 – July 2
*FORGIVE ME, LEONARD PEACOCK by Matthew Quick, Narrated by Noah Galvin (Hachette Audio)
OCTOBER MOURNING: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman, Narrated by Emily Beresford, Luke Daniels, Tom Parks, Nick Podehl, Kate Rudd, Christina Traister (Brilliance Audio)

July 3 – July 9
TORN FROM TROY by Patrick Bowman, Narrated by Gerard Doyle (Post Hypnotic Press)
PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Narrated by Jim Dale (Brilliance Audio)

July 10 – July 16
CLAUDETTE COLVIN: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose, Narrated by Channie Waites (Brilliance Audio)
WHILE THE WORLD WATCHED by Carolyn Maull McKinstry with Denise George, Narrated by Felicia Bullock (Oasis Audio)

July 17 – July 23
THE CASE OF THE CRYPTIC CRINOLINE by Nancy Springer, Narrated by Katherine Kellgren (Recorded Books)
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES II by Arthur Conan Doyle, Narrated by David Timson (Naxos AudioBooks)

July 24 – July 30
HEADSTRONG by Patrick Link, Performed by Deidrie Henry, Ernie Hudson, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine and Scott Wolf (L.A. Theatre Works)
THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE by Robert Louis Stevenson, Narrated by Scott Brick (Tantor Audio)

July 31 – August 6
*DIVIDED WE FALL by Trent Reedy, Narrated by Andrew Eiden (Scholastic Audio)
THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE by Stephen Crane, Narrated by Frank Muller (Recorded Books)

August 7 – August 13
LIVING A LIFE THAT MATTERS by Ben Lesser, Narrated by Jonathan Silverman and Ben Lesser (Remembrance Publishing)
THE SHAWL by Cynthia Ozick, Narrated by Yelena Shmulenson (HighBridge Audio)

The asterisks (*) are my indicators of books I have recently read in print and highly recommend.

A nice feature of the program is that the weekly titles are always paired with one YA (young adult) title and one more classic work on a related theme.

An important thing to know about the program is that you have to download and install the books during the week they are offered; they are only available during that time frame. So, don’t miss out; get and install the first two titles by May 21. Note that one you have the audiobooks, there is no deadline on when you listen to them, and they are yours to keep indefinitely.

To avoid missing any of the weekly offerings, you  can sign up for email and text alerts and be first to know when new titles are available to downloadat www.audiobooksync.com.

So, get out your mobile listening device, and happy listening!

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2013 Teens’ Top Ten Announced


A number of Mira Costa students participated in voting for this year’s for this year’s Teens’ Top Ten during  Teen Read Week. Here is a list of the winning books just announced:

  1. “Code Name Verity” by Elizabeth Wein (Disney/Hyperion)
  2. “The False Prince” by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Scholastic/Scholastic Press)
  3. “Insurgent” by Veronica Roth (Harper Collins/Katherine Tegen Books)
  4. “Pushing the Limits” by Katie McGarry (Harlequin Teen)
  5. “Poison Princess” by Kresley Cole (Simon & Schuster)
  6. “The Raven Boys” by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic/Scholastic Press)
  7. “Crewel” by Gennifer Albin (Macmillan/Farrar Straus Giroux)
  8. “Every Day” by David Levithan (Random House/Alfred A. Knopf)
  9. “Kill Me Softly” by Sarah Cross (Egmont)
  10. “Butter” by Erin Jade Lange (Bloomsbury)

How many have you read? How about making it a goal to read all ten? Come to the Mira Costa Library to check one of the books out. We don’t have every title yet, we will soon!

Celebrate Your Love of Reading!

Read Across AmericaDid you know that March 2 is “Read Across America Day,” honoring Dr. Seuss’s Birthday, and March 6 is “World Read Aloud Day“? Both days celebrate our love of reading and the privilege of being literate and having access to great books.

Please celebrate these events at your Mira Costa High School Library by sharing one of our favorite books with us. Come to the library any day between March 1 and March 6, and have Mrs. Lofton photograph you with one of your favorite books. Your photo will be uploaded to the library Flickr site, and you will be entered in a drawing to win a bookstore gift certificate and be featured in a READ poster.

Both students and staff are invited to participate. So, please join us with a great book!

(Image mashup adapted from: http://funny-things-are-everywhere.tumblr.com/ & http://belamifilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/usa-flag-map.png)

New eBook Offerings!


The Mira Costa Library has just added 26 new ebooks to our collection from MackinVIA, a platform that allows you to read them on a PC, Mac, iPad, Android tablet, or Kindle, and to do so either online or by downloading them. The ebooks are also all licensed for an unlimited number of users, so any number of students can borrow and read a title simultaneously.  Sixteen of the new ebooks are on non-fiction titles, including seven volumes from the Decades in American History series, that I selected for our library. Ten are fiction classics, provided to us free of charge as part of our introduction to MackinVIA.

All of these books are listed in our library catalog with an EBOOK prefix and a link to the ebook on MackinVIA. You can also view all of the books through this direct link. Once you click the link, you will be asked to enter your school (which will pop in once you start typing Mira Costa) and a username and password. Check at the library or email me to get the username and password. If you email me, be sure to include your full name and grade so I can confirm that you are a Mira Costa student.  After you enter the login, you will see the MackinVIA opening screen with images of all our new books:

Hover over a title to learn more about it, add to your favorites, read online, or checkout to read online or download. To check a book out, you will have to register your own personal account. You can select any username and password you like. And, once you establish your own account, you can use that, rather than the generic Mira Costa one, to login in the future.

To download a book for offline reading, you will need to install the free MackinVIA application. Just follow the onscreen directions. You can also then highlight, check the dictionary, and add notes as you read. Contact me at the library if you need any help.

Please enjoy these new offerings and give me your feedback.