Middle School Read: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The first spring book choice for the Middle School is The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau.

Ember, a 241-year-old, ruined domed city surrounded by a dark unknown, was built to ensure that humans would continue to exist on Earth, and the instructions for getting out have been lost and forgotten. On Assignment Day, 12-year-olds leave school and receive their lifetime job assignments. Lina Mayfleet becomes a messenger, and her friend Doon Harrow ends up in the Pipeworks beneath the city, where the failing electric generator has been ineffectually patched together. Both Lina and Doon are convinced that their survival means finding a way out of the city, and after Lina discovers pieces of the instructions, she and Doon work together to interpret the fragmented document. Life in this postholocaust city is well defined--the frequent blackouts, the food shortage, the public panic, the search for answers, and the actions of the powerful, who are taking selfish advantage of the situation. The book was made into a movie in 2008, starring Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Saoirse Ronan, and Harry Treadaway.

World Savvy at SAMS

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES is the theme this year for our 3rd World Savvy competition. The presentations are to be up to 15 minutes long. Information about the World Savvy Global Education.
To learn more about World Savvy, visit their website at World Savvy.
For resources for your projects, visit the World Savvy resources page at Resources.

The presesentations will be made in the Media Center from 7:35 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. The 7th grade classes will be presenting their projects on Wednesday January 25 and the 8th grade classes will present on Thursday January 26.

ST. ANTHONY MIDDLE SCHOOL READS "ALABAMA MOON"

Readers first meet orphaned ten-year-old Moon as he buries his survivalist father in a remote forested tract. He has been raised to be entirely self-sufficient, dependent on no one -- especially "the government" -- for help. His plan to make his way to Alaska to join other survivalists is waylaid when the new owner of the property finds him and turns him over to the state. Moon tells his story in homespun prose, his loneliness bleeding through his determination to make it on his own and his overwhelming love for the outdoors. So thoroughly does first-time author Key inhabit his protagonist that readers will feel Moon's happy amazement at such comforts as the high quality of jail food. When, with two other boys, Moon escapes the orphanage-cum-detention-center he has been placed in and tries to live with them in the wild, he realizes that he needs companionship and that, moreover, his Pap might have been wrong. This weighty moral understanding emerges naturally, sharing space easily with topnotch survival action and exuberantly illicit romps in a beat-up pickup. It's a winningly fresh and sympathetic look at a life and culture almost never seen in children's books.

Invitation to St. Anthony Reads!

Check out the new community reading program set to begin this summer: STAReads. Bringing people together to read non-fiction books by Minnesota authors, the program hopes to foster a lifelong love of reading by sharing books, ideas, and experiences across generations--while encouraging the entire St. Anthony community to read.
Books to read and discuss include:

ADULT
Coming Home Crazy—Bill Holm
Cold Comfort—Barton Sutter
Under a Flaming Sky—Daniel Brown
All Hell Broke Loose—William H. Hull
The Tenney Quilt—Heidi Haagenson

YOUNG ADULT
Canoeing with the Cree--Eric Sevareid
How Angel Got His Name--Gary Paulsen
Days of Rondo--Evelyn Fairbanks
Behind the Mask--Jane Resh Thomas
A Really Short History of Nearly Everything--Bill Bryson

CHILDREN
Antler, Bear, Canoe--Betsy Bowen
The Peace Bell--Margi Preus
M is for Minnesota--Dori Hilestad Butler
The Sun, The Wind, and The Rain--Lisa Westberg Peters
North Star Numbers—Kathy-Jo Wargin
Nature’s Yucky—Lea Ann Landstrom
Big Belching Bog—Phyllis Root

Where can you get these books? They are available at your local library or bookstore (Barnes and Noble at HarMar will have a display of the books).
Additionally, there will be books available to check out from the STAReads program at the St. Anthony Community Center.

Summer Events will be listed on the STAReads website.
Of course, you can also plan your own reading event and invite your friends. Join us this fall to share and celebrate our reading with authors and book discussions!

How to schedule a lab on the Huskie Hub

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More reviews by Alexis

Alexis is a student at St. Anthony Village High School and a voracious reader! We are happy she has agreed to write some reviews of her favorite books.

Alexis says: Impossible by Nancy Werlin is like a fairy tale. All I can say is that the books are intense and addicting. If I wrote anything else, I would give the whole book away. Just read it!

Alexis says: See What I See by Gloria Whelan is about a girl whose only dream is to be a famous artist like her dad, who abandoned her and her mother when she was little. But when she goes off to the art college of her dreams, she has to stay with him. The story is dramatic and sad and sometimes very frustrating, but all in all, it's a good read.

Alexis says: The Demonata series by Darren Shan--may I just say, is very gruesome and action-packed. These books are all about demons and humans who have the ability to tap into magic. Sometimes it can get very confusing, but they all go together, and it pieces all of these lives into one. These books were awesome! And that's coming from a girl! (Yeah, these books are made for guys, but some girls might like them.)

What is steampunk?

Two of Alexis's previous book reviews (City of Bones and Soulless) feature a newly popular sub-genre called "steampunk". What exactly IS steampunk?

There are varying definitions of what makes a book "fit" this classification. Some define steampunk as a type of sci-fi that focuses on the science of the Victorian age (indeed, many of the books--including Soulless-- take place during this time period, but not necessarily all of them). Others suggest it shows people "struggling to push the technology of yesterday into supporting the society of tomorrow." Probably the best definition comes from the Minneapolis Public Library site which states it simply as "Adventures featuring alternate history and low-tech machines that do very high-tech things."

No matter how you define it, the books are worth checking out!