(DLA Las Piñas GS LRC) July Book of the Month - The Giver

If there are no wrong answers, can we really say that something has any meaning?

This month's feature is one of Lois Lowry's award-winning novels set in a society which is at first presented as a utopian society that has eliminated individual pain and strife while following a pivotal boy through the twelfth and thirteenth years of his life.

The story beautifully illustrates why people are given the freedom of choice even if it has resulted in people making bad choices, slowly destroying the incredible things that have been created for us.

The clever work is actually a tightly-woven mystery more so than it is the usual bland science fiction adventure with heavy morals it seems at first skim, keeping one at edge as the what happens next unfolds.

What makes it an enjoyable read is that there aren't much characterizations to form emotional connections with, community descriptions are sparse, plot is great, and the end is totally ambiguous albeit fantastic. A lot of lines, moments gives one chills and will continue to do so even if you have read them several times already.

Stunningly beautiful overall, The Giver is riveting and is one of the most thought-provoking novels ever written since tons can be gleaned from it. Many schools worldwide have adopted it as a part of their mandatory curriculum and has recently been made into a film bearing the same name to be realeased in selected theatres next month. Read the book, watch the movie, and experience the synergy.

(DLA Las Piñas GS LRC) May Author of the Month - Jenny Nimmo

Jenny Nimmo is a British author of children's books including many fantasy and adventure novels, chapter books, and picture books. Born 15 January 1944 in England, she has lived in Wales for most of forty years. She was an only child, her parents' unica hija, and her father was a scientist who died when she was only five. On the following year, Jenny was sent to a prep school.

It was cold, dark, and rather terrifying so she was moved to a more child-friendly boarding school when she was nine. A voracious reader as a child, this led to her writing her very own stories to share with friends.

After working for a time in theatre while being a student and a summer job in Italy as a governess to three boys, Nimmo worked for several years with the BBC, joining them firstly as a photographic researcher.

She then became an assistant floor manager who worked mainly on the news and finally, became a director slash editor for a children's programme. Part of that entire stint was spent adapting other writers' stories for television including 40 episodes (eight "stories"). Her first book called The Bronze Trumpeter began life as a television script.

It was published in January 1975, a few weeks before her daughter to husband, Welsh artist and illustrator David Wynn Milward, was born. In 1983, Jenny began writing again since when her children were still small, she could only produce short books every other year. Her time management got better eventually and was convinced that reading to her kids made her a better author.

Now that Jenny's children have all left home, she has been devoting all her time to writing. She has produced a Charlie Bone book every year since 2002. Her best-known work may be Children of the Red King, also known as the Charlie Bone series, in which the eponymous protagonist's magical talent embroils him in the sinister intrigues of his new school.

As of 2006, Charlie Bone titles had been published in nine foreign-language editions and translations into eleven other languages were in progress. The Grade School LRC Library has the complete 8 books of her Charlie Bone series. You may ask the librarians or staff present in case you can't find them! :)

Jenny currently lives in Wales, sharing her time between writing and helping her husband with a summer art school.

(DLA Las Piñas HS LRC) May Book of the Month - Looking for Alaska

Speaking of good old classic pranking, we're featuring a young adult novel this month that's supposed to be just fun but turns out to be not so much at the end. 36-year-old American writer John Green's Looking for Alaska was published in March 2005 by Dutton Juvenile. It broke into a New York Times best seller list sometime during the last week of July 2012, 385 weeks or more than 7 years after it was released.

The author's debut is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, tracing the journey of skinny sixteen-year-old misfit Florida teenager Miles Halter who leaves the safety of home for a boarding school in Alabama and a chance to explore the "Great Perhaps."

He is fond of reading biographies, and particularly has a quirky unusual interest of memorizing the famous subjects' last words. Once settled at the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek, he befriends a couple of equally gifted outcasts: his five feet tall roommate Chip Martin -- commonly known as the Colonel -- who has a predilection for memorizing long, alphabetical lists for fun; and the beautiful yet emotionally unpredictable Alaska Young, whom the protagonist comes to adore.

Besides her, the Colonel also introduces him to Takumi, a student of Japanese descent who often feels left out of the trio's plans while Alaska acquaints her with Romanian immigrant Lara Buterskaya who later becomes Miles' girlfriend for a brief period. The kids grow closer as they make their way through a school year but chapter headings like "forty-six days before" and "the last day" portend a tragic event.

Green attended a boarding and day school outside of Birmingham in Alabama. A student died there under circumstances similar to the character of the title girl and he got the idea of the "fox hat" from a Filipino friend who wore a similar hat while playing pranks at the same institution. Looking for Alaska and other books by the same author can be found at the fREADom Hub of the High School Learning Resource Center.

(DLA Las Piñas GS LRC) April Author of the Month - Roald Dahl

This month, we're featuring an author whose short stories are known for their unexpected endings and his children's books for their unsentimental, often very dark humour (happy April fool's, anyone?). Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, fighter pilot, and screenwriter born on September 13, 1916 in Wales to Norwegian parents. He was named after the polar explorer Roald Amundsen, a national hero in Norway at the time.

Dahl spoke Norwegian at home with his parents and his sisters Astri, Alfhild and Else. Weeks later after seven-year-old Astri died from appendicitis in 1920 while Roald was three years old.

With the option of returning to Norway to live with relatives, Dahl's mother decided to remain in Wales because her husband had wished to have their children educated in British schools, which he considered the world's best.

Roald served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults and became one of the world's best-selling authors. Roald has been referred to as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century".

His notable works which were often written with more intelligence than are other books for children include but are not limited to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, BFG, The Twits, and George's Marvellous Medicine. While many picture books are very sentimental, his were not and are instead quite serious at times. He died on November 23, 1990 at the age of 74 of a blood disease called myelodysplastic syndrome.

(DLA Las Piñas GS LRC) April Book of the Month - The Chimney Corner Collection

Can't get enough of tales full of exciting magical worlds, enchanting fairies and pixies, wonderful imaginative adventures, unusual characters, and fantastic journeys with toys that come alive? So do we! That's why gazillions of Enid Blyton's (whose pen was always writing short and quirky stories) much-loved brilliant stories are on display at our shelves in all sizes and lengths!

This month though, we're featuring one of the books we really like -- The Chimney Corner Collection! First published in Great Britain in 1947 as Chimney Corner Stories, it has been republished just recently with a sparkly new cover to entice newer audiences from everywhere. It's a sure hit with boys and girls alike!

It contains delightful classics that you can cuddle with when you come home and hit the pillows after a day in school or when you come visit the library's fREADom hub. Here's a list of the fun fabulous stories you can find inside:

1. Winkle-Pip Walks Out

2. Trit-Trot the Pony

3. The Magic Walking-Stick

4. The Snoozy Gnome

5. The Three Strange Travellers

6. The Secret Cave

7. The Proud Little Dog

8. The Little Bully

9. The Six Little Motor-Cars

10. The Unkind Children

11. Little Paper-Folk

12. Tiresome Poker
13. The Enchanted Table
14. The Boy Who Boasted
15. The Disagreeable Monkey
16. The Golden Enchanter

17. The Wizard's Umbrella

18. The Little Singing Kettle

19. The Little Brown Duck

20. The Pixie Who Killed the Moon

21. Old Bufo the Toad

22. The Boy Who Pulled Tails
23. The Tales of Mr. Spectacles
24. The Goblin's Pie
25. Feefo Goes to Market
26. Adventures of the Sailor Doll
27. Clickety-Clack
28. The Enchanted Bone
29. Fiddle-De-Dee, the Foolish Brownie
30. The Elephant and the Snail
31. The Invisible Gnome
32. Mr. Grumpygroo's Hat
33. The Fairy and the Policeman
34. The Little Red Squirrel
35. The Little Walking House
36. Sly-One's Puzzle
37. Mr. Widdle on the Train
38. Who Stole the Crown?
39. "Tell Me My Name!"
40. Gooseberry Whiskers
41. The Mean Old Man
42. The Nice Juicy Carrot
42. The Dandelion Clock
44. King Bom's Ice-Cream
45. The Cat, the Mouse and the Fox
46. The Bed That Took a Walk
47. The Brownie's Magic
48. Dame Lucky's Umbrella
49. He Wouldn't Take the Trouble
50. Muddle's Mistake
51. Silky and the Snail
52. The Train That Went to Fairyland
53. The Cat That Was Forgotten
54. The Dog That Wanted a Home
55. Freckles for a Thrush
56. He's a Horrid Dog
57. Hoppetty-Skip and Crawl-About
58. The Lamb Without a Mother
59. Mooo-ooo-ooo!
60. Old Ugly, the Water-Grub

(DLA Las Piñas HS LRC) March Author of the Month - Kiera Cass

Please give a warm welcome to one of the new all-American young and awesome femme fatale fiction authors we have in our lineup hitting the shelves sooner rather than later -- Kiera Cass! We do have a lot of writers already but what makes her any different? Let us have the pleasure of telling you why!

She was born and raised in South Carolina, a proud child of the 80's. Her first book contrary to popular belief was not the bestselling The Selection but was titled The Siren and it was self-published in 2009 while she was five months pregnant.

The Siren was a result of Kiera's world getting shaken in 2007 by a local tragedy which she took pretty hard. Over the course of the following year, she tried a lot of things to get herself together and she ended up sitting down to write a story where the character had to deal with her problems so that she wouldn't have to.

However, that wasn't The Siren yet! She was not able to end that story though but after waking up from a nap at that time, Kiera finally came up with the idea that would become The Siren. Ideas for the dystopial novel, The Selection, and other stories came not so long afterwards once she got into the habit of writing even if The Siren did not have quite the successful following.

In early 2010, she found a cool gal at HarperTeen and an even cooler agent who helped publish The Selection in 2012 (while she was pregnant again!). Kiera is currently 33, living in Vancouver with her hubby and two kids, Guyden and Zuzu. She loves spending her free time on social media (making videos on YouTube and entertaining people on Twitter), eating cake, and being married.

(DLA Las Piñas GS LRC) March Book of the Month - Yankee Girl

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually every 21st of March since the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed it in 1966 and called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination after police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in South Africa against the apartheid pass laws last 1960 on the very same day.

This month, we're featuring Yankee Girl, an unflinching resonant story about racism and culture clash in the 1960s. It's about a young American girl, Alice Ann Moxley, who has just moved to Mississippi from her home in Chicago after her FBI-agent father has been reassigned to protect black people who are registering to vote.

The year is 1964 when there were still divisions between the South and North of the United States of America and there are racially motivated attacks, especially in Mississippi. Alice is finding life in Mississippi difficult, with the threat of an attack on her home from the Ku Klux Klan, her new school being one of the first in the area to accept coloured children and being picked on because she is not the same as the rest of her class.

She is nicknamed "Yankee Girl" and taunted by the popular girls at school she calls the Cheerleaders, although she soon discovers that the other new girl, Valerie - the school's first black student - suffers much worse. Soon Alice realizes the only way to befriend the girls is to seem like a co-conspirator in their plans to make Valerie miserable. It takes a horrible tragedy for her to realize the complete ramifications of following the crowd instead of her heart.

The story travels with Alice through this time, as she has to make some difficult life and social choices, which could affect her life and her parents. This is the first book of Mary Ann Rodman, a former school media specialist and university librarian, and is based on her own childhood experience. The main characters are drawn true to form while the plot is one which will make any intelligent and caring person angry but will also make those same people sad because any of this had even happened.