Category Archives: Honors IV

Thug Notes: Beowulf

Did somebody holler for a hero? Salty language and adult themes ahead. Proceed with caution.

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Research Paper: Structuring the Writing

revision

Now that you’ve gathered source material and have a good idea about the relationship between between your stated problem and your chosen solution, it’s time to get your ducks in order. A strong underlying structure is the key to a well-written paper. It also makes the writing process easier, since your structure creates a “road map” of sorts for what to write about next.

Although some students like to work from diagrams, many prefer a formal outline to help them organize their thinking. Here I will create an outline based on our original problem –>solution map with additional explanations of each part of the outline.

Outline

Introduction

I.   Define the Problem

II.   Potential Solutions

A. Solution A
B. Solution B

III.   Selected Solution

A. Why it’s the best choice
B. Expected outcome

Conclusion

Explanations

INTRODUCTION – Your opening paragraph has two jobs: spur interest in your choice of topic and introduce your thesis. The thesis statement is, essentially, the answer you have arrived at for your original research question. Your thesis does not have to be super-specific (that’s the job of the body of the paper), but it should give the reader a good idea of how you will be developing the paper.

DEFINE THE PROBLEM – This section should define which aspect of the problem you will be focusing on in the paper. For example, if you’re writing about schools, you’re not going to list everything that might be an issue with schools right now. You might want to look at inequities between schools, perhaps, or what kind of effect standardized testing is having on daily curriculum, or how the school day and year are arranged and whether those are beneficial for learning. Whatever your choice, you should include enough information so that someone who is not familiar with your particular issue has a decent grasp of what you want to talk about.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS – Here, you list the solutions for your problem as they have been proposed by various groups. You should present a minimum of two potential solutions. You may have more, depending on your problem, but you should not have fewer. Using the school day example above, I might talk about varying school starting times (high school starting later in the day, or double sessions, or course selection more like a college campus), or even changing the school year (online choices, year-round school, trimesters, etc.). Your number of solutions will be determined by the research you have done. However many you present, keep the information as balanced as you can.

SELECTED SOLUTION – In this section of the paper, you go into more detail about your chosen solution. Why is this solution preferable over the other possibilities? If this solution were implemented, what benefits or changes should someone expect to see? I might decide–even if don’t like the idea personally–that we need to change the start time of high school to later in the day to accommodate teens’ need for sleep. If I choose this as my solution, I should also have information showing how it will work and why it will be a better choice than another alternative. This will be the most focused and detailed section of your paper.

CONCLUSION – The conclusion should wrap up the paper. It works well if it echoes what’s in the introductory paragraph. It doesn’t have to repeat elements (you don’t have to recopy the thesis), but it should refer to the initial idea and reinforce why your chosen solution is a logical and thoughtful approach to the problem.

Sorting your research notes and assigning them to the appropriate parts of your outline will help you see if you need to review or revisit sections of your paper for additional source material. Some students find it helpful to color-code sections of their outline, then do the same with individual notes to see how much material is available for incorporation and commentary.

As always, be sure to ask questions if you get stuck!

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Congratulations, NEHS Members!

Congratulations to the sustaining and newly-inducted members of NEHS!

Henry Black
Brett Fielder
Shaayann Khalid
Amanda Rivera
Anthony Rojas

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Beowulf Final Writing

Now that we have completed our study of Beowulf, you will apply your knowledge of the archetypal hero and the bardic tradition of the Anglo-Saxons to create your own tale. for this assignment, you will choose one of the following themes:

·  The Beowulf We Need – Consider the world we live in and the issues it presents. What kind of hero do we need to save us from these problems? Consider the qualities of the epic hero as you design your Beowulf for today, like strength, intelligence, and bravery. What task or quest does this hero need to complete? What tests or distractions might keep this hero from completing his/her quest?

·  My Private Grendel – All of us have monsters in our lives, those things that present obstacles to our success and happiness. Sometimes the monster is part of the society itself, like greed, war, or hatred, while other monsters are more personal, like procrastination, doubt, and insecurity. Choose a monster in your life (something you feel comfortable sharing publicly) and explain how this fearsome monster would require a hero to defeat it. Remember that monsters usually focus on something they want–what kinds of things does your monster do that make it especially fearful or dangerous to your health and happiness?

You have some flexibility in your writing style. You may create a standard essay or craft a tale as a bard would. If you choose to tell a tale, remember that a bard’s first task is to command the attention of the audience and set the scene, then develop the tale itself. You may earn bonus points for presenting your tale in verse form similar to Beowulf.

Whatever form you choose, your response should include two hallmarks of Anglo-Saxon style:
·  Alliteration – the repetition of consonant sounds, like “crispetty, crunchetty Butterfinger” or “Slip into silent slumber/sail on a silver mist.”
·  Kenning – a descriptive compound that aids in the pattern of the verse. Kennings can take three forms: 1) a hyphenated compound, like whale-road (sea) or sky-candle (sun); 2) a prepositional phrase, like slayer of monsters or eater of cereal; or 3) a possessive, like “the sword’s tree” (sheath) or “the foot’s guard” (shoe).
You may include multiple examples of alliteration and kennings, if you wish, but you are required to include one of each.

Your completed response is due Friday, November 8 in class. You may type or hand-write this assignment; it should be at least one full page, but not longer than two (one complete sheet of paper).

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A Brief Summary of Beowulf

In case you need to review the basics, here’s a quite humorous take on Beowulf by YouTube contributor MrRHStephenson.

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College Essay

In preparation for the college admissions process, each of you will be completing a college application essay for the school of your choice.

The college essay is a vital component of your application packet. Your essay works, essentially, as an interview on paper. It is the only part of your application that can provide the admissions committee with insight into you as a person, so it is key to polish this to the best of your ability.

You may select from the topics listed below or, if you plan to attend an out-of-state university that does not accept the Common Application, you may substitute the essay topic required by your chosen school.

You will bring a completed draft of your essay to class on Monday, November 3 for peer review. Your revised essay (or two personal statements)–which should be of submission-ready quality–should be uploaded to Edmodo by the end of the day Friday, November 7. Good luck, and happy writing!

ESSAY TOPICS

Florida State University (500 words)

Florida State University is more than just a world-class academic institution preparing you for a future career. We are a caring community of well-rounded individuals who embrace leadership, learning, service, and global awareness. With this in mind, which of these characteristics appeals most to you, and why?

 

University of Florida (For online submission; character limit approx. 450 words)

We often hear the phrase “the good life.” In fact, the University of Florida’s common course required of all undergraduate students is titled “What is the Good Life?”. The concept of “the good life” can be interpreted in many different ways depending upon the experiences, values and aspirations of each individual.

In a concise narrative, describe your notion of “the good life.” How will your undergraduate experience at the University of Florida prepare you to live “the good life”?

 

Florida State University System (choose 2, 250 words each)

  • If there has been some obstacle or bump in the road in your academic or personal life, please explain the circumstances.
  • How has your family history, culture, or environment influenced who you are?
  • What qualities or unique characteristics do you possess that would allow you to contribute to the university community?

 

Common Application (choose 1, 650 words)

  • Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
  • Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
  • Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
  • Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
  • Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

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Organizing Your Research

The key to a solid research paper is organization. If you can find and retrieve your source information quickly and easily, the process of working with the sources and pulling good information for the writing is exponentially easier. Here is a brief roundup of methods you might consider as you gather your information.

OLD SCHOOL

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w2_bQjzXH6Y/T-5AG1vZ9rI/AAAAAAAACGU/smvKgbyWuiQ/s1600/index+cards.jpgNote cards
There’s a reason why note cards are so popular. They’re cheap, portable, and easy to rearrange to help you organize your thinking. Note card users will make two kinds of cards: SOURCE cards and NOTE cards. Source cards contain all the bibliographic information about the source: the author, source, publisher or URL, etc. in proper MLA format. Note cards contain snippets–individual notes or quotes from your source materials. Keep these small. If you find yourself copying whole paragraphs, you’re not reading closely enough! Strip out the extraneous information and write down the most important. Be sure to transcribe accurately! Each notecard should contain a keyword or symbol so you know which source the note came from. Consider color-coding your cards, one color for your source cards and the other for the notes you take from the sources.

 
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Highlighter_pen_-photocopied_text-9Mar2009.jpgSingle Sheets
Another tried-and-true way to organize your research is to keep hard copies of your source information. With this method, you have a couple of options. You can photocopy pages from books and magazines or print out webpage information, then use highlighters to select the information you wish to use within the paper. One way to create a hard copy if you don’t have access to a copier is to download the CamScanner app. This app will allow you to take a picture with your smartphone, then convert it into a .pdf that you can save and print later. Be sure to write the full bibliographic information at the top of each source page to save yourself some time once you begin to compile your Works Cited page.

If you’re working with books, you can also keep handwritten notes. Use one sheet of paper for each source. Write the page number in the left margin and the notes on the right. Skip lines between notes to keep things organized. As you would with copies, write the full bibliographic information at the top of the sheet.

 

NEW SCHOOL

http://blogs.cofc.edu/tlt/files/2013/08/dropbox-logo.pngDropbox
Dropbox is free cloud-based storage. You earn 2 GB of free space when you sign up for a Dropbox account, plenty of room for any research you might find: pictures, notes, .pdf and Word files, audio clips–if you can save it to a flash drive, you can save it in your Dropbox!

Dropbox is a great solution if you are in the habit of saving things into folders or onto flash drives. It’s accessible on any Internet-connected device, including smartphones and tablets. A free app is available for all platforms. Everything in your Dropbox is private and secure, but you do have the option to share folders if you’re working with a team or it’s time to let me review your work for a grade. Here’s how you share a folder:

1. Go to your list of files and folders and select the folder you want to share by clicking on the empty space to the right of the folder’s name. (Clicking on the folder name or icon will open the folder instead.)
If the folder is currently unshared, click Invite to folder in the toolbar:

Click Invite to folder to share a folder the first time

2. If the folder is already being shared, click Shared folder options:

Click Shared folder options to invite more people

3. Enter the email addresses of the people you want to invite.
4. Add a personal message if you’d like and click Share folder.

Dropbox online
FREE iOS and Android apps

 

http://osx.wdfiles.com/local--files/icon:47e8a-evernote-icon-256/47e8a-Evernote-Icon-256.jpgEvernote
Evernote is a multi-platform notetaking program designed for people on the go. Like Dropbox, it is accessible through a web interface or through a smartphone or tablet app. Evernote live-syncs across all platforms to keep your information as up to date as possible. Evernote organizes notes into notebooks that you design. You could set up one notebook per class, or one for the research paper, or divide your research into separate notebooks–you have lots of flexibility.

Evernote has a number of add-ons that add functionality, such as the Skitch app, which allows you to annotate pictures and .pdfs, and (my favorite), the Evernote Web Clipper, a browser add-on that will clip web information and import it directly into your Evernote account as a new note.

Evernote gives you the flexibility to share notebooks with collaborators. If you choose this option, you will need to share your notebook with me when it’s time to grade your research. Here’s how you share a notebook:

1. Sign In to Evernote through your web browser.
2. Click the “Share” drop-down menu at the top-right corner of the window, and click “Share Notebooks.” If you are collaborating with a team, they will also need to share their notebooks in this same manner for you to view their shared notebooks.
3. Click the “Start Sharing” button to the right of the notebook that you wish to include in your collaboration.
4. Click the “Invite Individuals To Access This Notebook” link at the right side of the window.
5. Type the email address associated with the Evernote account of each person that you want to allow to view your notebook, then click “Send Invitations” at the bottom of the window. (See me if you are using Evernote, since my Evernote account is not set up with my school email address.) This will generate an email invitation that will be sent to the Evernote user’s email inbox. The email includes a link that must be clicked to accept the notebook invitation.
6. View notebooks that have been shared with you under the “Linked Notebooks” section at the left side of your Evernote screen. Any notes that you add to your shared notebook will be visible to your approved collaborators through this linked notebook.

Evernote online
FREE iOS and Android apps

 

http://d1hwvnnkb0v1bo.cloudfront.net/content/art/app/icons/studyblue_icon.jpgStudyBlue
Think of StudyBlue as notecards for the 21st century. StudyBlue allows you to create flashcards of information and sort and arrange them in a variety of ways. It’s excellent for helping you study terms (you can study traditionally or omit cards you’ve already learned from the review mode, take quizzes, and play games with the cards you create). You can also organize your research by keeping the source material on one side of the card and the note itself on the other.

Like Evernote and Dropbox, StudyBlue allows you to share your cards with others. To share:

1. In the My Backpack view, find your work that you would like to share, and click on the drop-down menu marked by an arrow on the far right side of the row of your flashcards.
2. Select Share via Email.
3. Enter the recipient’s information, and the flashcards will be sent directly to them.

StudyBlue online
FREE iOS and Android apps

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Fine-Tuning the LOTF Essay

http://www.customessayhelp.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/revising-a-paper.jpg

As you complete your revisions for your Lord of the Flies archetype essay, please consider the following:

DO: Include Golding’s full name and the name of the work in the first paragraph.

DON’T: Refer to Golding as “William” unless he’s your uncle or regularly comes to your house for dinner.

DO: Include a strong thesis in your first paragraph. It should be obvious which character and archetypal role you have chosen to explore.

DON’T: Summarize!

DO: Integrate appropriate quotations or examples into the essay to illustrate your points. For example, let’s say you wish to include the following quotation from Ralph on p. 54: “I was talking about smoke! Don’t you want to be rescued? All you can talk about is pig, pig, pig!”

AWKWARD:

“I was talking about smoke! Don’t you want to be rescued? All you can talk about is pig, pig, pig!” (54) This is what Ralph says when…

Don’t plop quotations in and expect the reader to connect the dots for you.

BETTER:

Ralph’s frustration with Jack’s focus on hunting boils over when he yells, “I was talking about smoke! Don’t you want to be rescued? All you can talk about is pig, pig, pig!” (54)

Reveal your thinking about why you chose the quotation or example and how it connects to what you’re developing in the writing.

Anything quoted directly from the book, whether dialogue or description, needs to be cited with a page number.

DO: Include the bibliographic citation for the work at the bottom of the second page:

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Perigee, 1954.

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Lord of the Flies Final Writing

Now that we have completed our reading of Lord of the Flies, you will be submitting a college-style essay as your final assessment in lieu of a test. The objective is to reveal your knowledge of the work through your use of specific examples from the selected text to support your viewpoint.

Your analytical essay will show how Golding uses archetypes within Lord of the Flies to support the larger theme of the work.

In your essay, you will select either Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Simon, or Roger. Your essay should show, using examples from the novel, how your selected character fulfills his designated archetypal role within the novel and how that role contributes to the work’s overall theme. A good explanation of these roles may be found here. You may also refer to the Archetype_PowerPoint we referenced in class.You may also include references to other archetypal or symbolic information, such as the use of color, shape, etc. as you build your argument.

Your 500-word essay (that’s two double-spaced pages) should be submitted to Edmodo by the end of the day Wednesday, October 9. You will upload your essay to the posted assignment in .doc or .docx format. Other formats do not permit me to make annotations for your review. See me if you have submission issues.

Good luck, and happy writing!

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Florida Teens Read Titles 2013-2014

Panthers are invited once again to take part in the Media Center’s Florida Teens Read/Paw Prints program for this year. Students who read one of the FTR or PP books may come to the media center to take a quiz.  A passing score is 70%.  Students who pass will be given a symbolic charm for that book and a quiz certificate.  Extra credit may be earned by reading if you show me your successful certificate! We only allow a student to retake a quiz if the teacher authorizes it.  Students who pass the most quizzes will be invited to the teen literature celebration in May.

 

Bick, Ilsa. Ashes.

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions. Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP. For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

 

Dowell, Frances O’Roark. Ten Miles Past Normal.

Janie Gorman is smart and creative and a little bit funky…but what she really wants to be is normal. Because living on an isolated farm with her modern-hippy parents is decidedly not normal, no matter how delicious the goat cheese. High school gives Janie the chance to prove to her suburban peers that she’s just like them, but before long she realizes normal is completely overrated, and pretty dull. If she’s going to learn how to live large (and forget the haters), Janie will have to give up the quest and make room in her life for things from the fringe—like jam band, righteous chocolate, small acts of great bravery, and a boy named Monster.

 

Gagnon, Michelle. Don’t Turn Around.

Sixteen-year-old Noa has been a victim of the system ever since her parents died. Now living off the grid and trusting no one, she uses her hacking skills to stay anonymous and alone. But when she wakes up on a table in a warehouse with an IV in her arm and no memory of how she got there, Noa starts to wish she had someone on her side. Enter Peter Gregory. A rich kid and the leader of a hacker alliance, Peter needs people with Noa’s talents on his team. Especially after a shady corporation threatens his life in no uncertain terms. But what Noa and Peter don’t realize is that Noa holds the key to a terrible secret, and there are those who’d stop at nothing to silence her for good.

 

Green, John. The Fault in our Stars.

At 16, Hazel Grace Lancaster, a three-year stage IV–cancer survivor, is clinically depressed. To help her deal with this, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor, and the two fall in love. Both kids are preternaturally intelligent, and Hazel is fascinated with a novel about cancer called An Imperial Affliction. Most particularly, she longs to know what happened to its characters after an ambiguous ending. To find out, the enterprising Augustus makes it possible for them to travel to Amsterdam, where Imperial’s author, an expatriate American, lives. What happens when they meet him is significant.

 

Hartman, Rachel. Seraphina.

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty’s anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high. Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen’s Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

 

King, A. S. Everybody Sees the Ants.

Lucky Linderman didn’t ask for his life. He didn’t ask his grandfather not to come home from the Vietnam War. He didn’t ask for a father who never got over it. He didn’t ask for a mother who keeps pretending their dysfunctional family is fine. And he didn’t ask to be the target of Nader McMillan’s relentless bullying, which has finally gone too far. But Lucky has a secret–one that helps him wade through the mundane torture of his life. In his dreams, Lucky escapes to the war-ridden jungles of Laos–the prison his grandfather couldn’t escape–where Lucky can be a real man, an adventurer, and a hero. It’s dangerous and wild, and it’s a place where his life just might be worth living. But how long can Lucky keep hiding in his dreams before reality forces its way inside?

 

Levithan, David. Every Day.

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere. It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

 

Martinez, Jessica. Virtuosity.

Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love. And Jeremy is hands-down the wrong guy for her to fall for. He is infuriating, arrogant, and the only person who can stand in the way of Carmen getting the one thing she wants most: to win the prestigious Guarneri competition. Carmen’s whole life is violin, and until she met Jeremy, her whole focus was winning. But what if Jeremy isn’t just hot…what if Jeremy is better? Carmen knows that kissing Jeremy can’t end well, but she just can’t stay away. Nobody else understands her–and riles her up–like he does. Still, she can’t trust him with her biggest secret: She is so desperate to win she takes anti-anxiety drugs to perform, and what started as an easy fix has become a hungry addiction. Carmen is sick of not feeling anything on stage and even more sick of always doing what she’s told, doing what’s expected. Sometimes, being on top just means you have a long way to fall….

 

Odell, Jonathan.  The Healing.

Plantation mistress Amanda Satterfield’s intense grief over losing her daughter crosses the line into madness when she takes a newborn slave child as her own and names her Granada. Troubled by his wife’s disturbing mental state and concerned about a mysterious plague that is sweeping through the plantation’s slave quarters, Master Satterfield purchases Polly Shine, a slave woman known as a healer who immediately senses a spark of the same gift in Granada. Soon, a domestic battle of wills begins, leading to a tragedy that weaves together three generations of strong Southern women.

 

Price, Lissa. Starters.

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie’s only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man. He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie’s head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter. Callie soon discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations’ plans are more evil than she could ever have imagined.

 

Rodriguez, Gaby. The Pregnancy Project: A Memoir.

Growing up, Gaby Rodriguez was often told she would end up a teen mom. After all, her mother and her older sisters had gotten pregnant as teenagers; from an outsider’s perspective, it was practically a family tradition. Gaby had ambitions that didn’t include teen motherhood. But she wondered: how would she be treated if she “lived down” to others’ expectations? Would everyone ignore the years she put into being a good student and see her as just another pregnant teen statistic with no future? These questions sparked Gaby’s high school senior project: faking her own pregnancy to see how her family, friends, and community would react. What she learned changed her life forever—and made international headlines in the process.

 

St. John, Warren. Outcasts United: The Story of a Refugee Soccer Team that Changed a Town.

Clarkston, Georgia, was a typical Southern town until it was designated a refugee settlement center in the 1990s, becoming the first American home for scores of families in flight from the world’s war zones—from Liberia and Sudan to Iraq and Afghanistan. Suddenly Clarkston’s streets were filled with women wearing the hijab, the smells of cumin and curry, and kids of all colors playing soccer in any open space they could find. The town also became home to Luma Mufleh, an American-educated Jordanian woman who founded a youth soccer team to unify Clarkston’s refugee children and keep them off the streets. These kids named themselves the Fugees. Set against the backdrop of an American town that without its consent had become a vast social experiment, Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach.

 

Stevenson, Sarah Jamila. The Latte Rebellion.

Hoping to raise money for a post-graduation trip to London, Asha Jamison and her best friend Carey decide to sell T-shirts promoting the Latte Rebellion, a club that raises awareness of mixed-race students. But seemingly overnight, their “cause” goes viral and the T-shirts become a nationwide social movement. As new chapters spring up from coast to coast, Asha realizes that her simple marketing plan has taken on a life of its own—and it’s starting to ruin hers. Asha’s once-stellar grades begin to slip, threatening her Ivy League dreams, while her friendship with Carey hangs by a thread. And when the peaceful underground movement spins out of control, Asha’s school launches a disciplinary hearing. Facing expulsion, Asha must decide how much she’s willing to risk for something she truly believes in.

 

Stiefvater, Maggie.  The Raven Boys.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them–until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her. His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn’t believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

 

Vaughn, Carrie. Steel.

Sixteen-year-old Jill has fought in dozens of fencing tournaments, but she has never held a sharpened blade. When she finds a corroded sword piece on a Caribbean beach, she is instantly intrigued and pockets it as her own personal treasure. The broken tip holds secrets, though, and it transports Jill through time to the deck of a pirate ship. Stranded in the past and surrounded by strangers, she is forced to sign on as crew. But a pirate’s life is bloody and brief, and as Jill learns about the dark magic that brought her there, she forms a desperate scheme to get home—one that risks everything in a duel to the death with a villainous pirate captain.

Happy Reading!

 

 

 

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