Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Meet the Author - Grace Lin and Lily Toy Hong

Grace Lin

Grace Lin grew up in Upstate New York with her parents and two sisters.  While the other sisters became scientists, Grace became an artist.  Surprisingly enough, being an artist was not Grace's first choice.  She first dreamed of being a champion ice skater, and drew many pictures of herself twirling and dancing on the ice.  Unfortunately, Grace had neither the talent nor coordination to make it to skating stardom.  However, the pictures she drew of herself held much promise and quickly became Grace's career focus.  

Grace's first book, THE UGLY VEGETABLES, was published in 1999 and was quickly heralded.  It was a best seller.  She followed that success with over a dozen more books including DIM SUM FOR EVERYONE! and LISSY'S FRIENDS.  Her first children's novel is THE YEAR OF THE DOG published in 2006.  She followed that with THE YEAR OF THE RAT.  Her newest novel, WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON was awarded the 2010 Newbery Honor and is the Beehive Award winner for 2011. 

Here are some of her book titles:

The Year of the Dog  Where the Mountain Meets the Moon  Ugly Vegetables  Fortune Cookie Fortunes  Lissy's Friends


Lily Toy Hong

We are excited to spotlight Lily Toy Hong this month for Meet the Arthur.  Lily is Ms. Pendley's sister.  Lily  has lived most of her life in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She grew up in a large Chinese-American family,  the seventh of nine children.  Lily lives in Sandy Utah with her husband and two sons.  She studied art at Utah Technical College and Utah Steate University.  She worked for a greeting-card company before becoming a freelance designer and illustrator.

Lily uses her creative talent every day.  She paints, crochets, and knits.  She is always working on a creative project.  Beside working on her art, Lily enjoys learning more about Chinese culture, gardening, and dating rice every day.

Lily's books include:

Two of Everything               The Empress and the Silkworm                 How the Ox Star Fell from Heaven

Monday, January 14, 2013

Destiny Quest
A Library Search Engine and more…

Destiny Quest is a computer program that assists students in gaining information about books in the school library for their personal use.  The third through sixth grade students have been educated on the capabilities of Destiny Quest and how to create a personal account during class visits to the school library. Younger students may create personal accounts with the help of a parent/guardian at home or an older sibling. 

On Destiny Quest, students can develop a personal book list, renew their own library books, place their own holds, write book reviews, recommend books to friends who are members of Destiny Quest, request books to be purchased in the school library and more!  For more information on Destiny Quest ask one of the Library Media Specialists, Mrs. Allison or Mrs. Coombs.  

Books are even more fun with Destiny Quest!



Tuesday, January 8, 2013

You Are Important and Don't You Forget It!

SpoonDo you ever feel like you are less important than others?  Do you think the grass is greener on the other side?  Well, think again because you are important AND the grass IS just as green on your side! It is all about how you look at life.

Spoon by Amy Krause Rosenthal is a wonderful picture book about a spoon who feels blue because he thinks fork, knife and chopsticks are more important than him. This book teaches children to appreciate their own abilities as well as appreciating others. This book was read to the Kindergarten, first and second grade students in the school library this week.