LibGuides: Velma Bell Hamilton Middle School: Home

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Follow @VHMLMC - Ms Phelps will be updating during our COVID-19 shutdown (click on image)

Did you know our school has its own Spotify playlist?? Click on Spotify Icon to open our 'Velma Bell Hamilton MS Power & Positivity Mix" [Have a suggestion for a song to add that has a message of POWER and/or POSITIVITY? email it to Ms Phelps!

Click on Mrs. Hamilton's portrait to learn about our wonderful namesake! See more info -- including pictures -- here.

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A Great Library Simile

Newbery Winners 2021!!

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller
Call Number: FIC KEL
ISBN: 1524715700
Publication Date: 2020-01-28
Would you make a deal with a magical tiger? This uplifting story brings brings Korean folklore to life as a girl goes on a quest to unlock the power of stories and save her grandmother. Some stories refuse to stay bottled up... When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni's Korean folktales arrives, prompting Lily to unravel a secret family history. Long, long ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers. Now they want it back. And when one of the tigers approaches Lily with a deal--return what her grandmother stole in exchange for Halmoni's health--Lily is tempted to agree. But deals with tigers are never what they seem! With the help of her sister and her new friend Ricky, Lily must find her voice...and the courage to face a tiger. Think Walk Two Moons meets Where the Mountain Meets the Moon! " --Booklist, Starred Review
All Thirteen: the Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
ISBN: 1536209457
Publication Date: 2020-10-13
A unique account of the amazing Thai cave rescue told in a heart-racing, you-are-there style that blends suspense, science, and cultural insight. On June 23, 2018, twelve young players of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach enter a cave in northern Thailand seeking an afternoon's adventure. But when they turn to leave, rising floodwaters block their path out. The boys are trapped! Before long, news of the missing team spreads, launching a seventeen-day rescue operation involving thousands of rescuers from around the globe. As the world sits vigil, people begin to wonder: how long can a group of ordinary kids survive in complete darkness, with no food or clean water? Luckily, the Wild Boars are a very extraordinary "ordinary" group.
BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford; Michele Wood (Illustrator)
ISBN: 0763691569
Publication Date: 2020-04-14
In a moving, lyrical tale about the cost and fragility of freedom, a New York Times best-selling author and an acclaimed artist follow the life of a man who courageously shipped himself out of slavery. What have I to fear? My master broke every promise to me. I lost my beloved wife and our dear children. All, sold South. Neither my time nor my body is mine. The breath of life is all I have to lose. And bondage is suffocating me. Henry Brown wrote that long before he came to be known as Box, he "entered the world a slave." He was put to work as a child and passed down from one generation to the next -- as property. When he was an adult, his wife and children were sold away from him out of spite. Henry Brown watched as his family left bound in chains, headed to the deeper South. What more could be taken from him? But then hope -- and help -- came in the form of the Underground Railroad. Escape!
Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
ISBN: 1984815687
Publication Date: 2020-08-11
Ten-tear-old Della has always had her older sister, Suki: When their mom went to prison, Della had Suki. When their mom's boyfriend took them in, Della had Suki. When that same boyfriend did something so awful they had to run fast, Della had Suki. Suki is Della's own wolf--her protector. But who has been protecting Suki? Della might get told off for swearing at school, but she has always known how to keep quiet where it counts. Then Suki tries to kill herself, and Della's world turns so far upside down, it feels like it's shaking her by the ankles. Maybe she's been quiet about the wrong things. Maybe it's time to be loud. In this powerful novel that explodes the stigma around child sexual abuse and leavens an intense tale with compassion and humor, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley tells a story about two sisters, linked by love and trauma, who must find their own voices before they can find their way back to each other.
We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly
ISBN: 0062747304
Publication Date: 2020-05-05
Cash, Fitch, and Bird Thomas are three siblings in 7th grade together in Park, Delaware. In 1986, as the country waits expectantly for the launch of the Space Challenger, they each struggle with their own personal anxieties. Cash, who loves basketball but has a newly broken wrist, is in danger of failing 7th grade for the second time. Fitch spends every afternoon playing at the arcade on Main and wrestles with an explosive temper that he doesn't understand. And Bird, his 12-year-old twin, dreams of being NASA's first female shuttle commander, but feels like she's disappearing. The Thomas children exist in their own orbits, circling a tense and unpredictable household, with little in common except an enthusiastic science teacher named Ms. Salonga. As the launch of the Challenger approaches, Ms. Salonga gives her students a project--they are separated into spacecraft crews and must create and complete a mission. When the fated day finally arrives, it changes all of their lives and brings them together in unexpected ways. Told in three alternating points of view.
A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat
ISBN: 1536204943
Publication Date: 2020-03-24
A boy on the run. A girl determined to find him. A compelling fantasy looks at issues of privilege, protest, and justice.All light in Chattana is created by one man - the Governor, who appeared after the Great Fire to bring peace and order to the city. For Pong, who was born in Namwon Prison, the magical lights represent freedom, and he dreams of the day he will be able to walk among them. But when Pong escapes from prison, he realizes that the world outside is no fairer than the one behind bars. The wealthy dine and dance under bright orb light, while the poor toil away in darkness. Worst of all, Pong's prison tattoo marks him as a fugitive who can never be truly free.Nok, the prison warden's perfect daughter, is bent on tracking Pong down and restoring her family's good name. But as Nok hunts Pong through the alleys and canals of Chattana, she uncovers secrets that make her question the truths she has always held dear. Set in a Thai-inspired fantasy world, Christina Soontornvat's twist on Victor Hugo's Les Misérables is a dazzling, fast-paced adventure that explores the difference between law and justice - and asks whether one child can shine a light in the dark.

NEW from J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter At Home Hub

Click on image

Xello - student access

ISTE Standards- Why Chromebooks Are Important Learning Tools

Search our Ebook & Audiobook collection HEY WE FINALLY GOT NEW BOOKS! Check it out!

Click on the image to go to our ebook & audiobook catalog

Click here to see Ms Phelps' short video about how to use Sora to get just what you want

Click here to see tips for searching Sora (Overdrive)

Click here to go to Wisconsin's Digital Library ebook & audiobook catalog (much bigger than ours)

Click here to see how to connect your school Sora with the Wisconsin Digital library - gives you the most choices in one place!

Click here to Audible -- Amazon Audible now offers FREE Audio Books! [and then maybe choose Tween or Teen]

If you don't have a public library card, get a FREE virtual card here

Search our Catalog

CLICK ON CATALOG IMAGE (or here) TO GO TO OUR CATALOG

CLICK HERE FOR SHORT VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO PLACE A HOLD

May: Celebrate Asian -Pacific Island Heritage Month with a GREAT BOOK!

Download 2 Free Audiobooks per week -- goes through Aug 4 -- CLICK on IMAGE below

Great Big Story: Celebrating Asian -Pacific Heritage Month

15 min video includes: Lion Dancing, Korean American rapper, Hawaiian Hula Dancing, Indian cuisine, and a Cuban/Chinese restaurant in NYC

Midwinter Chromebook Refresh & Clean-up

How to troubleshoot chromebook problems

6-Word Story Contest WINNERS & ALL ENTRIES - THANK YOU to ALL!!!

Black History Month - Celebrate with an AMAZING book!

Anti-Racism Resources Web page for middle schoolers and familiies

Books & Cats

Library Clips video

Have you read Jason Reynold's 'Ghost'? This is the friend who the story is based on

In Honor of April, Poetry Month -- favorite poems!

I sometimes think that I am not a huge poetry fan, but when I think about things that I have read and enjoyed, I realize I LOVE a lot of poetry! For me, it started with good old Dr. Seuss, then Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening," all the great poetry in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, then all the wonderful poetry in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, and moving on to 'The Simpsons' great version of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" ... so I hope you have some favorites too!

Check this out - Madison Public Library is posting a poem every day in April!

Here are some of my favorites:

Throwback video!

46 of the Most Beautiful Sentences in YA Literature

Click the image to read some BuzzFeed reader favorites!

NEED TECHNOLOGY HELP?

Please fill out THIS FORM and I will figure out the best way to get you back up and running!

How can I get an ACTUAL BOOK from the Hamilton LMC??

Video: How to Place a Hold on a Book

Remember our fun StickTogether Mystery Posters in the LMC? Here is a VIRTUAL ONE! Have at it!!

DONE! Click here to open our FIRST virtual sticker mosaic and get to work!
Good Job!! Now try the next one!
DONE! Virtual Stickerboard #2! Have fun!!
Virtual Stickerboard #3! Enjoy!

Don't have a Public Library Card? Get a virtual one for free!

Click on card to sign up for a virtual library card. [You DON'T need one if you already have a library card]

NEW NEWS: MPL is doing CURBSIDE PICK-UP OF BOOKS, and phone help. You have to put the book on hold, and the libraries are NOT doing inter-library loans, so you will have to pick up at the library that has your book. More info here.

Book of the Week - What is Ms Phelps loving?

Click on image to see more books

Podcast or Video Contest! Deadline is June 1

Create a PODCAST or VIDEO and submit by June 1. Click on link below for details!

'Click Youth Media Challenge' Website
Click 'expand all' to see all the info
Here is the contest flyer (same info, w more links to help)

Spectrum is offering 2 deals: FREE & REDUCED PRICE internet this fall

Breakout EDU -- Play live M-F @ 1pm (for prizes), or anytime that you want (no prizes, but still fun!)

How do you play?
In order to play, visit BreakoutEDU.com/live at 1PM and wait for the game to start. There is no login required. When you complete a game, you can enter to win a prize. It is FREE!
Can students win prizes?
When a game is complete the player enters their parent’s or teacher’s email address. Winners must reside in the U.S. to win a prize .
Can I play past episodes?
Yep! All past episodes can be found at BreakoutEDU.com/live.

Database LOG INs from Home & LMC FAQ's

More Fun Stuff

What is the Next Book in that Series????

Book in Series Database (Nebraska Library Comission)

Queer Youth Book Club

The Queer Youth Book Club is a social reading group for LGBTQIA+ middle and high school students. Click on the image to get info about the books, dates, and locations of meetings!