Book Trailers

Not sure what a book trailer is? Here are some examples to check out to get some ideas:
Canonsburg Middle School's Book Trailer Page
2012 SLJ Trailee Award Nominees

Cover2Cover - AFTER EVER AFTER Meeting Recap

The Cover2Cover book club just keeps getting better and better!
This month’s meeting started off with the world premiere of the book club member-created video “The Top 6 1/2 Reasons Why CMS is the Best”. The video is based on prior book club selection, How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart.  Next stop for these kids: Hollywood! Check the video out here:

Then we turned our focus to this month’s book, After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick.  Kenny S. put together a fun and fabulous trivia game that tested everyone’s knowledge about the book. Whew! It was tough!!! Good thing these questions weren’t on the AR quiz!

Next, we discussed the book by used Edmodo for our version of Instant Messaging, just like Jeff and Tad in After Ever After.

Finally, since math was a big obstacle for Jeff in the book, we had a fierce math competition.  After a very competeitive final round, the winner was:  Natalie C!  She took home Jordan Sonnenblick’s newest book Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip.  Way to go Natalie!

It is not too late to join in on the Cover2Cover excitement!  Our next meeting is on May 16th when we will be discussing The Grimm Legacy.  Here is a book trailer to get you excited:


Stop in the LMC to pick up a copy of The Grimm Legacy and a permission slip. Hope to see you next month!!

Guest Reviewer: Mister B is reading…Spilling Ink

Spilling Ink by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter, Illustrated by Matt Phelan

Don’t you just hate when you are assigned some complicated, crazy math problem?  And you sit there for hours trying to figure out why one car would leave at the same time as the other and who even cares which one arrives at the grocery store first?  Very frustrating!  It would be much simpler if someone wrote clear, detailed steps for you on how to solve the problem and free you from your math torture.

Well, if you ever wanted to write a poem, a short story, a book, or just about anything and really weren’t sure how to do it, then you must read Spilling Ink by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter!

Spilling Ink is an excellent instruction book for writers.  It provides information and ideas for writers of all ages.  From the basics of coming up with a topic to how to write effective dialogue, Spilling Ink covers it all.

The best thing about Spilling Ink is that it doesn’t teach you to write in a boring way, like those grammar lessons taught in an English class (of course I don’t mean a CMS English class!).  Instead, the authors of this book provide funny, creative and interesting stories to help you learn how to write.  Both authors are successful published writers, so you know what they have to say is important.

So, if you want to write the next Hunger Games, Harry Potter or Twilight saga, you must start by reading Spilling Ink!