Most frequently borrowed books, part 2

Almost two years ago I did a post on the most frequently borrowed books at the PRHS library and according to the blog statistics, it is the page that gets the most hits. So I thought I'd do another and, lo and behold, the most borrowed book is the same.

The books below have all been borrowed since the beginning of this school year, and the bold number is how many times the book has been borrowed, and any book with a star is an Orca Soundings book.

1. *Saving Grace by Darlene Ryan - 33.

2. *Dead-end job by Vicki Grant - 25.

3. Trials of death by Darren Shan - 22.

4. Exit point by Laura Langston - 19.

5. Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy - 18.

6. Tie: *Home invasion by Monique Polak, *Tough trails by Irene Morck, and Lord Loss by Darren Shan - 17.

9. *Thunderbowl by Lesley Choyce - 16.

10. *Zee's way by Kristin Butcher - 15.


As a comparison the top 15 all-time, doesn't-matter-when-they-were-last-borrowed Most Borrowed Books are below:

1. *Saving Grace by Darlene Ryan - 33.

2. New moon by Stephenie Meyer - 29.

3. Guinness World Records 2006 - 26.

4. *Dead-end job by Vicki Grant - 25.

5. Tie: *The trouble with Liberty by Kristin Butcher and Trials of death by Darren Shan - 22.

7. *Snitch by Norah McClintock - 21.

8. Tie: *Bang by Norah McClintock and Uglies by Scott Westerfeld - 20.

10. Tie: *I.D. by Vicki Grant and *Exit point by Laura Langston - 19.

12. Tie: Tithe by Holly Black, Cirque du Freak: the saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan, Ninth key (Mediator series) by Meg Cabot, and Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy - 18.


Orca Soundings are still far and away the most popular books in the library, but I find it interesting that all the non-Orca books on the list (except Guinness World Records) are fantasies or paranormal romances.

The true size of Africa

This image made the rounds online last week and since I love my maps (especially map games), I printed off a full colour copy with data to put on the library door. It really puts into perspective how large a landmass Africa really is!

The original post I saw was on Stephen's Lighthouse, and here is the full version of the image (with supporting data) by Kai Krause.

Intense books

A couple of students were in the library recently looking for "intense books," which they defined as being edge-of-your-seat emotional reading but not particularly scary in the usual horror sense. I found a few books for them right off the bat (The rules of survival, Such a pretty girl), but after they left more and more books kept coming to mind. The list I have thus far is below, with book cover images linking to the PRHS library catalogue.

New links in September

New links

The value of school libraries

Stephen Abram has written a brief post on his blog about the value of school libraries, with links to several studies that provide data on this topic. A brief quote:

...students, who attend schools with well-funded, properly-stocked libraries managed by qualified teacher-librarians, have higher achievement, improved literacy and greater success at the post-secondary level.

The post and studies are well worth a read for librarians, teachers and administrators.

New links

Booklist: Dystopian novels

Dystopian fiction addresses possible futures of human society and the planet earth, and it's usually pretty grim. One example that many students are familiar with is The Giver by Lois Lowry, and PRHS has a number of other dystopian novels available as well.

**April 9, 2010: updated to include new books and websites.

Feed by M. T. Anderson

The handmaid's tale by Margaret Atwood

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The Hunger Games (read my review) and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

The city of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Gone by Michael Grant

Green angel by Alice Hoffman (read my review)

Devil on my back by Monica Hughes

Brave new world by Aldous Huxley

The giver by Lois Lowry

The declaration by Gemma Malley

The secret under my skin by Janet McNaughton

The knife of never letting go by Patrick Ness (read my review)

Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer (read my review)

How I live now by Meg Rosoff

The forest of hands and teeth by Carrie Ryan

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Skinned by Robin Wasserman

Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld (read my review)

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

Clicking on the linked title will take you to the PRHS library catalogue so you can see if the book is checked in.

More dystopian booklists:

Best dystopian novels for teens
Dystopian fiction
Dystopian fiction for youth
Dystopias booklist (includes adult novels)
Top 10 dystopian novels list

New books!

Fiction

Darkest Hour (Mediator book 4) by Meg Cabot

Fire by Kristin Cashore

The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Revelations and The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa De La Cruz

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Gone by Michael Grant

Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson

Chronicler of the Winds by Henning Mankell

Death's Shadow, Wolf Island, and Dark Calling (Demonata books 7-9) by Darren Shan

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Nonfiction

How to play guitar by Roger Evans

The Humongous Book of Cartooning by Christopher Hart

The Life and Opionions of DJ Spinoza by Eugene Ostashevsky

The little black book for guys: guys talk about sex by St. Stephen's Community House

Reference

Historical atlas of Canada by Derek Hayes

February Delicious links