Final Note from Mrs. Christensen

Dear Kiddos!  How are you all weathering this COVID-19 quarantine?  I always try to make the best of every situation, but there are days that it is a challenge.  It is really hard to end the year, and an entire 30-year teaching career, without being able to get together one last time!

I just want to wish you all a wonderful life.  Don't be afraid to take a risk to pursue your dreams. Make good choices for good results.  You are the best and I will miss you.

Gateway Award Winner of the Year

The 2019-20 Gateway Award Winners Are:

1st Place The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas with 470 votes
2nd Place One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus w 417 votes
3rd Place Dear Martin by Nic Stone (221)

There were some great titles this year.  I was hoping that Goodbye Day would win.  It was such a great book!

Thanks for participating in the OHS Reading Club: Gateway and More!  I will miss you all!

Gateway Voting

     Please be sure to check your email. Last week I sent you the information for placing your vote for the 2019-20 Gateway favorite.  Do not vote if you have not read three or more Gateways. When voting, be sure you vote for one of the books you've read, not an unread title.  These are due today so I can place the vote for our school before we leave for Spring Vacation today.  
     Also, you received emails about getting ready for the upcoming reading party.  Be sure you have a minimum of three blog entries, have submitted your list of books you've read during this school year as well as your free book choice.  I've had to get everything prepared in advance since our OHS Reading Club: Gateway and More will be celebrating our reading on Friday, March 27th during advisory
     Have a wonderful vacation and if there's time, steal away with a wonderful book!

In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences

In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences ~ by Truman Capote

As you have probably figured out by now, I enjoy a good mystery! This story is based on true events that happened in a small town in Kansas on November 15, 1959. That is when four members of the Cutter family were senselessly murdered for no apparent reason.  There were also very few clues for investigators to work with in trying to determine who the murders were.

We meet each of the members of the Cutter family along with their closest friends.  We begin to understand each of the characters and their stations in life. The older with lives half-lived and the younger with dreams ahead. Until the day they are gunned down. The older siblings are left to deal with the mayhem that follows.

Capote also introduces us in great detail to the antagonists. He tells their life stories in an effort to help the reader see the events in life that made them the people they have become.  It seems like he wants the reader to understand that they are victims of their own circumstances of their early lives. He appears to want the reader to feel sorry for them even in the face of the brutal murders they have committed.

Truman Capote is a famous author known for his ability to weave a story with intricacy, emotion, and details.  He writes from the point of view of each of the main characters which was a very effective way to make me connect with each of the characters; good and bad.

The Coroner by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush

This is a great book, even though it was easy to figure out a list of the possible suspects and narrow it down to the top few.  I suspected the culprit fairly early on. But the author presented the other possible suspects in such a way that it might have been any of them.

The main character, Emily Hartford, is living a comfortable life in Chicago when she gets that dreaded call that her father has had a heart attack and she must come immediately.  Though she has not spoken to her father in years due to lack of closure in the untimely death of her mother from long ago, she hurries to her father's side.

When she arrives back in the small town that was her home for most of her life, she finds herself needed to step into her father's shoes and act as coroner to help unravel the death of a young girl whose father just happens to be a senator.  Mix together with that coming face to face with her high school sweetheart, and you've got the makings for a great story.

                                                      If you enjoy the simplicity of a simple tale, this book is for you!

2018-19 Gateway Award Winners

  Top Three Gateway Award Winners for 2018-19 are:

         1st Place

           Scythe
By Neal Shusterman

          387 Votes

  

                                         

      2nd Place
  Salt to the Sea
By Ruta Sepetys
      244 Votes







                                                                                               

           3rd Place
The Sun is Also a Star
      By Nicola Yoor
          236 Votes

Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner

     Wow! What a great book! I read this through Hoopla.  This is a must-read for any teen whoever texts while driving or is tempted to text friends they know are driving.  That one text, that one second can change lives and take away things you can never get back. 
     Everyone reacts to death and loss differently. This book meets death head-on.  The main character, Carver has three best friends one day, and the next they are all gone. He blames himself as do others in his community. Somehow he has to find a way to keep living even though he feels guilty to be breathing air.
     Be sure to read this and let me know what you think!