In “portal fantasies”, the characters are transported from one world, most of the time our world, to a fantasy world through magic. There are many classic examples of portal fantasies, like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum ,  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. One of my favorite books, Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones could even be considered a portal fantasy.

My video book talk for today is for the book Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi. It is available in MackinVIA. Tahereh Mafi drew inspiration from classic portal fantasies like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Have you read any good portal fantasies?

Links go to the book in either MackinVIA or HooplaDigital. To access books with HooplaDigital, you must have a public library card. Links are provided so you may get more information about the books. Although recommendations can be great tools to use when deciding what you want to read, as always use your own best judgement about whether a book is good fit for you.

Graphic novels and illustrated novels are always super popular in our library. Did you know you can access many graphic novels online? You click any of the titles in the above image, and it will take you to that graphic novel in MackinVIA.

Today’s book talk is for the graphic memoir, El Deafo by Cece Bell.

You can access El Deafo and more graphic novels in MackinVIA. You can browse the “Graphic Novels” category in MackinVIA to see what titles we have available for you to check out.

If you have a public library card, you can also access TONS of comics and graphic novels with Hoopla Digital. If it’s set to Kids mode, Hoopla will filter in only content rated G and PG.

Links are provided so you may get more information about the books. Although recommendations can be great tools to use when deciding what you want to read, as always use your own best judgement about whether a book is good fit for you.

Today’s theme is time travel. I was thinking the other day about how nice it would be to just skip forward in time until we can go back to school in person!

Today’s book talk is for one by one of my favorite authors, A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones.

If you could go back in time and change something, would you? I find it really interesting to think about traveling through time and the consequences of changing the past. In all the time travel books I’ve read, changing the past doesn’t generally work out very well!

You can check out the time travel classic, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells in TumbleBookCloud. We also have other books about time travel in MackinVIA. Here are some other time travel-related books you can check out:

•  Time Fetch by Amy Herrick
• The Time Garden by Edward Eager
• Time Traveling with a Hamster by Ross Welford
• Time Snatchers by Richard Ungar

Have you read any really great books with time travel in them?

Links are provided so you may get more information about the books. Although recommendations can be great tools to use when deciding what you want to read, as always use your own best judgement about whether a book is good fit for you.

If you are not sure what to read next, there are many ways you can get ideas. One of my favorite ways to find new books to read is to ask a friend or family member. I get lots of great book suggestions from my best friend. We have similar reading taste, so if she likes something, chances are good that I will too.

Mrs. Hood, Mrs. Tran, and I have been collecting book trailers and creating video book talks for you and posting them right here on this blog. You can browse through those book trailers and book talks to get ideas as well.

We’re also happy to get e-mails from you if you are looking for ideas. I have already gotten e-mails from students looking for their next read, and those e-mails inspired today’s video book talk below. In this book talk, I highlight three books you might like if you like Harry Potter. All are unique stories with unique settings, but one thing they all have in common is that they feature characters who find out they have magic and need to learn how to use it, just like Harry Potter. If you click on the book covers in the picture above, they will take you directly to that book in either MackinVIA or Hoopla Digital. Just a reminder, you need a public library card to access the books in Hoopla Digital.

Links are provided so you may get more information about the books. Although recommendations can be great tools to use when deciding what you want to read, as always use your own best judgement about whether a book is good fit for you.

Today’s book talk is for the book Artemis Fowl. I chose it because the movie version will be released in a few weeks. We have the audiobook of Artemis Fowl in MackinVIA which you can access with the app or through LCPS GO. If you have a public library card, you can read the eBook version through either Hoopla Digital or Overdrive/Libby. You can also access the graphic novel version of the book with Hoopla or Overdrive!

When a movie is based on a book, do you like to read the book first or watch the movie first? I usually like to watch the movie first because it lets me enjoy the movie for what it is without comparing it to the book. Then I like to read the book after.

Can you think of any movies that are better than book? Or movies that adapted a book perfectly? Movies that completely missed the mark?

My favorite example of how a book and movie can be completely different but both wonderful is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The movie is very different from the book, but growing up I loved both the book and the movie. We have the eBook of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in MackinVIA if you’re interested in reading the book.

Links are provided so you may get more information about the books. Although recommendations can be great tools to use when deciding what you want to read, as always use your own best judgement about whether a book is good fit for you.

During the school closure, we decided to add video book talks to our blog, so if you’re looking for ideas of what to read next, check them out! We will try to make sure that any books we talk about are ones that you can either access through MackinVIA or through the public library’s digital resources like Overdrive and Hoopla Digital. Remember, if prompted to login to MackinVIA, use Farmwell Station Middle School as the school name, your student ID number as your User ID, and your regular password.

Today’s video book talk is for a classic, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. It is available in MackinVIA as an eBook and an audiobook.

Keep in mind that MackinVIA also includes books from TumbleBooks and TeenBookCloud. You can tell the difference by looking for the “Checkout” button. If there is no “Checkout” button, then it is a website link to Tumble Books or TeenBookCloud. If there is a “Checkout” button, then it is an eBook or audiobook that you can read on the MackinVIA website or in the MackinVIA app. If you don’t like the format of the first one you try, there are several different versions listed in MackinVIA that you can look at.

Book links provided so you may get more information about the book. Although recommendations can be great tools to use when deciding what you want to read, as always use your own best judgement about whether a book is good fit for you.