Welcome to the newest edition to the Melillo Middle School website -- a blog. This is something that I have wanted to do for awhile now. This blog will give me a place to put information about the library as well as provide me a place to ramble on about all things related to books, libraries, reading, and literacy in general. I am excited about having a place to share my thoughts and I encourage all my readers to share their thoughts as well.

Right now I am excited and overwhelmed with my own summer readings. I keep a log of all the books I read during the year. Do you? It is a great resource for really seeing how much I read each year. We have been in the summer mode for 19 days now and I have read 17 books. Okay, so some of them have been picture books on the Texas Bluebonnet list, but they count. I just finished two YA books I read on my new Barnes & Noble Nook: Sucks to be Me: The All True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (Maybe) by Kimberly Pauley and Prada & Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard. I love my Nook :) I can take it anywhere and read to my heart's content. It doesn't weigh much and I can check out ebooks from the public library too!

If you love vampire books, be sure to check out Sucks to be Me . I laughed and laughed while I read it! The main character, Mina, is the daughter of vampires and now must decide if she wants to become a vampire too. I am a sucker for a good vampire story. Pun intended!

I also love books set in the Regency era (1800-1820s England). All the Jane Austen books are near and dear to my heart, so when I discovered Prada & Prejudice I just had to read it. I fondly remember my Barbara Cartland days of living vicariously through the young women in the Regency ballrooms -- dancing and flirting in an oh-so-proper manner of words and careful actions. In case you don't know -- Barbara Cartland was an English author of hundreds of Regency romances in the 1970s and 1980s. I read them all when I was in junior high and high school.

Well, so much for my ramblings for now. Check back often to see what I discuss next.

Your book-crazy librarian,

Mrs. Debra Yocum