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The Middle School Bookfair was once again a great success! We owe it all to many different people: the University Bookstore, which supplied the books; the wonderful volunteers who helped set up/break down and staff the bookfair; the teachers who gave up their class time to bring their students to look at books; and of course the students who thrilled us all with their passion for reading. Thanks especially to the 5th grade teachers who, at the last minute, let us switch venues to the 5/6 building, and put up all day with the lively excitement of students choosing books. The most popular title was Rick Riordan’s ‘Son of Neptune,’ of which we sold almost 30 copies!

James Dashner, author of the wildly popular Maze Runner trilogy and The 13th Reality fantasy series, paid a visit to Overlake in October and got all the students excited about reading. His presentation hit just the right note of humor as he described his adventures in writing and publishing, and how hard work and drive got him to where he is now. He even showed his high school pictures–brave man! Afterwards, he signed books for over 60 students, a record for an author visit. Thanks to the University Bookstore for facilitating his visit. You can read James Dashner’s blog here.

The Overlake Library is pleased to announce that we will be having two author visits in October. James Dasher, best selling author of The Maze Runner series,  will be at Overlake on October 17th. Maggie Stiefvater, bestselling author of the Shiver series (Shiver, Linger, and Forever) will be coming on October 12th. Maggie’s books have been on many award lists including the ALA Best Books for Young Adults, and the Amazon Top Ten for Teens. Here is the link to her blog http://m-stiefvater.livejournal.com/. Students will be able to attend Maggie’s discussion during the Club period for the Upper Schoolers, and the Study Hall for the Middle Schoolers.  They will be able to buy copies of these author’s works through their school accounts on the day of the visit. Parents please let your student know if that is okay with you.  –Ann Ewel

The Bulwer-Lytton Hall of Shame 2011-2012

19^th century novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton, famous for such lines as “It was a dark and stormy night…,” was such a terrible writer that San José University started an annual contest to see who could write opening sentences even worse than his. This year, the Overlake School Library ran its fifth Bulwer-Lytton contest, and the results were… well…terrible! Out of over 100 entries, here are the winners and honorable mentions for 2011-2012

First Place—10 points

The jacket was so tight that it seemed to squish her innards, like a sausage maker.          

–Maria, 6^th

Second Place—7 points

As the king gazed upon his mighty territory, only one thought could describe his feelings: “Someone make me an offer.”

–Rahul, 7^th

Third Place—5 points
As Lucinda slowly fell to her doom, she wondered—why had she let her grandmother take her to school that day?     

–Ella, 7^th

The sky turned pink, blue, green, and then red, imitating my face.

–Trey, 5^th

I always wanted to grow up and show off my mad math skills to the world, and now I’m a cashier at 7/11, so as you can see, dreams do come true!

–Addie, 6^th