1 . Four Essential Novels for Students
While the last thing a kid wants is advice from their parents, try suggesting one of these powerful books or leaving it on their bed. You just may be rewarded with a hug!
Clean Getaway
by Nic Stone
In Clean Getaway, an-11-year-old boy named Scoob goes on a road trip with his mom. As they make their way across the American South, Scoob faces upsetting information about the area’s history and his family’s heritage.
The Cat Ate My Gymsuit
by Paula Danziger
The story of Marcy, a middle school student whose parents don’t understand her, but whose favorite teacher, Ms Finney, does, will resonate(产生共鸣)with anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider. When Ms Finney got fired, Marcy found the strength she didn’t know she had to fight the decision.
Strange Birds
by Celia C. Perez
Over a sleepy summer in a sleepier Florida town, an unlikely friendship forms between four very different girls as they team up to protest an outdated and environmentally-unfriendly tradition carried out by the Floras, the local Scout group. At turns moving and funny Strange Birds mixes themes of friendship and small, everyday rebellions(反叛)that make a huge difference.
Girl Stuff
by Lisi Harrison
Middle grade readers will fall in love with Fonda, Drew, and Ruthie — three best friends who find life in seventh grade a lot harder than they thought it would be. As each girl deals with issues around friendship and new experiences, they’ll learn that there is nothing as special as the support of friends!
1. Who is the text written for?| A．Students. | B．Teachers. | C．Parents. | D．Environmentalists. |
| A．She lost her job. | B．Her teacher punished her. |
| C．Her parents misunderstood her. | D．She had a fight with her classmates. |
| A．They are love stories. | B．They are about friendship. |
| C．They show travel experiences. | D．They focus on environmental protection. |
2 . Considered the world’s most widely read Spanish-language author, Isabel Allende is known for her many novels including “Eva Luna”, “Of Love and Shadows” and “A Long Petal of the Sea”. With “The Wind Knows My Name”, Allende has added a new dimension to her already varied works.
She skillfully creates and twists the unfortunate stories of two apocryphal children in her newest novel. They are fictionally named Samuel Adler and Anita Diaz, aged 5 and 7 respectively. Both of them are left alone, torn from their families by war or immigration as we witness the dramatic sacrifices parents sometimes must make to protect their sons and daughters and give them the best lives possible.
Early on in this work, a Nazi mob (暴徒) attacks the Jewish (犹太的) neighborhood where Samuel lives with his parents. Afterwards the father turns up in a hospital, but then is taken to a concentration camp and the mother sends the boy to safety in England. Samuel never sees his parents again. Decades later on the U.S.-Mexico border, Anita Diaz, 7, is separated by her mother under the U.S. government’s previous no tolerance policy that tore child migrants from their parents. The little girl is sent to live in a group home for children while her mother keeps missing. Through a series of circumstances, Samuel and Anita eventually meet through Leticia, a woman who migrated to the U.S. as a child herself after losing most of her family in El Salvador.
Allende moves the story back and forth between Europe and the United States, switches between the past and present, as two very different children in very different places and circumstances search for the safety of home and family. It’s a very different kind of book for Allende, who often places her stories in her native Latin America.
1. What can be learned about Allende?| A．She has traveled around the world. | B．She is a productive writer. |
| C．She reads works written in Spanish. | D．She creates novels of the same style. |
| A．Not real. | B．Not happy. | C．Not perfect. | D．Not lucky. |
| A．They grow up together in the US. | B．They make sacrifices for their parents. |
| C．They meet each other through a women. | D．They live unhappily with their families. |
| A．By placing background in Latin America. | B．By setting in different times and places. |
| C．By following hero and heroine’s search. | D．By discussing children’s circumstances. |
3 . Borrowing Policies
The Henry G. Bennett Memorial Library provides materials and services to meet the information needs of graduate and undergraduate students, face-to-face and online learners as well as teachers and community members.
Borrowing for Students
General Collection: 21 days (fall and spring); 14 days (summer)
Curriculum Collection: 7 days (fall and spring); 7 days (summer)
Borrowing for Teachers
General Collection: 90 days (fall and spring); 90 days (summer)
Curriculum Collection: 90 days (fall and spring); 90 days (summer)
OK-Share Card
Any teachers or students of any OK-Share institution may use the collections of any OK-Share library on site. Upon completion of the OK-Share card application at their home library, teachers or students will be given an OK-Share card.
Services
OK-Share card borrowers are allowed two books in their possession at one time. Electronic tools may not be available to the OK-Share card borrowers.
Inform the library you use immediately if your card is lost or stolen. A $5.00 charge for a second OK-Share card must be paid to the lending library.
Books should be returned to the library where the library materials were borrowed. Materials returned by mail should be sent by first-class, insured mail. Materials sent by post office must be insured for at least $100.
Billing
The library is not responsible for informing borrowers that materials are overdue. OK-Share card borrowers are billed for fines for materials returned late.
1. What is the similarity for teachers and students to borrow materials?| A．They can keep them for 90 days anyway. |
| B．They all can borrow them in winter. |
| C．They can keep them in autumn for 14 days. |
| D．They can keep either general or curriculum collections. |
| A．Borrowing two books at a time. | B．Using necessary electronic tools. |
| C．Getting another card for free. | D．Getting materials mailed for free. |
| A．Tell them the date in advance. |
| B．Punish them by fining them. |
| C．Forbid them to borrow books again. |
| D．Force them to hand in the OK-Share card. |
4 . Los Angeles residents Joe Blackstone and Jamie Mohn have long recognized the lasting impact storytelling can have on a child’s life. Shortly after getting married, the couple began volunteering to read books to elementary school kids. Then, when they became parents themselves, they created the J3 Foundation to help organizations devoted to children’s growth. But after learning two-thirds of fourth graders who cannot read effectively end up on welfare, Blackstone and Mohn decided to take a more hands-on approach: in 2018, they launched J3’s Cozy Reading Club.
Each session of the two-hour, after-school program is free and includes outdoor activities and a healthy snack. Then, it’s time for some comfortable reading. After teachers read a book aloud and the group talks about the storyline freely, the kids find a spot to sit while grabbing a book of their choice to look through. In the end, they get to choose two books to borrow and take home.
In its first year, J3’s Cozy Reading Club served 15 students in one L. A.-area classroom. As of 2022, it had expanded to 17 schools across four different districts, impacting a total of at least 400 students, the vast majority of whom live in underserved communities. With impressive statistics backing it up 90% of the students have significantly improved their reading scores, and 95% say they’ve started reading for fun since taking part in the program——its founders have much to celebrate.
“Having more than 5,000 culturally relevant books available to them is so exciting. I love it when our students can see themselves and their classmates’ lives reflected in the books they are reading. The hope of changing one kid at a time makes all the work worthwhile,” Blackstone said.
Currently, J3 is in the process of raising $864,000, so the Cozy Reading Club can expand to an additional 24 Los Angeles schools and double its book collection to 10,000. This is worthwhile. The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) reported that 68% of U. S. fourth graders weren’t skilled at reading in 2022, up from 66% in 2019.
1. What can be inferred about Blackstone and Mohn?| A．They are children’s writers. | B．They teach reading in a school. |
| C．They value kids’ development. | D．They’ve donated much to charities. |
| A．Learn the history of books. | B．Discuss a book’s plot. |
| C．Cook and have snacks. | D．Buy interesting books. |
| A．Its great achievements. | B．Its various services. |
| C．Its long-term goals. | D．Its current programs. |
| A．To state reading is significant. | B．To show J3 is a necessary cause. |
| C．To assess J3’s potential abilities. | D．To criticize America’s education. |
5 . Four Magazines Your Kids Won’t Put Down!
In a world where screens are taking over, magazines can be a fun alternative to give our kids’ eyes a rest. There are all kinds of educational/teacher-recommended magazines you can subscribe to that your kids will love. Here is a list of our favorite magazines for kids to start reading today!
National Geographic Kids
We all know and love the adult version of National Geographic with inspiring and interesting stories and images of various cultures and animals around the world. Help your kids discover these same wonders with a subscription filled with fun activities and a range of topics.
Learn more: nationalgeographic.com
Sports Illustrated Kids
Does your kid love sports and nutrition? Or maybe you’re hoping to inspire them to grab a ball and play outside? Regardless, this sports magazine has the latest updates on athletes, health, and fun articles to learn about the life and experiences of sports players presented in a kid-friendly way.
Learn more: sikids.com
The Week Junior
This educational magazine has tons of engaging stories for girls and boys regarding current events and daily life. You can use this magazine as a tool for reading practice and a source for open and educational discussions at the dinner table.
Learn more: theweekjunior.com
Muse Magazine
This magazine subscription is your kid’s ticket to all things science and crafts-related. The weekly publication includes interesting storytelling, science experiments, and engaging activities for your kids to try at home!
Learn more: shop.cricketmedia.com
1. Which should you subscribe to if your kid is interested in wildlife?| A．National Geographic Kids. | B．Sports Illustrated Kids. |
| C．The Week Junior. | D．Muse Magazine. |
| A．They are both vividly illustrated. |
| B．They are both published weekly. |
| C．They both include science experiments. |
| D．They are both sources for educational discussions. |
| A．A textbook. | B．A kid magazine. | C．A novel. | D．A website. |
6 . A recent study suggests that when it comes to the benefits of reading, just doing it matters more than the content. Researchers have found that reading novels helps the brain development in understanding others and imagining the world. They also have found that people who spend a few hours per week reading books live longer than those who don’t read.
But how to build a habit of reading? Like any habit, the trick is in figuring out what suits you. The hardest part about reading is actually picking up a book. You have to sit down, pick up a book and start reading. “I always have a book next to wherever I put my phone,” My friend Jimmy once told me. “So if I want to check my phone,I physically can see the book there. Nine times out of ten. I end up reading the book instead of using my phone for nothing.”
Another challenge is time, and in that case, audio-books (有声书) can be a good choice. Audio-books are great for filling the mind while you’re on the way to work , washing dishes or working out at the gym.
If you’re still stuck on the way to developing a reading habit, the best way is to revisit your old favorite books to get your youthful reading pleasure. You should free yourself from the opinion that only important or educational books are worth reading. There’s no shame in rereading the books that made you fall in love with reading in the first place. Restarting the practice of reading is a little like picking up painting. It takes some work to get into the best state, but once you begin, the results are beautiful and satisfying.
1. What is the most difficult part in forming the reading habit?| A．Getting reading skills. | B．Finding a great book. |
| C．Having limited time. | D．Getting reading started. |
| A．They are time saving. | B．They provide more pleasure. |
| C．They help brain development. | D．They offer more book choices. |
| A．It helps restart reading. | B．It is of great convenience(方便). |
| C．It improves the taste for art. | D．It can increase your patience. |
| A．Method of killing free time | B．Advantages of using audio-books |
| C．Way to choose educational books | D．Advice on developing a reading habit |
7 . Here are the books that often appear on high-school reading lists for 12th-grade students, and are often discussed in greater depth in college literature courses. The books on this list are important introductions to world literature.
The Seagull
By Anton Chekhov
Price:$40.4
The book is a scene-of-life read set in the Russian countryside at the end of the 19th century. All characters are dissatisfied with their lives. Some want love. Some want success.No one, however, ever seems to get happiness. Some people view The Seagull as a tragic (悲剧的) play about always unhappy people. Others see it as a humorous and bitter book,making fun of humans’ foolishness.
Candide
By Voltaire
Price:$48.6
Voltaire offers his view of society in Candide. The book was published in 1759, and it is often considered the author’s most important work. A simple-minded young man, Candide is sure his world is the best of all worlds, but a trip around the world opens his eyes about what he believes to be true.
Jane Eyre
By Charlotte Bronte
Price:$128.6
Charlotte Bronte’s heroine was one of the first in English literature to serve as first-person narrator(讲述者) of her own life story. Jane falls in love with a rich man, Rochester,but on her own terms, and only after he has proven himself worthy of her.
The Bluest Eye
By Toni Morrison
Price:$28.6
It tells a story of Pecola Breedlove, a young African American girl who dreams of having blue eyes-a sign of acceptance in a world ruled by white conceptions of beauty.
1. What is special about The Seagull?| A．People have different ideas about it. |
| B．Characters in it are happy with their life. |
| C．All characters make their dreams true finally. |
| D．It tells the life in America at the end of the 19th century. |
| A．The bad luck he met in life. | B．A book he read accidentally. |
| C．A journey around the world. | D．A dream he had at night. |
| A．The Seagull. | B．Candide. |
| C．Jane Eyre. | D．The Bluest Eye. |
8 . It’s hard to believe that I wrote Number the Stars more than twenty years ago. It seems like yesterday that I answered the phone on a snowy January morning and received the news that it had won the1990 Newbery Medal (美国纽伯瑞儿童文学奖).
……
I think readers of every age may match themselves with the important persons in the books they love and ask themselves: Would I have done that? What choice would I have made?
And ten-the age of Annemarie in Number the Stars-is an age when young people are beginning to develop a strong set of personal ethics (道德观；价值观)…They are beginning to realize that the world they live in is not always good and safe.
So they follow a story about a ten-year-old girl who is caught in a dangerous situation, and she must make decisions. Young readers become cheerful when Annemarie takes a deep breath, enters the woods, faces the danger, stands up to the enemy and wins her victory.
……
Today, the book has been published in many countries and translated into many languages. It found its way into the hands and hearts of children who had read about but never experienced war...Books do change lives, I know; and many readers have told me that Number the Stars changed theirs when they were young, that it made them think about both cruelty (残酷；残忍) and courage. “It was something that shaped my idea of how people should be treated,”wrote a young woman recently, telling me about her own fourth-grade experience with the book.
The Danish friend who first told me the story of her childhood, and who became the Annemarie in my book, is an old woman now. So am I. We both love thinking of the children reading the story today, coming to it for the first time and realizing that once, for a short time and in a small place,a group of prejudice-free (不存偏见的) people created a touching story of love and kindness towards others.
Lois Lowry
1. What is the name of the book and who is the writer?| A．Number the Stars; Lois Lowry. | B．Newbery Medal; Lois Lowry. |
| C．Number the Stars; Annemarie. | D．Newbery Medal;Annentarie. |
| A．She called a writer on a snowy January morning. |
| B．She became cheerful after she read the book. |
| C．She was a good friend of a Danish woman. |
| D．She experienced many difficulties in a war. |
| A．ethics and friendship | B．enemy and victory |
| C．cruelty and courage | D．life and memories |
| A．The book is about a story of the writer’s own child experience. |
| B．The book is well-received and popular around the world. |
| C．The Introduction is written in the voice of the third person. |
| D．The Introduction is complete and we can read all of it. |
9 . Invited by an author-friend, I recently attended a program of readings by local African-American writers. As the audience in the library expanded, I noticed that I was among a minority of white and elderly supporters. After years of university teaching, volunteering in many organizations, and working as a psychologist in inner-city settings, I was comfortable amid many sorts and curious about what I might learn from these authors.
I settled into my seat as the chairman introduced a handsome and passionate man — Kendall Glaspie. He greeted us and then began to read from his five-chapter book of poems — Loved-Unloved: A Black Man’s Puzzle. I sat mesmerized, as the sounds and meanings of his words washed over me. Suddenly I reached back 60 years to a part of me, a college student of the second year, who first discovered Lawrence Ferlinghetti and A Coney Island of the Mind. Like Ferlinghetti, his work was meant to voice something. The moment felt magical.
After the program, I stood in his author-line to speak with him, purchase a copy, and ask if I could write about my experience while listening to him. He generously granted (准予) permission. Back home, I devoted myself to reading the poems, giving them the attention they deserved.
Kendall’s book did not disappoint. He sees it as “a collection of poems that explore complex dynamics that influence the identity and feelings of ordinary people in North America”. It investigates what the construct of love means to us as individuals and as a collective. Although I am not that remarkable — nor am I even of his generation —— I have spent my personal and professional life studying, discovering, and witnessing the healing power of love. I identified strongly with both the universal and much in the personal that he described. The depth of his grasp of the journey toward wholeness embracing all parts of ourselves but allowing our choices of action to be based on consciousness, left me impressed.
1. What do we know about the reading program?| A．It was often hosted in inner-city settings. |
| B．It was an uneasy attendance for the author. |
| C．It involved a few white and elder attendees. |
| D．It invited university teachers to give lectures. |
| A．Fascinated. | B．Shocked. | C．Puzzled. | D．Bored. |
| A．Choices of action. | B．The construct of love. |
| C．The identity of the individuals. | D．The meaning of life. |
| A．A guide to solving puzzles. | B．An essay on explorations of love. |
| C．An introduction to a program. | D．A blog on reading experiences. |
10 . You might find a few good recommendations helpful when it comes to adding to your reading list.
South to America
by Imani Perry
$26.67
In this story, a native Alabaman returns home and looks at her state with fresh eyes, and learns about the stories and experiences of others she meets along the way. By weaving these stories together, Perry has crafted a book that takes you not only below the Mason-Dixon line but also through the country as a whole.
The Candy House
by Jennifer Egan
$25.20
Bix Bouton has a successful company and is desperate for new ideas. After he joins a conversation group, mostly professors from Columbia, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or externalizing memories, he gets his big new idea—Own Your Unconscious. This technology allows you to get every memory you’ve ever had, and to share every memory in exchange: for access to the memories of others.
The Paris Apartment
by Lucy Foley
$26.67
Jess needs a fresh start and turns to her half-brother, Ben, who lives in Paris, for a place to stay. When she arrives at his apartment, however, he’s not there. Although she comes to the city of lights to escape the past that has been disturbing her, she finds herself enter Ben’s future.
The It Girl
by Ruth Ware
$26.67
April was the first person Hannah met at Oxford. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends. One day, April was dead and the murderer was arrested. Now, a decade later, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist presents new evidence that the murderer may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and digs deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide… including a murder.
1. Whose book should you choose if you’re interested in sharing your memories?| A．Imani Perry’s. | B．Lucy Foley’s. |
| C．Ruth Ware’s. | D．Jennifer Egan’s. |
| A．The truth behind a young girl’s murder. |
| B．The simple way to make candy at home. |
| C．How a girl travels to her brother’s future. |
| D．What an Alabaman experiences in her state. |
| A．A love story. | B．A crime novel. |
| C．A science fiction. | D．A historical novel. |
