April Lurie visits the CD Fulkes library!

We had a FANTASTIC time with local author (and a nationally recognized one, at that) April Lurie this past Friday the 15th. She did a lunchtime author book talk with our 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in the library. Students either brought their own lunches or got a box lunch from the cafeteria, and listened to Mrs. Lurie talk about her beginnings as a writer (including a humorous story about writing a Hitchcock-inspired short story, much to the horror of her parents), and her inspiration for writing from her real life experiences. Our students had excellent questions, and as always, I was proud of our Lizards!! Some of the lucky students won a drawing and got free autographed copies of her three novels.

Speaking of April Lurie's novels. . . if you haven't picked up any of them, DO IT NOW! You won't be sorry! We have all three at our library, too. Highly recommended are:

Brothers, Boyfriends, and Other Criminal Minds (a 2008-09 Lone Star Winner)---I previously discussed this book in another blog about this year's Lone Star winners

Dancing in the Streets of Brooklyn---new to our library, review to come!

The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine

Mrs. Lurie discussed the real-life inspiration of this novel of a boy's reaction to his brother's downward spiral into drugs---her own son's struggles with making the right choices in life in regards to his friends and actions. I recently finished this novel and highly recommend it, especially for our older students who will be soon entering high school. Dylan narrates a story in which he deals with many issues---his mother's desertment of the family, his workaholic father's absenteeism, his brother Randy's life of loser friends, music, and drugs, and his love for the girl who happens to think of him as her best friend. It sounds heavy, but it's an enjoyable read about a serious topic that isn't preachy or depressing.