Research Databases |
Free Research Resources |
Media Center Resources |
To obtain usernames and passwords that access all databases, THS students may contact Ms. Szallay or stop by the media center to pick up a brochure.
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Common reference resources that are either entirely free or have useful sections that are free. Includes bibliography citation generators, research style guides, dictionaries, career resources, country fact pages, and more. |
Contains links to resources created by the media center such as PowerPoint games and video lists; it also contains other media center resources such as links to suggested summer readings lists. |
Current News Sources |
Recommended Search Engines |
MLA Formatting Guides |
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Links to web sites for newspapers and television stations. |
Search engines recommended by the THS media specialists. Each search engine has unique features that will improve your searches. |
Start here to find activities and resources that your class may have used in the media center. |
Media Expectations
Students may use the Media Center before and after school to:
● Study
● Complete Homework
● Research
● Read
Students are required to:
● sign in and out on the clipboard
● have a signed planner to use computers
● be seated and work quietly
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Everyone Reads at THS! 
Ms. Nash, Tuscarora's literacy specialist, suggests that you read the Uglies trilogy. Scott Westerfeld’s trilogy “+ 1” of Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras follows the adventures of Tally Youngblood in a futuristic society where everyone at the age of sixteen, is surgically perfected into beautiful people that party constantly and are given everything they want. But at what cost?
As an ugly, then a pretty, and finally a special, (in Extras she is a legend) Tally and her crew work to take down a dystopia society that has been created to function with perfect-looking people who never have a chance to think for themselves. Throughout these novels this group of dedicated teenagers changes everything through sabotage and quick thinking. If you are a fan of dystopia and high tech adventure you will want to get a hold of all this series for your summer reading.
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Book Club Information
Book Club meets the second half of period 2 on club days in the Media Center. Sign up with Mrs. Szallay or Mrs. Smith in the Media Center.
Black-Eyed Susan Awards -Voting
You can now start voting for your favorite book nominated in the Black-Eyed Susan Awards 2008-2009. If you have read at least three of the nominees, you can send an email to diane.szallay@fcps.org with the title of your favorite book, to vote. You may only vote for ONE book. Voting ends April 25th.
Picks for April
(AKA We will be discussing these books at the April meeting!) |
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Boy Toy
by Barry Lyga
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. When Josh was a 12-year-old seventh grader, he was sexually abused by his history teacher, the young, beautiful (and married) Eve, who manipulated him into believing they were in love. Carefully crafting a narrative structure, Lyga flashes between that traumatic time and the present, when Josh, now a senior (at the school where The AstonishingAdventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl took place), learns that Eve is being paroled. The author handles heavy material with honesty and sensitivity, capturing both the young Josh's excitement and his realization that his pleasure brought its own sort of guilt. Years later, he still struggles: he flies into rages (he punches a baseball coach in an opening scene), and he experiences flickers, brief moments which feel like actual immersions in the past. Josh also has trouble pursuing Rachel, who seems like a perfect match, because he cannot trust his physical instincts; he is, as his psychologist puts it, afraid to do anything at all because it might be the wrong thing. Details like Josh's obsession with calculating baseball statistics round out his character; the statistics speak to his intelligence and, more tellingly, to his attempts to control his world. Even his inevitable face-off with Eve proves a revelation. Readers may find the ending too neat, given the extent of Josh's problems, but in their richness and credibility the cast—Eve included—surpasses that of the much-admired Fanboy. Ages 16-up. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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North of Beautiful
by Justina Chen Headley
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Sixteen-year-old Terra seems to be a typical high-achieving high-school student. Under her heavy makeup, though, she hides a port-wine colored birthmark on her cheek that makes her feel like an outsider. During yet another attempt to remove the birthmark, Terra runs into Jacob, a gorgeous Goth with a cleft-palette scar. That encounter initiates a transformation in both Terra and her subservient mother. Headley has written an exquisite book that explores the difference between physical and true beauty as Terra and her mother travel from Washington state to China, and from the home of a shame-faced, cruel cartographer into the presence of an adventurous, strong woman and her insightful teenage son. Headley uses map metaphors throughout, even in the activity, geocaching, which helps bond Terra and Jacob in both Washington and China. She also uses Terra’s artistic medium, collage, as a literary device to create layer upon layer of experiences and insights into a artfully written journey of self-discovery, self-actualization, and love. With every carefully chosen word, well-crafted sentence, and fully developed character, Headley maps out a wholly satisfying reading experience that takes readers from terra nullis to terra firma. Grades 9-12. --Frances Bradburn
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