[Note: Click on Read the full story to see lists of fun reading recommendations that the librarians have assembled. We hope these lists will prompt you to pick up an extra book or two this summer!]

Research suggests that students who read during their summer vacation come back in the fall more prepared to succeed in school. Reading is a great way to spend those extra summer hours.

The “SMES Summer Reading Lists” are designed to point you to entertaining and thought-provoking reading. The titles were recommended by librarians, students, and SMES faculty and staff. All books are available

This time of year, everyone is putting out their best-books-of-the-year lists like this one from Publishers Weekly. So in keeping with the spirit of it all, here are a few of the best books I’ve read this year. Please, share yours!
•The Magicians by Lev Grossman
•The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
•Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin
•The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale . . . by Jeanne Birdsall
•Harry Potter. What a great re-read (any of them, all of them!).
•The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and

Veteran’s Day, like those it represents, is an unsung holiday.   It isn’t even close in glamour and glitz to Christmas and Thanksgiving and New Years (the trifecta of holidays).  It is even less noticed than the Hallmark Holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Veteran’s Day is a holiday in which too many people breeze through it with barely more than a fleeting thought  “oh yeah, today’s Veteran’s Day”.  So sad.
This Veteran’s Day, I challenge you to read a good book about a soldier.  There is no better way to …

One of my all time favorite books is coming to the big screen and I’m so excited!!  If you haven’t had the opportunity to read Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen, run (don’t walk) to the library to check it out!  It is sweet and funny and very, very readable.  It is great for guys and girls and kids and adults.  A rare book indeed, it offers equal appeal for all.  After you’ve read it, you’ll want to check out the movie directed by Rob Reiner.  All my librarian friends who …