Happy vacation everyone! On this last day of school we want to take a moment to thank our entire community for a great year- even with its unusual ending!  Here are some updates:

Book Returns: Please Drop Off if You Haven't Already

Huge thank you to those of you who've returned books to the guard post at the Secondary School Gate. We appreciate it! We know that some of you are too far away to return books. Please bring them with you as soon as you return or send them to us if you are able. If you left Zambia with books and now do not anticipate returning, please be in touch with us so that we can issue bills. We will need to do a lot of book replacement so that we do not have huge holes in popular series or missing beloved books or ones that students rely on for MYP / DP coursework and major assessments. We appreciate your understanding.

Overdue Notices & Book Payment

Our library software system will continue to send out overdue notices weekly across the break until records are cleared. This is for your information so that you are aware of what our records are showing you as having out. Note that should you need to pay for any items that are lost or that cannot be returned, we add 30% to the cost of the books to cover international shipping, high-quality library bindings, and processing.

If you need to pay for lost books, please see Ms. Cleopatra Chabalenge in the AISL Business Office. She will assist you with payments.

Holiday Checkouts

Yes, you WILL be able to keep checking books out across the break! We will continue to use the book request form that is posted right on the virtual library pages & on the library page of the AISL website. The form will close Wednesdays at midnight (Central Africa Time) preceding a Friday pick-up date. Pick-ups will be Friday every other week from 09:00-18:00 as follows:

• 19 June
• 3 July
• 17 July
• 31 July

Holiday Enrichment and Activities

If you are looking for ideas for holiday fun, reading activities, and more, please check out both our #BookLove Libguide and our Holiday Learning Libguide. The password for both of these is the same as for parent portal and virtual library. Please ask your child if you need it!

Great FREE On-line YA (Young Adult) Novels

For the month of June, Riveted by Simon Teen (part of Simon & Schuster Publishers) has FANTASTIC YA reads online for FREE! It really is too good to be true- but there it is! The first book on the list, Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is incredible. 

This Week's AudioSync FREE Downloadable YA Books

Check out this week's AudioSync Books: Mark of the Raven by Morgan Busse (The Ravenwood Saga #1), a work of fantasy, paired with Easy Prey by Catherine Lo, a YA mystery read. Keep checking AudioSync weekly so you can download books across the holiday. The downloads run weekly through 29 July.

Middle School & High School Virtual Library Classroom Spaces

All middle school and high school students have access to the virtual library classroom spaces I made for them. These virtual spaces include some great book suggestions, books coming out as movies (here's the AISL MS Youtube playlist of trailers & here's the HS Youtube playlist of trailers), free audio books, free on-line YA books, and more. Please encourage your son or daughter to take a few minutes to explore the spaces!

Thank you for a great year, everyone! Please send pictures of your family reading together or your son or daughter reading to tmaguire@aislusaka.org or to Twitter: @terryamaguire using the hashtag #aislreads. 

Don't miss this week's FREE Audiosync book downloads. This week's free titles are In Search of Us by Ava Dellaira, a multi-generational realistic / romance read. The other title this week is Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin, a highly acclaimed fantasy / romance read that is a series opener. Remember that you'll need the free Sora app to download and read the books, and once you've downloaded them they are yours to keep! You are unable, however, to go back and download books from previous weeks. Enjoy these two outstanding YA books!

Our secondary students recently voted on their top choice books for our annual Leopard's Paw MS Book Award and Leopard's Eye HS Book Award. They chose some fabulous books as this year's winners! Our Leopard's Eye MS Book Award went to The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden. Our Leopard's Paw HS Book Award went to They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera. Looking forward to seeing what titles students nominate as next year's contenders!

Dear AISL Community Members,

It's that time of year when books are due back. Naturally, this year presents some unique challenges for book returns that we will explain in this post.

We would kindly ask that you return books by Friday 5 June to the Secondary School guard post.

If you have library books and are NOT in Lusaka, please contact us. Note that we will need to replace high-circulating items and popular series so we can be ready to start the new school year. We add 30% of the total cost of the books to the bill to cover international shipping, processing, and high-quality library bindings.

Holiday Book Circulation

We WILL be offering a more limited circulation of library books beginning the week of 15 June 2020. Book requests will be due by Thursday morning 18 June and will be ready for pick-up starting at 09:00 on Friday 19 June. The request form is right on the virtual library pages and also on the library page of the AISL website. We will offer this service every other week through the holiday as long as it is possible for library employees to enter campus.

Holiday Book Pick-Ups Dates (every other Friday from 09:00-16:00):

• 19 June
• 3 July
• 17 July
• 31 July

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Audiobooksync has posted two new free downloadable audio titles this Thursday. This week's books are Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (a classic) and Stalking Jack the Ripper (a historic mystery / thriller). 
Each week through 29 July Audiobooksync will post two new YA (young adult- roughly ages 14+) titles that are paired thematically. Remember that you aren't able to go back to get the ones you missed- so download each week and you can keep the titles forever! Happy listening!

 Beginning this Thursday 7 May, Audiobook Sync will have two new young adult titles that may be downloaded completely for free using the Sora app (a student version of Overdrive).  This week's titles are Secret Soldiers: How the U.S. Twenty-Third Special Troops Fooled the Nazis by Paul Janeczko (YA non-fiction) and Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert (realistic YA fiction). You can listen to a clip from each audiobook right on the Audiobook Sync website.  Don't miss each week's downloads! Remember that you cannot go back to download ones you missed- so it's a good idea to grab the titles each week!

Our middle school students had the chance to vote on a book for our MS Virtual Book Club. Their selection is Bloom by Kenneth Oppel. Students will need to procure the book however works best for them (Apple Books / Kindle / Print). We will have our on-line discussion on Tuesday 26 May, time to be determined.

This week AudioSync begins its annual FREE YA (Young Adult) book download program. Every week, two new titles are available and can be downloaded using the Sora app (student version of Overdrive). The app is already on iPads for students in Grades 8 & 9. Grades 10 and up can use their laptops or can put the app on their phones. This week's downloads are The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater (non-fiction) & Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany Jackson (mystery). Both are great reads! Note that you are NOT able to go back and download books from previous weeks that you might have missed. This program runs through July 29th. The line-up of books is excellent!

Please remember that we ARE circulating books weekly. Please fill out this Google Form by Wednesday each week and collect your books on Friday. You may specify on the form if you'd like multiple books of the same genre. You may also leave books with our guard post at the secondary entrance. We are so happy to see how many families are taking advantage of this service! Note that ALL books are left in quarantine for 72 hours, then cleaned before going back out. This form is also posted on the MS & HS virtual libraries and will shortly be posted on the library page of the school website, too.

If you are looking for other distance learning resources in the form of book recs, audio books, podcasts, writing with authors, drawing with authors, and more, don't forget that we update the #BookLove Libguide regularly (password is the same as for parent portal- just ask your son or daughter for it if you need it!).

And, as always, let us know if you have other ideas for how we can support your family during this time! Stay safe, stay well, and keep reading!

Students in Ms. Conte's MYP Gr6 Language & Literature class took their book recommendations online via Flipgrid, a secure, private video-sharing platform. Students shared their reactions to books they'd been reading independently and gave reasons for their ratings. This activity was an excellent way not only to promote literacy, but also to develop speaking skills. The benefits of regular, independent reading are well documented, and include:

• Increased vocabulary
• Increased attention 
• Increased empathy
• Enhanced ability to predict and to question
• Reduced stress

We encourage all our students to keep reading for fun, and also to read together with their families. Remember that the AISL library IS circulating books weekly (here's the Google Form for requests), and if you have left Lusaka, please check out our #BookLove Libguide that includes free on-line books and recommendations for audio books (this guide is updated regularly; password is the same as for parent portal- just ask your son or daughter for it if you need it). We are so grateful to be part of a community that values reading so much!

Happy National Library Week, AISL Community! This is a week (celebrated primarily in the USA) that highlights the ways that libraries serve their communities. We are continually trying to find new ways to promote reading, literacy, and curricular support during this unique time.

This week, AISL Middle School students and AISL High School students will have the opportunity to vote on a book for virtual book clubs: AISL MS Virtual Book Club Options & AISL HS Virtual Book Club Options. This is totally OPTIONAL as it does mean procuring the book (either for Kindle, Apple Books, or hard copy if you have shipping).  We will then set a time to have an online discussion about the book. For other sources for free ebooks and free audio, see the #BookLove Libguide (password is the same as for parent portal- or ask your child for it!), which is updated regularly, and read on about Audiobooksync.

Also this month, beginning 30 April Audiosync is kicking off their annual TWO FREE AUDIO BOOKS a week: these books are paired thematically and can be downloaded and kept permanently. The two YA (young adult- roughly ages 14 and up) books available starting 30 April are both fantastic! The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater is a work of non-fiction about a hate crime toward a trans-gender teen, written in alternating points of view. Mondays Not Coming by Tiffany Jackson is a thriller / mystery centering around the disappearance from school of Monday, a teenaged girl. To download these books, students WILL need to have the Sora app on whatever device they are downloading to (this is the free student version of Overdrive). Two books will be available EVERY week through 29 July- but remember that you cannot go back to previous weeks to download ones that you missed, so download when they are available.

Don't forget that our library IS circulating books! Please fill out this Google Form by Tuesday of next week and we will have your books ready by Thursday. We have adjusted the dates for next week as next Friday 1 May is a holiday. For subsequent weeks we will revert to having the form filled in on Wednesdays, books ready for Fridays. We will see how this goes and will tweak accordingly!

We hope that in the midst of distance learning, uncertainty, travel (for some), and new routines that you are finding time to enjoy some great reads.