CHESS Christian Library

So...we're back to school, and it has been SO good to see so many familiar faces in the halls of our new building these past couple of weeks, and wonderful to meet new ones! Everyone was so busy getting the new space ready for classes (what an adventure!), and then with starting school and getting acquainted with teachers, classmates, books, and rooms...but now we're a little more settled and we're ready for the library to be up and running at full speed. Many of you have dropped by our lovely new space, but it's time for everyone to get fully acquainted with our layout, our books, and everything the library has to offer. Back to the library we go!

Good literature and other engaging resources to feed curious minds are central to the CHESS philosophy of contagious learning, and we strive to make the library a welcoming place in which to collect and share those resources. We love having teachers and students visit and interact with our collection, but we also welcome our families to make good use of the library. In fact, we strongly encourage parents to familiarize themselves with what we offer in the library, and to set their own guidelines for their families in regard to its use. (Please see our Library Guidelines page for more information.) We work to curate a collection that supports a thorough and well-rounded education and that helps to develop and exercise a solid Biblical worldview, so we do our best to make sure that the books and materials we offer do not actively  undermine that purpose. Keep in mind, however, that ours is not an exclusively Christian collection and we do not guarantee that all of our books and materials will meet the specific standards of each family; in fact, we know that they will not! We discourage relying on the "Christian" label to assume a book is "safe," in any library, or to assume that not having that label renders a book unfit. Instead, we strongly encourage our students to use the critical thinking skills and the worldview lens they are developing in their CHESS classes to examine and evaluate any of the books they encounter, and we encourage their parents to be participants with them in that process. Above all,we encourage all of our readers, young and old, to look for how a book promotes the understanding of truth, beauty, and goodness, whatever its source.

We believe our growing collection contains a wonderful assortment of books and materials that do just that, and we invite our students and their families to come see for themselves. And this week, there will be a extra reason to visit, as we're launching our first reading program of the year - Chipotle Reading Rewards! Our goal for this program this year is just to get students into the library, and to give them a bit of encouragement for the reading they're already doing, so it's really the easiest one we've ever done, and everyone can do it! You can find the details on our Programs and Events page, and you can pick up materials in the library any day next week. (If your student will be absent next week, no worries! Email Mrs. Meester at library@chesschristian.com for info and supplies.)

We look forward to seeing every one of our students in the library soon, and we're excited about a great year of reading, learning and growing. (And some Chipotle is a nice bonus, too!)

-Mrs. Meester

Summer break is here! Library books have been turned in (mostly! Do you still have one? You still have time to bring it back!) and packed away for the upcoming move to the new building. I know our students are looking forward to weeks of sunshine and freedom, and hopefully they'll use at least a little of that freedom to read some great books!


We're not doing an official summer reading program this year because of our big move, but we will still use the library blog to encourage fun summer reading. Look for book recommendations and reviews , as well as for guest posts from some of our fantastic CHESS teachers. And there are book lists for each grade level always available on the blog (found on the top menu, but here's a link if you need it!). I always welcome your thoughts and book suggestions!

Happy summer, CHESS family!

Just before Spring Break, the library featured own March Madness fun, with our tournament of books! Students (and teachers!) voted for their favorites in the first round of 64 books.

I went to a library book sale last week, and their library's excess turned into the CHESS library's blessing! I spent an entire morning sifting through books, and ended up with quite a few stacks of interesting and relevant books for our collection.




This is exciting! It's also a bit of a problem, because I currently don't have enough room on our shelves for all these books.

I've added what I can, but now many of the shelves are just about as tightly packed as I can make them! Our CHESS families can help with this problem, however, in two different ways:

1. Keep on supporting the CHESS capital campaign. We need that bigger library space, folks! Also, the other rooms and great outdoor spaces, too. But that library! Let's make that happen!

2. Come check out books! Did you know that any CHESS student, whether homeschooled or enrolled full-time, can check out books? Did you know that we really, really WANT our CHESS students and families to check out books? We are always working to add materials that will complement the diverse learning experiences of our students. Our library is made for our students and their families - please don't be afraid to use it! And don't let those sometimes pesky library notices deter you  - they're automated and just serve as reminders. I would rather our students be checking out books regularly and losing track of due dates, than letting all our great books sit on the shelves unused!

Go to our New Books page to see what's been added lately...and come see us soon!

 and the "fair lass" in East of the Sun and West of the Moon, for instance, go to great lengths and endure many hardships in order to rescue their beloveds. Most of their counterparts in other such tales are also courageous, determined, and fierce.