CHESS Christian Library

There's nothing like finding that book. 

Princess in Black has been just such a book this week for several of our young students, and their joy and excitement as they make their way through the adventures of Princess Magnolia and friends is positively contagious! 

Princess in Black is perfect for readers who are just venturing into chapter books, and it's clever and witty enough to charm readers of all ages (I love reading them!). 

This week was Spirit week at CHESS, which was a blast for the whole school! To see the week in pictures, check out the CHESS blog, where you can see Pop Culture Day, Game Day, Color Day, and Pajama Day. My personal favorite day of the week was the last one, because it meant Thursday story times in our pajamas!

As a special treat, and a nod to a cozy bedtime story time, we read two versions of The Little Red Hen - a faithful retelling of the original, and a slightly less conventional version involving pizza. Both, however, highlighted the virtues of industriousness and diligence, and cautioned against laziness, in the clever and lighthearted way that makes the classic folktales such valuable pieces of early education. Also, no animals were eaten in this week's tale, which was a relief to everyone, I'm sure!

And last but not least, we had a special visitor this week, Riley the ball python. He traveled to many of the classes for no particular reason, other than that he adds a fun boost to the day when he comes to CHESS! Most everyone likes Riley's visits...with a few notable exceptions who shall remain unnamed (although you may have heard them as they darted in the other direction!). 

I hope all this fun and contagious learning is translating into happy learning at home as well, and I would LOVE to hear about it, so comment below and share what your family is reading or exploring. Until next time!

-Mrs. Meester

     The library blog has been quiet for the past few weeks, but the start of the school year has been a very busy one for the library! We've been establishing routines, distributing books and materials, making connections with teachers, and, most importantly, getting to know our CHESS students! Now that we're in full swing, I'm excited to share some of the highlights from the last few weeks.

     We've featured some great books in our displays, starting with fairy tales (which will be a theme in the library throughout the year):

We're also adding new books to our collection regularly, as we work to provide teachers with resources to supplement their class topics, as well as to connect our students with good and relevant literature. 

     And finally, I'm excited about the opportunity I've had to visit some classes on a weekly basis, getting to know students and sharing stories with them. We've been reading classic folk tales and having great fun together doing so, but we've also been able to discuss the value of wisdom and the perils of foolishness.    

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” 

G.K. Chesterton

There is the great lesson of 'Beauty and the Beast,' that a thing must be loved before it is lovable.” 

G.K.Chesterton

Our summer reading program, the Tower of Books Challenge, has begun, and every challenge for every grade includes reading fairy tales. Now, that may seem like a throwaway category of sorts, or redundant at the very least, because we're all familiar with the basics of the major fairy tales - Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and the like. But it's very likely that our familiarity is with the Disney-fied or diluted versions of those tales, so this isn't a category to take lightly!

As it happens, fairy tales are some of the oldest stories in our history, and as such, are primary structures in the foundation for all of storytelling. Fairytales give us the story archetypes (the Hero, the Villain, the Quest, etc), and offer deep moral truths and lessons that appear to be woven into almost every culture. The story of Cinderella, for instance, is one of the oldest fairy tales, and has numerous versions the world over, many of which are quite a bit darker and more intense than the Disney versions we have grown to love. 

And I do love those movies! But they bear only a passing resemblance to the tale that is vital to a good literary education. Disney's Cinderella, incidentally, is far from the worst offender. Tangled is another of my favorite Disney movies...but it isn't really the story of Rapunzel. And Frozen might be fun, but the only thing it has in common with The Snow Queen is...well, snow. While they are often as enjoyable as movies, they have an unfortunate effect on literature, seriously diluting our fairy tale knowledge.

So. Our kids need to read fairy tales - the real, rich, layered, gruesome, and beautiful fairy tales. Watch Disney movies if you like, but skip the books that tell their versions of the story. For some excellent versions, check out our fairy tale wish list. We now carry many of these in the library, thanks to our Spring Read-a-Thon fundraiser, but you may also find them in your local library. 

And for further reading on the importance of the original fairy tales, here are some excellent links:

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/three-objections-to-fairy-tales-and-c-s-lewiss-response


https://www.centerforlit.com/blog/2018/4/23/restoration-and-remembrance-in-cinderella

Packages upon packages have been arriving at the library almost daily in this busy month of May, delivering all kinds of delightful books! A few more are still on their way, but I wanted to show everyone just what the Read-a-Thon money did for the CHESS library. So I recruited a helper to give us some perspective, and behold, a tower of books!

I am so enormously grateful for support of our CHESS library during the Read-a-Thon, and so excited for this lovely stack of books that we've been able to add to our collection because of it. Now of course, this school year is almost over, but we're not going to have to wait until next year to enjoy our new additions, because our summer reading challenge is just a few weeks away! And as it happens, our tower of books is the perfect way to introduce our reading program. So...here's what you need to know:


1. We'll be kicking off the "Tower of Books Reading Challenge" on  Thursday, June 7 (times TBA). Rising Kindergartners through high school students (new and returning students) will be invited to participate.

2. Students will select their challenges, based on grade level, as well as the number of books they think they'll be able to read over the summer (for most grades, there are 20, 30, and 40 book options). We don't want our challenge to compete with the summer reading programs at local libraries, so we'll encourage students to use their challenges alongside those reading programs. Ours will simply direct students to books from particular genres and categories.

3. Students can read books in whatever order they wish, and as they finish books, they will begin to build their towers! And if they find themselves going faster or slower than they had anticipated, they can always switch challenges. We want this to be an enjoyable and successful experience for everyone.

4. Throughout the summer, we'll be offering a number of events that will allow CHESS students to visit our library, but also to fellowship with friends! We'll be announcing these dates in the next couple of weeks.

5. At Back-to-School Night, students will turn in their completed book towers and will receive a prize!


Questions? Email Mrs. Meester at library@chesschristian.com, or better yet, stop by the library and see what the challenges and the book towers actually look like. I'll be more than happy to talk to anyone and everyone about it! I'm excited about this fun opportunity for CHESS students to read, learn, and stay connected over the summer, and can hardly wait for June!

-Mrs. Meester