Welcome to the MHS Media Center!
Mrs. Payne - Media Specialist
contact at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 815-539-7446 ext. 521
Miss Cervantes - Media Aide
The Media Center is open from 7:45 a.m. until 3:20 p.m. Monday - Friday. If you see the lights on before or after these hours, please stop and ask if the library is open and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Media Center Mission Statement
To enable all students to develop their individual academic skills to their maximum potential in a learning environment promoting academia, self-esteem, and respect among staff, faculty, administration, and the student body of Mendota High School
Media Center Rules and Procedures
- Please regard the Media Center as a silent workroom.
- The check-out period for library materials is two weeks. Please return or renew borrowed material on time.
- Students MAY come to the Media Center for more than one period per day if they more than one study hall.
- Only one EBS/RC book may be checked out at a time.
- Three non-EBS books may be checked out at a time.
- Reference (R) materials cannot be checked out - they must be used in the Media Center.
- Magazines cannot be checked out - they must be enjoyed in the Media Center.
- A student ID must be presented to check out material.
- Students must have a signed pass to enter or leave the Media Center.
- All overdue materials will be charged a fine of .05 cents per day overdue. The due date is stamped on the pocket slip. Weekends and holidays are not counted as an overdue day and there is a 2 day grace period before fines will begin to accrue.
- A courtesy fine notification is sent to your English teacher every Monday.
- No additional Media Center materials may be checked out until all fines are paid.
- Students are responsible for paying for lost or damaged books.
- Computers must be used in an appropriate manner - research and educational use is given priority. Students who are not using a computer for school work may be asked to give up their computer for a student who needs to complete school work.
- Respect all library resouorces including computers, furniture, and library materials.
- Cell phone use is not permitted in the Media Center.
- Eating or drinking is not allowed in the Media Center.
Media Center Favorite Links
Paid Databases:
Please see the library staff for the username and password for Opposing Viewpoints and World Book Online. You can access both of these databases from home but the usernames and passwords are different. You can only access SIRS from school.
(Opposing Viewpoints)
(World Book Online)
(Social Issue Research Database)
Free Online Resources:
www.graveshume.lib.il.us - Graves-Hume Library
http://search.prairiecat.info/ - to search for resources from Graves-Hume Library
www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/obcb - Outstanding books for the College Bound
http://www.encyclopedia.com - A free online encyclopedia that offers millions of free articles, pictures, facts, and biographies
www.infoplease.com - A free online resource that provides access to the the Columbia Encyclopedoa. an atlas, a dictionary, and a thesaurus.
www.loc.gov - The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world with millions of items including books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collection.
www.sweetsearch.com - This is a search engine for students that searches only credible web sites that are approved by Internet research experts.
www.findingdulcinea.com - "Librarian of the Internet" that presents only credible, high-quality and trustworthy web sites that are reviewed by humans. It includes Web Guides, Beyond the Headlines and Netcetera.
http://www.procon.org/ - ProCon.org provides professionally-researched pro, con, and related information on more than 50 controversial issues. This site provides fair, Free, and unbiased resources.
Reading Counts
Dead Zones by Carol Hand (Nonfiction)
Explains what dead zones are, what causes them, and how they can be eliminated by changing agricultural practices.
Reading Counts 3 points.
Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King
As her high school graduation draws near, Glory O'Brien begins having powerful and terrifying visions of the future as she struggles with her long-buried grief over her mother's suicide.
Reading Counts 1 point.
Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier
In 1932, in Sydney's deadly Razorhurst neighborhood, where crime and razor-wielding men rule, two girls with contrasting lives who share the ability to see ghosts meet over a dead body and find themselves on the run from mob bosses.
Reading Counts 2 points.
My Book of Life by Angel by Martine Leavitt
Sixteen-year-old Angel struggles to free herself from the trap of prostitution in which she is caught.
Reading Counts 3 points.
Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno
Molly, a seventeen-year-old girl who suffers from dissociative identity disorder, has played host to Mabel, a completely distinct personality, for most her life. When Molly faces a crisis Mabel doesn't know she can handle, Mabel lets Molly in on her secrets.
Reading Counts 1 point.
First & Then by Emma Mills
Devon, a high school senior, wonders if she really wants to go to college, what to do with her cousin Foster (afreshman) who has moved in with her family in Florida, and whether she likes Ezra, the stuck-up football star at her school, or cannot stand him.
Reading Counts 2 points.
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan Book I Percy Jackson & the Olympians Series
Percy, expelled from six schools for being unable to control his temper, learns the truth from his mother that his father is the Greek god Poseidon, and is sent to Camp Half Blood where he is befriended by a satyr and the demigod daughter of Athena who join him in a journey to the Underworld to retrieve Zeus's lightning bolt and prevent a catastrophic war.
Reading Counts 1 point.
This Way Home by Wes Moore
Elijah, seventeen, has always been sure of just one thing--basketball--and believes it will be his way out of West Baltimore, but when gang violence knocks him down, helping a veteran repair his rickety home helps Elijah see what really matters.
Reading Counts 1 point.
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds
When sixteen-year-old Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend.
Reading Counts 2 points.
Lucky by Alice Sebold (Nonfiction)
The author tells the story of her violent rape at the age of eighteen, her accidental sighting of her attacker six months later, the resulting trial and conviction of the man, and the trauma she suffered for years afterwards.
Reading Counts 2 points.
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith
High school sweethearts Clare and Aidan spend the night before they leave for college reminiscing about their relationship and deciding whether they should stay together or break up.
Reading Counts 1 point.
Slump by Kevin Waltman (Book II D-Bow’s High School Hoops Series)
Derrick "D-Bow" Bowman thought sophomore year would be easier, but his girlfriend Jasmine leaves him for putting too much focus on basketball, the jump shot he worked on all summer is not working, and his father has a heart attack, forcing Derrick to accept that basketball cannot be his only priority.
Reading Counts 2 points.
The Emperor of Any Place by Tim Wynne-Jones
When Evan's father dies, Evan finds a hand-bound yellow book on his desk--the book his father had been reading when he passed away. It is the diary of a Japanese soldier stranded on a small Pacific island in World War II. Why was his father reading it? Who was the American soldier also stranded there? And what could this possibly mean for Evan?
Reading Counts 2 points
Non Reading Counts
Radioactive!: How Irene Curie and lise Meitner Revolutionized Science and Changed the World by Winifred Conkling (Nonfiction)
Presents the story of two female physicists whose discoveries led to the creation of the atomic bomb.
Down River by John Hart
Adam Chase, run out of town after being narrowly acquitted of the murder of a local football hero, returns to North Carolina five years later at the request of his best friend Danny, but he finds that while some attitudes have softened, there are those--including family members--who still believe he is guilty, and when Danny turns up dead, tempers ignite with violent consequences.
Summerland: A Novel by Elin Hilderbrand
Penny Alistair dies and her twin brother Hobby is left in a coma from a terrible car crash on the evening of Nantucket High's traditional graduation bonfire on the beach, and Zoe, the twins' mother, is forced to face the truth about what happened to them and her role in the accident.
The Right Address by Carrie Karasyov & Jill Kargman.
When Melanie Sartomsky, wily Floridian flight attendant, snares billionaire divorcée Arthur “the coffin king” Korn, she is catapulted into the crème de la crème of Park Avenue society, where hiring the wrong decorator is tantamount to social suicide, and where, if you’re anyone, your personal assistant has a personal assistant. But Melanie quickly discovers that in the world of the rich and idle, malicious gossip is as de rigeur as owning twenty pairs of Manolo Blahniks.
Lost & Found by Jacqueline Sheehan
After her husband's unexpected death, Rocky leaves her old life behind, taking a job as Animal Control Warden on Peak's Island, where she begins the painful healing process and realizes that life is still worth living, despite her grief.
Pull by Kevin Waltman (Book III D-Bow’s High School Hoops Series)
Junior year. Derrick 'D-Bow' Bowen has worked hard for two years getting ready for this season. He earned his coach's trust and his role as the starting point guard for Marion East. But dissension and selfishness are threatening to tear the team apart.