Out of the box comes that familiar new-book smell. The corners of the smooth hardcovers are sharp, and the covers glisten and shine. The “New Arrivals” shelf is filled. Mt. Vernon High School’s media center receives new shipments all throughout the year, and a new one has just arrived.

Some of the new titles are “The Upside to Unrequited” by Becky Albertalli, “The Darkest Minds” by Alexandra Bracken, “Boy Erased” by Garrard Conley, and “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’engle. These brand new books will be added to the school shelves for students to reading enjoy very soon.

Mt. Vernon High School is fortunate to have a library that is constantly updating the selection for students so that they may have a wider variety of fiction books, biographies, graphic novels, and materials for students to consume.

“I try to place a book order every couple of months,” said Mrs. Zelenick. “I keep an open shopping cart with my vendor so I can add student requests, bestsellers, books we need additional copies of (because they are hot titles or they’ve been lost), and other titles to enhance our collection.”

As the tastes of students evolve and include more recent novels, Mrs. Zelencik takes the opportunity to also update the library’s contents.

“It’s important to add new books that cater to students interests to keep them coming back for more books,” said Mrs. Zelencik. “Each year I also apply for grants to add more books in a specific area of need that I don’t always have room for in my yearly library budget.

“For example, last year I added poetry and novels in verse. This year, I’m adding nonfiction sports books. Our fiction collection is great, and so I’m hoping to focus more on updating the nonfiction collection in the next few years.”

Students who want to view their library account, follow the instructions below:

Follett Destiny Library Catalog

Click “Mt. Vernon High School”

Click “Log in”

Click “Google for Destiny”

Choose your account

Click “My Info”