Vernonia Flood Book Drive

I'm puting together a book drive to help Vernonia High School and Middle School libraries. They lost pretty much everything in a recent flood. If you feel so inclined, please join me. I'm not going to worry about how to transport the books until we have them. I'm advertising to the school and plan to collect books until December 21.
Eila

Library Calendar and other stuff

I promised Mark I'd post something, so here it is. A reminder about the library use calendar: www.calendar.net
It is easy enough that even I can use. The library web page has a link to it, so teachers can check it at any time.

Also, I created a blog of my own to link to the library web page--I think i'm just going to do brief posts about new things going on. Ideally i'll post daily, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Paint the Wind, Pam Munoz Ryan

A good 5th grade through middle school adventure. Maya has only a box of toy horses left to remember her mother by. After her overprotective grandmother dies, Maya goes to stay with her uncles and aunt on her mother's side of the family. They live in Wyoming, out in the rugged wilderness, where her aunt teachers painting classes. Maya learns to love horses and discovers a band of wild mustangs. Maya's life intertwines with the horses and together they hold the key to each other's survival.

Office 2007 Compatibility

Ever have those kids who come into your library, unable to print out the document they saved on their home computer from last night because they created it in Microsoft Office 2007?

All is not lost.

If you try to open the file in Office 2003, you may get a pop-up window offering you a compatibility pack. You will need administrative access on the machine to be able to download this compatibility pack.

Another option, which would not require downloading/installing, would be if you had either the program Open Office on your PC, or NeoOffice on your Mac. Both of these applications have converters for Office 2007 built-in.

Marvel Digital Comics

The comic book publisher Marvel has digitized 250 of their comics for free viewing purposes. They do indicate that this free viewing will only be for a limited time, but they didn't mention how limited.

Access the collection here. But be aware, geeks around the globe know about this already, and connecting (at least until the novelty wears off) is slow. Give it a try. Once viewing a comic, you have various options to turn the pages, and read the comics. They did a great job; this isn't just a scanned comic book here. Very high quality digital transfer.

You will have the opportunity to sign up for access to their entire Marvel catalog at a rate of as low as $4.99 a month if you sign up for a year. Otherwise, the subscription is $9.99 a month.

I have already put in an e-mail to them to see about obtaining a site license. Many students here ask for this material already, and this rate seems pretty cheap.

Side Effects by Amy Goldman Koss

I really enjoyed this book and zipped through it because it's a quick read and also because it's good! (Thanks for the suggestion Jessica.). It was funny, insightful and realistic. There haven't been many books about kids dealing with their cancer so it's nice to read a book that addresses this.

Tamar by Mal Peet

I read Tamar over the weekend because I couldn't put it down. A story of espionage, love and betrayal set during World War II. A great story about forgiveness and those who can't forgive. This is a wonderful book for high school students who have studied the war are tired of just reading about the holocaust. Cindy was reading it too and will look forward to her comments. Linda

Finally in

Hello there
This is wildwildwilde just letting you know that I am finally in and ready to go. I am reading the Wednesday wars and I think so far it is a great book. The humor is wonderful. I will comment more as I get farther along. Next week I have April from DPLS coming in to give book talks and then after that it is Battle of the Books time. Yes!

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

Gary Schmidt is known for his book Lizzy Bright and the Buckmister Boy. I love his new book but don't know what age group willl read it. The main character is a seventh grader so I would think middle school would be the audience, but you really need to know Shakespeare to get some of the humor. I luaghed out loud (LOL is the theme of Teen Read Week) so many times in this book. The writing is so wonderful. I'd love to know what others think.

The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck

About the only fiction I can really stand to read are some of the older, dare-I-say "classic" literary figures of the not-too-distant past, such as Steinbeck, Hemingway, Kerouac and Salinger. I read fiction because so many of my friends and colleagues insinuate that fiction allows my mind to travel and imagine lives outside of my own. I have to admit that the experiences leave me struggling to enjoy the book at all.

After doing a bit of research on literary critics opinions of The Winter of Our Discontent, my own conclusion is that the book is very similar to other Steinbeck novels in many aspects.

1. There really is no introduction to the book. Like other Steinbeck novels I have read, the book jumps into an existing, moving plot the reader has to catch up to. To me, this allows the story to begin, and the setting to unfold in its own time, as its necessary. Otherwise, I would either forget it or lose interest in the book.
   
2. I love the words Steinbeck chooses. It's fun to read the books that make you look up unfamiliar words in a dictionary. A dictionary isn't necessary to read the book, as the flow of the words and direction of the paragraph give you a good idea as to the idea the author is conveying, but I will happily snatch up any opportunity to expand my vocabulary.
   
3. Steinbeck is also a master at describing landscapes and individuals. This is one reason I really enjoy him. I felt like I was in New Baytown, and could paint wonderful pictures of the characters and environments Steinbeck created.
   

All of these led to an enjoyable reading experience.

My problem with fiction, however, is the ubiquitous "hidden meaning" behind the printed word. I had to go back and re-read several sections several times, and the final chapter of the book required probably an hour of study, reflection, and consideration of how the book actually ended. When we had required reading to do in collegiate English classes, I always felt left out and reluctant to contribute to the discussion of these kinds of works, simply because I knew I only could interpret a literal translation of the piece of work.

I didn't arrive in the library science field through traditional tunnels of English or Liberal Arts disciplines; I come from the technical, exacting field of Computer Science. Finishing a book without a clear end to the book kind of leaves me with uncertainty as to what ends up happening to the Ethan Hawley and whether or not I really want to take the time to read another work of fiction again.

Extras by Scott Westerfield

Over the weekend I read Scott Westerfield's fourth in his Uglies trilogy. That's right! How do you have a fourth book in a trilogy? That's one reason it is call Extras. At first I had a little trouble getting into the story and following the jargon, but after about 50 pages I was into it. Fifteen year old Aya is a total EXTRA-just blends into the background and is low on the
popularity chart. When she meets the Sly Girls clique, Aya uses her drone, Moggle, to record footage of their adventures hoping to kick a story and get noticed. She is propelled into the world of fame and celebrities and her story alerts Tally about a possible world threat. Uglies fans will love it.

Summit High School Banned Book Week

We wanted to create an interactive experience for the students at Summit during Banned Book Week. We decided on a select few challenged books, and decided to create an open discussion forum setting for a lunchtime discussion.

Book selection focused on titles we thought the students would already be familiar with. We thought the invitation of participating in a "banned book" discussion would seem intriguing to the rebellious nature of the targeted age group. Our layout for the week included the following:

Monday
Featured Author: J.K. Rowling
Featured Books: The Harry Potter Series
Biggest Reason Banned: They promote witchcraft, they set bad examples, they're too dark

Tuesday
Featured Author: Maurice Sendak
Featured Books: Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen
Biggest Reason Banned: Monsters, disobedience in the former, nudity (animated) in the latter

Wednesday
Featured Author: Shel Silverstein
Featured Book: A Light in the Attic
Biggest Reason Banned: Promoting themes of disobedience, suicide, violence, cannibalism, and drug use

Thursday
Featured Authors: Mark Twain, J.D. Salinger, Harper Lee
Featured Books: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird
Biggest Reason Banned: Themes of racism; languaged, premarital sex, alcoholism, and prostitution; racial slurs, profanity, and discussion of rape

Friday
Featured Author: Chris Crutcher, Judy Blume
Featured Books: Just about every title from each author
Biggest Reason Banned: Discussing abusive parents, racial and religious prejudice, poverty, language and homosexuality; discussing topics of puberty, masturbation, menstruation, and ruining Christmas

The week has been a success. Because we focused topics on contemporary issues directed towards the high school audience, the students have been attending and are mostly interested in learning why the books they are required to study in their classrooms are considered banned books.

All students in attendance were very respectful and were able to discuss censorship topics with an open mind. Banned books have been checked out at a much higher rate than ever before!

Below: Mrs. Overcash reading Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.

What do you think?

A professional early childhood education group here in Central Oregon is working to bring Mem Fox to Bend!!!! Heather McNeil at the Deschutes Public Library, is leading the charge. Do you think that this is something that BLP might get behind? Mem Fox is one of my favorite authors of young children's books. Let me know what you think!

Carol Hammett, Principal
Amity Creek Magnet School

Boom Review

I just finished reading a book Cindy gave me from MVHS. It is Hello, Groin by Beth Goobie. She's a Candian author so there are some words that are not used as much in the US. The book is about Dylan(female) who is trying to figure out herself sexually. She has a wonderful boyfriend, Cam, and a best freind, Jocelyn. The problem is that Dylan is more attracted to Jocelyn than Cam. As the story progresses Dylan decides she is a lesbian and has to break to news to Cam, her family and the whole school. The story shows a very supportive family, principal that admits his mistake in censoring Dylan's library display, and librarian who is a friend to Dylan. The book probably belongs in the high school libraray because is presents the gay side of life and there are those kids struggling just like Dylan. Would love to hear someone else's comment. Linda

Boom Review