A bit Depressing, but Good

In the mood for a historical adventure, filled with rich details about what life would be like in a Communist state? Read Anne Fine's The Road of Bones. This novel is a tale of survival by a young teen that is marked as "an enemy of the state" for a few muttered words. Yuri is on the run, leaving his family, to avoid the beating and eventual imprisonment for his crime that is not really a crime as we know it.

Terry Trueman's Hurricane: A Novel is based on Hurricane Mitch, one of the worst storms to ever hit the Caribbean. Jose is fourteen and lives in a small village with his parents, brothers, and sisters. Life is good for his family and him, as he goes to the International School and is learning to speak English, he plays soccer with his friends, and his village is filled with friendly, kind neighbors. But then, one night the hurricane arrives and life changes in a few short hours.

If you have read Ben Mikaelsen's Touching Spirit Bear, don't miss the sequel Ghost of Spirit Bear. Cole and Peter are leaving the island and going home and to the high school where it all started. Neither is sure they can handle the gangs, the taunts, and violence every day at their urban school. Has their time on the island been successful? How do they handle the new bullies that are just like Cole once was? Can they make changes?

New Professional Books

In case you haven't stopped in the library for awhile, the professional collection is now in the front of the library where the reference collection used to be. Here is a selection of some new titles:

• More Tools for Teaching Content Literacy by Janet Allen - very nice flip chart similar to her previous book Tools for Teaching Content Literacy.
• Reading Power: Teaching Students to Think While They Read by Adrienne Gear - includes effective strategies to help students be thoughtful readers.
• Nonfiction Reading Power: Teaching Student sHow to Think While They Read all Kinds of Information bu Adrienne Gear - provides lesson and ideas for the five strategies to assist students with informational text.
• 3-Minute Motivators: More than 100 Simple Ways to Reach, Teach, and Achieve More Than You Ever Imagined by Kathy Paterson - includes ideas on how to refocus a group, get moving, brainstorm, etc.
• Teaching Grammar in Context by Constance Weaver - "a rationale and practical ideas for teaching grammar in the context of writing".
• Getting it Right: Fresh Approaches to Teaching Grammar, Usage, and Correctness by Michael Smith and Jeffrey Wilhelm - detailed advice and lessons for providing new, engaging methods to teach grammar in students' own writing.
• Strategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis - "20 completely new comprehension lessons" as well as application of comprehension strategies across the curriculum.
• Nonfiction Craft Lessons: Teaching Information Writing K-8 by Joann Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher - lesson guides include discussion, how to teach it, and resource material to help students improve their nonfiction writing.
• Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12 by Kelly Gallagher - teach your students to be able to tackle challenging texts following the strategies in this book.
• Craft Lessons: Teaching Writing K-8 by Ralph Fletcher and Joann Portalupi - 95 practical lessons on topics including character, ending, stronger verbs, and much more.
• If This is Social Studies, Why Isn't It Boring by Stephanie Steffey and Wendy Hood - 23 teachers explain what has worked for their students using a holistic approach.
• Inside Words: Tools for Teaching Academic Vocabulary Grades 4-12 by Janet Allen - "recent research and key content-area teaching strategies show teachers how to help students understand academic vocabulary found in textbooks, tests, articles...".
• Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Content Comprehension, Grades 6-12 by Cris Tovani - to help your students understand complex concepts, the answer is yes. Use this book to guide you as you teach your students reading comprehension strategies.
• Raising a Digital Child: A Digital Citizenship Handbook for Parents by Mike Ribble - this book is a guide to help parents with raising ethical, responsible users of today's technology.
• Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It by Kelly Gallagher - "specific steps are provided to stop the downward spiral in reading". Stop the loss of another generation of readers.
• Choice Words: How our Language Affects Children's Learning by Peter Johnston - examples of "apparently ordinary words, phrases, and uses of language that are pivotal in the classroom...demonstrates how the things we say (and don't say) have surprising consequesnces for what children learn."
  

Off the Hook - Twilight Update

Well, I finished the series...on Friday the 13th, no less. Ironic, maybe? As I said before, the story was good, and I guess I am not sorry that I spent the time reading the books. But NO one should have to read that many sentences about him tracing her jawline with his finger and blowing his cool breath in her hair. (I am rolling my eyes here.)

If you want to continue reading about an annoying heroine and a romantic hero- read Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. It is not quite as many pages as the whole Twilight series. And you might learn some Civil War history in the process.

OK - I am Hooked

I avoided reading the Twilight series for...ever. Honestly, most romances are not my thing. Then, throw in a love story with a vampire and, well that to me is just too much. However, since we cannot keep the books on the shelves, there must be something to it. So, I caved.

I finished Twilight, New Moon and am ready to start Eclipse. The story is good, unbelievable, but good. The ending of New Moon made me laugh out loud. Really. Bella is with Edward (a vampire) talking to Jacob (a werewolf), Victoria (a bad vampire) is still loose, she was in Italy with a coven of the creepiest vampires on the planet - and yet, she is afraid to face her dad's wrath about having a motorcycle. Wow, the power of parents!

Girls - PLEASE know that 99.9% of guys are NOT like Edward. He is fiction. He is 108 years old. He should have it right.