tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190086662024-03-13T01:07:14.280-07:00Scrappy LibrarianSara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-10461948252839405782009-07-26T11:32:00.001-07:002009-07-26T11:32:34.218-07:00Sherlock Files: 100 year old secret<div class="google_body" id="google_body"><br /> <br /><h2 id="ubsp">The Sherlock Files: The 100-Year-Old Secret</h2><h3>by Tracy Barrett</h3>Grade level: 4<br><h4 id="hjhi"><u>Notes </u><br></h4><font style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" size="2">Great Stone Face Nominee 2010</font><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="jnb1"><font size="2">First book in the series <i>The Sherlock Files</i>. The sequel is called <i>The Beast of Blackslope.</i></font></p><p id="t-y8"><br /> </p><br /> <br /><h4 id="mxad"><u>Booktalk</u><u> <br style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);"></u></h4><br /> <br /> <br /><p style="font-family: Garamond; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="twkq"><br /> <font size="3">Xena<br />Holmes and her younger brother Xander have moved from Florida to<br />London, England with their parents. One afternoon they are playing<br />their favorite game in front of their hotel, guessing people's jobs and<br />hobbies by getting clues from their clothes, when a<br />mysterious stranger presses a note into Xena’s hand, mutters “It fades<br />fast,” and hurries away. <br></font></p><p style="font-family: Garamond; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="m2tx"><br></p><p style="font-family: Garamond; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="s9_v"><font size="3">Read p. 6, "What's that?" Xander tried to snatch the paper from her hand ... <br></font></p><p style="font-family: Garamond; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="poxr"><br></p><p style="font-family: Garamond; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="qfed"><font size="3">through page 10, "The pub over there," the doorman said, leaning forward and pointing down the street."</font></p><p style="font-family: Garamond; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="jlr1"><br></p><p style="font-family: Garamond; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="m6gq"><font size="3">Xena and Xander follow the note’s puzzling instructions and discover that they are not<br />only descendants of Sherlock Holmes but also the heirs of his notebooks<br />and his unsolved cases. Reading through the notebook of clues and cases, they discover one of the unsolved mysteries is still in the newspaper and people are still wondering what happened! </font><font size="3"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">A missing portrait by<br />an artist named Nigel Batheson, whose other works are being displayed in a nearby<br />gallery, was never found. </span>Xena and Xander set out to find the painting and reunite it using their kid smarts and 21st century technology to discover the answer to the 100-Year-Old Secret. <br></font></p><p style="font-family: Garamond; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="fthl"><br></p><p style="font-family: Garamond; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="c1hv"><font size="3">This is a fast-paced,<br />entertaining mystery, with a lot of twists and turns and clues along the way - you can have fun trying to solve the mystery before the characters do!<br></font></p><p style="font-family: Garamond; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="j1yr"><br></p><br><p id="uirj0"><br /> <br id="uirj1"><br /> </p><br /> <br id="aon04"><hr size="2"><br /></div><br /><font style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" size="1"> Sara Zoë Patterson, July 2009<br> Some text from book covers, SLJ and Booklist book reviews</font><br>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-54221932567469548992009-07-25T05:11:00.001-07:002009-07-25T05:11:42.839-07:00Google Lessons on SearchSome really useful modules on teaching search from Google educators: http://www.google.com/educators/p_websearch.htmlSara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-76349314253936842502009-04-13T07:54:00.000-07:002009-04-13T08:02:41.007-07:00notes on Millenials as learners from LESCN 4/1/09Millennials:<br /><ul><li>collaborate with their parents</li><li>world is open 24/7</li><li>pressured by work-integrated into home as modeled by parents</li><li>enveloped in a world where confidence is emphasized, they are guided and secure: greater safety net</li><li>hopeful goal + achievement oriented, civic minded</li><li>inclusive: 31% minority, used to being organized into teams, no one left behind norm. As educators, we need to push more independent work so they can be self-sufficient learners as well as team learners</li><li>read: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Millennials-Rising-Next-Great-Generation/dp/0375707190">Neil Howe Millennials Rising</a></li><li>Parallel process + multi-task. Takeaway: instead of 1 task for 20 min, launch 2 tasks at once for 40 minutes (LH "have-to" day)</li><li>Graphics BEFORE text. Graphic organizers integrated into lesson, always on the wall throughout, nonlinguistic representations</li><li><a href="http://www.middleweb.com/MWLresources/marzchat1.html">Marzano 9 strategies</a></li><li>authentic, real world context</li><li>mutimedia does not produce lazy learners</li><li>overview of learning in a graphic organizer that stays up throughout learning</li><li>ask for feedback/give feedback/formative assessments</li><li>let failure be ok, have to establish that as a culture in your classroom<br /></li></ul>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-32204514838423956172009-01-28T15:37:00.000-08:002009-01-28T16:25:21.245-08:00RSS links for PSD 1.09<span style="font-weight: bold;">General web info: </span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.w3schools.com/">w3schools</a><br /><a href="http://www.webopedia.com/">webopedia</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Readers: </span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.bloglines.com/">Bloglines</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/reader">Google Reader</a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_feed_aggregators#Web-based_software"><br />And many many more ... </a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Starter feeds:</span><br /><a href="http://www.schoolof.info/infomancy/">Infomancy</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334.html">Joyce Valenza's NeverEnding Search</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.weblogg-ed.com/"><span>Will Richardson's Weblog-Ed</span></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span><a href="http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/">David Warlick</a></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/">Andy Carvin's Learning.now</a></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span><a href="http://lii.org/">LII's New This Week </a><br /><a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/rss.html">Discovery News</a><br /><a href="http://www.npr.org/rss/">NPR</a><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/">the New York Times</a><br /><a href="http://lifehacker.com/software/announcements/lifehacker-faq-028869.php#5">Lifehacker</a><br /><a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/">official google blog</a><br /><a href="http://librivox.org/">Librivox New Releases</a> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Local feeds:<br /></span><span><a href="http://nilesmedia.wordpress.com/">Front Door Politics</a><br /><a href="http://www.riverrunbookstore.com/blog">RiverRun Bookstore</a><br /><a href="http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=FOSTOOLS07">Foster's</a></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/">White House!</a><br /><br />For the overachievers: </span><br /><a href="http://feedity.com/">Feedity</a><br /><a href="http://www.feedmarklet.com/">Feedmarklet</a><br /><a href="http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/">Yahoo Pipes</a><br /><a href="http://feedblendr.com/">Feedblender</a>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-48067773491098184302008-11-07T10:57:00.001-08:002008-11-07T10:57:37.765-08:00Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat<br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><font size="4"><u>Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat<br></u>by Lynne Jonell<br>c. 2006</font><br><br><font size="3">Notes: <br><br></font></span></font><ul><li style="font-family: Arial;"><font size="3"><font size="3">The sequel, Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls, is published (one copy for LH on order until we see if there is interest).</font></font></li><li style="font-family: Arial;"><font size="3">Genre: Mystery with fantasy and humor<br></font></li><li style="font-family: Arial;"><font size="3">Great Stone Face nominee 2008/9<br></font></li><li style="font-family: Arial;"><font size="3">for 4th and 5th grades<br></font></li></ul><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br>---------<font size="3"><br><br></font></span></font><font size="3">Emmy's world has turned upside down. Since her family<br />inherited a fortune, her parents are rarely home and seem to have pretty much forgotten her. Her teachers and fellow students ignore her, and she has<br />been left in the hands of her coldhearted and sinister nanny, Miss Barmy.<br></font><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br><b>Read p. 1</b>, "Emmy was a good girl. At least she tried very hard to be good. <br>through<br><b>page 5, </b>"you're a big nothing, if you ask me."<br></span><br>As if things weren't bad enough, now Emmy has a rat insulting her! But Emmy discover that she isn't the only one who can understand the class rat when Joe, who is popular and plays soccer very well, surprises Emmy by talking to her when he catches her leaving a note for the Ratty the rat.<br><br><b>Read p. 14 </b>"Emmy stared at Joe. Someone had spoken to her"<br>through<br><b>p. 15 </b>"except Joe, who stared at her wildly"<br></font><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><font size="3"><br>So Emmy does decide to be a little bad, and she impulsively lets Ratty, who is not so very mean, out of his cage and they become friends. Emmy and Ratty are trying to figure out what Miss Barmy is doing sneaking into the school and are hiding in the bushes near the soccer field, when suddenly ...<br><br><b>read p. 98 </b>"all at once, a whistle blew, a player shouted ...<br>through <br><b>p. 100 </b>"curled up on the ground and shut her eyes"<br><br>Now Emmy has several mysteries on her hands - why can she and Joe understand rodents talking? Why is her nanny Miss Barmy so mean and exactly what is she really up to? Why do all of her classmates and teachers treat her like she doesn't exist? And, what is she going to do about Joe, who is now two inches tall?<br><br>Find out by reading this fun, action-packed mystery!</font><br></span></font><br><br><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial;">------<br><br>5th grade booktalk<br><br>Sara Zoe Patterson<br>11/08<br><br>some text taken from: http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/jonell_emmy.htm<br>SLJ review<br>Book cover/flap<br></span></font><br /> <br>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-58937173115116018392008-10-17T09:48:00.001-07:002008-10-17T09:48:39.767-07:00Shadow Thieves<br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><font size="4"><u>Shadow Thieves<br></u>by Anne Ursu<br>c. 2006</font><br><br><font size="3">Notes: <br><br></font></span></font><ul><li style="font-family: Arial;"><font size="3"><font size="3">This is the first book in a planned trilogy called <u>The Cronus Chronicles</u>. The second book is already out, called <u>The Siren Song</u>; Little Harbor owns one copy. <u>The Promethian Flame</u>, book 3, will be released summer 2009.</font></font></li><li style="font-family: Arial;"><font size="3">Genre: fantasy</font></li><li style="font-family: Arial;"><font size="3">Mielswetzki is pronounced Meals - wet - ski <br></font></li><li><font style="font-family: Arial;" size="3">Share with grade 5 - nothing inappropriate, just a challenging book requiring some background knowledge</font><br></li></ul><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br>---------<br><br>In <u>The Shadow Thieves</u>, a fantasy book by Anne Ursu, the author imagines a world very much like our everyday world, except that ancient Greek myths are real. <br><br></span></font><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Charlotte Mielswetzki is a pretty ordinary girl, but something extraordinary happens to her, </span></font><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial;">and<br />it has everything to do with her creepy English<br />teacher, Mr. Metos and the peculiar, yellow- eyed men in tuxedoes that have begun<br />to follow her everywhere.</span></font><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />And then there's her new cat, Mew, who stopped her on the street and insisted Charlotte take her home and seems to have some strange abilities. <br><br>Charlotte's cousin Zee lived in England, where all of his friends became mysteriously and seriously ill. Sent to Charlotte's family in<br />America, Zee discovers that the same thing starts to happen to his new<br />friends. <br><br>Read p. 76 "Perhaps everything would have unfolded differently ...."<br>through<br>p. 77 ".. and just about every new release the movie rental place had."<br><br>p. 79 "Zee's days of bed rest meant he was not in school on Monday ..."<br>through <br>p. 80 "and make-up work to, well, make up."<br><br>p. 80 "by Wednesday afternoon parents had called parents, doctors had called doctors ..."<br>through<br>p. 81 "and on Tuesday half the students are out sick."<br><br>When Charlotte learned there was to be no school, she ran up to the den to tell Zee<br><br>p. 83 "Hey, Zee! Guess what?"<br>through<br>p.84 "They followed me."<br><br><br></span></font><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Zee believes he is the cause of the mysterious sickness , and Zee and Charlotte set out to solve the mystery in order to help their friends. The cousins must get down to into Hades and across the River Styx to get to the bottom of this …they must save the world from The Shadow Thieves.<br></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br>------<br><br>5th grade booktalk<br><br>Sara Zoe Patterson<br>10/08<br><br>some text taken from: http://booktalker.blogspot.com/2008/07/ursu-anne-shadow-thieves.html<br>SLJ review<br>Book cover/flap<br></span></font><br /> <br>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-80758177893892662052008-10-17T08:20:00.001-07:002008-10-17T08:20:37.700-07:00On the Wings of Heroes<br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br /> <br /><br /><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="tnka" align="center"><font id="tnka1" size="4"><u id="tnka2"><font id="gpfl" size="5">On the Wings of Heroes</font><br id="kt1q"></u></font></p><br /><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="tnka3" class="western" align="center"><font id="tnka4" size="4">by Richard Peck<br id="kt1q0"></font></p><br /><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="tnka7" class="western" align="center"><font id="gpfl0" size="4">© </font><font id="tnka8" size="4">2007</font></p><p style="text-align: left; font-family: Times New Roman;" id="mixq" class="western"><font id="mixq0" size="4">Great Stone Face Nominee, 2008-2009</font></p><p style="text-align: left; font-family: Times New Roman;" id="olck" class="western"><font id="olck1" size="4">(Better for 5th grade - will end up on that "list" next year but booktalk it to both 4th and 5th for the GSF)<br id="mixq2"></font><font id="tnka9" size="4"><font id="tnka10" size="5"></font></font></p><br /><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="tnka11" class="western" align="center"><font id="zvlu" size="3"><br id="tnka12"></font><br /></p><br><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="rv.l3" class="western"><font id="rv.l4" size="3"><u id="rv.l6">On the Wings of Heroes</u> is by Richard Peck. This book is <b id="f8zn">historical fiction</b>. </font><font id="xd4h16" size="3"><b id="xd4h19">Historical<br />fiction</b> books are from the author’s imagination yet set<br />in an actual time and place in history. This story takes place in the year 1941, as World War II was just beginning for the United States. <br id="t7.u"></font></p><br /><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="tnka19" class="western"><font id="zvlu2" size="3"><br id="tnka20"></font></p><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="e8dx" class="western"><font id="zvlu3" size="3">When the United States enters World War II, life changes for everyone, including Davy Bowman. </font><font id="t.wk" size="3">Davy's older brother Bill enlists and becomes a bombardier on<br />a B-17, flying dangerous missions over Germany. Davy's mom and dad worry about his brother, waiting anxiously for news about him. </font><font id="yzhb" size="3"> Instead of playing hide-and-go-seek, Davy and his friend Scooter spend their time collecting metal, paper, and milkweed for the war effort, and meet the town's </font><font id="t.wk0" size="3">cast of quirky characters. <br></font></p><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="e8dx" class="western"><font id="t.wk0" size="3"><br></font></p><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="e8dx" class="western"><font id="t.wk0" size="3">Davy and Scooter are combing the countryside for milkweed, which will be used to fill life vests, when they spot a very interesting barn, and inside the barn, a very cool old car. They start exploring the barn and the car, when suddenly ... <br></font></p><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="i35c0" class="western"><font id="zvlu4" size="3"><br id="i35c1"></font></p><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="i35c2" class="western"><font id="zvlu5" size="3"><b id="i35c3">Read: p. 67 </b>" an explosion about busted my eardrums. Hail rattled the roof from a clear blue sky."</font></p><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="zj77" class="western"><font id="zvlu6" size="3"><b id="zj770">Through p. </b><b id="fnow">70 </b>"He looked modest. Also, he had a buttermilk mustache. Miss Titus's was real."<br id="hkpw"></font></p><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="hkpw0" class="western"><font id="zvlu7" size="3"><br id="hkpw1"></font></p><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="hkpw2" class="western"><font id="zvlu8" size="3">Sugar, shoes, toothpaste, and car tires are all rationed, leaving Davy wearing shoes many sizes too small while he waits for his turn to get larger ones. But school goes on (with Miss Titus as a surprise substitute!), and Davy's adventures with his friends and his father keep him busy with funny and sometimes sad adventures and misadventures while he waits to hear news of his brother Bill, flying secret missions overseas. </font></p><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="eu35" class="western"><font id="zvlu9" size="3"><br id="eu350"></font></p><font style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="r6t_" size="3"></font><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="tnka96" class="western"></p><font style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="r6t_0" size="3"></font><p style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="tnka100" class="western"></p><font style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="tnka105" face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3">Sara Zoë Patterson</font><p id="w.sw" class="western"><font id="w.sw0" face="Times New Roman, serif"><font id="w.sw1" size="4"><font style="font-family: Times New Roman;" id="r6t_1" size="3">August 2008, revised 10/08</font><br id="qsoh"></font></font></p><br /><br id="e8:y0"><br id="e8:y1"><br id="e8:y2"><br id="e8:y3"><br id="tnka109">Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-92208088382369949932008-08-13T12:43:00.000-07:002008-08-13T13:40:27.749-07:00reading for kidsWarriors: The Lost Warrior Manga/Tokyopop edition, Erin Hunter<br />Ages 8-12, grades 4-6<br />So the first thing is that this is in graphic novel format, but there is nothing 'manga' about it. That completely aside, I'm not really interested in this story. It was amazingly popular with the 5th and 6th grade girls at my previous job (the regular format, that is). These cats take themselves way too seriously.<br /><br />Clementine's Letter, Sara Pennypacker<br />Ages 7-12, grades 2-4 (main character and setting is 3rd grade)<br />Clementine is awesome, and I definitely see why kids and adults alike love her. Great books, appealing story, funny and realistic in an overall positive sense.<br /><br />Leaping Beauty, Gregory Maguire<br />Ages 8-12, grades 3-6<br />This would make an excellent read-aloud for older grades (4 and 5), especially when studying fairy tales. I can imagine activities where the kids listen and draw characters based on what they are listening to. The vocabulary, sentence structure, and themes would make this a challenging book for all but the brightest and strongest readers. But a lot to interact with and read together and talk about - very stimulating and full of great vocabulary.<br /><br />Dinosaur Trouble, Dick King-Smith<br />I'm not going to bother looking up the age range or anything because I just didn't like this book - dinosaurs work together to kill a t.rex that has been tormenting them.<br /><br />Nate the Great and the Boring Beach Bag, Marjorie Weinman Sharmat<br />grades 1-2<br />Pretty fun story, good vocabulary, lots of straightforward dialogue. A solid beginning reader.<br /><br />I Love My New Toy!, An Elephant & Piggie Book, Mo Willems<br />Ages 4-8, grades k-2<br />Another solidly awesome beginning reader from Mo Willems - funny, pretty simple, great story and great characters<br /><br />Medusa Jones, Ross Collins<br />Ages 9-12, grades 3-5<br />Would make a perfect Ancient Greece tie-in - Medusa Jones is a medusa, and has a centaur and minotaur friend - their other classmates are the kids of greek gods, and are vain and a little lacking in brains. They pick on Medusa and her friends until they all go on a field trip up Mount Olympus and Medusa and friends save the day. The greek gods' kids don't really stop picking on our heros, and Medusa, in a funny, inadvertent way, turns them to stone. A fun story with a lot of opportunity for discussion and research outlets.Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-2320166175013832122008-08-04T10:06:00.001-07:002008-08-04T10:08:38.743-07:00Bloom's Taxonomy for the Digital Age<a href="http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom%27s+Digital+Taxonomy">Bloom's Digital Taxonomy</a><br /><br />I will be digesting this for a long time to come - using this space to begin passing it along - I like the inclusion of so many different skill sets, and know many will appreciate the rubrics (me, I am completely disenchanted of rubrics these days, but that is another story about kids growing up to always need specific, concrete guidelines, a story for another day)Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-14471240082524645772008-07-23T11:17:00.001-07:002008-07-23T11:41:11.808-07:00Reading for kidsWhat I've read recently [mostly notes for myself to remember these books later]:<br /><br />Rex Zero and the End of the World, Tim Wynne-Jones [grades 5-8, ages 9-12]<br /> a fifties Cold War kids in suburbia book, from the perspective of a new-to-the-neighborhood kid. A mystery "monster" is terrorizing kids and making them spend their summer in fear and solving the great mystery, at home the news is making their parents build bomb shelters or not talk about things. Some good kids get it and parents don't stuff, some good sibling it's ok to be friends but you don't have to be as long as you can get along and see your siblings as people stuff.<br /><br />Babymouse, Queen of the World! [grades 4-6, ages 4-8]<br /> fun, silly and not-so-silly graphic novel. Babymouse wants popularity over friends to start, but figures it out before the end. lots of great fairy tale and classic story references (cinderella, frankenstein)<br /><br />Artemis Fowl the graphic novel [ages 9-12]<br /> I haven't read this series yet, but the graphic novel makes me want to. Evil 12-year-old genius as the central character? Awesome. Not sure my long term patience for the high-tech fairy world, but we'll see.<br /><br />Amulet, Kazu Kibuishi - Book 1, The Stonekeeper [ages 8-12]<br /> brilliant illustrations, a story painfully similar to Spyderwick Chronicles, but still alluring - mom eaten by blobby thing in basement other world, kids rescue her with the help of the amulet. Cliff hanger.<br /><br />The Time Travelers, Book 1 in The Gideon Trilogy, Linda Buckley-Archer [grades 5-8, ages 9-12]<br /> Two modern kids that barely know each other get thrust back in time due to an experimental machine. They land in 1763, a time where the details of life (clothes and getting around) are very different, but so are cultural things like the criminal justice system. Engaging, with a riveting story that provides continuous reasons to keep reading till the end.Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-30695615230898079022008-04-18T10:49:00.000-07:002008-04-18T10:54:14.818-07:00on the power of fandomOver at <a href="http://themovie-fanatic.com/exclusive_articles/film_focus/twilight_series_part2/">The Movie Fanatic</a>, they are running a series called <a href="http://themovie-fanatic.com/exclusive_articles/film_focus/twilight_series_part1/">THE TWILIGHT SAGA</a>: and today's installment is The Twilight Fandom: Who they are and what they're capable of.<br /><br />I was hoping for a little more from the title, ie "what they're capable of" but perhaps that is coming in the rest of the 4-part series. For now, though, it's just fun to read things like this and know that people can be really really really passionate about books:<br /><br /><p align="left"><strong></strong></p><blockquote><p align="left"><strong>Twilighters Around the World: </strong>Twilight sites are not limited to English speaking countries. If you think Harry Potter is the only ‘worldwide’ phenomenon, think again, here's our current alpha list:</p> Argentinean sites: <a href="http://www.twilightlatino.com/">http://www.twilightlatino.com/</a> and <a href="http://www.eclipse-la.com/">http://www.eclipse-la.com</a><br />Australian site: <a href="http://www.twilightaustralia.net/">http://www.twilightaustralia.net/</a><br />Brazilian site: <a href="http://www.twilightteam.com.br/">http://www.twilightteam.com.br/</a><br />Chilean site: <a href="http://www.twilightchile.com/">http://www.twilightchile.com/</a><br />Colombian site: <a href="http://conexionvampirica.blogia.com/">http://conexionvampirica.blogia.com/</a><br />Finnish site: <a href="http://www.vampirelove.net/">http://www.vampirelove.net/</a><br />French site: <a href="http://the-meadow.fr/">http://the-meadow.fr/</a><br />Italian site: <a href="http://www.twilighters.it/">http://www.twilighters.it/</a><br />Mexican site: <a href="http://www.crepusculo-mx.com/">http://www.crepusculo-mx.com/</a><br />Philippine site: <a href="http://www.twilightsaga.multiply.com/">http://www.twilightsaga.multiply.com/</a><br />Portuguese site: <a href="http://www.twilightportugal.blogs.sapo.pt/">http://www.twilightportugal.blogs.sapo.pt/</a><br />Spanish sites: <a href="http://www.crepusculomeyer.blogspot.com/">http://www.crepusculomeyer.blogspot.com/</a> and <a href="http://www.crepusculo.com.es/">http://www.crepusculo.com.es/</a><br />Swiss site: <a href="http://www.bellaswan.net/">http://www.bellaswan.net/</a><br />Venezuelan site: <a href="http://twilight-fans-venezuela.blogspot.com/">http://twilight-fans-venezuela.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br /><br />According to the <a target="_blank" href="http://twilighttopsites.com/"><strong>Twilight Top Sites</strong></a>, there are now <strong>86 websites</strong> dedicated to Stephenie Meyer's book and soon-to-be movie, Twilight. </blockquote>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-12073679056758396642008-03-26T14:39:00.000-07:002008-03-26T14:43:30.311-07:00giving stuff away for free can mean making more moneyFrom Neil Gaiman's blog (bold emphasis mine):<br /><blockquote>It's worth drawing people's attention to the fact that the free online reading copy of <span style="font-style: italic;">American Gods</span> is now in its last six days online (it ends 31 March 08). I learned this from an email from Harper Collins, which also told me the latest batch of statistics.<br /><p style="font-style: italic;">For <span>American Gods</span>:<br /></p> <p style="font-style: italic;"> 68,000 unique visitors to the book pages of American Gods</p> <p> 3,000,000 book pages viewed in aggregate<br /><br />And that the <span style="font-weight: bold;">weekly book sales of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">American Gods</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> have apparently gone up by 300%</span>, rather than tumbling into the abyss. (Which is -- the rise, not the tumble -- what I thought would happen. Or at least, what I devoutly hoped would happen.)<br /></p><p>The book is up at <a target="_blank" href="http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060558123&WT.mc_id=author_AmerGods_FullAccess_022208">This URL, if you're interested, or want to pass it along to a friend</a>.</p></blockquote><p></p><br />Hear that you sellers of books and music and journals and other content? This is how you make fans. Fans buy stuff. Simple as that.<br /><blockquote></blockquote><p></p>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-15532440704629901942008-03-24T16:32:00.001-07:002008-03-24T16:34:15.732-07:00libraries + video games in the new york timesI love the focus of this article, legitimizing video games as a medium that is worthy of its place in libraries, not only as program center but circulating material. Plus, the idea that the video games encourage young people to use the library, and that is something we actually want (v. trying to get rid of teens in libraries)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/books/22games.html">Taking Play Seriously At The Public Library With Young Video Gamers ></a>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-80542129083320520732007-12-27T12:32:00.000-08:002007-12-27T12:34:15.354-08:00librarian, for realzI'm a real librarian now. Job, already started two months ago - I'm a public ya + reference librarian. Done with my grad work, all but a pass/fail class finalized (and no worries on that front).<br /><br />Today I taught a kid how to tie his shoes.Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-57675703858788079162007-11-01T17:17:00.000-07:002007-11-01T17:19:26.930-07:00a press release from my favorite online community doing good stuff . . .<blockquote>LibriVox makes it to 1,000!<br /><br />LibriVox, the free audio book project has just cataloged it's 1,000th book: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," by Edgar Allan Poe (read by Reynard T. Fox).<br /><br />LibriVox.org started in August 2005 with a simple objective: "to make all public domain books available as free audio books." Thirteen people collaborated to make the first recording, Joseph Conrad's "Secret Agent."<br /><br />Two years later, LibriVox has become the most prolific audiobook publisher in the world - we are now putting out 60-70 books a month, we have a catalog of 1,000 works, which represents a little over 6 months of *continuous* audio; we have some 1,500 volunteers who have contributed audio to the project; and a catalog that includes Jane Austin's "Pride and Prejudice," "Moby Dick," Darwin's "Origin of the Species," "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," Einstein's "Relativity: The Special and General Theory," Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason," and other less well-known gems such as "Romance of Rubber" edited by John Martin. We have recordings in 21 languages, and about half of our recordings are solo efforts by one<br />reader, while the other half are collaborations among many readers.<br /><br />We are always looking for new volunteers! Come join us.</blockquote>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-55156250610895519212007-10-17T06:22:00.000-07:002007-10-17T06:27:05.929-07:00young Librarians in the Chronicle of Higher EducationWhat I like most about <a href="http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=VxjmgshrNpdB5jdzxjxvtfmcxrXX5tpR">this article</a>, which is largely a response to the New York Times article from the not so distant past on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/fashion/08librarian.html">Hip Librarians</a>, is the thoughtfulness of the process and the simplicity of bringing together a bunch of very very smart folks and allowing them to speak for themselves. Instead of manipulating quotes and sound bites into a pre-formed article, author Scott Carlson provides the forum, some good, open questions, and lets the words and formed thoughts roll. And, bonus, some audio as well.<br /><br />(and don't it feel good to be able to link to the NYT?)Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-29124436295296619172007-10-17T05:53:00.000-07:002007-10-17T05:55:25.565-07:00A vision of students todayfrom the Kansas State University Digital Ethnography folks, another brilliantly conceived, planned, and executed video. <br /><br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dGCJ46vyR9o"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dGCJ46vyR9o" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-33704297603476820932007-08-16T07:38:00.001-07:002007-08-16T07:39:05.385-07:00a little more spresent testingthat last thing went well, and for bloggy size the built in size is well and good, but i'd like to go bigger. Can I? <br /><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600" height="440" data="http://www.spresent.com/presenter/SimPView.swf?sDir=http://www.spresent.com/presenter/&p=/scrappylibrarian@gmail.com/email"><param name="movie" value="http://www.spresent.com/presenter/SimPView.swf?sDir=http://www.spresent.com/presenter/&p=/scrappylibrarian@gmail.com/email" /></object>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-81265663811441338662007-08-16T07:36:00.000-07:002007-08-16T07:37:13.744-07:00testing spresent.com(which thus far is wicked awesome, btw)<br /><br /><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="320" data="http://www.spresent.com/presenter/SimPView.swf?sDir=http://www.spresent.com/presenter/&p=/scrappylibrarian@gmail.com/email"><param name="movie" value="http://www.spresent.com/presenter/SimPView.swf?sDir=http://www.spresent.com/presenter/&p=/scrappylibrarian@gmail.com/email" /></object>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-52436041250254757632007-07-22T05:45:00.000-07:002007-07-22T05:46:47.770-07:00What book are you?Only a very few quickly answered questions . . .<br /><p><img src="http://bluepyramid.org/ia/c2jh.jpg" /><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:Georgia,Georgia Ref,Book Antiqua,Garamond;font-size:180%;" ><br />You're <i>Catch-22</i>!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">by Joseph Heller</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;">Incredibly witty and funny, you have a taste for irony in all that you<br />see. It seems that life has put you in perpetually untenable situations, and your sense<br />of humor is all that gets you through them. These experiences have also made you an<br />ardent pacifist, though you present your message with tongue sewn into cheek. You<br />could coin a phrase that replaces the word "paradox" for millions of<br />people.</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;" ></span></i><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;" ><br />Take the <a href="http://bluepyramid.org/ia/bquiz.htm">Book Quiz</a><br />at the <a href="http://bluepyramid.org/">Blue Pyramid</a>.</span></span></p>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-70576322861299949702007-05-24T15:02:00.002-07:002007-05-24T15:05:40.106-07:00copyright and fair usebrilliant video "explaining" copyright law and the need to exercise our fair use rights so we don't lose 'em:<br /><br /><br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CJn_jC4FNDo"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CJn_jC4FNDo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />synopsis: Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University provides this humorous, yet informative, review of copyright principles delivered through the words of the very folks we can thank for nearly endless copyright terms.<br /><br /><a href="http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/documentary-film-program/film/a-fair-y-use-tale">more info here</a>.Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-6514782886920019112007-04-14T06:48:00.000-07:002007-04-14T06:48:59.980-07:00Firedoodle - Fun with demonstrations<a href="http://firedoodle.com/">Firedoodle - Turn the web into a whiteboard</a><br /><br />free fun Firefox add-on - what a great little thing to use when giving demonstrations on using a database or website - you can circle or highlight to really make sure your viewers are seeing what you want them to see. Good for screencasts, too.Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-53279302323483247362007-04-06T16:44:00.000-07:002007-04-06T16:44:43.693-07:00TeacherTube - "Teach the World."<a href="http://www.teachertube.com/index.php">TeacherTube - "Teach the World."</a><br /><br />TeacherTube! What a fabulous idea - a great collection of videos created by educators, with all the commenting/favoriting/flash-love goodness of YouTube. How much you wanna bet this is blocked by my work?Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-6039039317939233332007-03-13T14:00:00.000-07:002007-03-13T14:05:05.328-07:00some thoughts from Karen Schneiderthese are quotes from a piece Karen wrote on the <a href="http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2007/03/dear-library-of-congress.html">ALA TechSource blog</a> as an open letter to the LOC regarding a meeting they were holding at Google headquarters - no comments from me, just using this space as mental storage backup.<br /><blockquote><br />It is both ironic and poignant that librarians are still worrying about “bibliographic control,” after ceding so much of the same to the companies that now rent them journal access per annum at usurious rates, digitize their book collections into DRM obscurity, or sell them ponderous, antiquated “management” systems that on close inspection do little more than serve as storehouses for the metadata specific to the formats of bygone eras, bold days when we saw our central roles as defenders and curators of our cultural heritage.<br /><br />We have moved from the librarian as information artisan—a professional creating and using tools to manage information—to the librarian as surrogate vendor, facilitating what is essentially the offshoring of thousands of years of information into private hands.<br /><br />However, I would caution the committee that tinkering around the edges of how we as a profession do our old-world business—buy a book, create a record—is to miss the point. Small upward bumps in traditional book circulation, coaxed by major redesigns of traditional tools—however important these redesigns--are no more comforting than brisk sales at a masking-tape store in a mall going out of business (to invoke an old Saturday Night Live skit).<br /><br />To paraphrase Andrew Abbott's point in <i>The System of Professions</i>, we are behaving like the train companies, who thought they were in the train business, not the transportation business, and like them, there are already signs that the “train business” we do is on artificial life support. We are not even close to being the first service of choice for information seekers; we are pretty much down there with asking one's mother. Libraries across the country are increasingly asked to justify their existence in order to receive continued funding, and some have been unable to do so.<br /></blockquote>Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19008666.post-86365524811363267532007-03-09T19:10:00.000-08:002007-03-09T19:10:59.811-08:00Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing US Entrepreneurship Act of 2007<a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:h.r.1201:">via THOMAS (Library of Congress)</a><br /><br />well, the details look good to me. Decriminalizes hacking DRM to make mixes and mashups for personal and educational use, and re-asserts that just because a device can break copyright, as long as it has legal uses, the device and the device makers cannot be held responsible for criminal uses.<br /><br />I say it looks good to me, but I don't have a whole lot of experience reading these things, and really wish there was a ready made plain language translation.<br /><br />I read about this due to one of my newer rss feeds - the US Copyright office's <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/">copyright legislation page.</a> The copyright office, a division of the LOC, has really sexed up their website - slick, clean, and useful.Sara Zoe Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06879039489897694037noreply@blogger.com0