To Kill a Mockingbird ;)
The Fairy Ring
I had never heard this tale of the two girls who saw and photographed fairies and fooled the world and the prominent author Arthur Conan Doyle. The Fairy Ring came in from Junior Library Guild and I was immediately drawn to the story. Elsie and Frances have no bad intentions when they originally take the photographs, but the story spins out of their control Edward Gardner from the Theosophist’s Society gets involved. The girls were definitely artistic both with their photographs and Elsie’s artwork, but it is still amazing that The Cottingley Fairies fooled so many knowledgeable people for such a long period of time! It’s a quick read and I recommended it if you’ve ever believed in fairies or even if you haven’t.
The 39 Steps
I’ve been meaning to read this one for awhile. It is a part of a series of classics published with the male reader in mind that I bought for our library a couple of years ago. There’s plenty of suspense and action and it’s a quick and enjoyable read. I was drawn in to the story right away and especially liked the development of the beginning of the story. I found the main character engaging and the villains stereotypical, but no less menacing for that. With its early publication date of 1915, The 39 Steps is an example of the beginnings of the popularity of the mystery /adventure series. I want to try some later books in the series now, too.
Sister Carrie
Sister Carrie surprised me. With its setting in the late 1800s, it was unusual, I think. At the beginning, I thought it might be just one more story of a young woman taken advantage of by a man, which is enjoyable enough if well written, but not really unique. In this story, however, Carrie is the one who steps out on her own to make a life for herself. I found the writing somewhat overdone and rambling at times, but there was something about the way the story was presented that appealed to me as well. The characters inner thoughts were there for the reader, but were rarely voiced out loud to the other person. This gave me a different opinion of the characters than I would have had if the story was just told through their actions. Sister Carrie is recommended for those that like classics and/or stories about the theater.
The Fatal Eggs
I discovered Mikhail Bulgakov when I read The Master and Margarita last year. He wrote Russian satire in the 1920s and The Fatal Eggs was top notch in this category. The story revolves around a zoologist who discovers a ray that makes frogs reproduce at a fast rate and become quite large. At the same time, the chickens all die off from a strange plague. When a scientist decides to use the ray with eggs from another country to bring chickens back to Russia, things start to get very interesting! The writing is good and the translation made for smooth and understandable prose. It’s a quick read and I recommend it and others by Bulgakov.
The Night Circus
The imagery in this book is enticing. I wish I could walk into The Night Circus and engage my senses in its delights. For me, that was the highlight of the book. I listened to Jim Dale read and was in love with the atmosphere. I wasn’t as drawn in by the plot. The book’s major plot of the contest between the two magicians struck me as quite familiar and I realized it was similar to the action in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, another book in which two magicians are up against each other. I felt that the twist about their contest was fairly obvious and I already knew where the plot was heading when it was revealed. I still enjoyed the book a lot, but I felt that the expectations I had were too high and I was perhaps let down because of that.
Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels
Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels is a book in verse aimed toward an adult or mature reader audience familiar with the slave rebellion aboard the Amistad. A knowledge of the spiritual enhances the book as phrases from the songs weave themselves throughout the verse, particularly in the final part (and lengthiest section), “Witness”, narrated by Cinque, the rebel leader. Other devices used by the author, Kevin Young, are word plays found in the American Primers used to teach the captives English, but here included as a further plays on words within the verses. Blended in are the experiences of the men in America and in the mission established after their return to Africa. “Correspondence” includes letters to John Quincy Adams asking for release and “Buzzard” opens the book with the voice of the translator telling of the rebels capture and imprisonment. Overall, Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels is an original and satisfying reading experience!
Olive Kitteridge
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009. It is written as a series of linked stories, which I really enjoy, but may not be the perfect format for everyone. In these stories, the reader gets an incomplete picture of who Olive Kitteridge really is and is given just a glimpse into the stories and inner lives of the characters that revolve around her in the small town in Maine where she lives out her life. None of the narrators are fully reliable because we only get single points of view at any one time, yet an almost total picture of Olive still emerges by the end of the book. I enjoy reading Pulitzer Prize winners because of the journey into American lives they give and this one was no exception.
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Reading Tess of the D’Urbervilles made me glad that I don’t live in those times. What a lot of double standards they had for men vs women! Tess is led down a path that leads to her troubles when she goes to meet the privileged family that her father has just discovered are her relatives. When she does later fall in love, her past comes back to haunt her, and that new happiness is ruined for Tess. The conventions of the day were rough on young women and this book describes that situation fully. The book has been challenged for sexual content and was scandalous in it’s time of publication. I enjoy Thomas Hardy’s writing and found it interesting and heart wrenching to read Tess’ story.
OER
Washington State has been leading the way in providing Open Educational Resources to higher learning students. Tom Caswell has been a leader of this movement and he spoke to those of us at the Teacher Librarian Summit at the Seattle NCCE Conference. You can read more about his efforts on his blog:
Or view his Slideshare:
Students have been taking action, too:
These efforts have resulted in the:
Open Course Library in WA state and also in legislation just passed and signed by the governor tasking OSPI with curating the many resources out there to match up with the Common Core and be made available to school districts in Washington that want to save money by adopting these resources instead of textbooks.
There are lots of resources out there already that you can search out, but the problem is finding the time to go through the materials to find out what would be relevant to your curriculum, so I will provide some links that you can look at if you choose to spend some time doing so:
- OER Commons
- CK12.org
- curriki.org
- Creative Commons search
- Synectics: the joining together of different and apparently irrelevant elements.
- MIT Open Courseware
Students here at GHHS are already accessing videos from:
The Khan Academy (there is an iPad App for this as well)
These videos cover a wide range of subjects and offer test prep, too. Krispy Kreme money (sold during HSPE testing week) was donated to this effort. TED Talks (also an App) have been around for awhile as well and they have started an education effort now as well:
There are a lot of technology questions to be answered to enable the use of these resources with students. The Bring Your Own Device movement is one solution that many districts across our state are discussing.
Mrs. Burns
-
GHHS Library Pins!
Spring Reading
Spring Seasonal Reading Challenge
The Seasonal Reading Challenge's currently-reading book montage
1611 members
The challenge that started in The Next Best Book Club...
Recent Reads
