I don't know where this penguin gif originated, but it arrived in my mail box this morning from a friend. After spending days trying to get information from people, and becoming increasingly frustrated by the task, it really made me laugh.
That said, it is not all that hard to determine which penguin I am.
Due to a family health emergency, and the upcoming busy holiday season, I will be taking a blog posting break until after the New Year. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Peace to all.
Today's picture book review is Max's Words, written by Kate Banks and illustrated by Boris Kulikov. This particular title has been on my shelf for most of the term. I enjoyed the story and loved the almost fanciful illustrations, but was not sure I could do the book justice with a short review for the resource center review blog. I do know that I needed to clean off my shelf since I was beginning to get library overdue notices via email. No one is exempt from over due books!
Max is part of a collecting family, his brother Benjamin collects stamps and his other brother Karl collects coins. Neither brother wants to share, so Max decides to begin his own hobby; he is going to collect words. As the collection takes form and substance, the words soon overflow Max’s desk to the floor and beyond, becoming a story. Text of each word chosen is highlighted with a bold, dark font, and the matching cutouts strewn gleefully across the page with the word baseball in the shape of a baseball bat, ice cream beginning with an ice cream cone, and hungry shown with a strategically placed bite. Illustrations enhance the developing story; at the beginning a forlorn Max is separated from the richly colored scenes of his brother’s collections. On subsequent pages, Max is a focal point, cleverly placed with his scissors and small words around him. Individual words become sentences and each sentence part of the story; illustrations are more vibrant, filling the page. A story about collecting becomes a story in itself, something children will thoroughly enjoy. This book would be a great introduction to creative writing in the classroom. Grades K-3.
Tags: Kate Banks, Boris Kulikov, Max's Words, Juvenile fiction, Picture books, Juvenile booksThis morning you could have heard the proverbial pin drop in the library. Every computer, with the exception of one dead one, was taken. The printer was busy as students were spread out on every available surface working diligently on final papers and projects. But the quiet was almost surreal. No cell phones were ringing, no music was playing, and there was no chatter. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. In fact, the only "noise" came from those of us working in the resource center.
A student came up and asked if he could shut the door. Wow! The resource center door has not been shut once in the six years I've worked. He was too polite to ask us to be quiet, but made his point none the less. It freaked my student workers. They looked at me, puzzled by the request. I told him to go ahead (he did). Then told the girls to open it again after the two chatterboxes (myself and another worker) left for the afternoon. Guess there's a first time for everything after all.
It was kind of humbling to realize the noisiest person in the library was me.
Tags: Academic Libraries, Resource centers, Finals week, Library noise
Get Real, by Betty Hicks, is a charming coming-of-age story narrated by thirteen (almost fourteen) year old Destiny Carter. Better known as “Dez,” Destiny has a best friend, parents who do not understand her, a younger brother Denny, and a yen to play the piano. Her avant-garde parents, a scientist mother who incessantly views the weather channel and a poet father who speaks in verse, are noisy, messy, and polar opposites of neatnik Dez. Best friend Jil is adopted and Dez perceives her family, the neat and proper Lewis’s, as picture perfect.
One afternoon Jil overhears her adoptive mother talking to her birth mother Jane, a single woman with another daughter who has decided she would like to get to know the daughter she gave up. As best friends are wont to do, Dez accompanies Jil to meet Jane. Instead of the ideal parent each girl thinks they want, both learn to accept and appreciate the honest parents they currently have. Neither set is perfect, but the girls cleverly differentiate between what consititues a mom or dad - and parents. Their reasoning is both simplistic and profound, "Parents make up stupid rules and worry about insane stuff - because they love you."(p. 167).
This could have been one among many best friend books stands out as Hicks gives teenage Dez a realistic and fresh voice. Consequently, as both girls struggle to find their own identity, each learns what constitutes friendship and family. The ending is sensibly satisfying without being sappy.
Tags: Get Real, Betty Hicks, Children's literature, Juvenile Books, YA literature, Young Adult literature
On to the other fudge, this time having a possible meaning related another less palatable word. Yesterday afternoon, for the first time in several semesters, the roll top laminator suffered a mishap and is out of order. A bit of background information, instead of turning it off and on we unplug it after finishing laminating jobs. Yes this is overkill, but it insures I sleep at night without wondering if it is going to burn down the library. The resource center is a help-yourself area and this pertains to the machinery as well. Many students are well versed in the use of the laminator and choose to complete their own projects with little or no assistance from IRC staff. In fact, most of them know to unplug it when they have finished without any prompting. Yesterday afternoon someone pulled the plug a bit off kilter and one of the prongs broke off in the outlet.
Yikes!
Yes, it was killing me not to just yank that sucker out of the outlet. I didn't, mostly because I did not know which of the breakers turned off that outlet (I'm not a complete idiot). I called the physical plant and they sent someone right over to remove the piece from the outlet. Unfortunately that means the laminator, used for larger jobs, is out of order until a new plug can be installed. A work order was processessed and labeled "urgent." The speed with which it is repaired all depends on who's definition of "urgent" is used. These things happen and it was definitely an accident.
Maybe I'll just eat some fudge and forget about it. Right now, the third quarter is about to begin, the Steelers are winning, and tomorrow is Friday.
Two titles posted today as I added them to my book review blog at work. The first is Bad Boys Get Cookie by Margie Palatini and the second title a graphic novel based on the Time Warp trio television series, Nightmare on Joe's Street. I am a fan of previous titles by Palatini, specifically Oink!, Zoom Broom, and Piggie Pie, so I was looking forward to this new title. It is as clever as the others, but I was not as impressed with the illustrations (yes, I know, different artists rendered the images).
Bad boys Willy and Wally Wolf are back for another adventure and this time they want cookies! To satisfy their sweet tooth cravings the boys pose as private eyes, from the firm Dewey-Ketchum and Howe, to help Mr. Baker locate his recently escaped gingerbread cookie. Cole’s colorful illustrations highlight the ensuing mayhem as Willy and Wally track down the cookie in true Gingerbread Man fashion. Children will enjoy the cookie’s repetitive refrain, “Na-na-ni-na-na! Lookee! Lookee! You can’t get me I’m one smart cookie!” Eagle-eyed readers will recognize the boy’s Hansel and Gretel-like disguise as the cookie, the story, and maybe Willy and Wally, come to an end.
Nightmare on Joe’s Street is a graphic novel adaptation of the popular Time Warp Trio cartoon series. The story begins with a series character introduction along with a description and synopsis of the time warp device, a book, and a listing of “special guest stars” for the episode. In this episode, the monster appears in Joe’s house looking for his creator. Sam and Joe decide to warp back to the nineteenth century and return Frankenstein to Mary Shelley. Along the way the boys meet Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron as they use music to sooth the savage monster, prevent history from changing, and locate their lost book to return home successfully. Color illustrations appear to be screen shots of the television series and perform well in graphic novel format. Fans of Scieszka’s Time Warp book series may prefer the originals; this offering may appeal to a new group of readers as well as fans of the television show.
Since it is more challenging finding graphic novel titles specifically for a juvenile collection, I was very interested in Nightmare because of it's correlation with/to the original Time Warp Trio series by Sceiezka. I enjoyed the book, the illustrations were in color, and I could envision it being used as a starter lesson for lessons on historical authors. Several reviews mentioned the illustrations were indeed screen shots from the television series, but I was unable to verify that fact online or on the series website. I imagine if the first several volumes are popular, we can look forward to more of the same.
Tags: Margie Palatini, Henry Cole, Bad Boys Get Cookie, Jon Scieszka, Zachary Rau, Nightmare on Joe's Street, Juvenile literature, Graphic novels
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