Merry Christmas!

Getting a jump on spring

The end of this semester was brutal; filled with meeting after meeting after meeting, my relief last Friday at 5:00 pm was palpable. A week makes all the difference. Today finals are over, grades submitted, and students are gleefully on their way home for holiday break. Right before closing Wednesday evening, I asked my student worker to pull a list of recently acquired picture books in preparation for a spring Mock Caldecott session.

• Looking Like Me
• We Troubled the Waters
• Sweethearts of Rhythm
• Cool Cat
• The Longest Night
• John Brown: His Fight For Freedom
  
• Let There Be Peace on Earth
• The Goblin and the Empty Chair

On an aside, check out this Amazon video of Mem Fox reading The Goblin and the Empty Chair.

I have four journals to peruse tomorrow for juvenile books, two Booklist (11/15 & 12/1) and two School Library Journal (Nov. & Dec.) issues. If I submit orders tomorrow, I should have a few more choices available for the spring session.

Revisiting the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is available on DVD; I rushed to the store for my copy. After a bit of internal dithering, I purchased the special edition with digital copy (even though I'm not sure what to do with it at this point). I watched it last evening, pausing several times to listen and increasing volume on quieter scenes. I have not changed my opinion significantly regarding the film, but will watch it again looking for nuance.

The two-disc DVD included deleted scenes, most less than two minutes, and while interesting it was easy to see why they were not included in the final film. However, one scene titled "In Noctem" that someone posted on YouTube, is stunning. It precedes Dumbledore's death and provides a glimpse of Snape's internal struggle to balance his unbreakable vow and promise to Dumbledore.