May 2007 - Posts
Well, since school is out and there's not a whole lot to tell you about the library yet (oh, there will be, don't you worry!) I've decided that this will be my Summer of Harry Potter here at the library. Why? Because I said so! Ok, because book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be published on July 21 which (at the last time I checked) is still 52 days, 16 hours, 16 minutes and 2 seconds away. Not that I'm counting or anything! Also, movie 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is due out July 13 (sorry, no exact minutes and seconds...it's too much work to count that out, plus I shouldn't spend too much time looking for it.
At least now you know what the important dates for this summer are!
Oh, and the whole point of the Summer of Harry Potter is that I will be re-reading the first six books and reviewing them here. I know that whole game has been done before, but not here and not by me! Feel free to send me some comments with your thoughts on the books as I go. You can even read them with me if you want, but there is no guaranteed schedule as to when I'll finish them. I'm starting with Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone today at lunch. Did you know that in England the title is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone? - Sorry, just a little bit of random information for you there!
Oh, and just so you don't think I'm leaving you hanging on a website to check out, here's:
http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/
This is the official movie website of HP5.
The link below is the official website of J.K. Rowling.
http://www.jkrowling.com/
This site has proven to take up countless hours I should have been doing homework when I was still at school. Well, that and spider solitaire....
i am the messenger
By: Markus Zusak
Honestly, he's one of my new favorite writers. He's actually Australian, so now I'm going to have to go look up the other two books of his that I haven't read. Remember The Book Thief? It's the same author! Not nearly as sad, though.
Gritty, messy, hopeful, scared, lazy - all words to describe the book and the main character, Ed Kennedy.
Ed's not going anywhere in life. He lied about his age so he could get a job driving taxis. He knows it's pathetic. He knows he should have more ambition, more something....but he just can't get it. At the beginning of the book we meet Ed during a bank robbery. He even introduces himself to us and tells us a little about himself which I won't repeat here, but is pretty funny. Ed's friend Marv won't stop talking about his car and the parking ticket he's going to receive because the gunman is taking too long. I almost thought the book was going to go somewhere completely different, since Marv, Ed, Rickie and Audrey keep on talking.
When the gunman is finally leaving, he takes the keys to Marv's car that isn't worth anything. Really. The gunman drops the gun, Ed retrieves it and saves the day; except he's shot out Marv's window. I'm actually kind of surprised that Marv talks to Ed after that, because he is so obsessive it's almost disturbing. Even the insurance company won't replace the window because the glass would be worth more than the car itself!
Ed's little rescue has earned him a spot on the nightly news. Then come the cards. First is the ace of diamonds with three addresses. Ed goes to each address and watches and waits. Two are easy, one isn't. The people Ed meets along the way will touch you. Sometimes it's the simplest things in life that matter the most.
Card two is the ace of clubs and involves a riddle that takes Ed quite a while to sort out.
Card three is not the one he's expecting. It's the ace of spades. He thought spades would be the most difficult (since it incorporates digging) and the last one. He thought he'd build up to that. He was wrong.
Ace of Hearts: Card 4. Sometimes we know people so well that we really don't see them anymore. Ed discovers that lesson with this card. After the last and final card, Ed's relieved. Except it wasn't the last card. There's one more card, the Joker, for Ed to contend with. The person he's supposed to help on the card is the hardest he's faced yet.
This book is very fast-paced. Ed's friends are an interesting group of derelects. Another cab driver, a lazy jobless person who can't even motivate himself to look for a job, a carpenter who is always broke (you'll find out why he's so tight with his money) and his dog, the Doorman whose smell is so foul only Ed's true friends will enter his place. You can practically smell how foul this dog is, but he's Ed's coffee buddy. And his mom, wow. She is quite the piece of work. Be forewarned that Ed's mother has quite a colorful vocabulary. It will pop up!
Ed's journey through the cards is truly inspiring, even if it does get a little scary and messy at times. Life's like that, ya know? The lives he touches as a result of the messages he receives are truly blessed.
Ed also has some colorful characters who 'help' him through his messages. Mainly, they first come around to scare him into doing what the cards say, then they're somewhat helpful a little later.
Recommended For:
- anyone looking for direction in life's long journey
- fans of mysteries - who sent the cards, why? Oh, and you find out who and why at the end, but don't read that part first and ruin it! If you're savvy you'll guess who it is!
- life story readers
- everyone!
By the way, there is some language used that you may find uncomfortable as well as talk about sex. Nothing terribly graphic, but may not be your cup of tea, so you're forewarned!
Happy Summer Faculty!
I thought I'd go over the faculty resources section of our webpage for you since we've made a few changes:
- Library Materials Request - this is now a form that you will have to sign-in to with your Bethany id. If you use Firefox for your browser you should have no problems. If you use Internet Explorer or another browser and you can't log-in, precede your username with bethany\ and you should be able to get in. We would appreciate it if you would fill as much of the information in as possible. Please contact me with any questions.
- Reserve Requests - this form is not correct yet. If you would like an inter-library loan, please click on Interlibrary Loan in the Services box.
- New Materials Report & New Juvenile Materials - I update these when we receive new shipments of books. Call numbers, authors, titles and material type are included.
- Books in Print - This is a great resource to look for those hard-to-find titles!
- CHOICE Reviews- Reviews of academic books, electronic media and internet resources.
- RCLWeb - There's a link for finding appropriate course materials, writing a research paper, and you can look for books in here.
Talk about the coolest image collection ever! Ok, so I totally understand that pretty much no one is going to be reading about this, but if you're an art student or teacher take note!
(I'm amending that to all faculty and students because there's more in there than I originally thought!)
UNL Libraries Digital Collection
http://contentdm.com/customers/index.html
This digital image collection is really fun! You can check out the collections that they have featured (the Willa Cather collection is the one that caught my eye, so that's why you're hearing about this!), or you can search by region, media type (books, diaries, maps, newspapers, negatives, images) organization type or name, or you can enter your own search terms. It's free to search, and in the Cather collection you can request an image. I can't say that about every single collection because honestly, I only have so much time in a day to do this!
Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue
By: Julius Lester
Coretta Scott King Award Winner, 2006
This is a short, powerful, moving story about an event in history that actually took place. It wasn't called the Day of Tears, but "The Weeping Auction," and it was the largest slave auction in history. The dialogue and personal recollections are fictional. The people in Pierce Butler's family were real people, and their sentiments did divide, but their actual thoughts and feelings have been fictionalized.
Through each short vignette I identified more and more with each character. Obviously not in all ways to all characters, but you can really feel their pain through the dialogue and their actions.
The premise of the auction is that Pierce Butler has gambled pretty much everything except his property and slaves away. He needs money and he needs it fast, so he decides to sell the majority of his slaves and move to Philadelphia. His actions on the second day of the auction set in motion a chain of events that affect every single person in the story. One daughter loves him, one loathes him and still can't forgive him on his deathbed. Emma, the slave that sparks so much tension in his family, ends up living a good life, but she never saw either of her parents again. They never knew what happened to her and she never found out what happened to them (for that matter we don't know what happened to her parents.....that's something I would have liked to have seen).
All in all, this is an extremely quick read. It's a moving and compelling look at slavery through the eyes of supporters, abolitionists, black, white, young and old. It really brings in to play the many sentiments of the time.
Recommended For:
- Civil War history buffs
- those interested in abolition and slavery in early America
- those who don't like long books
- Everyone!
Penny from Heaven
By: Jennifer L. Holm
Newbery Honor Book, 2007
Well, I think I was correct when I said Hattie Big Sky was my pick to win the Newbery, but Penny from Heaven is an extremely close second. I really love Jennifer Holm's writing. It's fresh, clean and always makes me want to turn the page. Plus, the added bonus of real pictures in the back of the book! **Sigh** I love real pictures in books. (That may sound funny to you, but I know what I mean!) The pictures are of Holm's mother, who is the inspiration for Penny in this book.
Penny's father died when she was very young. She doesn't really remember him, her mother doesn't like to talk about it, and her father's side of the family lavishes her with the things she needs, and even the things she doesn't. Her father's side of the family is Italian-American, so her grandmother Nonny makes she she always has a lot to eat (probably because Me-Me, her mother's mom, is a terrible cook), her uncle Dominic always wears slippers (shoes are too uncomfortable) and lives in his car. Penny is about the only one allowed to sit in the front seat with him. They always listen to the Dodgers, or, Dem Bums as they call them, on the radio.
Penny's mother has started dating again. Penny is not a fan of Mr. Mulligan as a potential father at all. It's a good thing Me-Me and Pop-Pop know how to be their embarrassing selves to a T the night he comes over for dinner. Plus, Me-Me cooked and Penny delights in watching him try and eat her peas.
Penny's cousin Frankie is her best friend, and partner in crime. They don't do anything terribly bad, other than digging up Nonny's yard looking for money their grandfather had supposedly buried there before he died. Their next adventure in searching for the money lands Penny in the hospital. The lucky bean her Uncle Dominic gave her is how she recovers (I can't say any more than that about this, sorry!).
The death of Penny's father has caused a rift between the two sides of the family. Nonny always cries when his name is brought up and they go to the cemetary to vistit his grave. Penny thinks her father died because he was sick, but when she's in the hospital she overhears something that turns her world completely upside down. When Penny confronts her family, everything comes out in the open. The death of her father, wow, it's just so sad, a shame, a waste. Honestly.
Will Penny's world ever be the same? Probably not, but if Mr. Mulligan keeps bringing her butter pecan ice cream, things just may be okay after all.
Recommended For:
- Fans of 'the good ol' days'
- Life stories
- Everyone!
For those of you who check my blog, I thought I'd let you know that I will be continuing to post throughout the summer. I think it will mainly be book reviews, maybe some sites-of-the-week posts, and anything that is important for me to let you know.
And just so you know, the library will be open for the summer, so come on in and do some reading for fun! It really is much more exciting than reading because you have to. Plus, you get to choose what you read! Seriously, how great is that?
Our summer hours are:
Mon.-Thurs. 7:30am - 4:30pm
Fri. 7:30am - 2pm
Sat. - Sun. Closed
We will also be closed for Memorial Day (May 28) and Independence Day (July 4th).
Have a fantastic summer, see you in the Fall (but I hope to see you during the summer!).
Oh, and if you want to talk books, I'll be in the library:)
Do you want something fulfilling to do over your summer vacation? Have a week and a little extra cash lying around? If you do, then check out this website:
http://globeaware.com/
The following indented section is from their website. I don't think I can explain it any better!
We feel it is of supreme importance to respect the culture and heritage in which the volunteer is working. The goal is not for volunteers to change the host communities, but rather to help them in the needs that the host community has identified as important. Those who will enjoy the experience the most are those who bring an open mind and willingness to help. The natural, healthy exchange of ideas and opinions lead s to a mutual understanding of cultures.
Unlike a regular vacation, during which you may spend a good deal of time on a tourist bus and in lines at museums, our trips allow you to learn things such as how to cook local cuisine, sing with local school children, work side by side on local community projects. Few vacations provide a way to bond so closely with local cultures in so short a time. The experience will likely change how you see the world.
Locations are chosen based on a huge number of factors, but generally are communities that are safe, genuinely needy, organized (in terms of proper NGO status), with significant cultural differences from the typical North American lifestyle, and willing to accept our involvement. Our nonprofit status was recognized in 2003.
In addition to being granted not-for-profit status by the United States Internal Revenue Service , Globe Aware is also registered with The Texas State Attorney General's Charities Bureau which is responsible for supervising the activity of charities to ensure that their funds are properly used.
If this isn't the thing for you this year, maybe it's something to keep in mind for next year.....
Hattie Big Sky
By: Kirby Larson
2007 Newbery Honor Book
Well, I only have one more of this year's Newbery Winner/Honor Books to read, but I think Hattie Big Sky gets my vote for the best book of the lot. It's just that good.
Hattie's parents died when she was young. She was hustled and bustled from one relative to another for the first sixteen years of her life to help them take care of their children, their homes, their lives. When an Uncle she doesn't even remember dies and leaves her his homesteading claim in Montana, Hattie decides to take a chance on it herself. After all, what has she got to lose? Her Aunt Ivy is just one of those people whom Hattie needs to distance herself from. (That woman is a piece of work....kind of like Harry Potter's Aunt Petunia....minus the whole wizard thing).
Hattie faces the challenges the Montana landscape and neighbor(s) impress upon her. Traft Martin (the main 'mean' neighbor) wants her land, she has to put in forty acres and set four hundred and eighty rods of fence to prove up on her claim (I don't even want to think about how much work that is....just reading about it exhausted me), her good friend Charlie is oversees fighting in the war, and the tensions against the Germans at home are nigh on ridiculous.
I have to say that for a sixteen year old girl she's got some serious gumption (excuse the ol' slang) moving halfway across the country, alone, and proving her claim. Just reading about the constant stream of chores and back-breaking labor she does makes my body hurt. It definitely makes me glad that I don't have her job!
If it wasn't for the helpful neighbors (yes, there were more of them than 'mean' ones) Hattie would have had a much more difficult life. Hattie's struggle to maintain her independence, decipher the purpose of the County Council of Defense, make her own decisions regarding her German neighbors, cook food that's edible, pump water in the winter, plant her crops, put up all of her fencing and learn how to quilt are just the beginning of this young girl's journey.
Guess what the best part is? The author's great-grandmother was actually a Montana homesteader. This is NOT biographical, just the seed for the story. I can't tell you the ending and what happened to the author's grandmother, because if you read far enough you'll find out for yourself!
I'm either really tired or just that speechless about this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't feel that there were many loose ends to tie up the way I felt about the other award winners (so far). The end is a bit open-ended, but that leaves room for a sequel, which I wouldn't suggest because I like the ending the way it is. Sometimes it's just not a good thing to make everything all neat and compact. Life isn't like that, it's messy and complicated. Oh, and sometimes really bad things happen to really good people. I shed a tear or two towards the end. When you get there, you'll know why.
Recommended For:
- Historical Fiction Fans
- Adventurous/outdoorsy types
- Those longing for independence
- Everyone!
Turn It In is found on the Library's webpage under:
Other Resources by Subject > Writing > Plagiarism Research Resources
OR
by clicking on the link below:
http://www.turnitin.com/research_site/e_home.html
Since the end of the semester is almost here I'm guessing that more than a few of you have a paper or two due in the next week.
Plagiarism is a persistent topic in today's day and age because it's too easy to copy and paste your paper together. In case you don't know, that is NOT a good way to write a paper. Turn It In is a website dedicated to the issue of plagiarism: what counts as plagiarizing, what doesn't, why it isn't ok, plus guidelines and suggestions for walking that fine line between copying, re-wording and original ideas from you. They also have a printable handout for you to refer to.
Do yourself a favor and check this website out! It could save you some serious headaches!
Oh, and if you need help finding citation style guides, send me an e-mail or stop in and see me!