Reading Remedies

This is a great app to include in your tool box for assessing and helping young readers who are struggling. For 99 cents, you can't lose!

Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills.  Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, and bleeding. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. 
    The most interesting aspect of the book is all the circus lore that Gruen has so carefully researched. She has all the right vocabulary: grifters, roustabouts, workers, cooch tent, rubes, First of May, what the band plays when there's trouble, Jamaican ginger paralysis, life on a circus train, set-up and take-down, being run out of town by the "revenooers" or the cops, and losing all your hooch. There is one glorious passage about Marlena and Rosie, the bull elephant, that truly evokes the magic a circus can create. This one I couldn't put down and look forward to seeing the movie; however, the book is always better.

Peak

Grade 6 Up—In this high-altitude adventure, 14-year-old Peak Marcello's passion for climbing is clearly in the genes, but when he is arrested for scaling tall buildings, his mom and step-dad make a deal with the judge to ship him out of the country to live with her ex-husband and squelch the media attention that might inspire "Spider Boy" copycats. The teen's father, Josh, and his Himalayan expedition company are preparing teams to climb Mount Everest and suddenly Peak is faced with the possibility of becoming the youngest climber to reach the summit. Excited about the adventure, he learns that Josh may have less-than-fatherly motives involving publicity and financial gain for his company, at the expense of his paying customers. Peak is handed off to his father's head Sherpa for training and altitude acclimation with a Nepalese boy his own age, named Sun-jo. Facts about Mount Everest, base camps, and the dangers of climbing are plentiful, depicting an international culture made up of individuals who are often self-absorbed and indifferent to the Tibetan Sherpas.

The Sky is Everywhere

Grade 10 Up—When her older sister dies from an arrhythmia, 17-year-old Lennie finds that people are awkward around her, including her best friend. While dealing with her conflicted feelings toward her sister's boyfriend, her anguish over Bailey's unexpected death, and her sudden curiosity about sex, Lennie must also cope with her unresolved feelings about her mother, who left when Lennie was an infant. Debut author Nelson expertly and movingly chronicles the myriad, roller-coaster emotions that follow a tragedy, including Lennie's reluctance to box up her sister's belongings and her guilt over bursts of happiness. The portrayal of the teen's state of mind is believable, as are the romanticizing of her absent mother and the brief scenes of underage drinking and sexual exploration. Chapters are typically anchored by brief snippets of Lennie's writings. This is a heartfelt and appealing tale. Girls who gobble up romantic and/or weep-over fiction will undoubtedly flock to this realistic, sometimes funny, and heartbreaking story.

Autism Awareness Month

April is “Autism Awareness Month,” and given the increase in the number of children with autism spectrum disorders (the rate is in constant dispute but some estimate that A.S.D. affects as many as 1 in 110 children), a stack of new books for and about autistic children is to be expected.
“Point to Happy” includes a large hand pointer that readers can use to help identify facial expressions depicted in the book’s photographs.

This year, several of the books look noticeably different, shedding the institutional feel of earlier takes on the subject. The mission remains, but the books look like the kinds of books kids may actually want to read. Read more.

e-Book Era

Two years? Three years? Five years? It's a parlor game in publishing circles to speculate how long it will take before e-books constitute a majority of their industry's sales in the U.S. But whenever that tipping point is reached, no one doubts that's where the market for readers is headed. Amazon, the industry leader, already sells three times as many Kindle e-books as hardcovers. Other book sellers aren't far behind. Last month, the Association of American Publishers announced that for the first time monthly e-book sales had overtaken hardcovers in January. Paperbacks remain in the lead, for now. For the complete article at CNN.com, click here.

The Future of Libraries

The stereotypical library is dying -- and it's taking its shushing ladies, dank smell and endless shelves of books with it. Books are being pushed aside for digital learning centers and gaming areas. "Loud rooms" that promote public discourse and group projects are taking over the bookish quiet. Hipster staffers who blog, chat on Twitter and care little about the Dewey Decimal System are edging out old-school librarians. So, what does this mean for our school library? Let me know your vision of the media center. For more information and the complete CNN article, click here.

VocabAhead

Here's a one stop vocabulary building site that includes levels for all ages including SAT prep for high school students. Videos enhance the learning experience and provide a visual definition of vocabulary words. Also includes iphone apps for more independent practice. VocabAhead

Build Your Vocabulary

Vocabulary Building Games

The Fun Way to Build Vocabulary Skills!
Test Preparation & Vocabulary Building Made Fun
Includes SAT prep!