If you’ve followed this blog at all, you know that I loved every book in The Hunger Games trilogy as well as the movie. I put a lot of effort into having an event at both my schools to celebrate it. But I also think it’s OK to make fun of the things we love. And Harvard Lampoon, a parody franchise, has provided us HG fans that opportunity.

They have a book out entitled The Hunger Pains. While I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, the online trailer, which closely mimics the HG movie trailer, is pretty darned funny. I’m too cheap to pay WordPress for the option of embedding video here—especially since you can’t view it at school anyway while YouTube is censored. But here is the link to a good laugh: http://youtu.be/GjPTnW7bYUQ.

There’s also a blooper reel to this book trailer, not quite as funny, but a little chuckle: http://youtu.be/lr9LwM9OoQ0.

Study for your finals and then break with this. Good luck with all your tests!

Last thoughts on how the book connects to educators

Places to find more information

I want to create three posts on where to look while we think about how we are changing—guideposts and cool stuff to use along the way. My goal is to have the positive, the negative, and the truth that lies between them. The first of the three posts was about online resources. This, the second, is on books. The third will be a counterpoint to the idea (expressed in That Used to Be Us) that poverty has no effect on educational success.

Some Books

One of the main points of these bestselling books on the current state of life is that the IT revolution has changed the way we do business, the way we educate our kids and the way we communicate and connect with each other. The list is for anyone interested in who we are and where we’re going—these run the political/social gambit. Some of these are the publisher’s summary. If it’s hyperlinked, I reviewed it and you can click for a longer look at the book.

Millennials and K-12 Schools

Millennials includes a discussion of Baby Boomers and of Generation Xers as they were when they were students and as they are now as teachers and school administrators. Millennials—the students who are now in our high schools and are just becoming old enough to be teachers themselves—are contrasted against these earlier generations. As their lives and attitudes are different from previous generations, schools that hope to give them the best education need to take into account just how they differ. Millennials also discusses how to cope with their parents.

Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do about It

In his introduction, Gallagher, an English teacher, introduces the term ‘readicide’ “because it cuts to the central ironic thesis of this book: rather than helping students, many of the reading practices found in today’s classrooms are actually contributing to the death of reading.” Gallagher discuss how we can turn the trend around. He uses data to show that schools are more interested in nurturing test-taking skills than in nurturing a love of reading. We limit positive reading experiences; we overteach pleasure reading books (which should just be read, not studied!); we underteach classic books (so that they are too confusing–and students hate them and give up).

A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting

Hara Marano, editor-at-large and the former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today, has been watching a disturbing trend: kids are growing up to be wimps. They can’t make their own decisions, cope with anxiety, or handle difficult emotions without going off the deep end. Teens lack leadership skills. College students engage in deadly binge drinking. Graduates can’t even negotiate their own salaries without bringing mom or dad in for a consult. Why? Because hothouse parents raise teacup children–brittle and breakable, instead of strong and resilient. This crisis threatens to destroy the fabric of our society, to undermine both our democracy and economy.

The Post-American World

Zakaria (Time magazine editor-at-large and host of CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”) updates his discussion of the relative decline of American global power in order to take into account the impact of the economic crisis of the late 2000s and other recent developments, which have only accelerated the transition to the “post-American” world and the rise of new powers in Zakaria’s estimation.

Thinking Fast and Slow

Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of 2011,  a Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011,  Title One of The Economist ‘s 2011 Books of the Year,  one of The Wall Steet Journal ‘s Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011,  LA Times Best Books (Current Interest)

Daniel Kahneman, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his seminal work in psychology that challenged the rational model of judgment and decision making, is one of our most important thinkers. His ideas have had a profound and widely regarded impact on many fields–including economics, medicine, and politics–but until now, he has never brought together his many years of research and thinking in one book. In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow , Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think.

A Whole New Mind

Explores how the business world is changing in the twenty-first century, becoming more “right-brain” based and allowing people more creative and artistic than earlier generations succeed more than those with left-brain dominance.

Start Something That Matter

Love your work, work for what you love, and change the world–all at the same time.

Should you focus on earning a living, pursuing your passions, or devoting yourself to the causes that inspire you? The surprising truth is that you don’t have to choose-and that you’ll find more success if you don’t. You don’t have to be rich to give back and you don’t have to retire to spend every day doing what you love. You can find profit, passion, and meaning all at once- right now. In Start Something That Matters, Blake Mycoskie tells the story of TOMS, one of the fastest-growing shoe companies in the world, and combines it with lessons learned from such other innovative organizations as method, charity: water, FEED Projects, and TerraCycle.

Fubarnomics

Taking his title from the slang expression FUBAR, “(f…..) up beyond all recognition,” Wright (political economy, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD) presents accessible analyses of the dysfunctional state of the American economy with a bit more blame on the left than the right.

Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way:

What makes us happy? Circling the globe to study the world’s happiest populations, Buettner has spotted several common principles that can unlock the doors to true contentment with our lives. Working with leading researchers, Buettner identifies the happiest region on each of four continents. He explores why these populations say they are happier than anyone else, and what they can teach the rest of us about finding contentment. His conclusions debunk some commonly believed myths.

(Note: I didn’t get a chance to review this one, but it’s an eye-opening read in terms of education and how the U.S. is always being faulted for not doing as well on standardized tests as small northern European countries. Their systems are completely different—and as Thrive shows, they are well-oiled through a Nanny State model. I’m not arguing for or against a Nanny State, but as that is something regarded as anathema to those who criticize public education, we would do well to point out that our citizens are unwilling to pay the taxes that grease education in those countries held up as models–where up to two-thirds of  income goes to taxes. In addition, these countries scoff at our focus on standardized testing and have done very well without turning their schools into cash cows for test creators. We just have a completely different way of doing things.

Just announced! This year’s California Young Reader Medal Winner!

The California Young Reader Medal is a special award because unlike most other book awards, students nominate the books through their teachers and/or librarians. Students choose the winner by reading and voting for their favorite book in each category.

This year’s winner is Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

I love to see what teens will choose. I read this novel (review is here) and could immediately see why teens would like it–the protagonist is a very strong girl and the world she lives in is magical–but for my own part, I found it repetitive and an exercise in adverbs-gone-wild. And this is why it’s good to have an award that teens choose themselves. And it’s also why I love the idea that we have a library and the opportunity to choose what we want to read, not just cram for tests.

Exercise your FREADOM right here in our library. I bought multiple copies of Graceling just after I read it–thought it might be a hit!

I loved a couple of things that Gayle Brandeis, our guest author for the student writers’ conference on March 28,  had  to say about being a writer.

She spoke about her toddler son, and how motherhood–walking with a child who stops to explore the world–helps her to “slow down and see things in a new way.” She also mentioned one of the most important things a writer can do: “Read as much as you can–other writers’ words free you.” (I truly believe that whether you are a writer or not, writers’ words free you, teach you, give you examples of how to deal with life and all its drama–which is why I decided to be a teacher librarian, in the hope of bringing that fREADom to others.)

Seeing in a new way is the difference between a mediocre writer and a good one. In fact, writing itself will help you “explore the world with creativity and freshness.”

While I was thinking about writers and student opportunities for creativity, I opened my Sunday newspaper to find an article in the book review section about Figment, a “literary site for teens . . .launched in December 2010.” The managing editor, Jacob Lewis describes it as “‘a user-generated platform.’” Their slogan is ‘write yourself in.’ They are receiving the Innovator’s Award at the LA Times’ Book Prizes at this year’s Book Festival.

“‘Young writers want a place to experiment, to take a risk and get a response,’” observes [Dana] Goodyear [New Yorker staff writer], “to have that daring feeling of putting themselves out there.” Because of this, she adds, it’s key that Figment function as part of “their creative lives” — a telling choice of phrase that suggests the credit the site gives its users, the faith that they are serious about their work. This in itself is a radical concept, in a culture that tends to think of teenagers in terms of market share.

To read the entire article, go here. To go to Figment and try it out, go here.

As I think about creative opportunities for teens, I hope that those of you who find creative expression in writing will come out to our Open Mic Night at COHS on Thursday, April 12 (7:00-8:30 PM) or to the Ovitt Open Mic Night (downtown library–closer to Chaffey) on Wednesday, April 11 (5:00-6:30 PM) and read your best poetry.  We’ll have prizes and refreshments. Let’s honor the creative soul within!

Thanks to the students who came to the writers’ conference, with a special thanks to so many students from LOHS, who had a bit of a drive. (I wanted to post your pictures, but only have permission from one parent, so maybe next time!)

http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/03/24/the-hunger-games-book-movie/

I had fun at our Hunger Games event last week.  A fun way to celebrate the books before the movie. Thanks to those who came! Thanks to the PE Department for the use of their targets! Thanks to Ms. Furchner for her art skills in painting the cornucopia! Thanks to the public library for the ‘cross bows’ and the buttons! A special thanks to Mrs. Thomas, who is doing field work for her teacher librarian credential. She came up with great PowerPoint displays and all those tough trivia questions on both Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

I’m getting excited about our Hunger Games challenge!

We’ll have prizes for the physical challenge and prizes for your knowledge of any of the three books in the trilogy. (Hint: the questions are hard, so look back over the books.)

Don’t worry if you don’t win a challenge. There will be something for everyone, as well as a raffle for more nice prizes.

Come by the library reference desk to pre-register.

May the odds be ever in your favor!

We have new books for new readers!

Are you learning to read?

The Dark Man books are for you.

If you are already a reader who is working on your reading skills,  the next few posts will be for you. We have more Night Fall series books, more Southside series books and some really good Orca titles. Stay tuned!

Don’t lose those grade-level gains you worked so hard to make all year long! Reading over the summer prevents the traditional summer loss of reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. And it’s so easy—a virtually stress-free, fun way of learning. Just pick out a few good books and get started. I’ve put together a great list of summer books using recommendations from the best sources. I plan on reading and reviewing these books all summer long. 

Join me! As you read, feel free to make comments on any of the books by clicking the comment link on the review. All of the books I’ve picked out are available in multiple copies from the Ontario City Library at both the Colony and Ovitt branches. And don’t forget—any that you read will count toward the Ontario City Library’s summer reading program, so you can pick up some prizes as you go. If the title of the book is hyperlinked, I’ve already reviewed it, and you can make comments now. For the titles that are not—I’m reading! Check back soon!

This summer’s theme:

Compassion and Camaraderie

(Life is full of bullies—let’s understand each other)

Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak

Wintergirls

Twisted

Catalyst

(Don’t miss Anderson’s moving poem/tribute to the readers of Speak. She reads it here.)

John Green

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

An Abundance of Katherines

Paper Towns

Looking for Alaska

(He’s a video blogger, too—see him here.)

Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why

Sarah Dessen

What Happened to Goodbye?

Lock and Key

Just Listen

Gayle Forman

If I Stay

Where She Went

. . .

Genre Fiction for Fun:

Fantasy

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher (sequel to Incarceron)

Fire by Kristin Cashore (This is the sequel to Graceling)

Eon and Eona by Alison Goodman

Sword Fighting and Combat

Ranger’s Apprentice Series by John Flanagan

Horror for Guys

The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer

Sports

Heat by Mike Lupica

(and if you like the book, Mike Lupica has a lot of good sports books)

Historical Fiction

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Try a Classic:

Dracula

Frankenstein

Things I Just Want to Read for No Particular Reason:

Matched by Ally Condie (VOYA best Sci-Fi of the year)

Unwind by Neal Schusterman

Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender