Found this YouTube video via Lucacept.
And Lucacept's discussion about the issues facing libraries lending files (e-books, audiobooks) is most relevant and not, at present, finding answers from publishers.
Watch the video on YouTube here if you the one above doesn't work for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weq_sHxghcg&feature=player_embedded
It's a brilliant video. Brilliant. Bravo DK/Penguin USA.
Cheers
Ruth
PS. And the format of this strikes me as having possibilities for writing, too.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Books written for adults but grabbing teen readers
...before you assume 'adult books' means stuff you find in an 'adult bookshop' - nah. Clicking about in relation to Soulless by Gail Carriger (huge fun, one of my Easter holiday reads) ...
I tripped over the American Library Association's Alex Awards - recognising books that were written for the adult market but have found eager readers among teenagers and young adults. While there's a tad of an American skew (hardly unsurprising), it's still a handy little collection development tool. There are links on the pages to the Alex Awards in 2009 and earlier years, so you can hunt back through for possible additions to your school library.
Another on the 2010 list is the dark graphic novel Stitches: a memoir by David Small, which I bought on the recommendation of Paul McDonald of the Children's Bookshop in Beecroft.
I don't have a separate 'senior' section or stickering (kids in my school are years 7-12, or about 11-18 years old); what I do for the occasional book is have a note in the back next to the date due slip (where whichever staff member is lending out the book will see it) with a wording that goes something like, "Dear Reader, if you are in Years 7,8,9 or 10, you will need to consult the teacher librarian before borrowing this book." I figure this means we can chat about those which may need chatting (eg. the Year 7 boy who wanted to borrow The Time Traveler's Wife on the basis of the time travel bit, rather than realising quite the marital detail involved in the wife bit). It also means those in search of titillation (hey, a Senior Book - it must have Good Bits!!!) have a hard road to hoe, as they don't have external cues (separate section or stickering) to help them on their way. If a junior kid is dead keen to borrow a book with this note in it, one option is to phone the parents/guardians and discuss the matter, and this usually ends up being a productive road to a solution.
Two novels I've read in the last couple of years which fell on the Yup and Nope sides of my collection development: although Love like water was a shortlisted book in the Children's Book Council Awards in the older reader category a couple of years ago, it has been borrowed not much if at all. I read it, and thought the age of the main characters (around their early twenties) and their activities and preoccupations made it much more of a book interesting to young adults rather than high school age kids; I wasn't brought to care much about the characters or what happened to them. I've included it in displays, had it on my face-out book stand and so on, but it just doesn't find friends. If I'd read it before buying (and let's face it, you can't read everything before buying), I don't think I would have. So it's a Nope. Last hols I read Melina Marchetta's new book, The piper's son, a few-years-later sequel to Saving Francesca. I'm much more confident that this will find readers, and not only because it's a sequel. While it too is suited to older high school students, it's more engaging in its storytelling, drawing you in and along. The characters are in their early twenties, but more accessible and engaging, the focus of the book more positive than the underlying negativity I felt while reading Love like water. I read the Marchetta book before adding it to the collection, wanting to be aware of its content, and it's a definite Yup.
Cheers
Ruth
image source for Soulless
image source for Stitches
I tripped over the American Library Association's Alex Awards - recognising books that were written for the adult market but have found eager readers among teenagers and young adults. While there's a tad of an American skew (hardly unsurprising), it's still a handy little collection development tool. There are links on the pages to the Alex Awards in 2009 and earlier years, so you can hunt back through for possible additions to your school library.
Another on the 2010 list is the dark graphic novel Stitches: a memoir by David Small, which I bought on the recommendation of Paul McDonald of the Children's Bookshop in Beecroft.
I don't have a separate 'senior' section or stickering (kids in my school are years 7-12, or about 11-18 years old); what I do for the occasional book is have a note in the back next to the date due slip (where whichever staff member is lending out the book will see it) with a wording that goes something like, "Dear Reader, if you are in Years 7,8,9 or 10, you will need to consult the teacher librarian before borrowing this book." I figure this means we can chat about those which may need chatting (eg. the Year 7 boy who wanted to borrow The Time Traveler's Wife on the basis of the time travel bit, rather than realising quite the marital detail involved in the wife bit). It also means those in search of titillation (hey, a Senior Book - it must have Good Bits!!!) have a hard road to hoe, as they don't have external cues (separate section or stickering) to help them on their way. If a junior kid is dead keen to borrow a book with this note in it, one option is to phone the parents/guardians and discuss the matter, and this usually ends up being a productive road to a solution.
Two novels I've read in the last couple of years which fell on the Yup and Nope sides of my collection development: although Love like water was a shortlisted book in the Children's Book Council Awards in the older reader category a couple of years ago, it has been borrowed not much if at all. I read it, and thought the age of the main characters (around their early twenties) and their activities and preoccupations made it much more of a book interesting to young adults rather than high school age kids; I wasn't brought to care much about the characters or what happened to them. I've included it in displays, had it on my face-out book stand and so on, but it just doesn't find friends. If I'd read it before buying (and let's face it, you can't read everything before buying), I don't think I would have. So it's a Nope. Last hols I read Melina Marchetta's new book, The piper's son, a few-years-later sequel to Saving Francesca. I'm much more confident that this will find readers, and not only because it's a sequel. While it too is suited to older high school students, it's more engaging in its storytelling, drawing you in and along. The characters are in their early twenties, but more accessible and engaging, the focus of the book more positive than the underlying negativity I felt while reading Love like water. I read the Marchetta book before adding it to the collection, wanting to be aware of its content, and it's a definite Yup.
Cheers
Ruth
image source for Soulless
image source for Stitches
Monday, April 26, 2010
Twilight Eclipse film/movie trailer #2
Find the Twilight Eclipse teaser trailer via this link.
As of the weekend, you can see the Twilight Eclipse trailer no. 2 (longer, at 1.39 minutes!).
Link to the above (on TrailerSpy):
http://www.trailerspy.com/trailer/9315/The-Twilight-Saga-Eclipse-Trailer-HD
Newborn vampires emerging from lakes! More Romantic Tension! Extensive Sighing from young gels!!
Australian release date: 1 July 2010.
Cheers
Ruth
As of the weekend, you can see the Twilight Eclipse trailer no. 2 (longer, at 1.39 minutes!).
Link to the above (on TrailerSpy):
http://www.trailerspy.com/trailer/9315/The-Twilight-Saga-Eclipse-Trailer-HD
Newborn vampires emerging from lakes! More Romantic Tension! Extensive Sighing from young gels!!
Australian release date: 1 July 2010.
Cheers
Ruth
The happy life of teacher librarians: an opinion on graphic novels
Well, as blogged earlier this one's out and about and providing some succour to the Twilightery while they await the Bree Tanner Twilight novella and the film of of Eclipse. Even avid Twilight-haters who love graphic novels grudgingly agreed that it was well-drawn - mostly monochrome, with splices of colour for specific effect/impact.
I've blogged here about other graphic novels (click the tag to see other entries) and will continue to add them to the school library, where plenty of kids are reading and enjoying them. The happy life of teacher librarians of course involves buying things to suit the customers, whether or not they're setting you on fire personally (and of course metaphorically). (Well, I'd rather nothing actually did that with matches).
As the personal opinion of an (I'll admit it) middle-aged teacher librarian, can I just say that I find graphic novels rather too aerobic? Perhaps it is my long years of reading print/text, but graphic novels go by flickety flick, page turning much faster than a print novel. While I don't mind seeing things illustrated, flickety flick, and have heard at least once that a picture is worth a thousand words, flickety flick.... y'know, with graphic novels, for my taste, I'm not so sure flickety flick. I think, by and large, I'd rather have the images in my head than on a page flickety flick. All that constant page turning flickety flick isn't restful reading, at least for me. Reading is only an aerobic activity if it also involves a treadmill - and then it's the treadmill that's aerobic, not the book.
Am I the only one who thinks this???
Cheers
Ruth
Sunday, April 25, 2010
How a book cover is designed (Blameless, by Gail Carriger)
One of my holiday reading books was Soulless, by Gail Carriger. In a most useful comment, Tehani Wessely gave a link to this YouTube video, which shows the design process for the third book in the Parasol Protectorate series, Blameless (Soulless, Changeless, Blameless comprise the series so far). So, in case you don't read the comments on my blog as assiduously as I do...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoDCiTsS7dU . One to share with Visual Art teachers, English teachers...
Here are the three Parasol Protectorate covers so far. I do rather like the combination of vintage and modern.
Cheers (and many thanks, Tehani!)
Ruth
PS. I do rather like the moment in the video when they go ooops, the Eiffel Tower has to go - and also watching cars being erased. Fascinating to see the process of graphic design.
PPS. Blameless isn't out till September. Having really enjoyed the first two, I'll be definitely reading it. How could one not wish to know more about Alexia Tarabotti? And parasols, vampires, dirigibles, werewolves and so forth?
PPPS Gail Carriger has one of the best author bio pieces I've read:
Ms. Carriger began writing in order to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning. Ms. Carriger then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She now resides in the Colonies, surrounded by fantastic shoes, where she insists on tea imported directly from London. She is fond of teeny tiny hats and tropical fruit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoDCiTsS7dU . One to share with Visual Art teachers, English teachers...
Here are the three Parasol Protectorate covers so far. I do rather like the combination of vintage and modern.
source of images is the author's website, www.gailcarriger.com
Cheers (and many thanks, Tehani!)
Ruth
PS. I do rather like the moment in the video when they go ooops, the Eiffel Tower has to go - and also watching cars being erased. Fascinating to see the process of graphic design.
PPS. Blameless isn't out till September. Having really enjoyed the first two, I'll be definitely reading it. How could one not wish to know more about Alexia Tarabotti? And parasols, vampires, dirigibles, werewolves and so forth?
PPPS Gail Carriger has one of the best author bio pieces I've read:
Ms. Carriger began writing in order to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning. Ms. Carriger then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She now resides in the Colonies, surrounded by fantastic shoes, where she insists on tea imported directly from London. She is fond of teeny tiny hats and tropical fruit.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Scott Westerfeld
If I wanted to prepare the pretty-much-ultimate-and-authoritative blog entry on Scott Westerfeld. You know, Uglies,
Peeps
Leviathan.
You know, don't you? Yup.
Well, I wouldn't bother writing it, because the fabulous folk at CMIS have done it. Their Tuesday Spotlight on Scott Westerfeld is all you need.
I'm off to scull a Diet Coke and read the newspaper. My work here is done.
Cheers
Ruth
image source: www.bookdepository.com
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Images + quotes on Learning and Change
Spotting this on the ever-useful Bright Ideas blog, I followed the link to find the Flickr group called Great Quotes on Learning and Change. Lots of PowerPoint ready image+quote combos for staff development (and student applications too). Check each individual image's page in Flickr to see the possible use under copyright (eg. which rights are reserved, if has a Creative Commons license etc) before using it.
Also useful to give ideas for developing your own versions of this style of PowerPoint slide with your own photo/quote combos.
Cheers
Ruth
who once put together a fabulous presentation with what I thought was a lovely changing waterplay background using a series of photos of a water feature from outside an art gallery. Great source, eh? Someone enquired which sewer I had photographed...... sigh. Cain't win 'em all, can you?!!
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