TEACHERNINJA

Kitchen Confidential

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:13:00 +0000

I finished this book early in the TBR Double Dare because I was waiting for the book club discussion. Then the book club, toward the end of January, was so wonderful that I didn't think I could do it justice. I am also afraid of getting any publicity for the book group or raising interest to a level that it becomes unmanageable. (That won't be a problem this month since the actual meeting date and the one printed on the book store flyers don't match up for some reason.)

There's not much to say about the book. It's been out a while, made Bourdain's reputation as the bad boy, rock and roll food lover he's known as today and catapulted him into various cable travel/food loving shows. You either like him or you don't. I don't know anything in particular about good food and I especially dont' know much about fine restaurants, so I learned a lot and didn't know who he was dishing about when he discusses different well-known restaurant owners, chefs, etc.

First thing is, it's very funny and very profane. Second thing is, he loves the food. Curt Cobain might have been a messed up individual but he obviously loved the music. Bourdain can be messed up but doesn't claim to be anything he's not. He even goes on at length about how exactly to run a kitchen and the absolute do's and don't you must follow as a chef. Then, in my favorite section, shadows another chef near the end of the book whose work he adores and proceeds to see all of his rules not being followed. This by a chef and kitchen he considers leagues better than anything he could do. So while he's a loudmouth, he's a self-aware and, believe it or not, a sometimes humble loudmouth.

Some of the guys in the book club like food quite a bit and so this book was chosen to coincide with our first meeting in a members home. We all signed up to bring some food and/or beverages and let me tell you, it was one of the best meals of my life. Bourdain either inspired them to new heights or we secretly have some chefs in the group.

There was one ringer. The homeowner brought a friend who had done the brisket. It was divine. I might cry a little to myself now just thinking about it. I also brought a friend who had thrown four punds of pork shoulder into a pot and brewed up a Brunswick stew that had been bubbling away for 14 hours. It was like honey, I tell you. The homeowner has one of those big green egg-like ceramic oval cooker things (like this) on a specially built teak table on his deck that had been stuffed with pork. It melted in our fingers. We were pulling it off in chunks as he was carving it.

I know; a meat-induced coma, right? There was plenty of food for the vegetarians as well. Delightful appetizers. A gorgeous and simple fresh salad. A perfectly cooked potato side. More veggies. Home made desserts that were delicious and not overwhelming.

And the wine! My goodness, this guy had racks of it all over the place. I asked him how he could possibly have this much of a backlog? I'd have drunk it as it came in. He smiled and said simply, "I like to entertain." No kidding. He even has a dartboard up in the living room!

I'm no cook, so I made sure to bring good beer. There was also some after-dinner whiskey. All of it was perfection. Especially the company.

Since Bourdain makes frequent references to music in his book, so will I. It was the day Etta James died so we played some of her music during the time we were gathering, noshing and preparing. Then the musicologist of the group stuck in his especially-prepared mix of food-related music. Great stuff indeed, but after we could bring ourselves to push our chairs back I felt it important to play some punk rock, in honor of Mr. Bourdain's preferences. With that fun "Genius" feature on Apple products now, I simply picked a Stooges tune and clicked on the "Genius" magic list maker thingy and soon we had Iggy and the boys, the Sex Pistols, The Buzzcocks, the Clash, etc going while we cleaned up. Then, after dinner was a time for more thoughtful discussion with a backdrop of (only slightly) more mellow fare from the likes of The Black Keys and The John Spencer Blues Explosion.

Books, travel, art, music, good food, good drink, good friends, good conversation and darts. A night to remember.

Cheers!

The Gollywhopper Games

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:47:00 +0000

If I forgot to mention it, Winterdance was not part of the TBR Double Dare. I gave myself that one exception for the book club. Everything else I'm reading until April, including The Gollywhopper Games, counts.

My wife told me about this book a while ago, but I had to squeeze it in now because this won the Georgia Children's Book Award and Jody Feldman is going to be in Athens, GA to accept the award this spring at the conference.

Gil Goodson knows just about everything there is to know about the Golly Toy & Game Company and desperately wants to be a part of the biggest and most exciting yearly contest in the univers, The Gollwhopper Games! Thousands of contestants are quickly whittled down to ten, including (I doubt this is much of a spoiler) Gil. Why does he want to play and win so badly? His dad made him a deal: win the Gollywhopper Games and the family can move away from their town (which happens to be the same town as the toy company headquarters). Turns out his dad had, until the last year and a half or so, been an employee at the company but had been (wrongly, Gil is sure!) accused of stealing ideas and money.

There are some tough competitors, fun puzzles, and delightful Dahl-ish touches in the amazingly absurd company headquarters (one room of which can be seen on the cover). Of course during the course of the games, the truth of what happened to his dad begins to reveal itself and Gil has some decisions to make before things come to a satisfying conclusion.

Highly recommended for those who loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Westing Game and puzzles of all kinds.

Winterdance

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:27:00 +0000

The cover looks all nice and serious, doesn't it? The photograph is by Mr. Paulsen himself. It definitely strikes a man-out-in-nature tone.

That element is not lacking in the book by any means, but after finishing it, you come away with a different tone altogether.

This book is hilarious.

Oh sure, there's terror aplenty. But Paulsen knows better than anyone, that terror and humor go hand in hand and this book is full of absurdities.

I mean, come on. It's about running the Iditarod, for crying out loud. His subtitle is: The fine madness of running the Iditarod. Madness indeed. Do you have any idea how long this race is? It can change year to year, but the most common estimate is 1150 miles. To put that in perspective, that's roughly the same distance between Maine and Florida. Alaska is really really big. Maybe an illustration will help here.

It's not just the length, either. We are talking about some insanely terrible conditions. Oh sure, there is snow and ice and lots of biting dogs and their poop. There are also savagely attacking moose, cliffs, breaks in the ice long stretches where there is no snow to sled on (!), drunken revelers, and places where the temperature gets so low as to be not fit for life. That's not even counting the unpredictable weather that can blow severe storms in at the drop of a snowshoe.

I know, I said this was hilarious and you're far from convinced at this moment. But what this book most reminds me of is Bryson's A Walk In the Woods in which a woefully unprepared author and friend try to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. I've read Bryson's but don't seem have to posted about it. That's okay, my book club has picked it for sometime this year, so I'll write it up then.

So yes, Paulsen decides to run the Iditarod and proceeds to do every single thing wrong that you can think of. He doesn't do any research at all, just plunges right in. The only things he has going for him is his incredible sense for dogs, his inhuman determination, and a whole bunch of just plain dumb luck.

Probably the funniest bit is when he takes the team out on their first night run during training. He's living in northern Minnesota and he's got a team of fifteen pumped up running dogs pulling a freaking car (sans engine) through the woods. At night. You know what else comes out at night in norther Minnesota? Skunks. I badly want to tell you this anecdote, but know I couldn't do it justice. Even if you're not interested in the whole book, do pick up a copy in a library or bookstore and treat yourself to the top of page 82 until page 88. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

The first half of the book is like that. The training and the numbskull mistakes that sometime almost kill him and sometimes just provide onlookers (usually his wife) with something to point and laugh at. He doesn't even get to Alaska until past the halfway point of the book (which is under 300 pages). The second half, the race itself, has just as much hilarity but also more scary challenges to overcome.

At the end we learn that due to a heart condition he won't be able to run the race again (though we also learn he did it at least one other time before the bad news from the doctor). This was published in 1994 and the events described were from about a decade before that. It's okay, he seems to have lived well with his heart condition. He's now in his seventies and has published over sixty books since this one.

An enjoyable book from an entertaining writer about something I never want to do but am so glad he did so he could write about it so well. Highly recommended.

It Takes Flexibility!

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:04:00 +0000

It takes more flexibility than you know to be the school librarian. I posted about this topic earlier in the month for my monthly GLMA post. The past couple of days have been shining examples of this as well.

What would you do if there was an unplanned morning morning meeting that ran right up until you had to run the morning broadcast/announcements show and then you have a slight window of opportunity to set up for an incoming class but as they are walking in the door you realize you can't do the lesson you've planned because of a technical problem. You have a class of 4th graders patiently waiting (if you're lucky) and all you have is a cart with you lesson junk on it (including last week's almanac lesson with a stack of 25 almanacs on the cart). If you're me, then you say, "You liked that almanac lesson so much last week, I've decided to extend it!"

This is commonly referred to as making lemonade.

Now what if it's Monday afternoon and an administrator says, "You always have good ideas. We're having choice professional learning sessions TOMORROW [my emphasis] and I'm short a presenter. Could you throw something together for TOMORROW MORNING? [again, my emphasis added]." You say, "Sure, no problem!" (Probably because you are nuts.)

What would you do? If you're me you think of the most generic librarian presentation you can (hopefully something you've seen many times) and cobble it together quickly using ideas ~~stolen~~ borrowed from presenters you've seen in the past. Web 2.0 it is! Using a pre-made Prezi template, I made this presentation which focused on Google Docs (indispensable and always more to talk about whether the audience uses it or not), Prezi itself (because PowerPoint is evil and since they're seeing it in action, it's easy to show them how to use it), and some other little fun tools. The part on Prezi led to other creative sharing sites like Animoto and Glogster. We also talked about Youtube's new Education site. There were a few more.

Then I made a quick and dirty website to share the links for those interested and...Wham! I look like I know what I'm talking about, people seem happy, and I've already had three teachers in here asking me to show them some of this stuff in more detail for certain educational applications. And not all of the visitors were even at this morning's presentation!

Whew!

You have any examples of working on the fly like that? I'd love to hear how you handled it.

2012 Youth Media Awards: Dear Kidlitosphere...

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:55:00 +0000

Yes, I have the Youth Media Awards live stream up on my laptop in my office. http://www.webcastinc.com/client/ala-webcast/

Yes, I'm also following their Twitter stream @ALAyma

But no, I'm not going to post the list or pictures of the winning book covers. For some reason everyone does that instead of just providing a link. I don't know why this seems necessary to people. If we're in the Kidlitoshpere we follow this stuff. We're not looking to your blog for news. We're looking to your blog for your reactions, your opinions, your commentary. Feel free to pull up a bean bag chair, grab a grape Nehi and let us know what you think.

Enjoy the day and enjoy the news. Congrats to the winners. I may have more to say about this later but right now, just remember, our job isn't about award stickers. It's about getting the right book to the right student. That book, whether it be an international award winner, or the latest full-color offering on Monster Trucks, if it's the just right pick for that kid, then it's the best book of the year to me right then.

I look forward to reading your reactions to the news in...just about one hour now.

The Lost City of Z

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:56:00 +0000

Another book on my shelf conquered! This is, yet again, something that I've been meaning to get around to for some time and finally got to it thanks to C.B. James' TBR Double Dare.

I probably put it off because I already read one great Amazon adventure book, Candice Millard's River of Doubt. That book is referenced more than once by David Grann in this books. And just last year my book club read the amazing Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (an adventure which is also mentioned in the Grann book). But My Lovely Bride enjoyed this and it was just a matter of getting down to it.

I'm glad I did. It's a real page-turner. It tells the tale of British explorer Percy Fawcett who was the inspiration for Conan Doyle's Lost World and Indiana Jones himself. He's not as famous as some other explorers simply because he didn't technically discover any one thing we can point to on a map. But his stamina, courage, and obsession rank right up there with any you can name. He traveled to some major blanks spots on maps that have many things that want nothing more than to see you dead. He did this many times and always came back alive no matter what horrors he had to deal with.

So when he, his son, and his son's friend went to the Amazon one last time in 1925 to find a lost civilization he dubbed "Z," and never returned, it became a hot spot for obsessive adventurers trying to find the famous explorer. Since obsession is what David Grann most likes to write about, he's found a perfect subject. Since he looks about as shlubby as I do and he decided the research for this book should entail him also following in Fawcett's footsteps down to the deep, dark Amazon I wasn't sure how this would go. But it's quite fascinating and he does indeed find some new things to share by following Fawcett's trail.

My favorite part is the contrasting of the so-called uncivilized "savages" who practice cannibalism with the so-called "civilized" Europeans who get caught up in WWI and where Fawcett encounters the real horrors humans beings can inflict on each other. Unfortunately, Fawcett goes down a trail of woo and spiritualism in his later years, but as Grann finds out by talking with an anthropologist towards the end, he did make some decent contributions for a scientific amateur.

Now, off to my book club in which we will feast and discuss Kitchen Confidential. I'll post an update when I've fully recovered.

The Foundling

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:07:00 +0000

This is part of the TBR Double Dare. It's been on my shelf for a while but when I got a job in an elementary school library, I've kind of let my YA reading go. I'm using this challenge, or dare, to make sure I hit some of the YA novels sitting around the house.

This book has a new cover but this is the one I read. It's part one of a trilogy called Monster Blood Tattoo. I'll give you fair warning that it's a fantasy book with maps and an appendix. You'll know right away if that's your thing or not.

Back when my book club did Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, another member and I bonded over Lev Grossman's The Magicians and in the discussion he mentioned The Foundling. So I had to move it up on my TBR stack right away!

It takes place in an alternate steampunkish, Dickensian reality in which people wear tricorn hats, most commerce is by boat and monsters lurk in the shadows. The orphans of Madam Opera's Estimable for Foundling Boys and Girls are raised to become future naval fodder. Our protagonist is a boy saddled with a girls name, Rossamund, because it was written on a note pinned to him when he was found as an infant. He dreams of becoming a naval soldier or monster slayer, but is chosen to become a lamplighter instead. On his journey to report for his new position, he takes a perilous journey meeting not only monsters, but humans as well, some of which can be more treacherous than the monsters. Not all is dark and dangerous, though. There are good people as well, and fascinating sites at every turn. It's the first in a series and it's a satisfying one at that.

Cornish is an Australian artist and the book is filled with his own brilliant illustrations and maps. You can see more of his work at his own website here: http://www.dmcornish.com/

I loved this tale. It's got that perfect balance of the new and the familiar and it's all handled by a storyteller who knows his business. I admit to not going through all the appendices but in the main narrative he does a great job of giving you just enough background on each new character or element without getting bogged down in tiresome detail. But the appendices are there if you crave more detail! There are wonderful themes of the meaning of courage, the mistakes that can be made by us all regarding misjudging other's intentions or abilities based on gender, age, race and, in this case, species.

I know I'll enjoy reading the other two. Someday. After I catch up on my current TBR pile!

The Burglar In the Rye

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:04:00 +0000

You ever have an author you read pretty consistently and then...something happens? You get busy; you get into other things. You still buy some of their books but for some reason you just have other stuff to get to. Then you finally pick up one of their books again and you’re instantly back in their world and remembering all the other books while reading this one?

That’s what happened to me with this book. As part of the TBR Double Dare, I’m pulling things off my shelves that I’ve realized I’ve never read and finally getting around to them. It’s the best resolution I’ve made! I love doing away with reader guilt!

Lawrence Block is an official Grand Master of the mystery genre. He’s got three popular series. Well, he has more, but these three are his most famous: the Matthew Scudder series (my favorite), the Keller series, and the Bernie Rhodenbarr series. Matt Scudder is an ex-drunk ex-cop who, in a gritty series, is an unofficial PI who deals with some serious moral grey areas. Keller is a fun series about a professional killer and stamp collector. Bernie owns an runs an antiquarian bookshop on paper, and that’s how he spends his days. But many nights find his plying his true calling: that of being a burglar. He’s a fastidious and entertaining character who often finds himself breaking into a room with a corpse and having to solve the murder so it doesn’t get pinned on him. He’s the dry-witted Holmes in these situations and his Watson is the hard-drinking lesbian pet groomer next door to the books shop, Carolyn. While the Scudder novels are gritty and hard-bitten, the Bernie books are all lighter than air and Block uses then as an excuse to play with all the usual tropes of these types of mysteries. Scudder can be traced back to Hammett. Bernie back to Agatha. He’s even got the requisite cat in the book shop. The body, while obviously damaged in some way, has already been done away with. There’s rarely ever any on stage violence. It’s a game of wits that many times ends in a moment in which Bernie gets to say, “I’ll bet you’re all wondering why I’ve brought you here.”

This one is a riff on the Salinger letters and bios of the late 90s and early 00s. In this one, a woman asks Bernie to break into the hotel residence of a famous reclusive author and steal his letters before the old editor sells them at auction and has them published.

Of course Bernie gets into the hotel room only to find that someone has just been there, gotten the letters, and done away with the old editor. Bernie gets out; and to make sure the evening isn’t a total loss, steals some high-priced rubies from another hotel room on his circuitous path out of the hotel...and right into the arms of the cops.

So now he has to find the letters, solve more than one murder and clear up some confusion about these multiply-stolen rubies if he wants to stay out of the clink permanently.

With this many balls flying in the air, don’t even bother trying to figure out whodunnit because, well, you’ll never guess and it doesn’t really matter. It’s more about watching the juggling act and enjoying the show. And while you’re at it you’ll learn to appreciate those old writers who have filled our lives with these wonderful books. Not bad for a light mystery.

The Purpose of Education

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:18:00 +0000

From an essay written by Martin Luther king, Jr for his college newspaper in 1947:

"At this point I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction. The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals."

Friday Movie Update

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:27:00 +0000

Did you know I seriously considered becoming a film critic? I even corresponded with Gene Siskel and visited some film schools before deciding to go into education.

Nowadays I don't watch any more films than anyone else. Probably less. But there are three things I do to kind of keep my toe in the water.

The first is, I belong to Atlanta's Cinema Club. The Cinema Club takes place in several cities around the U.S. You pay up front for a "season" of seven films over the next few months. There's a fall/winter season and a winter/spring season. You go in blind, not knowing what you'll see. You get your card punched, get a flyer about the movie you're about to see, and a little pencil and comment card which the production company will get, I suppose to help them market the film. Ours is hosted by Matthew Bernstein, the Dept. Chair of Film Studies at Emory. He's the definition of an affable film-lover. He gives some brief opening remarks letting us know how the crowd responded to the previous film, then gives us just a few comments about what we're about to see. After the film he (or a guest speaker) gives us more in depth comments on the film, then opens it up for discussion. So even if you didn't necessarily like the film, you learn something every time. Kind of like a book club. The films are usually smaller, independent or foreign films. Sometimes we're treated to a guest speaker. This could be another professor with expertise on the subject (an expert in the Middle East spoke after A Separation), another critic (Bob Mondello comes to mind), or even someone from the film itself (the director from Off the Black came to tell us about being intimidated by Nick Nolte).

Then the biggest thing I do is every week (on Fridays) is check the ranking of critical response to current films on Metacritic. Another source for this kind of information is Rotten Tomatoes. This really keeps you up to date on what's out there and what's worth your time and money. I like them because you can see what's doing well or badly with a bunch of critics without having to read their reviews and thereby getting too many preconceived notions before seeing a movie. I often go ahead and add anything I'm interested in to my Netflix queue right then. If I see it in the theater before it comes out on Netflix, I can always drop it, but I sometimes like to see it again anyway.

Then the third thing I like to do is to go back and actually read what the critics say after I've seen the movie and formed my own opinions. This keeps my critical tools sharpened and I often learn a thing or two. Of course if you do this you'll definitely get a feel for critics you generally agree with but I have never found a single one I always one hundred percent line up with, and I think that's a good thing. It means I'm still thinking for myself.

How about you? Seen any good movies lately?

Two Fun Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:57:00 +0000

(via Richard Wiseman)

(via Baby Got Books)

Birthday Party Pre-Planning Craziness

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:14:00 +0000

Harper enjoyed her Hermione costume for Halloween so much that she has requested a Harry Potter-themed party. My Lovely Bride loves the idea because if there's one thing she could do if she couldn't teach, it would be party planning. And she just eats up everything Harry Potter, so I am anticipating much craziness for the next few months.

Yes, months. Her birthday isn't until the end of March!

Now ours, I am sure, will be very cool, but try googling Harry Potter Birthday Party. Just...wow. There are levels of detail and crazy in some of the things I've seen people share about their own kids' HP birthday parties to rival the nuttiest over-the-top Bridezilla.

It should be interesting!

Some of her previous parties.

Another cute picture of her celebrating Harry Potter (before she even really knew what it was).

Hoot

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:56:00 +0000

This is part of the TBR Double Dare! Hoot is a book I’ve been meaning to read for a while. I went through a period in the 90s where I read all the Carl Hiaasen that was out there. Light, funny, insightful and just pure pleasure. Especially if you recognize the craziness from living in Florida.

I’m happy he’s writing books for kids now too. I could totally picture them him subtracting the sex, toning down the violence and keeping the crazy bullies and wacko animals and knew the eco-friendly message would go over well with the kids.

This is pretty much what I imagined. Completely irrational bully: check. Minor eco-terrorism (more like eco-pranks, including a port-a-potty full of baby gators): check. Wacko animal on a rampage: nope! There are the aforementioned gators and some cottonmouths (with glitter paint on their tails--don’t ask; it’s Carl Hiaasen and that’s how he rolls.)

It’s about a middle school boy named Roy who has recently moved to some fictional town in Florida (why can’t I ever remember the names of fictional towns) and notices an intriguing barefoot boy running through people’s lawns on a day when the rest of the kids are on the bus headed to school. He notices this because the previously mentioned bully is strangling Roy and shoving him into the glass window of the bus. It turns out the mysterious running boy believes saving a family of endangered owls from a new pancake house construction site is more important than school. He reluctantly lets Roy in on the scheme which builds to a satisfying, hilarious and relatively unrealistic conclusion. Just like the Hiaasen books written for grown ups!

I understand this was made into a movie but it kind of came and went. You really have to “get” Hiaasen’s sense of humor to make the right kind of film. In the wrong hands this could be a generic happy-go-lucky, aw-shucks family feature, missing the requisite amount of satire, fear, and absurdity.

He’s got another one for the kids called Flush which I’ll definitely be adding to my ever-growing list.

Why So Grumpy? A Response to Travis Jonker

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:03:00 +0000

I just finished reading Fine. I Got an Ereader. Now What? A newbie to digital reading gets his first Kindle by Travis Jonker and I have a few things to say about it. But first, if you haven't yet had the pleasure, go enjoy some time browsing his wonderful blog, 100 Scope Notes. I've been enjoying his enthusiastic take on the world of school librarians and children's literature for the past few years. He doesn't just write blog posts. Well, he does. But he also does much more, like comimg up with highly engaging activities for his readers. He has a love of good book covers and I enjoyed it when he had us all designing our own fictional covers.

He doesn't just love talking about the covers of books. He loves the physical objects themselves. And what librarian doesn't? That's one of the greatest perks of becoming a librarian: we get to buy books with other people's money!

But with all these electronic reading devices floating around, we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't keep track of what's going on with all kinds of different devices and formats. But the problem with Travis is, he went and bought himself one and he doesn't seem to really want one.

I mean, I know why I bought one. I'm a gadgety-gadget-head and love the idea of being able to carry around a whole bunch of books around at once. And with Instapaper or Klip.me I have a ton of free longer articles to read more comfortably than on my laptop screen. And many librarians I know enjoy the benefits of free publishers galley's on their ereaders. I love that no matter how many books and articles I stuff into this thing, it's still only around eight ounces!

Many fellow librarians have been doing the whole keeping-an-eye on these ereaders with the thought that some form of these devices might be coming soon to their libraries. Many of them are getting their hands on one to play with and see what they're all about so they can know what they're dealing with if there is ever an adoption in their district. Some buy them, some just borrow them. Is this why Travis got one? I'm can't be sure.

In the article, he mentions asking around for which device to buy and seems surprised that most people told him to get the one they had gotten for themselves. It's not really a surprise. If you spent a few weeks researching which device to buy, you'd probably share your wisdom by recommending the one you finally chose.

I contacted Travis during this time and tried to be more objective. I don't usually tell someone what to buy. I tell them the benefits of more than one option for differing uses. Be aware, this was late last summer so the Nook Simple Touch was out, but what is now known as the Kindle Keyboard was the only Amazon offering. The raft of new Kindles had yet to come out. I personally had a Kindle and enjoyed it very much. But I told him that if he was getting this in anticipation of previewing it's use for his school library then he should go with a Nook. Many librarians that had gone with a handful of Kindles had subsequently been disappointed with Amazon's policies and had switched over to the Nook. While the Kindle can now borrow from the library, the Nook always had. And at the time of this discussion, the Nook Simple Touch didn't have a clunky keyboard like the Kindle. But I mentioned that I was happy with my Kindle for personal use.

What I don't get is that Travis waited until the new Kindles came out...and still got a Kindle Keyboard! If you look at the photo above, you'll see that both the Kindle Touch and the Nook Simple Touch (both now $99) have touch keyboards. In the article he says the "buttons could use a redesign." They clearly have!

He goes on to list the deficits he sees in his ereader. Not enough free books available at the library. Not everything published is available on the ereader. He can't show off his ebooks like trophies on a shelf. He's worried he might look foolish reading this in public. Don't worry. I'm sure no one would give you a second look.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's not an either/or proposition. I like reading on my Kindle. I like reading physical books. I like audiobooks. I still get books at the library. I still buy physical books. Different books lend themselves to different formats for me.

On the other hand, I know readers who prefer certain formats. I know people who almost exclusively listen to audiobooks. I know others who wouldn't go near an ebook. They need to have a pencil hovering above the pages, ready to scribble and underline.

It's all good and it's all still available. Tailor your reading to your own needs. Don't feel pushed into anything.

I salute Travis and his desire to learn more in an attempt to help his students and staff adopt new formats and expand his knowledge. But if he's going to feel "wary," and "foolish," and "shame" with his own, then I think he might want to put that puppy on eBay and head down to his nearest favorite bookstore.

"What is AR?"

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:15:00 +0000

That was from a comment I got on the blog recently. Since I'm participating in the 2012 Comment Challenge, I'm getting some great comments and questions from some new faces.

I won't go into another diatribe about AR (Accelerated Reader) now because I've done that here and here and here's a good one.

Basically it's an expensive commercial reading incentive program with little research to back it up. Better to spend money on interesting books kids want to read which is a better incentive in itself.

Keep the comments and questions coming!

Thanks,
Jim

Touch Blue

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:41:00 +0000

This one does not count for the TBR Double Dare. I don't own it and I read it before January 1. I got it from the library to see if it was something I should buy for the school library. (It is.)

Cynthia Lord's book Rules is a big hit around here so it'll be easy to get some kids interested in Touch Blue. I've already talked it up to one of our 5th grade teachers who is from Maine and she's intrigued.

It takes place on one of those many island lobstering communities up in Maine. The problem is, a family of five just moved away and there many no longer be enough students to keep their little community school going. Everyone with children would probably have to move to the mainland. Before the first pages of the book, they have come up with what they hope is a happy solution. Some of the families will take in a foster child. That way someone in need will get a place to stay and the school will have enough students.

The problem is, the main character, Tess, is so worried about having to be uprooted and moved somewhere new, she doesn't see that the foster brother she now has, Aaron, is going through exactly that. He's a city kid away from his mother (who we know is trying to get her life back together) and stuck now on an island in the middle of nowhere as far as he's concerned. It's a prison, not an opportunity in his eyes. So Tess and her younger sister's dreams of a boy version of Anne of Green Gables doesn't exactly come true.

It's warmhearted story and Tess does indeed learn to change her perspective and see things from Aaron's point of view. Aaron finally starts breaking down his walls and interacting with his adopted family and community. Unfortunately, Tess is a big woo-woo believer in luck and all it's forms (apparently this has something to do with being from a fishing community) so there's a ton of superstition. The title and every chapter heading refer to some arcane bit of superstitious folklore to gain luck.

It's a well-written, if slightly predictable. The ending was managed well. Realistic and not too pat.

Holiday Reading Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:12:00 +0000

Well, we’ve almost finished all the Sister’s Grimm books with our nightly read-alouds at home. We now have to wait with everyone else for book nine coming out in the spring. My daughter loved them and gave copies away to friends for Christmas so they can catch up and “play Daphane and Sabrina!” Now we’re reading the last How to Train Your Dragon Book. Then it’ll probably be the third Harry Potter because she liked dressing up as Hermione so much that she wants a Harry-Potter-themed birthday in March.

The book club read an unnamed Russian minor classic last month. It remains unnamed because I couldn’t get through the darned thing (and most of the rest of the group didn’t either, including the guy who picked it). But the great thing about our book club is that the book is often a jumping off point for many other wonderful discussions too. And anyway, we had to pick next years books!

We’re doing something special for January. We’re reading Kitchen Confidential and meeting at one of the guys’ houses to cook lots of food and drink to everything. Should be
fantastic. The book was certainly a hoot. I finished it on my holiday travels (along with a few others I have coming up in separate posts). I especially like how Bourdain describes in detail the pirate-like crew and raucus kitchen he runs, telling you exactly the rules you need in place to have everything go smoothly. The he observes another chef’s kitchen and points out how basically every ironclad “rule” he has at his own place is broken here and probably for the better. Even if you don’t cook, you’ll learn some things about what to order (and what now to order) in restaurants and you’ll just learn a whole lot about food in general. It’s also an R-rated romp of excess and hilarity that’s just fun for it’s own sake.

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:18:00 +0000

Well, half of my second year in this elementary school library has passed, hasn't it? Wow, it's going so fast.

The second year is definitely a slight bit easier than the first year. The scheduling is a bit smoother. I know where more things are. Best of all, I know the students and teachers better.

Challenges have been little things. The first Scholastic Book Fair was a bit confusing. We did it at a different time of the year, had two registers instead of one and that let to some frustrating math problems on my part. And I still haven't figured out if it's better to take cash from them or use their "Scholastic Dollars."

Which vendors to use is always a question. It's a juggle between quality, price and ease. No one has it all. I'm trying out a few different ones, but am still looking for the best choice for us.

But hey, we've got lots of new books! Getting to know the people has allowed me to make better choice of what people actually want to read and use for teaching. I only want to buy books that people want. I'm thinking of changing a few rules of thumb I'd made up last year. One was: don't buy bios of people unless they're dead (or at least basically retired or established like Muhammed Ali or Aretha Franklin). That way I don't have embarrassing bios of 80s celebrities to weed. The bios that go along with the curriculum are easy. More Frederick Douglass? Sure, why not. But currently popular sports, singing and acting stars? Nope. They'll go out of date to soon. But we do have a few of these and they do check out quite a bit. So I may buy more of them. I realized, I don't have to worry about longevity as much as I thought since I've started a big weeding campaign. If I buy a book about Justin Bieber and it checkes out 50 times in the next couple of years, it was worth the money even if he drifts into obscurity and I weed in in 2017. It's what some kids (many, actually) want to read about right now and that's one of the main goals isn't it? To have stuff on the shelves they actually want to read? I'm not going crazy with this, but a few well-chosen very popular bios won't break the budget and I'll keep an eye on how they do.

As for the weeding, it's going well. Slower than I'd like but well. I'm hitting the reference section hard right now. I read something recently that recommended getting rid of anything older than five years. I figured I'll try 10-12 and see how that goes. It's going great! Most of that stuff was too hard for elementary kids anyway and sorely out of date. We have access to many great online resources (Britannica, World Book, etc.) so most of that stuff is just collecting dust. I have a 2011 set of elementary Britannicas and a 2006 set of World Books on the shelves, but I don't know if I'll be replacing them or not. I'm keeping my eye on their usage (other than my reference lessons). I'll always keep buying physical kid almanacs, though. They love them.

And of course I think one of my bigger successes this year was once again talking people out of adopting AR. If it comes up again I may implement my own incentive program (which will be tilted more toward reading and less towards incentives) and see if that keeps it at bay. It wasn't actually too hard to fend it off because of money. It's too expensive and we need more books. My weeding campaign will make that more apparent. The more new interesting books circulating, the more kids are reading, the better they do in school, the less I'll hear about AR.

Here's to a great new year for you all!

Bedside Reading? Check!

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:47:00 +0000

Does your kid's nightstand look like this or is my kid just more weird/geeky/awesome? I had the idea for this post a couple weeks ago and snapped this picture. Then I got caught up in getting ready for holiday travel and forgot about it. Then a couple days later I went in and wrote down everything on her nightstand and now I see there are some differences. I can see in the photo she has Smile and a Bad Kitty book that had been finished and replaced by the time I wrote up my list. As you can see, it's ever-changing.

Here's what I scribbled on the notecard:

Lost and Found: Egyptian Mummies and Other Discoveries

JLA: Justice for All (a Justice League of America collection)

Captain Underpants: Attack of the Talking Toilets

The Boxcar Children: Schoolhouse Mystery

National Geographic Kids magazine

National Geographic Kids 2012 Almanac

American Girl magazine

Ladybug Girl

and Miss Rumphius.

I like this wacky mix! Fiction, non-fiction, reference, picture books and magazines. And that doesn't include the books in the basket next to her potty, the books she keeps stashed in both of our cars and whatever we happen to be reading aloud to her. I love this kid!

This Book Is Overdue!

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:59:00 +0000

And the TBR Dare begins! My favorite book blogger, C.B. James over at Ready When You Are, C. B. is hosting a reading dare (rather than "challenge") in which your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read only books you already own between January 1 and April 1. I decided to start early and may go late since I'll be mixing in some book club books as well.

You ever enter a book blogger's book give-away contest? I did! I won The Book of Lost Things from C.B. last year and since he knew I had recently become a school librarian, he added an ARC of this book in the package. So I decided it was the perfect book to kick off me TBR Dare with.

The whole title is This Book Is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson. She seems to be one of those magazine writers who now also write books. Like Jon Krakauer, Mary Roach, and Susan Orleans. I really like that kind of writer and this was no exception.

She uses the metaphor of the frontier to get things kicked off and returns to the idea with a library on a literal (if former) frontier, Deadwood, SD to the virtual frontier of Second Life. In between she follows online blogging librarians, and primarily reference librarians and archivists.

I especially enjoyed the chapter on the Connecticut Four. This would be the Connecticut librarians who, "in 2005, received a national security letter from the FBI demanding information about who had used one of their computers on a particular day" (p. 71). What followed was a bizarre Kafkaesque years-long court case that was a prime example of why the Patriot Act is a bad idea. But of course the participants in the case were not permitted to discuss the case until after that lovely piece of legislation had already been renewed. Moly Ivins and Lou Dubose covered this case in their book Bill of Wrongs in 2007, which I also recommend.

The thing that you get from this book is a sense of optimism for the profession. Yes, things are changing fast. Formats and information needs both. But as the Occupy Wall Street librarians show, along with the amazing translators and archivists and specialty librarians (the Kennel Club has their own library, and it's a doozy!) covered in this book; librarians are here to stay and will help us find exactly what we need.

Thanks, C. B.!

Under the Christmas Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 17:35:00 +0000

So one day a couple weeks ago my daughter had an overnight friend. I was here at my desk and noticed it was quiet. Maybe too quiet. So I thought I better check on these girls. I poked around and didn’t find them until I noticed these under the Christmas tree:

See them? Those are their feet. I leaned over the couch in the living room to get this next shot:

Yup. That’s them. They had tucked themselves under the tree and even gotten pillows so they could be down there reading for a while. I think Harper had instigated this activity because she wants her friend to catch up with her on the Sister’s Grimm series. One day when I picked her up from her friends house I asked her what they’d been playing. “Sister’s Grimm,” she said. “But we can only play from the first book because that’s the one she’s on. I don’t want to give anything away.”

They’re nuts, but lovable and mostly harmless.

Somebody Really Likes Me

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:10:00 +0000

Well at first I thought they can't have very high standards if they let me win one, but then I see that I somehow sneaked onto a list with the likes of Cathy Jo Nelson, Buffy Hamilton, Travis Jonkers, Mrs. Yingling, Leigh Ann Jones, Mr. Schu, Diane Cordell, and Jacquie Henry--mentors and teaching ninjas all.

I don't know who came up with the list, if there was voting or if they're just hawking their teaching degree site but it's always nice to be recognized and it's an honor to be listed in such high company. Lately I've found myself more interested in writing about my reading than my librarianship, but I'll endeavor to correct that in the upcoming year. I usually write my more librarian-related stuff on the GLMA website who has an amazing stable of contributors you will learn much from.

So thank you for the honor, whoever you are, and I will now walk out of my office to accept the challenge of an even bigger honor--helping kids find the right book to read and getting to be their school librarian.

Thanks,
Jim

The Object of Debate

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:20:00 +0000

We are having the staff holiday luncheon in the school library today (don't get me started). There's a table set up for people to set some desserts on. This lovely and crafty item showed up and my clerk asked me who brought it in. I didn't know. She said, "Well, whoever it was, they're white because we [black people] don't do that kind of thing."

True or not true?

I've asked most people that have come through today and so far most people agree with her.

Honestly I'd never thought about it before but it's definitely sparking hilarious conversations.

Cutting the Cable

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:04:00 +0000

So I mentioned in my last post that we cut the cable. It's true. We had a bundle of TV/phone/and internet. I switched the phone to Vonage's most basic plan since we mostly use or cells anyway. Then I took back the HD cable DVR box.

It's not like we don't watch anything. I got a new Blu-Ray player that streams so I have Netflix streaming and Amazon Prime videos plus whatever I feel like renting from Amazon (my daughter and I watched the Muppet Christmas Carol on there for a couple bucks last weekend).

I also still get Netflix discs in the mail. I upped our account to three-at-a-time. I know a whole gob of folks got their panties in a twist about their price hikes and such, but I still love them. I didn't sign up with them in the first place for the streaming and when it came for free it was nice, but not that robust. Of course they would up the price so they could get more content. What they probably should have done is split the companies before the price hike, then it would have made more sense to people. (But that whole "Quickster" thing was plum dumb. Just keep "Netflix" and call the other one "Netflix Instant" or something. Sheesh.) I don't know what's going to happen to them now that the mail service will be slowing down. Guess they'll definitely be pushing more for the streaming side. Which seems to be constantly improving, by the way. We definitely like their new "Just for Kids" area. And no commercials!

Whatever. We did it mostly for cost reasons but it's had the added benefit of us cutting back on television watching. We have to actively decide to sit down an pick a show. No more just "seeing what's on." I've also been playing more Wii with my daughter. (She beats the snot out of me most of the time.)

And more time for reading! Many nights if we've sent discs back and there's nothing in mind to watch that night we'll just read out loud longer before the tuck-in and MLB and I will just knock off early to read.

Still pay for the cable internet, though. Gotta have that, especially now that we're all carrying around more wi-fi devices all the time!

The Never-Get-Bored Machine

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Randolph) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:09:00 +0000

I just read the best and most evenhanded review of the new Amazon Fire tablet over at the Monkey See blog. I remember having high hopes for it for some reason, then hearing many drawbacks in it's design before it came out, then finally being pleasantly surprised when it was finally announced.

I was mostly surprised and delighted that they were also continuing with their dedicated Kindle e-readers as well as trying out a tablet. Previously, it had sounded they would be switching to this new tablet and abandoning e-ink, which seemed a shame. Well, obviously I was wrong to worry.

I would love an iPhone. Mostly because I love my old iPod classic, love having a digital camera at hand and like having a cell phone. With an iPhone I could have all three in one device that could also have a Kindle app on it and become my take-everywhere and never-be-bored device.

But I really can't justify adding a data plan to our monthly expenses for something that's basically entertainment. (We just cut our cable, for crying out loud.) And an iPad is too big to carry around. So the Kindle Fire looked pretty neat. I know there are bad aspects to the company, but I'm mostly very happy with Amazon. But then, I'm mostly happy with Apple and there are bad aspects to their company as well.

So I looked at iPads and the Fire and Nook colors and so on until I was reminded of the iPod Touch. It's not the everything-in-one device the iPhone is. But if you think of it as an iPod plus a whole lot of other amazing things, it will make you happy. It does for me.

It's a better iPod than my old iPod. I used it mostly for audiobooks and podcasts. With the Touch I downloaded an app called Downcast and it magically updates all my favorite podcasts without synching! The music is great of course, but now I find myself listening to Pandora more and that's been great as well. And I can watch all those iTunes U videos now as well!

It's got a camera on it, but it's not any better than a crappy cell phone camera. It does have better video, though, which comes in handy on occasion. I'll have to play with it more. The cool thing is, if you get into the video thing you could download their iMovie app and actually edit the videos right there on the device, then upload them onto youtube or wherever.

I downloaded the Kindle app since it's free, but didn't expect too much. Well, turns out I love it, and this has been the biggest surprise for me. The thing is so light, you almost forget it's in your pocket. So I carry it everywhere. Now I don't know about you, but let's say I've just pulled into a doctor's office parking lot and am about to go sit in a waiting room. Before, I would have to decide if I wanted to bring my Kindle to read with (but risk being annoyed by loud conversationalists) or take in my iPod to listen to something. Now there's no decision to make. This thing is both and more. I also downloaded the Instapaper app and have a ton of articles ready to read as well.

It's much better for reading that I expected. I've read a few things on my wife's iPad and it's fine, but I much prefer my Kindle for that. The big, glowing screen can strain the old peepers after a spell. But while it seems like it should be too small, the little handheld screen on the Touch is perfectly clear and doesn't bother me at all for reading. I still use the Kindle at home, but whenever I'm out and about, I can steal a few minutes of reading here and there throughout the day which has made this a fantastic thing for me. I love it. And I love it more because it's smaller than even the Fire.

To compare: they are both only 8GB for the basic models and are wi-fi only. They're definitely more for consuming than producing media. You can stream video and play games on both of them. You can read books on both of them. They both have browsers. You can watch Netflix and other streaming services on them. The Touch will not stream Amazon Prime content (but I do that on my computer or on my TV so that's cool). But the Touch just feels better designed (remember it's on the 4th or 5th generation while the Fire is still new). And the Touch has cameras. I use it for an alarm clock, weather checker, article reader, book reader, radio, music player, video watching and capturing device and browser. And I take it everywhere, whereas I feel like I'd just leave the Fire at home.

So for just long form reading, I still recommend either e-ink Kindles or a library card (or both). For an iPod, plus access to all kinds of other fun stuff I say get the Touch. Unless, unlike me, you can justify going for the full iPhone experience.