That sort of says it all, don't you think?
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
You're Never Too Old For SEUSS
Theodor Geisel - known internationally as the writer Dr. Seuss - is a legend in the world of children's picture books, not because his illustrations are the best (they've become so beloved, who cares?) but because of the rhythm and rhyme he brought to the language. [I must note that the previous statement is mine, and not necessarily the only opinion. In reading the Wikipedia article on him, it shows that his artwork was rather central to everything he did in life.]
Almost everyone, from pre-schoolers to near-retirees, can tell you about their favorite Dr. Seuss book - or books. They are classics, the touchstones of childhood, the memories of being read to or reading on our own for the first time.
And now there is a new book!!!
A Seussologist (expert on Dr. Seuss writings) re-discovered a series of stories that Seuss wrote and published in Redbook magazine in the early 1950's. Since magazines don't generally last 60 years, most people have never even heard of these stories. Seven of them have been collected into a new book called The Bippolo Seed, which will be published September 27th of this year.
And there ARE original Seuss drawings! The magazine stories included smaller drawings, that have been resized and recolored (see picture - you can just see a magazine with multiple illustrations, and one of them - in the top right - is reproduced larger in the book).
You can read a short article from the L.A. Times for information.
Sneaky Contest: For my students, who are just now being introduced to this blog - the first one of my students to comment on this blog with ANOTHER pseudonym (pen name) that Dr. Seuss used, and one of the titles published under that name, will receive a small prize from me. Remember, NEVER use your full name to post - try using your initials, part of your first name, or something else that is Internet safe. I'm calling this a sneaky contest, because I am only announcing it here. Let's see if any of you read this far.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Book Browsing in the Digital Age
When I was in school, there were a few tried and true ways to find a book that I wanted to read. I could go to the library and wander through the shelves. I could go to a bookstore and do the same thing. My friends could tell me about a book they liked. Or I could actually listen in class when someone gave a book review. But that was mostly it. I knew that big city newspapers published professional book reviews, but I didn't figure that we liked the same kind of books.
Things are a little different now.
Here's just one example. I get an email from Amazon with the "Best Books of..." lists. Usually, they send one every month, then one for the year. The monthly list has about 10 adult books, plus a Young Adult book, a picture book, and a middle grade book.
Here is information that I received in the August list:
The Young Adult literature pick for August is Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25. Here is their summary.
If you click on the link to the Amazon page for this book, you can get all kinds of information - how long it is, professional reviews, customer reviews, and even take a look inside and read a short sample. But the thing that I've started really enjoying are the book trailers. They are like movie trailers (previews), short videos to build interest in the book. This is a newish thing, so they aren't all as good as movie trailers yet. And it doesn't mean that this book is being made into a movie, or that these are the actors. It's just a book trailer.
This is exactly how I discovered Beautiful Creatures, which was the highest ranked YA book on the Best 100 Books of 2009. I saw the list, I clicked the link, checked out descriptions, and watched the trailer.
It's a little different than browsing the shelves in the library. For one thing, I can do it in the middle of the night. Barefoot.
Things are a little different now.
Here's just one example. I get an email from Amazon with the "Best Books of..." lists. Usually, they send one every month, then one for the year. The monthly list has about 10 adult books, plus a Young Adult book, a picture book, and a middle grade book.
Here is information that I received in the August list:
When Michael Vey finds Taylor, a cheerleader with special powers just like him, they embark on an investigation to determine why they're so different--but time is running out. There are others who want to control these special teens in Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25, a rollicking new thriller by bestselling author Richard Paul Evans.
If you click on the link to the Amazon page for this book, you can get all kinds of information - how long it is, professional reviews, customer reviews, and even take a look inside and read a short sample. But the thing that I've started really enjoying are the book trailers. They are like movie trailers (previews), short videos to build interest in the book. This is a newish thing, so they aren't all as good as movie trailers yet. And it doesn't mean that this book is being made into a movie, or that these are the actors. It's just a book trailer.
This is exactly how I discovered Beautiful Creatures, which was the highest ranked YA book on the Best 100 Books of 2009. I saw the list, I clicked the link, checked out descriptions, and watched the trailer.
It's a little different than browsing the shelves in the library. For one thing, I can do it in the middle of the night. Barefoot.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
OMG! Summer camp for bookworms!
In my first non-Harry Potter post on this blog, I just have to share with you an article I just read about the Thalia Kids’ Book Club Camp in New York City. I never knew that anything like this even existed. Of course, it's in New York, and that's not something that people from Arkansas (or Oklahoma, where I grew up) can take advantage of easily, but I still think it's a really neat idea.
The camp has 15 (!!) authors and illustrators of children's, middle grade, and young adult books signed up to participate in the camp. And the campers don't just read, they get a chance to write with real authors. How cool is that?
Check out this story about Book Club Camp here.
I wonder if they take adults?
Check out this story about Book Club Camp here.
I wonder if they take adults?
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Pottermore Day Three: VICTORY!!!
Thank Goodness! The powers that be at Pottermore have taken pity on the obsessed fans of the world. After reading tweets and posts for two days from people who were pulling all nighters and ignoring family and jobs, they threw us a small crumb. Yesterday, they announced on the official Pottermore blog that, although they wouldn't tell us the exact time the clue would appear, it would happen sometime between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm British time. Finally, I had a target.
Have you done the math yet? Do you see where this is going?
In order to be up and ready from the start, I went to bed just after 10:00pm last night, and set my alarm for 2:52am. That's right. TWO. That number just before three. For the last two nights that has been closer to the time I was going to bed. But I needed to be awake for up to 4 hours (until 7), so I figured I'd better sleep first.
Yes, I'm this crazy. It's summer. It's the biggest book series in the last 15 years. Why not get swept up in the excitement?
Only it wasn't so exciting, when it was 3:10 and I'm just hanging out on the computer, hitting refresh and reading tweets from other crazies. [I especially liked "Sleep is for Muggles."] I had to find something to do.
So I blogged. Not here, obviously, but on my teaching blog. It got long and involved, and required much linking to education articles and finding of images. But it kept me busy, and I was only checking Pottermore every 10 minutes or so.
Then, at 5:02 a.m., I hit refresh and saw this!
Now, let me pause here (I know, I'm evil) to say how much I appreciate the Pottermore site for knowing who they are. Translation: the Magical Quill Challenge is not about the Harry Potter mythology, nor the films. It's about the books! And each of the clues can only be solved by referring to the books. I hope that they will one day post all the clues online, because it is just fun to solve them. [See bottom of post for more on the clues. I really should get back to the exciting part.]
So, with my book handy, I turned to Chapter 15, The Quidditch Final. (Yes, I had already reviewed the chapter titles! Did you think I was just blogging for two hours?). I found the answer, multiplied it by the required number - I even used a calculator, which I don't usually do, but I was excited, didn't know how much time I would have to get in, and didn't want to mess it up. Then I put the resulting number at the end of the URL, and came to this page.
Then I put it in again, thinking I had done something wrong. The Guardian is a newspaper in the UK, and I didn't need more information about the site. I needed to find the Magical Quill! And if you think this is easy, try it on 4.5 hours sleep. But wait, what is that on the right? See that magenta box that says Pottermore? It's animated. It's changing! Now it says:
It is not dignified to tell you how excited a woman "of a certain age" can get in the middle of the night/early morning, but I was pretty excited. What next? the box changed again.
OK, OK, I'm wiggling my cursor around a bit, like the little finger (which moved back and forth, by the way) showed me to do. The quill would rise gently, then sink, and I'd get a message saying I hadn't levitated the quill, try again. Over and over. I'm panicking - got to get this quill to levitate! - and it still doesn't work. I wonder if it is because I have a Mac, so I run to a PC laptop that was asleep across the room and tried there. Hurry, hurry! Still no luck. Back to the Mac, and I'm desperately waiving my cursor around and it finally goes a little higher. That's it! You have to do this FAST. I waive furiously, the quill climbs higher and higher until: Congratulations! (sorry, all that waiving kept me from getting a screen shot, until the animation had already changed to this).
I clicked on the link and got back to the Pottermore site. Only this time it said that I could now register. I clicked the button, and it took me to a page with questions for registration. Not much to tell here, except that after all this, I wasn't allowed to sign in for myself! My son, who left for camp yesterday, is just discovering the books for the first time. He wanted a Pottermore entry, so I signed in for him. Then I got to see his name, written in the book of magical children, right above Harry's and Ron's. : )
The Pottermore site is very aware that children of all ages may be visiting, so they have taken the time to implement a very good internet safety policy. This requires that they, not you, will create a username. But to make it a little better, they create five, and let you choose the one you like best. All of them end in a number (so maybe they use some more than once), and usually are two words from the books or the magical world. For instance, I had to choose between CastleQuill##, ScarletSpell##, SeerHeart###, ThestralFeather##, and FlooShadow### for my son. Which would you have chosen?
Once that was done, and I proved that I was human by squinting at one of those annoying Captcha things, I pressed "Create this Account." They told me they would send an activation email to my email (if you are under a certain age, the site does not ask for your last name, and sends all emails to your parents.
Then I was supposed to wait.
But hold on! Remember that PC laptop across the room. I ran back over, levitated that quill almost off the page, and went through the whole process again. I didn't get nearly as good a choice of usernames as my son. One of them was actually StrikeSnidget! No, thanks!
Once the emails came, I clicked the activation button, and it confirmed that I had activated my account. Then it let me sign in! - but just for one more screen.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
___________________
If you are reading this, and I'm not sure why you would be, because I've told very few people, and you want to join the early Pottermore experience, they have again tried to make it easier on you. The official blog said that tomorrow's (Wednesday's) clue will be posted between 2:00 and 6:00 pm British time. That's 8-12noon Central Time in the US. You guys have it so easy.
Better get some sleep. Good luck, y'all.
Have you done the math yet? Do you see where this is going?
In order to be up and ready from the start, I went to bed just after 10:00pm last night, and set my alarm for 2:52am. That's right. TWO. That number just before three. For the last two nights that has been closer to the time I was going to bed. But I needed to be awake for up to 4 hours (until 7), so I figured I'd better sleep first.
Yes, I'm this crazy. It's summer. It's the biggest book series in the last 15 years. Why not get swept up in the excitement?
Only it wasn't so exciting, when it was 3:10 and I'm just hanging out on the computer, hitting refresh and reading tweets from other crazies. [I especially liked "Sleep is for Muggles."] I had to find something to do.
So I blogged. Not here, obviously, but on my teaching blog. It got long and involved, and required much linking to education articles and finding of images. But it kept me busy, and I was only checking Pottermore every 10 minutes or so.
Then, at 5:02 a.m., I hit refresh and saw this!
Now, let me pause here (I know, I'm evil) to say how much I appreciate the Pottermore site for knowing who they are. Translation: the Magical Quill Challenge is not about the Harry Potter mythology, nor the films. It's about the books! And each of the clues can only be solved by referring to the books. I hope that they will one day post all the clues online, because it is just fun to solve them. [See bottom of post for more on the clues. I really should get back to the exciting part.]
So, with my book handy, I turned to Chapter 15, The Quidditch Final. (Yes, I had already reviewed the chapter titles! Did you think I was just blogging for two hours?). I found the answer, multiplied it by the required number - I even used a calculator, which I don't usually do, but I was excited, didn't know how much time I would have to get in, and didn't want to mess it up. Then I put the resulting number at the end of the URL, and came to this page.
Then I put it in again, thinking I had done something wrong. The Guardian is a newspaper in the UK, and I didn't need more information about the site. I needed to find the Magical Quill! And if you think this is easy, try it on 4.5 hours sleep. But wait, what is that on the right? See that magenta box that says Pottermore? It's animated. It's changing! Now it says:
It is not dignified to tell you how excited a woman "of a certain age" can get in the middle of the night/early morning, but I was pretty excited. What next? the box changed again.
OK, OK, I'm wiggling my cursor around a bit, like the little finger (which moved back and forth, by the way) showed me to do. The quill would rise gently, then sink, and I'd get a message saying I hadn't levitated the quill, try again. Over and over. I'm panicking - got to get this quill to levitate! - and it still doesn't work. I wonder if it is because I have a Mac, so I run to a PC laptop that was asleep across the room and tried there. Hurry, hurry! Still no luck. Back to the Mac, and I'm desperately waiving my cursor around and it finally goes a little higher. That's it! You have to do this FAST. I waive furiously, the quill climbs higher and higher until: Congratulations! (sorry, all that waiving kept me from getting a screen shot, until the animation had already changed to this).
I clicked on the link and got back to the Pottermore site. Only this time it said that I could now register. I clicked the button, and it took me to a page with questions for registration. Not much to tell here, except that after all this, I wasn't allowed to sign in for myself! My son, who left for camp yesterday, is just discovering the books for the first time. He wanted a Pottermore entry, so I signed in for him. Then I got to see his name, written in the book of magical children, right above Harry's and Ron's. : )
The Pottermore site is very aware that children of all ages may be visiting, so they have taken the time to implement a very good internet safety policy. This requires that they, not you, will create a username. But to make it a little better, they create five, and let you choose the one you like best. All of them end in a number (so maybe they use some more than once), and usually are two words from the books or the magical world. For instance, I had to choose between CastleQuill##, ScarletSpell##, SeerHeart###, ThestralFeather##, and FlooShadow### for my son. Which would you have chosen?
Once that was done, and I proved that I was human by squinting at one of those annoying Captcha things, I pressed "Create this Account." They told me they would send an activation email to my email (if you are under a certain age, the site does not ask for your last name, and sends all emails to your parents.
Then I was supposed to wait.
But hold on! Remember that PC laptop across the room. I ran back over, levitated that quill almost off the page, and went through the whole process again. I didn't get nearly as good a choice of usernames as my son. One of them was actually StrikeSnidget! No, thanks!
Once the emails came, I clicked the activation button, and it confirmed that I had activated my account. Then it let me sign in! - but just for one more screen.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
___________________
If you are reading this, and I'm not sure why you would be, because I've told very few people, and you want to join the early Pottermore experience, they have again tried to make it easier on you. The official blog said that tomorrow's (Wednesday's) clue will be posted between 2:00 and 6:00 pm British time. That's 8-12noon Central Time in the US. You guys have it so easy.
Better get some sleep. Good luck, y'all.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Pottermore Day Two
To bed at 2:00, set my alarm for 4:50. I figured I could check the website quickly and go back to sleep if need be.
Heard the alarm go off, but ignored it. Woke at 7:00. [I see a potential problem here if I have to start getting up for work in one week.]
"Sorry, Day 2 registration is now closed."
Aahhhhh!
These times are clearly favoring the British, where they show up around 9 or 10 in the morning. While there were some on Twitter who were saying that since the series was created by someone from the UK and started in the UK, all the early access should go to people from the UK.
My response: If the UK had bought ALL the books, they could have all the beta spots. As it is, we share.
Stay tuned for Day Three. Sigh.
Heard the alarm go off, but ignored it. Woke at 7:00. [I see a potential problem here if I have to start getting up for work in one week.]
"Sorry, Day 2 registration is now closed."
Aahhhhh!
These times are clearly favoring the British, where they show up around 9 or 10 in the morning. While there were some on Twitter who were saying that since the series was created by someone from the UK and started in the UK, all the early access should go to people from the UK.
My response: If the UK had bought ALL the books, they could have all the beta spots. As it is, we share.
Stay tuned for Day Three. Sigh.
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