Interestingness...I wasn't really interested until I discovered it

Thanks to Dirk Puehl on Google+ for posting these awesome vintage advertisements for libraries.  They come from a blog that is new to me, but I will definitely be checking in with frequently, called Brain Pickings.  It seems that Maria Popova is the creator and main contributor to the blog which claims to be "a human-powered discovery engine for interestingness."  What is that?  Good question, so she defines it as placing "a subjective lens on what matters in the world and why, bringing you things you didn't know you were interested in -- until you are."  Well, the post that includes these posters interested me, so I am buying in to this concept of "interestingness."

I think we need more "interestingness" in our lives.  I like this last poster because I believe that we have lost a sincere curiosity in things that matter.  What does that mean?  I'm not sure but I know we don't find it by immersing ourselves in hours of television watching, playing hours of video games, or hours of time on social networks.  We have to diversify our lives with some of the simple things (mentioned above) but also the complex and rich things that might take a bit of effort (world affairs, books, face-to-face time).  I don't know, but it sure was cool to find these gems today!

The Top 10 (or so)

The results are in and the top book of the first semester at IVC high school is Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why.  It is no surprise that this book, an Abraham Lincoln Book Award Nominee, that addresses relationships we have with others is the most popular book.  I would not be surprised if it shows up in this spot this semester as well.



A very close second and third are Suzanne Collins Catching Fire and Mockingjay, respectively.  If you are wondering, The Hunger Games shows up in a large group tied for ninth on the list.  Rounding out the top five are John Flanagan's The Ruins of Gorlan and Mary Higgins Clark's mystery The Lottery Winner Alvirah and Willy Stories.

Some other notable titles that I was pleased to see out being read are: The Maze Runner, The Graveyard Book (one of my favorite books), Graceling, and The Hobbit.  Also, another Abraham Lincoln Book Award Nominee made a showing in the top 10 as Alexander Gordon Smith's Lockdown came in sixth.

Print to digital or just giving up?

After returning to school after the break, I checked my mailbox and of course it was full of the magazines that came over break.  As I began to process them to put them out on the library floor, a couple covers caught my eye.  First, the headline on the Newsweek issue is "#LASTPRINTISSUE".  I thought it might be a publicity stunt to get some to open the issue, but, nope, it really is the last print issue.  
As I read Editor in Chief, Tina Brown's "Perisope" issue introduction titled, "A New Chapter: Sometimes, change isn't just good, it's necessary," it seems that she makes an apologetic "sorry, but we tried" statement.  She talks about how in 2010 Sidney Harmon purchased Newsweek from the Washington Post company to attempt to save the magazine.  Then she goes on a two page summary of the "heroic" efforts of attempting to revive the publication.  Brown concludes with a statement that "this is not a conventional magazine" and they are embracing a digital medium "that our competitors will one day need to embrace with the same fervor."  I'm not buying this "we are innovators" speech.  A note on the side of her editorial notes that digital Newsweek will be found in iTunes, Zinio, Google, Kindle or Nook.  She says that her competitors, who I am assuming are Time and other news magazines, will need to follow up with the same fervor.  I hate to notify Tina Brown, but the other major news magazines have already done this, but have managed to keep a print magazine.  What I think Brown is saying is, we gave it a go as print, now we will try digital to save on printing and postage, but we may just fade away, so farewell.  I would have preferred an honest statement of, we gave it our best shot to bring the integrity back to the Newsweek brand and it just didn't work, so now we are rebranding as a digital publication.  Good luck Newsweek.  
In my introduction, I mentioned that two covers caught my eye.  The second caught my eye, probably, because of the Newsweek cover.  While the Newsweek brand is basically hanging it up after 80 years, National Geographic is celebrating it's 125th anniversary with a Special Issue.  I realize they are two completely different animals, but what an interesting juxtaposition.  

Great Webcast

I have not viewed a webcast in a couple years, but took a chance last week in viewing a live webcast with my sixth grade class.  It was terrific!!!  It was a School Library Journal webcast live with Rick Riordan talking about his new book The Serpent's Shadow.  Riordan was broadcasting (Is that the term that should be used for a live webcast?) from an Egyptian museum in California.  He toured parts of the museum and discussed several of the artifacts and how they appear in his new book.  Then he read a passage from the book that drew my students into the presentation.
I knew the presentation was going well when several of the students moved up closer to the screen to see and hear.  They also enjoyed the supplemental information on the screen, that included the video, a rotating slideshow of drawings of characters in the book, as well as a chat box.  The students asked me to enlarge the pictures next to the video, so they could see the drawings of the characters better.
This was a great, free way to bring a big name author of a top selling book into our library.  During the question and answer session, the kids hung on every question because they were waiting to see if any of the questions we asked would be answered.  We did learn lots of interesting things about the books and Riordan.

Poetry Month

April is poetry month at the IB libraries and we are celebrating.  Students are submitting poems on different topics and some students have created book spine poetry.  Also, this Thursday is a highlight to our poetry month celebration with Poem in Your Pocket Day.  So, anyway, here is a little ditty in celebration:

It is Poetry Month in the library
the doors open and out comes the verse
Thursday is Poem in Your Pocket day
so be ready and rehearse
Bring in your best work to share
be creative and take a risk
the words may seem ordinary
to you
to others they will become works
of art

Thanks to good friends who pass on good stuff.


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Wild Life

With the warm weather and heavy fog the last couple days, it seemed that the wildlife wanted to come out to enjoy.  Not just the gaggle of cats that hang out in front of the auto body shop or the gang of crows picking at a carcass or the birds jockeying for position on the high wires, there was more.  First were the wild turkeys convulsing across Reservoir Road eyeballing everything that moved.  Then standing in a shallow pond along Route 8 was a bald eagle (what a sight!).  Finally, heading south on Hanna City/Glasford Road there was a barn owl standing on the post of a road sign.  He twisted his head around to watch me pass. It was quite a drive in this morning.