Interactive web?

David Lee King said, "The web is no longer an electronic brochure. Instead it's a gathering place." In the last few years the Internet has become a changeable, adaptable entity. If you use Facebook, or MySpace, you are already involved in the interactive web. While those are social networking sites, there are many other interesting web pages where you can put your own personal mark on the Internet. Try these other sites:

del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site where you can share your favorite web sites online and access them anywhere! You can also tag the sites you like with special words to make it easier for you and others to find the ones you want!

flickr and picasa are photo sharing sites that you can use to let others see your pictures, or find new photos that other people post. Just like with del.icio.us, you can tag these to help you find them again.

There are a bunch of others, but these are a good place to start!

Kate DiCamillo's other books!

Kate DiCamillo is the wonderful author who brought us Because of Winn Dixie, a Newbery Honor book. But did you know that she's written a bunch of other books? We have five in our library: The Tale of the Despereaux (the 2004 Newbery Winner), Mercy Watson to the Rescue (an easy fiction book), The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and the book I want to discuss today, The Tiger Rising.

The Tiger Rising is a young adult book about a a boy who has recently lost his mother to cancer and has moved with his father to a new town in Florida. The boy, Rob, has a difficult time in the new school, dealing with bullies and adults who look the other way, but things begin to get better when he discovers a caged tiger and makes friends with another new student, Sistine. Her plan to free the tiger helps Ben work through his repressed sadness about his mother, and confront his father's inability to discuss his late wife. In its spare 116 pages, the book has beautifully described characters such as Rob's father, a "prophetess," Willie Mae, and his father's boss, Beauchamp.

Change the margins!

Are you looking for an easy way to make a big difference in the world? At changethemargins.com they've come up with just such an idea. All you have to do is change the margins before you print your documents, web pages, emails or articles to .75", and you could help save paper, trees and the environment! Maybe one person saving one piece of paper isn't a lot, but if we ALL do just this little bit, we can make a world of difference! (Oh, and it'll also save you money, too.)

(First heard on NPR, go to this site to listen to the audio report.)

Zombie Invasion!!!!

Is your computer working slower? Maybe it's been secretly infiltrated by a hacker! These online marauders can sneak into your computer and make it send out spam or attack web sites. The computer is then considered a "zombie computer" as it does the bidding of its new master.

Rainer N. recommended this link on the How Stuff Works website to learn more about zombie computers.

Odd one out, or in?

The new books I've discussed earlier in the blog were for older audiences. Today I'd like to highlight one aimed at our younger readers, One Green Apple, by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Ted Lewin.

It's Farah's second day in a new school in a new country, and her class is going on a field trip. While she doesn't speak English, the class visit to an orchard is made sweeter by meeting new friends and adding her unique, green apple to the mix.

This picture book is especially interesting for our students as they struggle with language challenges and are often encountering new cultures. They may recognize some of Farah's thoughts as ones they've had themselves.

Eve Bunting has written a lot of other books, check out this website to see titles and information about her.

Web 2.0, huh?

Are you a user of Web 2.0? If you're reading this blog, you are! Here's an article that will explain what it is, and a bit of the history of the idea.

Soccer time! (Or futbol, if you prefer)

Whichever language you use, it's time to play! The Women's World Cup starts today in China (click on that link to see Fifa's website) and our Jaguars are competing locally in the Santa Cruz Interscholastic Sports League.

What does all of this have to do with the library? We have a great selection of soccer related books on display! Not only that, but we have the new book, How Soccer Explains the World: an Unlikely Theory of Globalization, ready and waiting for our more advanced readers. Come by the library and check it out!

Newbery winner, a good read

I'd like to continue with the new book thread from a few days ago. Here's another one I've just finished and really liked!

The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron and illustrated by Matt Phelan, is 2007's Newbery Medal winner. In this book Lucky Trimble, a young girl growing up in the California desert, searches for a higher power that will bring stability to her life after her mother dies. She plans for the day when her guardian, a French woman who loves parsley, will abandon her by preparing to run away. With a detailed and interesting cast of characters, Lucky's growth, humor and an unique setting, this book is definitely a winner. I would recommend this book to upper elementary students, or those in middle school. (Parents should be aware that there is a minimal amount of language in this book that not everyone will like, but that it's useful in context.)

Oh, and one of the characters in the book loves Are You My Mother? , by PD Eastman, a great read for younger students. It is a classic book that is both funny and cute. It is perfect for lower elementary students.

Labels and tags

Did you notice that there is a list of words at the end of the posts? These are keywords about the post, so you can find the same themes again and again. In yesterday's posts I used a whole bunch, like ya (young adult, books for high school and some middle school readers), sci-fi (science fiction, a fiction genre) and others. As the posts pile up you'll notice that these will repeat and you can click on the ones you like to find similar entries.

Asteroids hitting the moon? That's a new one!

If you've been in the library recently you probably already know that the new books are here! Last year we ordered over 500 new titles and they just arrived at the end of August. I've already had the chance to read a couple, and here's what I think (so far).

My favorite is Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer. (You can click on that link to see what Amazon thinks about the book.) The premise is that an extremely dense asteroid hits the moon, causing it to change its orbit and effecting all sorts of things on earth. First, because the moon controls tides, tsunamis start to wipe out all coastal cities (think Rio or Miami!). Next the gravitational pull messes with volcanoes and earthquakes (ask Mr. Kadow about the science behind this, it's fascinating!). This starts off a chain reaction that puts our heroine, Miranda, and her family in a battle of survival in their new environment. Oh, and it's written as a series of journal entries from 16-year-old Miranda's point of view. Can you imagine if the temperature in Santa Cruz dropped 50 degrees? Where would you get your fruits and vegetables? How would you keep warm? What would you do to survive? It's a great book, I highly recommend it!

There are a bunch of other good reads, but that's long enough for one post!

(posted by Ms. Hanneman)

Welcome to our first post!

Welcome to the SCCS Library Media Center blog! This blog will cover library and technology related stuff. Anything is fair game, from books to computers, from Jane Austen to Mark Zuckerberg (that’s the guy who started Facebook). Feel free to add your comments, and if you’d like to post an entry of your own, contact Ms. Hanneman.