Short Explanation

Here is a short explanation and lame excuse for my previous post. I wanted to show how awesome Glogster is to use in a classroom. I created a "glog" about "Google Maps" in order to demonstrate how incredibly easy and fun it is to use this resource. However, once I pasted the glog location into my post, I couldn't figure out how to put in any words. Once again, technology gets the best of me!

At any rate, Glogster is really cool and can be used in so many ways. A "glog" is an interactive poster that can be created for many different uses. Glogster for education has some great examples of ways that it has been used in classrooms around the world. Check out their "glogpedia" to see some of these. It is very intuitive and most elementary kids can figure it out in minutes. If I can use it, anyone can. Try it for yourself. Teachers can set up free accounts that allow them to have a whole classroom of students create their own interactive posters. It's terrific.

Teachers, Meet Glogster

Spine Tingling Art

Here's a new way that books are building our world. Not only does reading build vocabularies and increase understanding, but now actual books themselves are being used to create art and structures. These creative uses for tomes that would normally just end up in a land fill are an awesome way to recycle and inspire creativity.

I love to see things repurposed and used to make other objects. I am frequently awed by people who can look at something and see something unique or different. What a talent! I am a very literal person and tend to just see things as they are, not what they might become. Check out Stephen's Lighthouse to see more of these innovative creations.

Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer

Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was recommended to me by a Catholic sister who is the librarian in our grade school. She loved the book but said it wasn't appropriate for a grade school library. To be honest, although this is written for kids, I think this is a book that will be most appreciated by the target audience's mothers or even grandmothers.

This is not to say I didn't like the book. I loved it! But most of the kids that I know have never seen a nun in full habit unless they've watched an old movie. They have no idea about the changes brought about by Vatican 2 or the struggles of the emerging feminists.

I think a case could be made to buy it as a historical fiction candidate, but I can't see getting many kids to read it. I hope I'm wrong because I think that many young teens would enjoy the story if they understood the background.

Mary Clare, the sixth grade aspiring Mother Superior, is hilarious. Fixmer does a wonderful job of portraying her angst over her sins and transgressions while also making her a typical tween who is envious of her friends and angry about her numerous chores and responsibilities.

I loved her parents as well. Although her father yelled alot, he was also a loving and caring role model who was being asked to adapt to quite a few changes. Her mother also was far from the stereotypical devoted wife who accepted everything that came her way. She was a strong, independent woman at a time when this "just wasn't done."

If you grew up Catholic or always wanted to peek into the life of those loud, boisterous neighbors with the holy water in their living room this is the book for you.



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Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Alex Harris

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I listened to "Do Hard Things" and when I was finished I thought: check, I've done a hard thing. Not that it was terrible, but it was pretty preachy and slightly sanctimonious. The idea was good, but the tone was so "aren't we great and don't you wish you could be like us," that it made it difficult to listen to.

As I said, it has a good premise. Who doesn't think that teenagers need to work harder and have more expectations of themselves. I'll be the first to admit that most of the time, I don't really expect anything of my kids other than they just exist. But, these guys were just over-the-top and so full of themselves and their accomplishments. Some of the descriptions just went on and on. If I had been reading the book at least I could have skipped ahead and not gotten so impatient with all of their superior explanations.

One of my favorite parts (not) was when they talked about some teens who helped a super right wing candidate get elected. They actually thought that God had helped them because he had hand picked this guy to win! What abut when evil left leaning candidates win? Did God lose out to Satan? Maybe his helpers weren't pious enough.

Sorry for the rant. As I said, I like the idea of this book and would love to see teens (and even adults) be challenged to do "hard things" and be pushed out of their comfort zone, but these two holier than thou types aren't going to inspire any self respecting adolescents to do anything.

On a positive note: these boys were so condescending and obnoxious that it actually made me appreciate my own less than perfect kids.



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The Roar by Emma Clayton

The Roar by Emma Clayton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I listened to most of this book and read some so that I could get it finished. I really enjoyed listening to it. The reader was great and hearing the words really helped build the suspense and made me feel so much more involved in the story. Playaways are so great. I wish our library had them.


This was a very exciting and suspenseful book. The characters were likeable and believable and even the parents came across as rational and normal people. I had a slight problem at the end where the book became pretty transparently didactic and preachy but it was very minor compared to my overall enjoyment of the book.


This book would be really popular with kids who like video games and anyone who liked "Hugner Games" and other dystopian novels. I have heard that a sequel is coming out and I'm really looking forward to that.



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Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

I just finished this book and really liked it. Long before my librarian days I was a welder at a shipyard in Texas. That helped me connect to this book but I think that most people will be caught up in this intense story.

In the United States of the future some states have ceased to exist. Residing where Louisiana used to be is a watery grave filled with the rusting carcasses of wrecked and useless oil tankers. This is where 17 year old Nailer exists. I can’t say “lives” because no one here actually has much of a life. Nailer and his friends survive by scavenging copper wire from the old ships. Nailer is useful because he is still small enough to fit into tiny crawlspaces and ducts. Once he becomes too big for this job, he’ll be out of luck. All of the people working these jobs are looking for their “Lucky Strike”—their one chance to find something really valuable and sell it before someone bigger or stronger steals it.

One day when Nailer and his friend, Pima, are out exploring they discover a clipper ship that has been wrecked in a storm. They decide to board the ship and see what goodies they can find before others beat them to it. Just as they expected, they find jewelry, silver and all sorts of other valuables that they can carry away and sell. What they don’t expect to find is a young girl, barely breathing, but still alive. Their first instinct is to kill her and take her jewelry—just one of her rings would support them for a lifetime.

But Nita, the survivor, has other plans. She convinces them to help her and when she gets back to her wealthy father, he’ll reward them handsomely. Unfortunately for Nailer and Pima, there are a few essential details that Nita leaves out.

This is a rapid fire novel filled with adventure, human/animal hybrids and even a little romance. A great book for teen boys.