Have a wonderful break everyone!

The Hobbit movie to be made

New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings movies, have just announced that there will be a film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

Yippee! :)

Real life 'Death Star'!

Cue the Imperial March folks, NASA found a real-life Death Star!

From the CBC.ca article:

"a black hole in a "death star galaxy" blast[s] a neighbouring galaxy with a deadly jet of radiation and energy."

Sounds like Alderaan is probably kaput already.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard purchased by Amazon

Amazon.com has purchased Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's hand-written and illustrated (by Rowling herself) book entitled The Tales of Beedle the Bard. It was sold for charity at Sotheby's in London and Amazon paid (wait for it...) over $4 million for it!

Luckily for those of us who couldn't afford to pay millions of dollars for this one-of-a-kind book ("seven-of-a-kind" if you want to be technical about it), Amazon has posted pictures, a video, and a review of one of the five "wizarding fairy tales" in the book HERE.

Inkheart teaser trailer

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke has been made into a movie.

So many books being made into films lately!

Looks like I'll have to start avoiding the school roof

Find out what Harry Potter character you're like!

The Spiderwick Chronicles coming to a theatre near you

One of my favourite fantasy series, The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, has been made into a film starring Freddie Highmore and Mary Louise Parker. It's coming out in February and here's the trailer:



You can view the trailer and get some more information at the official movie website, cast information at the IMDb Spiderwick movie page, and check out the series website as well.

Another book-to-movie!

I just read that a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie version of Pictures of Hollis Woods will be shown this Sunday, December 2nd, on CBS. It's a wonderful book and, looking at the cast that includes Sissy Spacek and Alfre Woodard, may well be a wonderful movie.

From book to movie

So many good books become movies, from the well-known to the not-so-well-known. Given that there are a few movies coming out in the next month or so that are based on or inspired by books, I thought I'd make up a quick list of books that are in the PRHS library that have become (or will soon become) movies.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott book • movie (1994)

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett book • movie (1995)

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi books • movie (2008)

The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper books • movie (2007)

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen book • movie (2006)

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton book • movie (1983)

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz book • movie (2006)

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis books • movie (2005) • movie (2008)

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer book • movie (2006)

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery book • movie (1985)

Eragon by Christopher Paolini book • movie (2006)

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman book • movie (2007)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling book • movie (2007)

Holes by Louis Sachar book • movie (2003)

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien books • movie (2001) • movie (2002) • movie (2003)

Beowulf by Unknown movie (2005) • movie (2007)

Twilight movie!

Stephenie Meyer's Twilight (review here) is going to be a movie! Shooting starts in February and Bella will be played by Kristen Stewart. Read more here (Variety.com) and here (Meyer's website).

Quidditch World Cup - for real

At some colleges in the United States, students play Quidditch (from the Harry Potter books). Basically, they run around with brooms between their legs and chase a human Snitch (dressed in yellow), throw bouncy Bludgers at people, and try to get a volleyball Quaffle through hoola hoops.

I'm not making this up. Read about the 2007 Quidditch World Cup here (there are photos) and an article about the origins of the Quidditch World Cup here.

Get your own Weasley clock!

Well, not exactly (and not yet), but Microsoft has developed a prototype "Whereabouts Clock" that's a lot like the Weasley's clock from the "Harry Potter" books:



It works with a certain software on family members' cell phones that transmits the cell phone's location to the clock that might be in, say, your kitchen. Neat!

New books

Another box of new books arrived yesterday and are now in the New Book display. A full list of the new additions is below.

Fiction

Dragon's Keep by Janet Lee Carey

Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks

I, Coriander by Sally Gardner

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko

The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson

The Last Chance Texaco by Brent Hartinger

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

Valiant by Holly Black


Nonfiction

Black berry, sweet juice by Lawrence Hill

Swifter, Higher, Stronger: a photographic history of the Summer Olympics by Sue Macy

Remembrance Day links

From the PRHS library Del.icio.us account.

Remembrance Day books at the PRHS library

Last year's virtual display: http://prhslibrary.blogspot.com/2006/11/remembrance-day-virtual-display.html

Last year's Remembrance Day post: http://prhslibrary.blogspot.com/2006/11/remembrance-day.html

Review: Life as we knew it

Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer

16-year-old Miranda is really not happy about that meteor that's supposed to hit the moon. Her teachers pile on extra meteor assignments and everyone is excited to watch the meteor hit the moon, especially those astronomers on TV.

What nobody expected is the moon to be moved closer to the earth, and within hours earthquakes and volcanoes cause world-wide destruction. Miranda's whole life - and the lives of those around her - is thrown into chaos by the events that follow. Gas prices climb to $35 a gallon. There is no electricity. Deadly diseases spread. Bite your nails as Miranda and her family struggle to survive.

This book freaked me out. I almost went to the grocery store to stockpile nonperishables halfway through the book, except I couldn't put it down. The next few times in the grocery store I had to stop myself from loading a cart with cans of soup. Sure, sounds crazy, but read it and you'll understand.

5 stars out of 5 for Life as we knew it.

Read a review.

Creepy stories for Halloween

Some of my favourite short stories are old gothic horror stories, and with the Internet you can often find them since many are now out of copyright. Here are a few of them:

• Edgar Allen Poe wrote wonderful gothic horror - try The Tell-Tale Heart.
• My absolute favourite short story that I read for school is The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell.
• Or, you could read the first few chapters of Dracula by Bram Stoker. The most terrifying beginning to a book ever!
• It's not exactly horror but it's definitely tense: Leiningen Versus the Ants by Carl Stephenson.

Happy Halloween!

Words + rice = time well spent

Free Rice is a website that donates 10 grains of rice through the United Nations World Food Program for every word definition you get correct (it's multiple choice). Watch your bowl fill up as you go! It's free, it's fun, and it benefits people in need.

Del.icio.us Halloween links

Yes, this is a pumpkin carving

Unbelievable! Many more at Pumpkingutter.com.

New Books

I just got a box of new books in on Thursday and processed them this morning. Here's a full list of what came in (hooray!):

Fiction

Allies of the Night (Cirque du Freak #8) by Darren Shan

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Graphic Classics: Edgar Allen Poe by various artists, stories by Edgar Allen Poe

Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Mirrormask by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

What my mother doesn't know by Sonya Sones

Nonfiction

Brass Buttons and Silver Horseshoes: stories from Canada's British war brides by Linda Granfield

Canada's Peacekeepers: protecting human rights around the world by Sheila Ensley Johnston

Draw your own Manga by Haruno Nagatomo

Manga Mania: how to draw Japanese comics by Christopher Hart

St. John Ambulance Guide to First Aid and CPR

Great First Lines, part 2 in a series

“The problem with getting bad news is you hardly ever get to go home and cry, or sulk, or rip things up, like you’d like to.”

- All's Fair in Love, War, and High School by Janette Rallison

The Golden Compass movie trailer

One of the best books I've read this year is The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, and it's been made into a movie that will be released in December. Needless to say, my ticket is practically bought already.



The Golden Compass movie website.

Internet Movie Database (IMDb) page for The Golden Compass.

Funny Books display

To celebrate Teen Read Week, I've put up a display of funny books.

Alice, I think by Susan Juby

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen









Losing Joe's Place by Gordon Korman









Love, Life, and the Pursuit of Free Throws by Janette Rallison










Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris

Teen Read Week - LOL @ your library

The theme of this year's Teen Read Week (October 14-20) is LOL @ your library and the focus is on funny books and reading for the fun of it. I've put together a display of humourous books in the library.

What is your favourite funny book?

Win tickets to see JK Rowling in Toronto

From the Nova Scotia Library Association website:

JK Rowling Contest

October is Canadian Library Month! The Nova Scotia Library Association in partnership with Nova Scotia Public Libraries is celebrating Canadian Library Month with a wonderful opportunity for Nova Scotians.

Enter to win one of two prize packages to see JK Rowling in Toronto on October 23, 2007 at 10:00 am. She is coming to read from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", take questions from her fans and sign copies of the book. This will be the only Canadian stop of her tour.

Attention: The contest will close at midnight on October 10th with the 2 winners being randomly drawn on October 12th and announced on the NSLA website by October 15th.

To enter each candidate must have a public library card. Get yours today!

Each prize package includes:
- A pair of tickets to the event, one for a chaperone and one for a young person between the ages of 9 and 15 years old at the time of the event.
- Airfare from Halifax to Toronto
- $ 300.00 spending money

As well, all those attending the event will receive a copy of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".

Rules are:
1. The child who accompanies the adult must be between the age of nine (9) and fifteen (15) years old at the time of the event.
2. Winners must be residents of Nova Scotia.
3. Under no circumstances may tickets be traded, sold, bartered or exchanged; Tickets are non-transferable.
4. All tickets are General Admission and organizers reserve the right to reserve seats for targeted groups.
5. Not open to Regional Library staff or their children, or members of the NSLA Board of Directors.
6. Only one entry per young person will be accepted.

The Nova Scotia Library Association and its partners cannot be held responsible or liable for any expenses incurred if for any reason the event is cancelled, postponed or changed.

To enter each candidate must have a public library card. Get yours today!


CLICK HERE to enter the contest (you need a public library card - have it ready!).

Chat with authors - LIVE!

Teen Read Week is later this month, and there is a month-long celebration of authors who write young adult books who will be on the Readergirlz forum to chat with fans. All the chats begin at 9:00 PM, and you should check the Readergirlz website for further information.

The schedule is as follows (the linked author names go to their books in the PRHS library catalogue):

Week One
October 1st: Meg Cabot
October 2nd: Tiffany Trent
October 3rd: Brent Hartinger
October 4th: Lorie Ann Grover
October 5th: K.L. Going
October 6th: Nikki Grimes



Week Two
October 7th: Ellen Hopkins
October 8th: Justina Chen Headley
October 9th: Chris Crutcher
October 10th: Ann Brashares
October 11th: Sarah Mlynowski
October 12th: Cecil Castellucci
October 13th: Kirby Larson



Week Three
October 14th: Tanya Lee Stone
October 15th: John Green
October 16th: Sara Zarr
October 17th: Deb Caletti
October 18th: Rachel Cohn
October 19th: Kirsten Miller
October 20th: Mitali Perkins


Week Four
October 21st: Sonya Sones
October 22nd: Lisa Yee
October 23rd: Carolyn Mackler
October 24th: E. Lockhart
October 25th: Janet Lee Carey
October 26th: Gaby Triana
October 27th: Lauren Myracle


Week Five
October 28th: Holly Black
October 29th: Cynthia Leitich Smith
October 30th: Dia Calhoun
October 31st: Stephenie Meyer (Special time: 9 PM PST/MIDNIGHT EST)

Great First Lines, part 1 in a series

"It was a pleasure to burn."

- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (in celebration of Banned Book Week)

Banned Books Week, September 29 - October 6

This week is the American Library Association's Banned Books Week, which celebrates books that have been banned (removed from a library or school) or challenged (someone wanted a book removed from a library or school).

I have a display of books in the library that have been banned and/or challenged in North America. Below are a few of them. Find any surprises?



The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Banned for language and depiction of violence.









The Giver by Lois Lowry

Banned for being depressing and having sexual and violent themes.









Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling

Banned for references to witchcraft and the occult.








To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Banned for being racist and a "filthy, trashy novel."

So Harry Potter's done...now what do I read?

I've had several students in the library looking for books to read now that the Harry Potter series is complete and they want something similar. Here are a few suggestions that are ALL available at the PRHS library.

Looking for action-packed adventure?

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (I review it here)








Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel







Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz (a review of the first book in the series is here).








The whole good vs. evil clash more your thing?

Eragon by Christopher Paolini









Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien









The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman









The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper









Do you like reading about characters who have powers that are either different or magical?

Meg Cabot's Mediator series










Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (reviewed here)









Tithe by Holly Black (reviewed here)









Peeps by Scott Westerfeld (reviewed here)









Perhaps you really like the fact that Harry Potter lives in a bit of a different world beside our own.


The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis









The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black








Pendragon series by D.J. McHale

Review: Green Angel

Green Angel by Alice Hoffman

Green and her family live in a small town near to a large city and make their living by farming and selling their harvest at the city market. Green is especially talented at making things grow, and is upset when her parents leave her alone at the house and take her little sister with them to the market. When a bomb is dropped on the city that day it changes Green’s life forever.

Green is a great character, and the way she copes with losing her family and life as she knew it is fascinating. She renames herself Ash and begins to tattoo dark images of thorns and raven wings on her skin and wear boots with spikes sticking out of them. When she retreats into her garden, she discovers that her talent remains and others come to rely on her. Written full of imagery, Green Angel is a very different kind of dystopic novel.

4 stars out of 5 for Green Angel.

Reviews:
http://www.cbc.ca/kids/reviews/2006/10/green_angel.html
http://www.scholastic.com/titles/features/fiction/greenangel_rrr.asp

Vision of the Future...

...from 100 years ago.


Illustrations by a French artist named Villemard are his interpretations of what life would be like in the year 2000 are viewable on the website of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. I think his visions of firefighters were pretty optimistic, but how he thought sea rescues would happen isn't far off!

Review: Twisted

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson


Tyler is not having the best summer of his life: he got caught for vandalising school property at the end of the school year and has spent his entire summer vacation working off his debt. He's getting ready to head back to school as a senior, and after 2 months of physical labour he looks a whole lot different than the scrawny dweeb people knew him as in June.

At first, things seem to be going his way. Not only is he bigger and stronger than his former bully, but the most beautiful girl in school actually seems interested in him. Tyler almost thinks he's living a dream until the aftermath of a party when everything goes horribly wrong.

I read Twisted in one evening - and that doesn't happen often. I just couldn't put it down! Tyler was such a vivid and realistic character that I got drawn right into the story and wanted to find out how everything ended, and I was pulling for Tyler the whole way.

I would highly recommend this to boys in grade 9 and up (even though the book cover design is a bit ambiguous).

4 stars out of 5 for Twisted.

Reviews:
http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0670061018.asp
http://www.teensreadtoo.com/Twisted.html

New school year = new books!

As most people around the library know, I love getting deliveries of new books. Julie, the administrative assistant, claims I can smell boxes of new books. I will neither confirm nor deny that hypothesis.

At any rate, there are quite a few new books on the shelf this September and here is the list. I think a few of them will be in high demand (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows anyone?).

Alex Rider books 4-5, Scorpia and Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz.

Bone: Eyes of the Storm and Bone: Rock Jaw, Master of the Eastern Border by Jeff Smith.

Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling.

The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding.

Kiki Strike: inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller.

Looking for Alaska by John Green.

Mediator books 3-5: Reunion, Darkest Hour and Haunted by Meg Cabot.

Sleeper Code and Sleeper Agenda by Tom Sniegoski.

Specials by Scott Westerfeld.

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson.

Waiting for June by Joyce Sweeney.

The Wish List by Eoin Colfer.

It's that time of the year again...

Well, I'm back anyhow - and everyone else will be next week! My, how the time flies in the summer...

Keep an eye out for some new features on this blog that I'm planning to unveil in the next few weeks. The usual things (weekly reviews, "Wonders of the Web," etc.) will be continued but I'm hoping to get a few more useful items up on a regular basis. Let me know what you think of them!

I hope everyone had a great July and August and I'm looking forward to seeing you soon!

Last day of school

Today is the last day of school, and I would like to wish everyone a happy and fun summer. I know I plan on having a good one (and it would be great if the weather will be as sunny and warm as it is today all of July and August, too).

Have a great summer!

Summer reading

There are a lot of books out there that make for great summer reading (13 Little Blue Envelopes and Stormbreaker come to mind). This is also the summer of Harry Potter, with book 7 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - and yes, I've ordered it and it should be in the library by September) and the movie version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix both being released in July.

The Cumberland Regional Library (CURL) is putting on a Teen Summer Reading Club for everyone in grades 7-12 this summer, and for every 2 hours you read this summer you could win a prize. Prizes include an iPod, so it's definitely worth entering! You can pick up ballots at any branch of CURL or print them from their website at http://crl.library.ns.ca/. Good luck!

Finally, here are some summer reading lists that have lots of good books listed if you run out of ideas:

Woozles' summer reading list for young adults.

Summer reading list from Horn Book (scroll down to find Young Adult books).

Teens Read Too "Top Picks of 2006" (each entry links to a review of that book).

TeenReads.com's Ultimate Teen Reading List.


Enjoy your summer!

Parrsboro school newsletter and calendar - June 2007

It's June - almost halfway through June, come to that. Less than 2 weeks left!

June Newsletter (PDF file - you will need Adobe Reader to view this file, which you can download for free)

June 2007 Calendar (PDF file)

48 Hour Book Challenge final tally

All told, I read 5 books, 1136 pages, and spent approximately 13 hours reading and writing reviews. Not bad given that I was with my best friend celebrating her birthday for most of Saturday and part of Sunday! :)

Review: Skellig

Skellig by David Almond

Michael, his parents and ill baby sister are living in an old house that needs a lot of fixing up - especially the garage which might fall down at any moment. When Michael wanders into the garage one day to investigate, he finds a frail man sitting near the back who has a craving for Chinese food and aspirin. Michael is shocked and needs to show his new friend, Mina, to make sure the man is real and not just a dream. Michael can hardly believe what happens next.

Skellig was wonderful. It had been on my "to read" list for months, ever since I saw the evocative cover and noted its Printz Honor sticker (always a positive sign). I did not, however, imagine that it would be such a lovely story that delicately balances the very real (Michael's sick baby sister) and the very magical (Skellig). The author also manages to make the very real very magical, notably watching the birds through Mina's eyes. Michael's reactions to the events happening around him were superb and, I think, quite realistic for a 10-year-old boy. Ultimately, to paraphrase Michael's father, this was "a blinking good book."

5 stars out of 5 for Skellig.