Global warming will have VERY long-lasting effects

According to leading scientists, the effects of global warming will last the next 1,000 years. Not only that, but the past 50 years may have been the hottest since 1,300 years ago!

Even more shockingly, concentrations of carbon monoxide and methane are as high as they have been in 650,000 years. Woolly mammoths were still wandering the earth back then.

Looks like the black horse of the apocalypse (signifying "scorched earth") is on its way...

Read article in the Globe & Mail.

Virtual Display: Books that Bite

Ahh, vampires. Cold, undead, violent, and blood-drinking - what's not to love?

**If you click on a book cover image, you will be linked to the PRHS online catalogue entry for that book/series.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The ultimate vampire novel. Jonathan Harker is a London solicitor (lawyer) who is sent to Count Dracula's Transylvanian castle, and what he discovers there sends chills down his spine - and probably yours as well. Terrifying!





Vampire Plagues by Sebastian Rook

This series sees a boy named Jack witness a swarm of black creatures fly off a boat in the London docks in 1850 and meets another boy from that same ship. With no one else to turn to, they follow the vampires and face them together.



In the Forests of the Night by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Risika is a powerful vampire who hunts alone at night in New York City. Someone left her a black rose - the same flower that preceded her fate 300 years ago when she was still human. What will happen when a figure from her past continues to haunt her?




Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan

In this popular series, young Darren Shan falls unwillingly into the world of vampires when he and his friends visit a freak show.







Spine Tinglers: Tales to make you Shiver by Bruce Coville

A great collection of horror stories.








Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

I recently posted a review for this book here on the blog, so you might want to check that out. Briefly, this story is about a girl who moves to Washington state and encounters a boy with whom she falls deeply in love. But what secret is Edward and his family hiding?

Review: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Bruno is 9 years old and loves his life in wartime Berlin: his home has a long bannister that he can slide down, he has 3 best friends for life, and he can see all the way across Berlin from the attic window.

One day he comes home to find the household in a frenzy because they are moving away. Bruno is upset because he doesn't want to leave Berlin and his friends and the bannister. His mother blames it on the fact that they had "the Fury" (a.k.a. the Fuhrer, Hitler) over for dinner recently and Bruno's father got a promotion because of that. Bruno is impressed by the fact that his father has a sharp Nazi uniform and polished boots, but still doesn't think it's fair that they have to move.

Their new home is in the middle of nowhere - except for a tall wire fence that Bruno can see from his bedroom window. Behind that fence are hundreds, maybe thousands of people who all wear striped pajamas. Bruno can't figure out why he's not allowed to go visit these people and play with the children in this place called "Out-With" (a.k.a. Auschwitz), but he does know that what he sees puts a chill in his bones for reasons he cannot understand.

When Bruno goes exploring one day he finds a boy, Schmuel, sitting on the other side of the fence. They soon learn that they share the same birthday and become friends, although Bruno keeps it a secret from his family, especially his father the Commandant.

I have read many novels set during the Holocaust and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is very unique among them. Not only is Bruno entirely unaware of what is happening around him (what happens at Auschwitz, the fact that his father is in charge of what happens at Auschwitz, etc.), but his friendship with Schmuel is striking in that the boys come from opposite ends of the wartime spectrum: Bruno is the son of a prominent Nazi and Schmuel is a Jew in a concentration camp. John Boyne paints a delicate and fascinating portrait of how far-reaching the effects of one friendship can be.

4.5 stars out of 5.

Read a review.

An interview with John Boyne.

Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum website.

A Wonder of the Web - Holy Land Maps

Holy Land Maps is pretty much exactly as it sounds: a website that has maps of the Holy Land (which includes modern-day Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Syria, and Palestinian Authority). What makes it special is that the maps are at least 85 years old and as much as 600 years old.

Click on the image above to go to the website homepage.

The maps are scanned from the Eran Laor Cartographic Collection at the Jewish National & University Library in Jerusalem, Israel, and the collection is searchable by date, by person (who created the map), and by location.

This site is a lot of fun to browse through - especially if you enjoy looking at maps (like I do). One of my favourites is this one, published in 1486:

A close-up of Babylon.

There is also this one.

A fish convulsing in the Mediterranean.

The maps are works of art and definitely worthwhile to look at, especially if you're interested in the evolution of mapmaking.

Teen literature awards announced

The Newbery Medal and the Printz Award recipients were announced recently at the American Library Association (ALA) mid-winter conference in Seattle.

**Note: previous winners listed link to their record in the PRHS online catalogue.


The Newbery Medal

From the ALA site: "The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." It has been awarded annually since 1922.

Previous winners include The Giver by Lois Lowry (1994), Holes by Louis Sachar (1999), A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (1963), and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (1985).

2007 Newbery Medal recipient:
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

2007 Newbery Honor recipients:
Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
Rules by Cynthia Lord


The Printz Award

The Michael L. Printz award is, according to the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), "an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association." It has been awarded annually since the year 2000.

Previous winners include A Step from Heaven by An Na (2005) and Kit's Wilderness by David Almond (2001).

2007 Printz Award recipient:
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (this is the first graphic novel ever to win the Printz award)

2007 Printz Honor recipients:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; v. 1: The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Surrender by Sonya Hartnett
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (one of my all-time favourite books)

Overheard in the library

"Our chicken got run over and then our cow got shot."


I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes.

Review: Sword of the Rightful King

Sword of the Rightful King by Jane Yolen

Based on the Arthurian legends, Sword of the Rightful King adds a different perspective and dimension to the story of Arthur and the sword in the stone.

Arthur has just become the king of Britain but not everyone is supportive of his rule. Merlinnus, his court mage, has come up with a plan to make people believe in young Arthur, but problems arise when it is learned that an assassin has been sent to Cadbury (Arthur's court) to kill the new king. Merlinnus also has a mysterious new assistant who is not exactly as he appears.

I quite enjoyed reading this book, even besides the fact that I like Arthurian stories. The twist at the end is clever (although there are clues) and not one I expected initially - at all. Jane Yolen uses the Latin names for people and places instead of the more familiar versions (Merlinnus = Merlin, Cadbury = Camelot, etc.), which further emphasizes that this interpretation is different, and the characters are full of personality and mystery.

4 stars out of 5.

Read a review.

Review: Twilight

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

I kept hearing about this book: a student reading it on the bus on the way to a soccer game, coming across the author's site on the internet, strange reports of teen girls' obsession with a certain character. So I picked it up as a little gift to myself at the Scholastic book fair at the elementary school a while back.

When I got home, I opened it up and couldn't put it back down. I was up quite late and probably wasn't firing on all cylinders at work the next day.

I raved about it to the student I had seen reading it and she smiled knowingly as I rambled on about how great it was - oh my gosh, Edward! - and so on. Then I borrowed the sequel, New Moon, from the public library and gushed to her after I read that one too. I think she might believe I'm a little obsessed (although she has read both books multiple times, as I understand it), which I will neither confirm nor deny.

So yes, this is supposed to be a review. Onward!

Brief synopsis: Bella has just moved to Washington to live with her father. She notices a strange yet strikingly beautiful group of students sitting in the cafeteria - one boy in particular. When she sits beside him in chemistry class it seems like he can't even look at her, let alone speak to hear. Even when she comes to find out that he is a vampire and finds her irresistable (a dangerous prospect!), it doesn't stop her from falling in love with him and finding herself in imminent danger.

This book is written in a way that makes legions of girls fall in love with Edward and wish they were Bella (despite her klutziness). Stephenie Meyer portrays vampires in a way that makes them more like fun-loving superheroes than bloodsucking nocturnal beings that sleep in coffins and transform into bats, and her characters are all lively and believable. Even though Twilight is a pretty long book, it will leave you wanting more.

5 stars out of 5.

Read a review.

Read about the author on her fantastic website.

New Books!

I got two boxes of books in yesterday and I'm really excited about them - as are a few students since they've been hounding me about the Darren Shan books since September! One cancelled order later, they have finally arrived.

Killers of the Dawn
Lake of Souls
Lord of the Shadows
Sons of Destiny, books 9-12 of Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak series.

Lord Loss
Demon Thief, books 1 and 2 of Darren Shan's Demonata series.

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a graphic novel by Bo Hampton

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Eragon and
Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Tithe: a modern faerie tale by Holly Black

Twilight and
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

On Thin Ice by Jamie Bastedo

Vampire Plagues: Paris, 1850 and
Vampire Plagues: Mexico, 1850 by Sebastian Rook

A Treasury of Victorian Murder by Rick Geary

Nonfiction:

Stone Voices by Keibo Oiwa

DK Eyewitness Electricity by Steve Parker

Review: Stormbreaker: an Alex Rider adventure

Stormbreaker: an Alex Rider adventure by Anthony Horowitz


Although I had heard about the Alex Rider books, I really wasn't sure what I would be getting into when I opened the cover and began to read. As it turned out, once I opened the cover I didn't put the book down again until I was done. Full of suspense and non-stop action, Stormbreaker is the first in a series that I now plan on reading.

Fourteen-year-old Alex Rider wakes up late one night to a knock on the door from a policeman who relays the news that his uncle, Ian Rider, has died in a car accident. Alex has lived with Ian in London, England, since his parents were killed in a plane crash when he was a young child, and now he has no family left. Alex doesn't believe the policeman's story about Ian dying because he wasn't wearing his seatbelt because, as Alex knew well, Ian was a stickler for such things. Alex decides to find out what really happened.

When he finds his uncle's car in a junkyard with bullet holes in the windshield he vows revenge against his uncle's killers. But how? Who killed Ian? And why is the British spy agency, MI6, so interested in Alex?

Stormbreaker is a very fast-paced and exciting novel. Among other things, Alex has to go through basic training with men twice his age, learn how to drive an ATV while being chased by one, scuba dive in a pitch-dark cave, and face a deadly Russian assassin.

4.5/5 for Stormbreaker.



Alex Rider website: http://www.alexrider.com
Read interviews with author Anthony Horowitz.

Post-Apocalyptic novels - virtual display

Truesight by David Stahler Jr.

Everyone in Jacob's colony is born blind. It has always been this way. They embrace the philosophy of Truesight: Blindness brings unity, purity, and freedom. It is an exceptional community. Everyone is happy.

As Jacob nears his thirteenth birthday, he anxiously anticipates his new role as an adult and all the changes that will bring. But as the day approaches, a far greater change threatens Jacob's future. It all starts with a searing pain in his eyes ... -from the publisher

Read a review.



Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Guy Montag is a book-burning fireman undergoing a crisis of faith. His wife spends all day with her television "family," imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. Their dull, empty life sharply contrasts with that of his next-door neighbor Clarisse, a young girl thrilled by the ideas in books, and more interested in what she can see in the world around her than in the mindless chatter of the tube. When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature.

Read a review.

Read about Ray Bradbury.


The City of Ember by Jeanne duPrau

Ember is a city in eternal darkness, only kept light by its increasingly unreliable electric system. Other systems are falling apart as well, and stockpiles of food and essentials that have lasted hundreds of years are running out. The city was only meant to last 220 years, and now it has been 241. But the instructions the Builders left have been lost and forgotten.

Lina finds them, but not before her baby sister has chewed them into virtual indecipherability. Now she and her friend Doon must figure them out from the few disjointed letters left, before the city falls apart. Their efforts lead them to discover long forgotten secrets about the nature and purpose of Ember, and what the Builders intended. They want to share their discoveries with the rest of the citizens -- but only if the corrupt mayor and his guards don't stop them first. -from the publisher

Read a review.


The Dirt Eaters by Dennis Foon

In this first book in the trilogy of The Longlight Legacy, the wars have transformed the world, and 16-year-old Roan is about to discover a terrible truth.

When Roan''s parents and the people of Longlight perish in a raid, Roan is filled with rage. Torn between his desire for revenge and the legacy of peace he has inherited, he is taken in by a sect of warriors. With them he learns he has exceptional talent as a fighter. But Roan is haunted by visions he can''t understand. When he commits his first act of violence, he flees in disgust into the most wasted lands of all, the Devastation.

He meets friends and allies in unexpected places, as his enemies hunt him down. But it is only when Roan meets Alandra that he begins to understand his life's purpose and why his village, Longlight, was destroyed. -from the publisher

Read some reviews written by teens.

Read about Dirt Eaters on Dennis Foon's website.