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Book Happenings Blog

Weiler — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:14:17 CST

Red Maple Choices 2010

White Pine Choices 2010

Burned, Crank, Glass, Identical, Tricks and Impulse
by Ellen Hopkins
Well, I have been working my way through the 'Ellen Hopkins' books this year. The first you need to know is that they are written in a style called prose, which is like poetry, but not quite the same. Even though the books are very thick there are very few words per page, so don't worry! The words are sometimes organized into shaped that represent the character's feelings (words shaped into a tear when she is sad etc.) I really like Hopkin's prose style, but I understand it might not be for everyone. They are very gritty and realistic and deal with some not so nice subjects such as rape, abuse, drugs, alcoholism and mental disorders.

I started out with Crank and Glass, as they are 'frequent fliers' off the library shelves. They follow through a tale of drug use and abuse, similar to "Go Ask Alice." 15-year-old Kristina falls into using drugs, and though Crank and Glass we follow her life's twisted path. The cool thing about these books is that the story is loosely based on the life of the author's own DAUGHTER!

Identical was recommended by Ms. Brownlee and I liked it so much I went out and bought it for the library! It's a very cool story about twin sisters Raeanne and Kaeleigh who couldn't be more opposite. Kaeleigh has a very close relationship with her father, in fact closer than any father-daughter realtionship would be.... while Raeanne is into guys and drugs. Kaeleigh finally finds true love with Ian, but hopes he will never found out about her secret with her dad. At the end of the novel there is a crazy and delicious twist, but you have to keep your eyes open to fully get it....

I have just finished Burned and to be honest I was a bit reluctant about this one. The main character is Pattyn, who is a member of strict fundamentalist Christian group, the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Pattyn has always been told that a woman's role is to serve her husband and produce children. Hypocritically, Pattyn's father abuses her mother and is a functional alcoholic. After her first relationship, experiementing lightly with smoking, alcohol and sex, Pattyn goes off the deep end when the relationship ends. As punishment she is sent to live with her aunt in the Nevada desert, but turns out there are still attractive cowboys in the desert too! Pattyn learns the truth about her family from her aunt and also discovers her own truth.

I have yet to read Impulse or Tricks, Impulse is next on the list because the LRC does not yet own Tricks (it just came out in August 2009) - Hopkins always keeps you guessing with a fast moving plot and very believeable characters and usually a few curve balls too!

P.S. If you have read and enjoyed Crank and Glass, check out Flirtin' with the Monster which features expert's commentaries on the novel and drug abuse as well as the the reactions of the real people that were portrayed in the novel, including Kristina and Hunter.

www.ellenhopkins.com/

The Luxe Series - Luxe, Rumors, Envy and Splendor
by Anna Godberson

I greatly enjoyed this series of books recommended to me by a student. She described them as “Gossip Girl in the 1800s,” which I found quite accurate. I actually found them less confusing to follow than Gossip Girl, with fewer key characters, but it still has great love stories, betrayal and lies. The original storyline follows Elizabeth and Diana Holland, two socialite sisters who “rule Manhattan’s social scene.” The books follow the sisters and their beaus through scandal, hookups, breakups, murders, social suicide and much, much, more.

I enjoyed the descriptions of the social scene in the early 1900’s, the fabulous dresses, the elaborate parties and weddings and the social customs that had to be observed (leaving a ‘calling card’ when you visited someone, for instance). There are great heroes and villains in these books and some people who might be both at once. My very favourite book was the last one, Splendor, which features a delicious and provocative twist to end the series.

I found these books to be scandalous enough that I was engaged and hungered for more, and intelligent enough that I did not get bored. I would highly recommend these books to anyone who enjoys Historical Fiction or Gossip Girl, but is looking for something fresh and new. They would be a great holiday read, just make sure to take out the next one too, just in case. :)

P.S. The LRC has all four books!!

Thanks,
Mrs. Weiler

The luxe website

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan

This is a 5 book series about a teenager that finds out the Greek Gods are real and in fact Posiden is his father! These half-blood demi-gods keep finding themselves on Quests to save the world blocked about good and evil along the way.

The series titles are:
The Lightning Thief (which is being made into a movie)
The Sea of Monsters
The Titan's Curse
The Battle of the Labrinyth
The Last Olympian

The LRC has copies of the first four titles. The fifth is just out in paperback and will be purchased shortly.

The series has its own website Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Check this out for a preview of the movie and more information about the characters from the novels.

More interesting links at the author's website

LRC@NSS Home

nsslibrary — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:57:53 CST

DECEMBER 2009

MON	TUES	WED	THURS	FRI
30	1 Drug Awareness Day	2 Mario Kart	3 Little Shop Of Horrors	4 Little Shop of Horrors
7	8 Wii Game	9 Seasonal Movies	10	11 Rock Band
14 Wii Game	15 Mario Kart	16 Rock Band	17 World Faiths Day	18 Wii Game

Briggs Period 2/Brownlee Period 5

nsslibrary — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:28:19 CST

Trading cards
Trading cards

Response Journal Articles
Toronto Star
Globe and Mail
USA Today
New York Times

Global Conflicts
Afghanistan
North Korea
Lebanon

COMPARISON CHART: Go to My Computer--Students (I)--Common--Library--English. Open Comparison Chart. Select all, copy and paste into a new Word document. Save to you own network file.

THE HEROES JOURNEY

Myths
Antigone Philoctetes Achilles Patroclus
Antigone Philoctetes Achilles Patroclus
Cadmus Prometheus Aeneas
Cadmus Prometheus Aeneas
Perseus Theseus Hector
Perseus Theseus Hector

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Arthurian legends

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Labors of Hercules
Hercules
The Life and Times Of Hercules
Hercules (Marvel Comics)
Hercules vs Hercales
Hercules (mythology)

Comparison Chart

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Use this site to look at different Greek Heroes
http://www.mythweb.com/

Use this site to complete The Heroes Journey notes
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/herosjourney/

Science

nsslibrary — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:38:24 CST

GRADE 9

RENEWABLE/SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
Solar
Energy Quest
Geothermal Energy
Energy
Geothermal
Geothermal
Wind Power
Nuclear Power
Renewable Energy

Acid Rain
GEONETS
Atmospheric Pollution
Effects of Atmospheric Rain
US Case Study
Acid Rain in Europe
Map of Europe

Acid Rain Canada
Legislation
Legislation
Legislation

Elements
Hero Machine
Periodic Table
Web elements
Periodic Table

GRADE 10
Canadian Endangered Species

Geography

nsslibrary — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:03:58 CST

Economic Interactions

StatsCan
Natural Resources
Fisheries
Forestry
Forestry
Agriculture
Mining

Internet Resources

nsslibrary — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:19:21 CST

This pages lists some of the resources that you might find uselful when researching for your projects

DATABASES
SCDSB Database Page: http://resources.scdsb.on.ca/
EBSCO
Is a database that allows you to safely search topics. You can search by topic, print and the citation is always at the top of the page.
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/search?hid=116&sid=068f9f24-1b3a-4383-8072-2b0d5f0c13ce@sessionmgr109
STATISTICS CANADA: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES
Memorial University
Cornell University Library
OWL at Purdue

CITATIONS
Citation Machine: http://www.citationmachine.net/
OTTOBIB: http://ottobib.com/
APA Style: http://apastyle.apa.org/
MLA Style: http://www.library.ubc.ca/home/about/instruct/mlastyle.html

The Writing Process: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
LIBRARIES

Innisfil Public Library: http://innisfil.library.on.ca/
Barrie Public Library: http://www.library.barrie.on.ca/

Comprehensive Online Research Education (CORE)
http://gemini.lib.purdue.edu/core/login/login.cfm

Homework Help: http://www.bjpinchbeck.com/

Note Taking Directions

nsslibrary — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:19:14 CDT

Note taking Directions

Part A
1. define topic
2. find one resource
3. use table of contents and index to look for related information
4. scan section to see if the information is relevant
5. if information is relevant, fill in research record page
6. create an abbreviation for this resource
7. on a slip of paper/index card, write the abbreviation in the top left corner
8. write the page number in the top right corner
9. write one fact per page. Remember to write in your own words
10. if you copy the information use quotation marks 11. repeat steps 2 through 10

Part B
1. read through all of your notes
2. look for topics that you can use
3. put slips of paper with similar information together in a paragraph pile.

Part C
1. read through the your notes for one paragraph pile.
2. decide which points you can use
3. discard unrelated points. (do not throw these out until you are sure that you won’t need them)
4. organize the remaining facts into the order that you want to write them.
5. repeat steps 1 through 4 until you have looked at all of your paragraph piles

Part D
1. decide on the order of your paragraphs
2. start writing

Senior English

nsslibrary — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:41:43 CDT

Ms Briggs English 4U site:

This page is set up to help you with your research

for senior english classes at NSS.

Resources from the internet
The American Novel
Internet Public Library: http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/
The Topic: Literary Criticism: http://42explore.com/litcrit.htm
enotes: http://www.enotes.com/guides/criticism
CROW: http://www.millikin.edu/aci/crow/
The Libyrinth: http://www.themodernword.com/authors.html
LitLinks: http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/Pages/Main.aspx

Critical Theory:http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/lit.crit.html

In the LRC

A dictionary of writers and their works (802.5 DOC)
Cyclopedia of world authors (809 CYC)
About the author (809.003 GLO)
Critical survey of long fiction (809.3 CRI)
Women, native, other: writing postcolonialaity and feminism (809.89 MIN)
Notable American novelists (813.009 NOT)
The Oxford companion to Canadian literature (819.03 OXF)
Identities and issues in literature (819.309 IDI)
The Victorians (820.9 CRU)
Notable British authors (820.9 NOT)

LITERACY BAGS

nsslibrary — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:05:31 CDT

Here are the internet links for each of the Literacy Bags.

Literacy Bag #3: Click Clack Moo

Literacy Bag #4: Rimshots

Literacy Bag #5: Diary of a Worm

Literacy Bag #6: Don't Take A Snake for a Stroll

Literacy Bag #11: Through My Eyes

Literacy Bag #13: The Wolf Who Cried Boy

Literacy Bag #21: Night of the Gargoyles

Newspaper Articles

nsslibrary — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:36:41 CDT

Structure of a news story:
http://www.tv411.org/lessons/cfm/reading.cfm?str=reading&num=3&act=1
Follow the instructions to complete this activity.

Write a one paragraph article about the Human Swine Influenza using the information and links below. Use the colors shown for each part of the article. Put the information into any order that you think works. Save the article using your name and then save on to Ms Chaiko’s thumb drive. Do not print.

HUMAN SWINE INFLUENZA
WHO:

PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD
GOVERNMENTS
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte/swine-porcine/surveillance-eng.php Number of people sick in Canada

WHAT:

HUMAN SWINE INFLUENZA (H1N1)
USUALLY AFFECTS PIGS
CAN MAKE HUMANS SICK
CONTAGIOUS (PIG TO PERSON AND PERSON TO PERSON)
RESPIRATORY ILLNESS
FEVER, FATIGUE, NOT HUNGRY,SORE THROAT, VOMITING, DIARRHEA
SPREADS THROUGH COUGHS OR SNEEZES

WHY:

WHY ARE PEOPLE WORRIED ABOUT THIS STRAIN?

WHEN:

STARTED MID-APRIL 2009 TO NOW

WHERE:

STARTED IN MEXICO
http://healthmap.org/swineflu

Tweaked by Katherine Holubitsky

nsslibrary — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:13:32 CST

BOOKTALK BY MS MIDDLETON

Tweaked is a novel set in Vancouver and is about Gordie, a 17 year old high school student, whose brother Chase is a crystal meth addict. The main conflict of the story is Gordie (and his parents) trying to deal with the problems Chase has created for the whole family with his addiction. I enjoyed the novel and thought it was relevant to today’s youth, but at times it was extreme and I’d recommend it to more experienced or mature readers, even though it’s an easy read. The content is about drugs and how it affects a family, and readers need to be ready for disturbing descriptions. It was generally well written, and the characters and dialogue are realistic. Tweaked is written from a 1st person point of view. Gordie’s voice helps build the atmosphere and tension because we don’t know what’s happening with Chase, and the reader wonders along with Gordie what will happen to Chase and their whole family. We also don’t know what’s happening with Gordie’s parents’ relationship either, which makes us bond with Gordie more as well. We experience Gordie’s anger, disgust, and disappointment in his brother, and the frustration he feels at not being able to be a ‘normal’ teenager with a ‘normal’ family. The story is quite realistic, and difficult to put down!

After River by Donna Milner

nsslibrary — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:08:24 CST

BOOKTALK BY MS. CRYER

After River is a novel about a young girl named Natalie and her family who live in a small town in British Columbia, near the US border. She, her parents and her three older brothers live on a dairy farm and seem to have the perfect life. Then, one day, a young man named River shows up at their hosue to work as a farmhand. River is a draft dodger from the States. For those of you who don't know what that is - a draft dodger is someone who was being forced by the US government to join the army and go fight in the Vietnam War, but found they could peacefully oppose the war and avoid going to jail by hiding in Canada. This was illegal but was still very common at the time. So anyways, the novel is about the secrets that come about from River joining Natalie's family and what happens to them after he is gone. The book jumps back and forth from Natalie as a young girl to Natalie as a middle-aged woman dealing with her dying mother and the revelation or conclusion of the family's secrets. I don't want to give too much away but I will say that there are many twists and turns in the book and it keeps you guessing all the way through. I would recommend After River to anyone who likes a good mystery. It has some high points and some sad parts, and it is really hard to put down once you get started. There's no scary bits, or vampires, or aliens or anything, but there's a lot of character development and an interesting story about how secrets, gossip, betrayal and guilt can influence a small-town family and community.

From After River
There was something different about my mother that day. On wash days she usually wore a kerchief tied in a rolled knot in the middle of her forehead. That afternoon, bobby pins and combs held up her hair. Wayward blond locks and wispy tendrils escaped around her face and at the nape of her neck. But it was more than that. She was distracted, flushed even. I was certain she had applied a touch of Avon rouge to her cheeks. Earlier she had caught me studying her face as she fed my brothers' jeans through the wringer. . .
She was expecting him.
She wasn't expecting the heartache that would follow like a cold wind.

The Way Lies North by Jean Rae Baxter

nsslibrary — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:49:22 CST

The Way Lies North tells the story of Charlotte and her family, Loyalists who are forced to flee their home in the Mohawk Valley as a result of the violence of the "Sons of Liberty" during the American Revolution. Charlotte is separated from her family and must make the trip to the safety of Fort Haldimand without them.
In the flight north, the Mohawk nation plays an important role, and Charlotte learns much about their customs and way of life, to the point where she is renamed "Woman of Two Worlds."

Out of the Cold by Norah McClintock

nsslibrary — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:47:48 CST

A Robyn Hunter Mystery

Robyn can't believe she let Billy talk her into volunteering at a homeless shelter. And she doesn't appreciate Ben, the cute guy who also volunteers at the shelter, predicting that she's going to quit after her first day.
Robyn's determined to prove Ben wrong. But as she gets more involved with the centre, and digs into the mystery surrounding one of the homeless men who often comes there, she also finds herself in danger. . .

Perilous Passage by B.J. Bayle

nsslibrary — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:46:07 CST

After a shipwreck in 1809, Peter finds himself the victim of amnesia. The sea captain who rescues the teenager gives him the only name he knows, while others derisively dub him Peter No-Name.
Eventually, Peter finds employment in a Montreal tavern where he meets a French voyageur called Boulard, a man who changes his life irrevocably.
With David Thompson, a famous explorer and mapmaker, Peter embarks on an amazing series of adventures that brings him face-to-face with hostile and friendly First Nations and exposes him to hardships and life-threatening challenges of formidable mountains and primeval forests.

A Perfect Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson

nsslibrary — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:44:57 CST

The six Bell children are coping in separate ways with their mother's death and their father's increasing remoteness from family life. The children's shared love of playacting the Knights of the Round Table has always kept them close, even -- perhaps especially -- after their mother's death. But lately, things have started to change.

Payback by James Heneghan

nsslibrary — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:43:46 CST

Charley has just moved to Vancouver, and he's coping the best he can with some difficult circumstances -- a move to a new country, starting at a new school, the recent death of his mother. He's got a lot on his plate -- too much to have to worry about Benny Mason, a classmate who is being bullied. . .

Not Fair, Clare by Yvonne Prinz

nsslibrary — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:42:36 CST

It's the first day of eighth grade, but Clare isn't nervous. Who cares if all the other girls look like they just got back from Camp Total Makeover? With her new BFF Allison by her side, Clare's ready for just about anything.
But Clare's rival, so-popular-it-hurts Ginny Germain, wants Allison in her clique -- and Allison doesn't seem to mind. In fact, she fits right in, Soon, Allison's eating lunch at Ginny's table and getting invited to all the parties. Clare's not.
Now Clare feels so invisible, she might as well go back to hanging out with her friend Elsa (who's used to the whole 'invisible' thing, 'cause she's imaginary). But these days, even Elsa's too busy for her!

Frost by Nicole Luiken

nsslibrary — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:40:55 CST

Johnny Van Der Zee is a talented hockey player and seems to have everything going for him in the town of Iqaluit, Nunavut. But his friend Kathy knows something is wrong.
Why did Johnny deliberately crash his snowmobile? Why do mysterious accidents befall anyone Johnny gets close to? What is the secret Johnny is so desparate to tell, if only someone would listen? And who is the stranger with the cold eyes and silver hair? The one Johnny knows only as Frost. . .
In this supernatural thriller, Johnny's friends and brother must piece together the reason for his strange behaviour to save him -- and all of mankind -- from Frost's plan for a new ice age.

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

nsslibrary — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:39:32 CST

Eleven year old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. Things change when a former slave steals money from Elijah's friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the thief, and he discovers firsthand the unimaginable horros of the life his parents fled -- a life from which he'll always be free, if he can find the courage to get back home.