Tag Archives: Featured Book

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Featured book: The Gardener

This post is part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books.

41boBzZilCL._AA160_Title: The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen
Review by Maria Burnham, Media Specialist at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School

Although the concept of the book is interesting (a secret society of doctors trying to re-formulate the human race to survive without food), I found the writing and the story development lacking. There was very little detail in plot or character.   I find S.A. Bodeen’s writing style to be simple and sparse.  This style can be good for reluctant readers who don’t care about flowery language or graphic detail.  Her books are short and to the point.  The downside, however, is that I never feel invested in her books as a reader. For example, I’ve also read The Raft, a survival story of a teen stranded at sea.  The chapters had cliffhanger endings, but nothing that made me gasp out loud.  Perhaps my expectations are too high, but I’d have a hard time recommending The Gardener to my students which is frustrating.
I’m bummed about this novel because this was our first choice for my school’s Teen Book Club. I’m hoping that the kids liked the book, but it didn’t have enough teeth for me to be fully invested.
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Featured Book: Say What You Will

Say What You Will by Cammie McGovernThis post is part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books.

Title: Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern
Written by Maria Burnham, Media Specialist at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School

Another pretty good realistic fiction YA novel.  The storyline is about two 18-year-olds, a girl, Amy, with Cerebral Palsy and a boy, Matthew, who has OCD.  For her senior year, Amy’s parents decide to hire “peer helpers” to help Amy throughout the school day instead of adult aids.  They are hoping that the peer helpers will help Amy meet new friends and enable her to transition to college.  Matthew has always known Amy from a distance, and has taken the job as her peer helper because Amy specifically asks him to.  And so stems an unlikely friendship between two outcasts.

I liked most of the book; however, some of the events in the end seemed a bit unrealistic for the characters in the book (no spoilers here!).  Otherwise, I liked the characterization and the decisions that many 18-year-olds must face as they experience their senior year and find tremendous pressure to go to college no matter what.  This book is a coming-of-age story, and one that I will certainly recommend to my students.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Featured Book: This is the Story of a Happy Marriage

this is the storyThis post is part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books. Could you review a book for CMLE? Send your book review to CMLE staff and we will be happy to share it!

Title: This is the Story of a Happy Marriage
Written by Maria Burnham, Media Specialist at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School

True to form, Ann Patchett delivers yet another writing masterpiece–this time, a collection of essays.  I have been a long-time fan of Patchett’s writing.  Bel Canto is one of my top ten favorite books of all time.  Other pieces of her work that resonated with me include Truth and Beauty and her most recent novel State of Wonder.  

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage contains essays about writing, family, the LAPD, and marriage and love. I never knew that she wrote so much non-fiction in order to continue to write novels. Ann Patchett is a wonderful writer, both in fiction and in non-fiction.  It’s so easy to read her writing; settling in with one of her books is like meeting an old friend for coffee.

Reading this book inspires me to write more and to spend more time thinking about life.   I love, love, love that I own this book! I highly recommend it!

 

 

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Featured Book: Complete Copyright for K-12 Librarians and Educators

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Title: Complete Copyright for K-12 Librarians and Educators by Carrie Russell.

Reviewed by: John Meyerhofer, CMLE Information Specialist

Quick Take: Complete Copyright for K-12 Librarians and Educators by Carrie Russell is a resource that no K-12 Librarian should be without. The book covers the topics of copyright, fair use with practical scenarios and plenty of “what-if” situations.

 

Review: The Complete Copyright for K-12 Librarians and Educators by Carrie Russell book begins with a look at what is copyright. The text is very readable and not overly technical. It certainly doesn’t read like how a lawyer talks. One of the best parts of this section are the “Misconceptions”

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These address some of the things you might not know about copyright by dispelling some of copyright myths.

Next Russell moves on to Fair Use. We learn that the four factors of Fair Use are: purpose of the use, nature of the work, amount used, and effect on the market for the work. These are however just guidelines not the law. Frequently, the book will have quick question pull-outs that give practical advice to real questions:

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After Fair Use, the next two chapters are spent talking about video use in schools and digitizing textbooks. In both cases we learn more about how much is too much and when it’s appropriate. Again Russell provides real world scenarios to talk about the issues and provide answers to common questions.

For the K-12 Librarian, actually any librarian, the Complete Copyright for K-12 Librarians and Educators by Carrie Russell belongs in your library!

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Featured Book: The Smartest Kids in the World

book-photo-smartestThis post is part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books.

Title: The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley.
Reviewed by: Maria Burnham, Media Specialist at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School

Before this book, I hadn’t read a book about education in a while, and I’m always curious to read about how other countries/places run their educational system.

Although I wasn’t a big fan of the jumpy nature of the narrative, I did find the content, findings and students to be fascinating. Amanda Ripley interviewed and studied the educational system of three countries (Finland, Poland, and South Korea) all the while working with three American students who traveled abroad to these places for a year of schooling.

Much of the findings were quite interesting. For example, many South Korean students are sleeping all day during their public school classes because they are up so late studying in their hagwons in the evening. But perhaps the most interesting part of the whole story is the view on standardized testing. Ripley chose these regions because they typically score well on a nation-wide standardized test that ask students to answer questions using critical thinking skills, not necessarily just an application of a math formula or reading comprehension.

My absolute favorite part of the book, however, was the first appendices that talked about what all of this means for us, here in the United States.

This is a pretty quick read, which I can’t always say for a book that’s in my professional collection of my library:)