http://www.shadowedrealm.com/forum/index.php?app=blog Community Blog List Syndication Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:29:21 +0000 forums@shadowedrealm.com (Shadowed Realm - Medieval History Forum) IP.Blog 60 The Lightning Thief and sequels by Rick Riordan. They recently made a movie out of it too, though fans of the books have told me it's pretty disappointing. I've mentioned the books before in this blog here.

For the party (and about 60 kids showed up for this), the kids made name tags in Greek, and I had four craft stations where they did crafts relating to four different Olympian deities. I also did mini chariot racing (with toy model cars dressed up as chariots, in a pinewood derby kind of setup) and I had a drawing where kids could win copies of the books.

I also promised blue food in the advertisements, because in the books Percy's mom always gets him blue food. Blue drinks are easy--three big jugs of blue Gatorade bought at Target and boom, done. Blue food, though... there are blue corn chips, blue M&Ms, blue Jelly Bellys, and... hmm. Since I didn't want to set up the food situation where kids would be dipping their hands into a common bowl of food (which would have to happen with all three of the above foods) I decided to get some blue food coloring and just bake up some blue cookies. I used Aunt Barbara's sugar cookie recipe (thanks, Aunt Barbara! They turned out great!) and the Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe, and about half a bottle of blue food coloring. Here are some pictures of the results:










The kids gobbled them all up. There weren't even any left for my volunteers, and they were pretty disappointed. So that was a success!

And, before I sign off, I wanted to post a link to a funny YouTube video Rich showed me the other day. It makes fun of the pure wackiness that was 80s music videos. Check it out here.]]> Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:03:00 +0000 Ok! So you made it this far, what’s this blog about? Basically it’s just a place for me to talk about my work, show it off, and get some feedback, that sort of thing. Don’t expect anything spectacular, but if you like what you see or have a question feel free to leave a comment. SO I’ll essentially be showing off my stuff and telling you how I did it and if you get inspired I’ll consider my job well done. Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:05:00 +0000

And it is past time to blog about my February books, so without further ado:

In-Between: Erak's Ransom by John Flanagan. Book 7 in the popular and always enjoyable Ranger's Apprentice series.

Chapter Book: Just Grace and the Snack Attack by Charise Harper. I like Grace's character with her cartooning and her empathy (super)power. Always a pleasant read and great for kids who like Amber Brown and Meg Cabot's Allie Finkle books.

Read:

• Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. I felt like I was quickly becoming one of the last people in the world who hadn't read this, so I picked it up. It does a good job of making you care about Central Asia and making you appreciate the depth and scope of the educational/cultural problem the author is trying to solve, but some parts really dragged--I learned more about Mortenson's personal life and habits than I really wanted to know.
• Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. Books by this author are always riveting, but this one is much less raw than Twisted or Wintergirls, so it's more suitable for a younger audience.
• The Secret of Zoom by Lynne Jonell. This is in the chapter book section because of its subject matter and the age of its main characters, but it is over 200 pages and not heavily illustrated so I'm listing it here. A familiar plot type: two kids use the discovery of a new substance called Zoom to defeat an evil guy who exploits orphans.
• The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick. Same as above in terms of length/complexity/content. Historical fiction for middle graders. It won the Newbery Honor medal so I thought I should take a look. My reaction was, "meh."
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. Same as Secret of Zoom in terms of length/complexity/content. Another Newbery Honor winner. A Chinese girl sets out to ask the Man in the Moon how to change her family's fortune and has lots of adventures and hears lots of other stories in the process. Reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz. Beautifully illustrated, with gorgeous language. Deserves the medal more, I think.
• Fat Cat by Robin Brande. This book, recommended by Meg Cabot, contained a typical chick lit plot concerning struggles with self-image, self-confidence, guys, etc. which are finally resolved. The main character decides that she's going to eat the same foods and use the same technology as a cavewoman (as much as possible) for 7 months, for a school science project. She also gets things straightened out with a boy in her class.
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. A bunch of book club kids said I should read this, and I finally did. Some genius kids go undercover at an evil orphanage to foil the plot of an evil mastermind. My reaction to this was also "meh."
• When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins. Really fascinating book, and should be required reading for everyone in my generation. Thanks, Mom, for telling those guys you weren't getting coffee for them anymore. Because of you and others like you, I now have much less bullshit to deal with at work.
• The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks. Book 1 in the Night Angel trilogy about an assassin. Lots of dark, disturbing stuff, with twisted political plots and complex characters. Interesting, but maybe too gritty for me.

And that's it! 9 books this month, 3 of which were for adults (and two of those were nonfiction! A lot to get through).]]> Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:19:00 +0000

Suddenly there's this whole new world of information and decisions. There's the jargon, with terms like "escrow" and "R-value" (yay for Google!) and I learned about sump pump systems, radon readings, PEX plumbing, and how to recognize a high-efficiency furnace when I see one. It's a little intimidating, but nothing Super Librarian, finder of any and all information, can't handle!]]> Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:29:00 +0000

Anyway, here it is:

In-Between: Doc Wilde and the Frogs of Doom by Tim Byrd. A chapter book that draws on old pulp adventure books from the 1930s. I personally like more character development in my stories, but this will work well for kids who think all that stuff is boring and want to get to the action-packed parts.

Gave Up On: The Princes of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd. Historical fiction that had such a leisurely plot that I lost interest. Lots of description and characters pondering problems but not actually deciding on anything.

Manga:

• Death Note Vol. 8 by Tsugumi Ohba. I have finally lost interest in this series. When my favorite major character died it just wasn't as good anymore.
• Ranma 1/2 Vol. 1 by Rumiko Takahashi. The book club kids voted to read this. I just don't get manga humor, I guess. It didn't make much sense to me at all.

Odds & Ends:

• Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose. This was the 2009 National Book Award winner for Young People's Literature. I thought it was good, with lots of information about the teenager who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus nine months before Rosa Parks.
• The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan. Graphic novel for older elementary kids about the Dust Bowl. I didn't really see what all the fuss was about when I read it--maybe my expectations were too high since it got glowing reviews and awards.

Regular Books:

• The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima. This was the start of a new high fantasy series by this author, and so far promises to be better than her Heir series.
• Hidden Empire by Orson Scott Card. This was the sequel to Empire, and continues the story of a man who was elected President of the U.S. and wants to turn America into an actual empire, with himself as emperor.
• Conspiracies, All the Rage, Hosts, and The Haunted Air by F. Paul Wilson. More Repairman Jack novels. You know how people say that no one can write like Stephen King (I mean, King in his prime)? Well, F. Paul Wilson comes pretty close.
• Operation Yes by Sara Holmes. This was a touching novel for middle grade readers about kids in a crumbling school on a military base. I have a feeling it will make it onto more than one award list in the next year or two.
• The Awakening by L.J. Smith. This was the first of the extremely popular Vampire Diaries series. I was unimpressed, since it was basically a less original, less absorbing, and duller version of Twilight.
• Fade by Lisa McMann. This was the sequel to Wake, and continues the story of the teenage girl who gets sucked into other people's dreams. She starts to learn more about this gift/curse of hers.
• Liar by Justine Larbalestier. This book features the most unreliable narrator I have ever encountered. By the time you're halfway through, you find out that incidents and even characters were completely made up by the main character... or were they? You have to use some detective skills and logic to try and figure out which parts of her story are true... and who actually killed that guy the main character went to school with.
• Malice by Chris Wooding. This book is about kids who, if they perform a certain ritual, will get sucked into the graphic novel world of Malice, where they must fight for survival. The book is pretty much guaranteed to circulate well, because of the eye-catching cover and the graphic novel sections sprinkled through the story.
• Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund. Science fiction/romance blend about two teens who compete at a prestigious space academy for top marks, while trying to keep secrets from each other and find out more about their parents and the governing Alliance. It kept my interest but wasn't amazing.
• Wish You Were Dead by Todd Strasser. Pretty good mystery for teens about what happens to a wealthy community when the popular high school kids start to disappear under suspicious circumstances.
• The Goldsmith's Daughter by Tanya Landman. Historical fiction about an Aztec teen who secretly helps her father make gold artwork until Cortez shows up and everything goes to hell. Not a happy story, but pretty good.

14 official books for January! And I listed 20. Yep, I read a lot. ]]> Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:47:00 +0000

So, I have some cool stuff to show you in order to celebrate my newly regained health. First, I have become a big fan of notalwaysright.com, and yesterday I found this little tidbit. It demonstrates something that happens at work fairly often.

Tomorrow I'm doing a Diary of a Wimpy Kid party at the library. It's based on the wildly popular series of books by Jeff Kinney about this 6th grader named Greg who is pretty funny but also kind of a jerk. They're making a movie based on the first book, too, and you can see the preview here.

I found the website for those awesome and amazing Harry Potter audiobooks I've been listening to in the car! You can listen to samples of the books, and it comes with a quiz. Yes, I got a 10 out of 10. Check it out here.

Rich also showed me this cool new feature of Firefox called Personas. You can check it out here (but make sure you're using Firefox rather than IE or any other browser!). Anyway, it lets you put different skins (kind of like wallpapers on your desktop) on your browser window, and there's a great selection. Right now I have Spring. Wishful thinking, yeah, but it helps.

Stay tuned for a January book post. ]]> Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:33:00 +0000 Chuck. However, since it's been a while since I've posted, I thought I should throw something up here for you guys to enjoy

I have recently stumbled onto the coolness of Google Reader, and through it I discovered some cool and interesting things. First, a video that is in fact a commercial for a Samsung cell phone. It outlines all the ways people can use the phone. Check it out:



My favorite is "Evil Hedgehog Control Screen."

Also, Dave Barry wrote a recap of 2009, which can be seen here. I especially liked "The big health story in April is the rapid spread of swine flu, a dangerous new virus strain developed by the makers of Purell" and "Sarah Palin unexpectedly announces that she will not complete her term as elected governor of Alaska, explaining, in a prepared statement, that she has a hair appointment." Goofy, yes, and I love it. ]]> Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:47:00 +0000

First, here's a summary of the books I read in December.

In-Between: Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck. This was also under 200 pages. It was a historical fiction for middle grade readers (grades 3-7) about a girl and her brother who are auto mechanics around 1930 in Indiana.

Chapter Books:
Curse of the Cheese Pyramid by Geronimo Stilton. This series is popular with elementary age kids. It's about a mouse who runs a newspaper, has adventures, and solves mysteries.
No Talking by Andrew Clements. This was about a group of 5th graders who challenged each other, boys vs. girls, to not talk for 2 days. Great story for 3rd-6th graders.

Manga: Death Note Vol. 6 and Vol. 7 by Tsugumi Ohba. Slowly but surely making my way through the series.

Regular Books:
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. This was the beginning of another teen vampire series, with a vein of romance.
Wake by Lisa McMann. Absorbing story about a teen girl who gets sucked into other people's dreams.
Book of the Maidervant by Rebecca Barnhouse. Historical fiction about Margery Kempe's serving girl.
Identical by Ellen Hopkins. This book was basically full of despair, misery, horror, and abuse. It was written in free verse though so at least it was quick. It was on ALA's Teen's Top Ten list for 2009.
Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin. Extremely weird magical realism (sort of...) for teens. I had no clue what the heck was going on.
Paper Towns by John Green. This was similar to his other books, in that it was the story about a wild, independent yet unstable girl and the boy who loves her. A good, funny story.
Geektastic ed. by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci. This was a collection of short stories about various aspects of nerd-dom. Enjoyable.
Hate List by Jennifer Brown. This was the story of a school shooting and its aftermath, told from the perspective of the shooter's girlfriend. Very emotional, and a very skillful treatment of a difficult subject.
Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark. I can see why so many people like her. She delivers a tense, well-plotted mystery without a lot of sex, language, or violence.
The Paradise War by Stephen Lawhead. Fantasy adventure based in Celtic mythology.
House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. Another dystopian novel for kids. It won a bunch of awards, and deserved them. Very good story.
Legacies by F. Paul Wilson. The second Repairman Jack novel. Also good, but too many bad things happened to small children for me to enjoy it as much as the first one.

And, I gave up on The Dragonbone Chair. I was indifferent toward the main character and the plot moved at a really leisurely pace. Maybe I've been spoiled by all these books for teens that hurtle along at a breakneck pace.


Now, here's a recap for 2009:

I listed 229 total books, including chapter books, manga, and books I gave up on.
147 of those made my "official" list of books over 200 pages.
21 books were "in-between" books.
I gave up on 10.
The rest were odds & ends like chapter books, manga, graphic novels, free verse, or books that just didn't reach the page limit.

So I think my real count for this year should be the official books plus all the in-betweens that were over 200 pages. That makes 167 (remember, one in-between was under 200 pages).

I also looked for a bit at the genres I was reading. Here's how that breaks down:

59 were science fiction or fantasy.
28 were horror.
14 were historical fiction.
6 were romance.
4 were mysteries.
4 were nonfiction.
The rest I would just file under miscellaneous, and would probably land in the General Fiction section of the bookstore.

Keep in mind, quite a few of these books were mixtures of horror and romance, or fantasy and horror, or mystery and romance. I just did my best and made some judgment calls. For example, I counted most of the vampire/supernatural books in the Horror category, since the main plot had to do with vanquishing the scary monsters or ghosts or whatever. But some, like Meg Cabot's Mediator series and Nora Roberts's Blood Brothers series, could really go either way.

So, 167 books in 2009. That's more than the average bear, isn't it? Should I continue with the monthly book postings, or is everyone tired of that and would rather just look at my Goodreads page? Let me know.]]> Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:00:00 +0000 Rich and I got to spend lots of time with both my in-laws and my parents & sister, so that was nice. I got some new books, some new movies, stuff for our apartment, lots of delicious coffee and desserts, plus gift certificates so I can buy more of those things if I run out.

I also got a Wii Fit Plus. This gift has made a pretty big impact on my life already, because it has completely changed the way I view exercise. I actually look forward to starting it up and spending time on it. *gasp* The games are... fun! There are a LOT of different activities to choose from, so you won't get bored easily. There are yoga poses, strength training, aerobics, and balance games. To see a bit of what I've been doing, you can click here and then click on the Wii Fit Plus Info Video on the lower left. In fact, there are a lot of example videos on that site, so poke around there for a minute if you like. I'll wait.

The program also talks to you, based on what you do and how often you do it. For example, if you come back every day, it gives you a compliment, saying "Dedication isn't a problem with you, is it?" Or, if you manage to hold a very steady advanced yoga pose, your virtual trainer will say, "Amazing balance! This exercise was pretty hard, but you did very well." However, it will also make comments when you don't do as well. If you don't come back every day, your trainer will scold you with her hands on her hips. Also, one time I screwed up and flubbed a numerical memory/coordination game completely, and it said, "Memory isn't your strength, is it?" So of course I shook my fist at the TV screen and was like, "Curse you! I remember BOOKS just fine!"

The only drawback to the Wii Fit is that it takes a long time to burn a significant number of calories. I spent about 90 minutes on it this morning and only burned about 170 calories. I can easily burn that many in only 30 minutes on the elliptical. But the elliptical is just. so. boring! So for now I will stick with the more interesting, though less efficient, Wii workout.]]> Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:22:00 +0000 ) I am starting to feel better. I called in sick to work on Monday & Tuesday last week but went in for Wednesday & Thursday. Friday was the beginning of my vacation time for Christmas. So it looks like I will be ok for the actual holiday, which is good.

I have been aiding my recovery by doing a lot of reading, which I will talk about in a later post. I read a great quote in a Richard Peck novel called Here Lies the Librarian, though, which I'd like to share here:

"To my thinking, a great librarian must have a clear head, a strong hand, and, above all, a great heart. And when I look into the future, I am inclined to think that most of the men who will achieve this greatness will be women."
-Melvil Dewey, of Dewey Decimal System fame

While I was sick, I watched The Mummy again. And I really, really love this part of the movie:


And on Wednesday, which was the last meeting of my Teen Book Club before Christmas, one of the kids gave me a card and a box of chocolate, with strict instructions not to share it with anyone in Book Club The card was signed, "From Sammi and the gang." That was so nice! I guess the kids don't ignore me as much as I think they do ]]> Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:23:00 +0000