ALA announces 2012 Youth Media Award winners

American Library Association announces 2012 Youth Media Award winners American Libraries Magazine

This includes the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults.
Winners include:

Resource Selection

So here I am up quite late working on an assignment for ETL503, Resourcing the curriculum. For me, this assignment has been more frustrating than others. For part of it we have to select 10 resources for an aspect of the curriculum (which we have chosen) that is not currently well resourced. Easy enough, you say, but we have to use "selection tools" to find these resources. We are being judged on the selection process, more so than the end result. I can understand why we need to do it, but it still annoys me that I have to write all the other stuff up. It's just one of those things we have to do, I suppose.

My chosen aspect of the curriculum is the area of the science syllabus to do with Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution. When I had to teach this topic while another teacher was on leave, I was very frustrated by the lack of current resources the school had and what they did have was way too heavy for the class of very average kids. I have found some amazing resources on The Teaching and Learning Exchange (TALE) (only available to NSW DET staff) that I wish I had access to when I was teaching the class. Some other sites I have found good stuff on were:

• School Library Directory selection tools page



• Commonsense Media Reviews



• Surfing the Net with Kids
  

I have also recently created a separate page on the portal for weeding and selecting which has a number of links to various useful selection tools.

I have so much to do before Christmas so I am really looking forward to finishing this assignment! Do you think it would help if I got to bed a bit earlier?

The Slap

I had been wanting to read The Slap ever since it was published but for some reason or another it never happened. Then when I saw the TV series was going to air I really really wanted to read it before watching but again that didn't happen due to assignments etc. Finally I purchased an ebook and read it within two days. How great are ebooks! This was my first and I loved the fact I could browse, buy and be reading within minutes. This is fantastic considering our nearest bookstore is 3 hours away. The public library is well stocked but I didn't even try finding The Slap there, due to the current resurge in popularity. Anyway back to the book...

I liked the way we learn the story through different people (I've read a few books like that) but I found the ending disappointing. I don't want to go into too much detail in case anyone reading my blog hasn't read it but I felt the ending was a bit washy and didn't wind up the story as well as it could have. Perhaps I've grown to accustomed to what my husband and I call "french endings", which refers to movies and books (named from the ones we've watched on SBS) that finish without telling you all the details and you have to use your imagination and decide for yourself how it ends. The story is good in the way it brings up many debatable issues - discipline, private schooling, drugs etc and the author's references to the characters' Greek family background seem authentic. With each character, however, there were times I just wanted to "slap" them to wake them up from their own complacency or whatever it was holding them back. Perhaps this is what the title really refers to, and the actually slapping of the child is a mere visual clue. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the TV episodes pan out compared to the book, but I do recommend reading the book if you are interested in the TV episodes. Note: the book contains quite a bit of drug use and sexual references so I'd probably give it a MA rating. LOL.

You can also watch an interview with Christos Tsiolkas on Compass via this link:

http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/837976

Steampunk!: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories

I have always loved steampunk and if you've never heard of it, do a search now! I was so excited to come across this book through a tweet.

LINK, Kelly & Gavin J. Grant, eds. Steampunk!: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories. 432p. Candlewick. Oct. 2011. Tr $22.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-4843-5; ebook $22.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5638-6. LC 2010040742.
Gr 8 Up—Most readers have become familiar with the essential steampunk elements: clockwork automatons, brass goggles, mad scientists, brave adventurers, and Victorian imagery. However, this collection of short stories by some of the best YA authors today, including Libba Bray, Garth Nix, and Cory Doctorow, offers something different and takes the steampunk ethos to a new level. Within these pages, there's a little something for everyone. For the romantic, there is Holly Black's "Everything Amiable and Obliging," in which a clockwork automaton exceeds the bounds of its programming and falls in love with the beautiful daughter of its employer. And for the disillusioned, there is Link's lovely and eerily sad "The Summer People," in which a girl in Appalachia is forced to care for the mysterious inhabitants of an unusual house. M. T. Anderson's "The Oracle Engine" is an alternate version of the story of Crassus of Rome that will delight history buffs. And Dylan Horrocks's "Steam Girl," the story of an unusual girl with steampunk sensibilities in modern times, will resonate with those who feel as though they don't quite belong. Two stories told in comic book format will appeal to graphic-novel fans. There is not a weak story in the bunch. This exceptional anthology does great service to the steampunk subgenre and will do much to further its audience.—Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO

Facebook

Are you a facebook fanatic? I've just finished this easy-to-read interesting "biography" about the founders of facebook. The movie "The Social Network" was based on this book. I would recommend it to TLs mainly because it gives you a little bit a background info about facebook and it might gain you some kudos with the "digital natives" if you know a bit about it. I also think it would be a good book to buy for a secondary library.