
Achieving the level of complex thinking in the classroom required by the Common Core standards can feel overwhelming, particularly when students will be reading, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing in this capacity throughout the day.
February 17, 2013
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Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Big Bad Ironclad!
By Nathan Hale
Amulet (an imprint of Abrams)
$12.95
ISBN: 978-1-419700396-6
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0395-9
Ages 9-12
On shelves now
If you should find that you share your name with a Revolutionary War Hero you have various ways of making use of that fact. You could join Revolutionary War re-enactors [...]
Castle: How It Works By David Macaulay with Sheila Keenan David Macaulay Studio (Macmillan) ISBN: 9781596437449 $15.99 Grades 1-4 In Stores Find it at: Schuler Books | Your Library One of the more satisfying things about being an elementary school librarian (other than the resurgence of the cardigan sweater) is seeing gaps filled. The landscape [...]
Well, perhaps less of a round up than an offering of two books — two books that I don’t think will go the distance in PrintzLand (although of course only time will tell). We’re looking at the Freedman book on Lincoln and Douglass and the Aronson book on J. Edgar Hoover. My problems with each [...]
Can a convicted murderer ever merit a fresh start? Investigative journalist Nancy Mullane spent years examining that question. In Life After Murder she writes about five convicts in San Quentin State Prison in California, from their lives before the murders through the experience of reentry. Mullane clearly believes in giving criminals a second chance, once they [...]
Bomb: The Race To Build – And Steal – The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin. Flash Point, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing. 2012.
It’s About: One nice thing about non-fiction titles: they tell you up front what a book will be about. This is about the invention of [...]
The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau
By Michelle Markel
Illustrated by Amanda Hall
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
$17.00
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5264-6
Ages 4-8
On shelves now
I’m not ashamed to say it, though perhaps I should be. Still, it’s true. Though I grew up in the middle class with a good education and a stint at a liberal arts college [...]
The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau
By Michelle Markel
Illustrated by Amanda Hall
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
$17.00
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5264-6
Ages 4-8
On shelves now
I’m not ashamed to say it, though perhaps I should be. Still, it’s true. Though I grew up in the middle class with a good education and a stint at a liberal arts college [...]
Michael Schofield’s nonfiction account of his daughter’s schizophrenia has similar appeal to titles that have drawn teen readers in the past. Think Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel, A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar and perhaps especially Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Scheff. Next week I will [...]

One of the most common complaints about state or local curriculum standards is that they focus on covering a range of topics while sacrificing depth of understanding. Chances are you’ve heard your colleagues bemoan that these standards are “a mile long and an inch deep.” Are the Common Core State Standards any different?
It’s hard to believe that November is knocking on the door and the school year is well underway. (If it wasn’t for Hurricane Sandy, I’d be thinking about elections, Thanksgiving, and yes… the Winter Holidays!) Of course, what my thoughts are constantly busy with are the buzzwords “Common Core” that are being chirped up and [...]
Christian Hosoi is one of the top skateboarders in history. He turned pro at 14.
He was at the top of the world until he started using. A methamphetamine addiction landed him in prison, where he found freedom in reading the Bible. Hear it from the man himself.
Hosoi’s 300-page memoir includes more than 100 color and black-and-white [...]
Christian Hosoi is one of the top skateboarders in history. He turned pro at 14.
He was at the top of the world until he started using. A methamphetamine addiction landed him in prison, where he found freedom in reading the Bible. Hear it from the man himself.
Hosoi’s 300-page memoir includes more than 100 color and black-and-white [...]
Bryan Mealer’s exploration of football and poverty in one small Florida town brings to mind other books about high school sports, such as Friday Night Lights and Michael D’Orso’s Eagle Blue.
You probably know Mealer’s previous work, even if you don’t recognize the name. He wrote The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind with William Kamkwamba, a [...]
” I can see where it’s alarming to see your kid looking like a corpse, but it’s all part of rebellion, of saying the “regular” world of mortgages and wars and nuclear meltdown frightens them and they want to distance themselves from it…”

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have become the topic du jour in educational circles, and librarians are key participants in the conversation. School Library Journal’s Leadership Summit, “Advocacy and E-volution: Creating Stronger Schools Through Stronger Libraries,” taking place in Philadelphia October 26-27, will focus on how librarians and school media specialists can propel the dialogue and help teachers and administrators deliver on the full potential of the Common Core.
Monsters are eternally intriguing, and Matt Kaplan offers a unique take on the historical possibilities of where our fears may have originated. From dragons to golems to zombies, the interdisciplinary nature of this work will thrill young science and history readers.
Kaplan is a regular contributor to National Geographic, New Scientist, Nature, and The Economist. Teens [...]
The tendency is to group fictional treatments of pop culture archetypes such as zombies with similar texts of fiction, but actually non-fiction texts such as this one can be far more reflective of fandom-based learning…
Many thanks to Amy Cheney for sending in the following about today’s reviewed book:
Deborah Jiang Stein came to visit the teen girls in Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center on the last day of September. Born in prison to a heroin addicted mother, she spoke about secrets and shame. About prison, drugs, crime, rage, revenge – [...]
from graphic novel guest blogger, Francisca Goldsmith:
World War II, rather like the Torah, is endlessly plumbable for lessons, insights and other instructions from the past that we can apply as we continue to move always toward the future. Keery and Wyatt’s concise and visually enriched version of Canada’s role and military experiences in that period [...]







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