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Monday, December 31, 2012

Did you reach your goals in 2012?



Reading goals for 2012:

Gah! Why can't I EVER make my goal?  47 and a half books and I'm still 6% short!!!  The average is 58 for Goodreads. The only thing that makes me feel better is that my stats on Goodreads show I have 13815 pages for the year PLUS at least 35 children's books I didn't count. At least I have that.....

Anyone make their goal????

2012 Reading Challenge

2012 Reading Challenge
Montanamarynotmartha has read 47 books toward a goal of 50 books.
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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Meet Morris Lessmore

I have to share with you the most amazing children's picture book ever. And if you are not into picture books, how about an award wining Pixar "short" video or an iPad/iPhone App or an interactive webpage?  

This story has the best opening line and the narrator brings it to life..... 

Morris Lessmore loved words.  He loved stories.  He loved books.  His life was a book of his own writing, one orderly page after another.  He would open it every morning and write of his joys and sorrows, of all that he knew and everything that he hoped.
The picture book goes on to show Morris living out his life with books.. He lives with them, reads to them, fixes their covers, and grows old with them. Meanwhile he's writing his own book to leave behind to keep his book-friends company. 

On the iPad App, you can listen to the narration while you create the action on each page. Or, if you want less interaction and more focus on the paper book, you can use the other $.99 iTunes IMAG-N-O-TRON app to experience "augmented reality". It's a fancy word for mixing a 3-d image with your surroundings. You can print off an 8 1/2 by 11 inch page like above and hold your iPad or phone over it and it will mix the images as you move the device - it looks like books flying around you. The app is only a few dollars and the printouts are available with it. I used the iPad app with my boys and book club students and they loved it, but the print outs would have been fun at the club, too.

What fun for under $10!  And what an amazing way to share the love of books than with a mash of old fashioned writing and artwork and modern technology - no matter your age, it just draws you in!

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Did I just fulfill a global prophecy?

Hey Bloggy-World! I have missed you!! I am recovering from a very exhausting semester - but IT'S ALL GOOD because I had TWO literature classes and I am now "edge-u-mucated" in Young Adult literature and Children's literature - my TWO favorite things.  Hopefully I can share what I learned about strategies and choosing quality books and maaaybe I'll share link to my Literacy Strategies website I created.  Onto the good stuff.....the B-L-O-G.


    First off, I have to thank Susan Kaye Quinn, author of the amazing Mindjack Trilogy for the email suggesting some fantastic and FREE newer titles available in e-books. Somehow I got carried away and now have 26 new FREE ebooks! Visit Susan's Blog

And that brings me to my deep-thinking, question of the order of the universe.......


If I downloaded a free e-copy of H.G. Wells' Time Machine 

did I just fulfill a prophecy?


Remember this bookshelf???

EEERRRRIEEE!  (click to cue creepy music)

Have you ever had that happen??  Ever fall down a well and send your dog for help?