Friday, April 29, 2011

NEW AR QUIZZES

During the last two weeks the IMC has been busy with inventory and MAP testing so working on getting new books ready for checkout has not happened. However the 7th grade did come to checkout books from the list of new Accelerated Reader quizzes. In preparing a display to assist the students in their selections, I realized how many great books we have added to the AR database this year. Here's just a few examples:


Adventure: Taken by Edward Bloor; Death Run by Jack Higgins; Tunnels by Roderick Gordon
Animals: A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole; The Mayor of Central Park by Avi
Fantasy: The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett; Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
Historical: Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller; Voyage on the Great Titanic by Ellen Emerson White
Horror: Three Quarters Dead by Richard Peck
Humorous: The Curtain Went Up, My Pants Fell Down by Henry Winkler; Science Fair by Dave Barry
Mystery: 39 Clues - Books 1-4; The Postcard by Tony Abbott; The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone
Realistic: After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick; Antsy Does Time by Neal Shusterman; Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis
Science fiction: The Clone Codes by Patricia McKissack; The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson
Sports: Offside by Erik Esckilsen; Mixed-Up Doubles by Elena Yates Eulo; Beanball by Gene Fehler
Sports/Adventure: Getting Air by Dan Gutman
Suspense: Code Orange by Caroline Cooney; After by Francine Prose

Friday, April 15, 2011

Sequels

This week's new books included a number of sequels. Book 2 in the The Missing series by Margaret Peterson Haddix is Sent which continues the story of Found where children have been pulled out of their historical time period by people from the future because these children were meant to die. Jonah and Katherine are trying to return the children to their correct home in time and restore their timeline. In this sequel they travel to England in the 1400s to return the two princes in the tower who were supposedly killed by King Richard II. The popular book The Alchemyst by Michael Scott is followed by The Magician and The Sorceress. These books continue the adventures of the twins Sophie and Josh as they assist Nicolas Flamel. the alchemyst, escape pursuit throughout Europe from Dr. John Dee and Niccolo Machiavelli. Finally the second adventure of Daniel X, alien hunter, is called Daniel X: Watch the Skies. Daniel's first book written by James Patterson is The Dangerous Days of Daniel X. Here we meet Daniel who is following "The List of Alien Outlaws on Terra Firma" to track down and exterminate alien beings hiding on Earth. He is anxious to move up in the alien hunter rankings by going after the top-of-the-list bad guys.

Friday, April 8, 2011

New Career Books

Just before spring break I received information about a wonderful deal on books from a new company consolidating several publisher whose books I have bought in the past. With the 7th grade career project starting after break, I took advantage of this deal to order 50 new career books and 2 new career encyclopedias. Fortunately the books arrived over spring break and 7th grade students are using these books for their research. In order to make at least some of the new books available for check-out, I added them to the automation system by a procedure called catalog-on-the-fly. This process allows me to enter the minimum amount of information about the book into the automation. Then Mrs. Wilson processed the books to a shelf-ready status. The books were posted and ready to check out. Later I can go back to these records and fully catalog the books for next year's research. The students have found these new books very helpful in their research. The new career encyclopedias are Career Discovery Encyclopedia (copyright 2009) and Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance (copyright 2011). The other books come from two series -- Careers in Focus and What Can I Do Now? All of the books have copyright dates no older than 2005. I was able to purchase a wide range of careers so that we have almost meet everyone's needs.