CGHS Library

I Think We Can All Agree the Vampire Thing Has Gone Too Far

     This is an actual book available from a major publisher, and for a limited time only, you can read it online. That graphic is kinda small. The book is called Romeo and Juliet and Vampires and if you want to read it, you are on your own. I don't want to be responsible for this.

Algebra Supplements

 

 

Can't Make It to Paris?

Take a virtual tour of the Louvre, instead. Most museums also have downloadable audio tours available on their websites and through iTunes, and many have iPhone and iPad Apps.

 

Finnikin of the Rock FIC MAR

I wanted to like this book. I really did. After all, I had loved the author, Melina Marchetta's award winning Jellicoe Road, so the thought of an author I admire writing in a genre I love, Fantasy, made me all giddy with Librarian Excitement.

Besides that, the book was getting great reviews and winning awards. Marchetta's web page says that Finnikin of the Rock is "an epic fantasy of feudal intrigue, ancient magic, bloodshed and exile, and two opposing lovers destined to unite . ."

Now, doesn't that sound interesting?

Yes, yes it does.

But when I began to read the book, I found I was rather bored and didn't care much one way or the other WHAT happened to Poor Finnikin. I finally jumped ship about a third of the way in.

I've been thinking about it and here is what I think my problem was.

1. Jellicoe Road is all about the characters placed in a mind bending, time twisting, gem of a mystery plot. I never knew what was going to happen next, and I cared about the characters. I cared a lot. The people seemed so flat in Finnikin of the Rock in comparison. Marchetta just kind of throws them out there and takes it for granted that they are who she says they are because she says so. 

2. The fantasy genre depends on the action, and you'd better keep it moving, Bub. Wandering desperately and hopelessly toward a lost homeland, while desperate and hopeless, is hardly exciting. Marchetta DOES have her characters fight, she does, but she does not seem comfortable writing the conflicts, and they did not ring true for me.

3. Marchetta sounds so stuffy in her author blurb in the back of the novel. She is making a Socially Relevant Point, People, and You Had Better Sit Up and Take Notice! She doesn't need to know a thing about Fantasy or "read any of the Greats," thank you very much, because she is going to write about Displaced People, and she is going to use Fantasy to do so. 

Read it and see what you think. (MHouse)

Scarlett Fever FIC JOH

 “The phone was in front of her face and she was clicking through the photos. She saw her finger doing it. It was like she wasn’t even in control of her hand. It had gone rogue, disconnected itself from her brain. The hand wanted to see the photos. The hand always wanted to see the photos, clicking through them again and again, one hundred and fifty-four in all. Some were action shots from the show. Some were pictures she snapped in quiet when Eric wasn’t looking. It was a minor point of pride for Scarlett that she had gotten very good at doing that. If you’re going to be a stalker, she figured, you really should be good at it. The shame of failure was too great. Ideally, a good stalker could perhaps gain future employment as a spy. Fight crime. Go undercover. Save the world. Yes. That’s what the world needed, someone good with a camera phone, someone prepared to spend five hours online looking at the same video clip, someone who really knew how to read into a status message. Surely, all very desirable skills should the perpetrators of terror ever really get into social networking.” –from Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson

Origami Extravaganza

 

Scorpion Origami

 

The Orgami Club includes detailed diagrams and animated instructions on how to make a wide variety of projects from a Penguin parent and child (under the Unique link) to a Samurai Hat (under Fun).

 

Rose

  

Check It Out

Photo by Tyler McLain

Tell Me A Secret

 

New Books Coming

       The USD 417 Educational Enhancement Fund made a nice donation to CGHS Library so that we can buy more new books than we would otherwise be able to afford. I have already placed an order and will let you know when the new books are available to check out. 

Thank you Mr. Mock and the other administrators of the Educational Enhancement Fund!

 

Mr. Mock hands me a donation for new books

Here We Go! Wheeeee