Treasure Island

Bliss! I have begun reading Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island once again. I was all of thirteen the first time I read it - and likely only a few chapters here or there since. It is wonderful....
I am going to try to work with my Gifted group and read it together. I made a race out tonight and bought six copies - I am getting a start on the Group tonight. It is a fabulous story. It will be interesting to see the reaction of the Group as we begin. What will youth of ages 11, 12 and 13 make of this literature from many many decades ago?
I set up a Library Blog Wiki for the Group and was thrilled to see that two students have communicated their thoughts on Faithful Elephants that we shared last week. I gave one young fellow another copy of the URL tonight - to my query, he (honestly) replied that he had lost the sheet. Will have to track down the other two young fellows to see what song they will sing. (!!)
Shades of Treasure Island in my writing tonight...

Did you know????

.... that you can have an on-line calculator right there when you need it?

Yes. That's right! No more searching the house desperately to add up that big big big LIB3 Allan A Martin Library Reno budget!

Check it out: http://www.motionnet.com/calculator/

Reading and Math. Math and Reading. Words and Numbers. Numbers and Words.
Colour. Reading words and Math numbers in colour!

Quote for Today - City Snow

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?

J.B. Priestley

Page Flakes

I had not heard the word Page Flakes before yesterday! Checking LIB3 BLOG and it caught my attention. I have actually investigated and signed up and managed to change the weather to that of Mississauga. It strikes me that Page Flakes is definitely more energetic and active and interactive that a BLOG. It is the quieter approach to reflection that I find so attractive about Blogging. I am still trying to sort out just what the application of each is. Or does one "do" Page Flakes and another person "manages" a BLOG. You can't do it all...
Love the beauty in the phrase though .... Page Flakes

Inspirational quote for today

We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Image of the Librarian

...this is a fun website. Author turned librarian turned author. Holly Black.

The question is: do you have what it takes to be a librarian?

Librarians are:

Sexy
Smart
Radical
Famous
Me!

http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~hblack/whylibrarian.htm

December in Mississauga...

...is also December in Afghanistan! I am continuing to research, read and working today on LIB3. This course has been a great amount of work; it has been an exciting journey however, with so much learning on so many varied fronts.
I discovered Deborah Ellis as an author several years ago. I read The Breadwinner first. Prior to reading this YA novel, I really had made no attempt to understand the situation in Afghanistan. It is a brilliant novel that has become part of some grade six core in literature in some places. Kids of all ages ( 8 - 88) love it! Don't miss this exceptional read. Follow The Breadwinner with Parvana's Journey. These two stories gave me a basic understanding of the fundamentals, and then reading The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khald Hosseini) built on that understanding.

I was musing about the state of learning in Afghanistan today. One cannot think about learning where there is none, without discussing a library. It is vital to the process. One cannot discuss the state of learning in Afghanistan without considering the treatment of females. How wonderful it is, and how telling, that the institution of library becomes the central connection.

http://www.w4wafghan.ca/fundraising/library.html