Tumblr Book Club

until: booktumbling: printedkisses: librarianpirate: irishmex...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:38:42 -0400

booktumbling:

printedkisses:

librarianpirate:

irishmexi:

meaghano:

thisrecording:

tumbledore:

Four literary themed trucks are part of a new ad campaign for the Johnson County Library. Officials hope the trucks will spark interest and bring even more readers to their doors.

“Barkley Advertising Agency, a locally based business, offered its service — valued at $33,000 — free of charge. Company vice-president Tom Demetriou offered the pro bono work because he wanted to remind people of the sanctuary found at libraries, where the community is intrinsically bound by stories.”

that’s MY Snotty, uppity, middle of nowhere , Johnson county!! wooop woop! (no seriously, I love this, and I’m better than you bc I’m from Johnson County..also if you don’t live in KS, you don’t get this stereotype and probably don’t care)

I love it too! YAY for people doing awesome things for their libraries!

50 Best Summer Reads Evar

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:06:30 -0400

50 Best Summer Reads Evar

The Best Kids’ Books Ever

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:18:03 -0400

The Best Kids’ Books Ever:

onemoretimewithfeeling:

(via sds)

"Look! Look, there’s smoke—there’s smoke coming from the chimney of the Westing..."

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:07:36 -0400

“Look! Look, there’s smoke—there’s smoke coming from the chimney of the Westing house.”

- Turtle Wexler

Any suggestions?

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:47:13 -0400

What should we read after The Westing Game (which I have a copy of, but I haven’t started yet because I’m close to finishing a terrible book that I can’t wait to complete so I can put it down and never pick it up again)? So far, the following titles have been brought up, either here or within earshot of me…Clearly we’re trying to stick with the theme of books that were required reading when we were in middle- and high school (or even earlier):

The Indian in the Cupboard
Lord of the Flies
And Then There Were None
The Phantom Tollbooth
Sideways Stories from Wayside School

We welcome all suggestions, and votes for these that have already been brought forward.

Just kidding! Or AM I?

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:53:29 -0400

Just kidding!

Or AM I?

Enthusiastic Reader 1: if i can't find the cover of And Then There Were None that I want, then by God i'm not posting ANY cover of it

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:45:56 -0400

Enthusiastic Reader 1: if i can't find the cover of And Then There Were None that I want, then by God i'm not posting ANY cover of it
Enthusiastic Reader 2: what did it look like?
was it called Ten Little Indians then?
Enthusiastic Reader 1: i'm pretty sure it was And Then There Were None
it was a dark picture of a cliff face by the sea, and there's a craggy face in the side of the cliff

Most Frequently Banned Books in American Schools

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:37:09 -0400

Impressions Edited by Jack Booth et al.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Blubber by Judy Blume
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
Christine by Stephen King
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Cujo by Stephen King
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
I Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
My House by Nikki Giovanni
Then Again, Maybe I Won’t by Judy Blume
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz

Another potential next book. I’m going to be posting some...

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:26:19 -0400

Another potential next book.

I’m going to be posting some more ideas today, I think…

Throwing this in the ring for our next read.

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:46:48 -0400

Throwing this in the ring for our next read.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE. Move along.

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:20:00 -0400

NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

Move along.

"The sun sets in the west (just about everyone knows that), but Sunset Towers faced east. Strange!"

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:53:50 -0400

“The sun sets in the west (just about everyone knows that), but Sunset Towers faced east. Strange!”

- (opening line)

They shouldn’t be firing off retro fireworks so close to...

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:30:35 -0400

They shouldn’t be firing off retro fireworks so close to house made of flammable money.

NO CHEATING!

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:59:03 -0400

NO CHEATING!:

The user review on the main page calls the movie a “disgrace” anyway…

Scholastic's The Westing Game Discussion Guide

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:27:00 -0400

Print the Student Handout (PDF)

1 Which tenant was chosen by mistake? What was Sam Westing’s mistake?

2 Sam Westing turns out to be a man with many different identities. What five different names and identities does he use?

3 At the end of the story, how is Judge Ford able to finally repay her debt to Sam Westing?

4 After the second bomb in Chapter 13, Angela and Theo have a conversation in which they discuss their separate future plans. What did Theo and Angela confide to each other? What do we learn about them here? Why couldn’t Angela answer Theo’s question?

5 At her bridal shower, why do you think Angela turned the gold box containing the bomb toward herself?

6 Who did the burglar turn out to be, and why do you think he or she stole the jewelry and the clock?

7 Did you feel sorry for any of the characters here? Why? How would you help that character if you could?

8 Turtle, or T. R. Wexler as she came to be called, always kept her secret about Sam Westing, even from her own family, including her husband Theo. Why do you think she kept the secret? What would you do in her shoes? Can you imagine keeping such a secret from the people most important to you?

9 What do the words of the song “America the Beautiful” have to do with the Westing mystery? Do the words to the song help the heirs as they try to solve the puzzle?

10 The Westing heirs are asked two times in the story to give their signatures and titles on a receipt. Compare the original titles of the heirs in Chapter 7 to the titles they give later in Chapter 23. How do the titles change, and what does this show about what each heir is experiencing?

11 Why do you think Sam Westing set up this elaborate “game,” and do you think it turned out as he hoped?

12 Most of this book takes place in the apartment building Sunset Towers. How does this location affect the story? Can you imagine this story in another setting? What other kinds of places could a story like this take place?

13 What events or characters here did you find funny? Why do you think Ellen Raskin, the author of this book, included so many humorous details in her mystery?

14 Why do you think Angela waited more than five years to marry Denton Deere? Do you think she made the right decision?

15 As you were reading, which of the heirs did you trust the most? Who did you find the most suspicious? Explain why you judged them as you did.

Note: These questions are keyed to Bloom’s Taxonomy as follows: Knowledge: 1-3; Comprehension: 4-6; Application: 7-8; Analysis: 9-10; Synthesis: 11-12; Evaluation: 13-15.

BEHOLD: The Inaugural Title for the TUMBLR BOOK CLUB! Get the...

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:24:35 -0400

BEHOLD: The Inaugural Title for the TUMBLR BOOK CLUB!

Get the book and read it before July 15th (one month from today)…That’ll give you enough time to be super lazy with such a small book.

[Tumblr Book Club may be dismantled after we’ve read this one, but it will have all been worth it to have read The Westing Game simultaneously with an international crew of kickass readers.]

Click through the pic for the Amazon link.