Bad Magic Book Review

        {WARNING. SPOILERS AHEAD.}

Bestselling author of The Secret Series, Pseudonymous Bosch, introduces a thrilling new trilogy. 12 year-old Clay is framed, when graffiti appears on a school wall tagged with his name. After claiming he didn't do it, Clay’s parents send Clay to a remote camp, known as the Earth Ranch. Earth Ranch is a camp for “troubled” kids, and has many oddities. Such as, an active volcano, (which they plan to surf on.) Spanish speaking llamas, tater bots, and territorial bees.

One of the most interesting parts of the story was during the Lava Walk, when most of the story started to unravel. The Lava Walk takes place in Plume Canyon, the island’s westernmost lava field. The lava walk contains barbaric events like hunting wild boars, covering the boars in molten lava, afterwards, consuming the boar. (Gross. I know.)

I think Bad Magic's theme is, "Things are not always as they appear." because that is the main reason Clay was sent to Earth Ranch. And Earth Ranch wasn't even Earth Ranch. It turned out to be a whole secret society! And all of his friends at Earth Ranch were acting the whole time! Those are some reasons why I thought this was the theme.

For more Pseudonymous Bosch, click on the link below. http://thenameofthiswebsiteissecret.com/

Here's a book trailer of Bad Magic:

~ Nina R. is a 5th Grader in Ms. Becicka's homeroom. She can't imagine a world without books.

Dot Portrait Gallery

Our amazing art teacher, Jody Klein, and her students celebrated International Dot Day by creating Dot Portraits.  In addition to faculty and staff portraits you will find a couple of surprises. Enjoy this video tour of the gallery.

Top Five Books - September 2014

A video recap of the top five books checked out in September.


 

Decorated

Thanks to Creek staffer Dayna Schmidt the new library display boards are all dressed up for a new year.

Library Makeover

The library improvements are nearing completion. Here is a rough sketch of the new furniture layout.

Genre update

Hello Prairie Creek!

You wouldn't believe how hard Mrs. Johnson is working to get all of the fiction books into genres.  So, the library is looking a little different, come check it out!  So far, the Sports Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Humor sections are complete.  Keep this in mind when you come in to check out a book.  Mrs. Johnson just processed a bunch of new books that Mr. Cox just ordered too.

I know that the Self Check-out station wasn't working very well for a while, but Mrs. Johnson fixed it yesterday.  Woo-hoo, way to go Mrs. Johnson!

That's all for now,

Summer

 Here are some of the new books, how exciting!

Who is this cutie?  Oh yeah, it's me!  Summer

It's Book Fair time!  I have never seen a book fair before, Mrs. Johnson says it's awesome.  I have been running on my new wheel watching students come and go all day buying lot's of great books.  Mrs. Johnson bought me a new cage this week!  It has a big yellow wheel that I love, lots of cool tunnels to crawl through and a huge tube to climb.  I haven't been brave enough to climb the tube yet, but hey, I'm only 4 months old!  I sure hope everyone is having a good week and had a good conference.  Summer

Here's my new cage!  If you look close, you can see me running on my super fast wheel!

World Read Aloud 2014

The Creek Mock Newbery Club celebrated World Read Aloud Day with a Skype author visit.   Natalie Lloyd was gracious enough to spend 30 minutes with us this morning.  She read Chapter 1 of her new book (A Snicker of Magic), recommended several books, and took LOTS of questions from club members.

Read Alouds are powerful experiences.  In this brief read aloud our club realized that the characters have southern accents. This was a revelation for all but two of the kids - what an important element of the story to understand!  Natalie uses onomatopoeia to great effect and hearing the sounds added to our enjoyment of the story.

Natalie told us about some of her favorite books when she was in middle school and also recommended a new book by Rebecca Behrens, When Audrey Met Alice.   I've added it to my To Be Read Pile.  The club will convene again next week to discuss A Snicker of Magic using the Newbery Criteria as our guide - more coming soon from this band of readers!  Thanks again to Natalie for visiting with us.

Life in the library

Hi there!  I'm Summer the Prairie Creek library pet.  I am a Chinese Dwarf hamster born November 20th 2013, so that makes me 3 months old.  As you may have noticed when you visit me in the library, I am on the small side, but I'm still going to grow to a little.  I really enjoy visits from all of our awesome 5th & 6th graders, but please don't touch or tap on my cage, it scares me!  Mrs. Johnson is always happy to help you find me in my cage so you can say "hello".  My way of saying "hello" is by wiggling my adorable nose and whiskers at you.  Today, I was watching Mrs. Cheesman cover some new books that you guys will love!  Please check my blog out regularly, I will keep you up to date on all the cool happenings in the library.

Browse by Genre

The fiction collection is being moved into new genre sections.  Look for the new signs made by Creek students to locate your favorite genre or to explore a new one.

Awards Season

The announcement of the 2014 Newbery Medal winner and honor books is coming at the end of January.

The entire ceremony is available as streaming video.  It will all begin at 7 a.m. central time.  Fear not fellow teachers and students the Newbery winner will probably come up at 7:45 a.m. or there abouts (just in time to bring up the stream in your class or library).

What are your favorite 2013 books?  Have any Newbery predictions? 

We have a spot reserved for the winning title in our hallway display case.

Ruh Roh Shaggy - You Choose Stories

The Mystery Machine heads to the beach for the gang to have a break from all their sleuthing.   The whole crew is on board, playful pooch Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Velma, Fred, and Daphne, but they are bound for more than swimming and sunshine.

The crew splits up to do there own thing. Scooby-Doo and Shaggy visit the Wild-World Beach's hot dog stand to consumer lots (and I mean lots) of hot dogs.  The humorous dialogue between these two is worth sharing (and like the hot dogs there is plenty of humor).

"It's dog-eat-dog, if you know what I mean Scoob!" says Shaggy , chuckling

"Ryeah!" Scooby agrees "Ri never met a rog Ri didn't rike"

It doesn't take long before trouble appears at the beach in the form of a sea creature. What will happen to the gang?  That question is up to YOU.  This series is a Choose Your Own Adventure style story where you as the reader decides which character to follow and what actions they will take to solve the case.  I really appreciated the chance to see how Velma would think through this sea creature invasion.

This will be an enjoyable read for fans of the Choose Your Own Adventure series in our library. If you like the Scooby-Doo cartoon or the mystery genre (with many possible solutions) check this one out soon. The illustrations look like the television series - colorful and full of action.

(images from Capstone Publishing website)

LIFETIME: The Amazing Numbers in Animal Lives

Curious about the lives of animals?  Interested in averages (or want more examples of how to calculate an average)?  This picture book is a clever look at animals using numbers.

Here is page one for alligators (the other page has many, many more eggs).   Look for this informational picture in the Creek library.


The description from the Chronicle website:
In one lifetime, a caribou will shed 10 sets of antlers, a woodpecker will drill 30 roosting holes, a giraffe will wear 200 spots, a seahorse will birth 1,000 babies. Count each one and many more while learning about the wondrous things that can happen in just one lifetime. This extraordinary book collects animal information not available anywhere else—and shows all 30 roosting holes, all 200 spots, and, yes!, all 1,000 baby seahorses in eye-catching illustrations. A book about picturing numbers and considering the endlessly fascinating lives all around us, Lifetime is sure to delight young nature lovers.

*book images also from Chronicle site.

Now Watch This - Jinx

I found this book trailer for JINX.  This 2013 title is available in our library and a sequel is on the way this year.

Looking forward to new books

Are any of your favorite authors publishing a new book in 2014? I am still busy reading books from 2013 but I did take a break to read SEVEN STORIES UP by Laurel Snyder. It will be published at the end of the month. Be sure to look for copies in our library. More to share after I have finished it.

Ready to listen

Making plans for more audio books in the Prairie Creek Library. 

First step is reading this valuable resource. 

Will get student input with a survey next week.

Bud, Not Buddy

Prairie Creek is full of Bud, Not Buddy fans.

I wonder who has listened to the audio version?

Audiobooks are available through the Creek library but I discovered today that we did not have a copy of Bud, Not Buddy (gasp). Look for it soon on the New Arrivals shelf.







While you are waiting take a listen to this excerpt of the audio book (from Listening Library)

Happy new year!

As the snow is falling I am busy reading book reviews and building orders for the new year ahead.  Do have a favorite craft? Is there a hobby you would like to begin this year? (Leave a comment to let me know)