Beyond The Mind's Eye

The literature of J. R. R. Tolkien has firmly stood the test of time.  One of his most loved pieces, The Hobbit, as most people know, will be brought to movie viewers in two separate films in 2012 and 2013.  Director Peter Jackson has began filming in New Zealand.  The Hobbit Blog has been up and running since late February of this year.  On March 20, 2011 Peter Jackson created a new Facebook profile as an additional venue for fans to get the latest. 
Although I continually remind my students that the  books are always better than the movies (some of them are starting to openly agree with me), if anyone can do justice to The Hobbit, it is Peter Jackson.  His cinematic interpretation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy is phenomenal.

There is a ten minute video on his Facebook page that is a behind-the-scenes peek at the initial stages of production.  How many readers will be reading this book yet again before the movie hits theaters?  I know I will.

Michigan Monsoon Meanderings--Book Art

With it raining more on than off for the past seventy-two plus hours here in northern Michigan (more for the down-staters), its been a great time to read favorite blogs and wander from link to link online.  Travis Jonker of 100 Scope Notes in his post yesterday linked to the Colossal Art & Design site for these one of a kind Custom Stacked Book Side Tables.  They are the creation of Jane Dandy.  What book lover wouldn't be happy with this?!

In viewing this unique art another link popped up to the Book Origami work of Isaac Salazar.  As stated in his profile on Flickr:  I use simple math and an exacto knife, along with lots of time. It takes me anywhere from 3 days for the simpler styles to 2 weeks for the more complex styles....I like to take a book that would otherwise end up in a landfill and turn it into art. 
He graciously gave me permission to share this graphic with my readers.  His full gallery filled with amazing visuals can be viewed by clicking on the link above.

Before Baker Street

A scream split the silence--a scream from the open window--and Matthew turned and pelted back down the street as quickly as his malnourished legs would carry him.  People didn't scream like that when they'd had a surprise.  They didn't even scream like that if they'd had a shock.   No, in  Matthew's experience people only screamed like that if they were in mortal fear of their lives, and whatever had provoked that scream was not something he wanted to see.

Now I ask you, what reader can resist a paragraph such as this which brings the first chapter to a close?  When I book talk this to a class I had best have multiple copies on hand or be ready to conduct a contest of rock-paper-scissors.  Andrew Lane, resident of Dorset, England and employee of the British Civil Service is the mind behind this first teen series, Sherlock Holmes The Legend Begins, to be endorsed by The Conan Doyle Estate.  Death Cloud, book one, marvelously maintains this intriguing, perilous pace throughout the entire story.

The year is 1868.  Farnham, a community northwest of London provides the setting.   Sherlock, a fourteen-year-old teen, has just received the disconcerting news that he will be spending the summer holiday with an uncle and aunt whom he has never met.

His older brother, Mycroft, will deliver him there from school.  It seems that his father, in the military, has been sent to India and his mother of delicate health is not quite herself.  Mycroft, newly employed by the Foreign Office is in no position to provide him guidance and care.

Needless to say Sherlock does not feel welcome at the estate of these relatives with an uncle prone toward piety and an aunt constantly carrying on conversations with herself.  Then, too, there is the housekeeper, Mrs. Eglantine--Child, be aware that you are not welcome here.  Her sinister character is further enhanced with words of warning in a later letter from Mycroft.

With unease on the home front Sherlock, wandering in the wooded area surrounding the estate, meets Matty Arnatt, a street smart orphan.  From Matty he learns of the strange dark cloud that he saw slither from a recent death scene in town.  From that moment the game is afoot!

Sherlock, per his brother's request, is assigned a tutor in the person of Amyus Crowe, an American with his own brand of reasoning. Information is the foundation of all rational thought.  Seek it out.  Collect it assiduously...Don't attempt to distinguish between important facts and trivial facts:  they're all potentially important.

A mastermind villain, Baron Maupertuis, makes his first appearance, Through the carriage window, Sherlock was momentarily shocked to see a pale, almost skeletal face framed with wispy white hair staring at him with unblinking eyes that were small and pink, like the eyes of a white rat. He felt an instant flash of instinctive revulsion, as if he had reached out for a lettuce leaf on his dinner plate and touched a slug instead. 

Who is the mysterious rider sitting astride a horse at the end of the drive to the Holmes estate?  It is the independent, free-thinking, feisty teen daughter of Amyus, Virginia Crowe. She is the final, vital link in this partnership.

This newly formed trio with the assistance of Mr. Crowe race through the pages urged on by the discovery of another sore-covered corpse with a cloud of death rising from the body, the unusual yellow powder at both scenes, a raging fire, two kidnappings and murderous thugs in the Baron's hire   Time is of the essence as the fate of the British Empire hangs in a precarious balance.

To be sure this is a rollicking, rousing romp of a mystery adventure.  Victorian life in England, vividly brought to life with picturesque particulars, offers further deomonstration of Lane's accomplishments as an author; not as a distraction but as an enhancement to the action.  Andrew Lane exhibits his life-long fervor of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle books by delivering a well-researched bridge to the later years of Sherlock Holmes' life.  Old fans of all ages will welcome his captivating perspective.  New readers will relish this introduction to a character so well received over time that it's as if he walked among us.

As to Death Cloud I say, Excellent!  Andrew Lane replies, Elementary.



Book two, Red Leech, does not appear to be available yet except in audio form. 

It is interesting to note that Anthony Horowitz, well known for his Alex Rider young adult series, has been given permission by The Conan Doyle Estate, 81 years after Doyle's death, to continue the original Sherlock Holmes adventures with a new title, The House of Silk, having a release date of November 1, 2011. 

What a ride awaits Holmes fans because of Lane and Horowitz.

Interacting With Graphics and Maps

Google recently announced that they are opening their Map Maker up to the United States.  In their own words: Google Map Maker allows you to add and update geographic information for millions of users to see in Google Maps and Google Earth. With Google Map Maker, you can:

• Add places of interest such as your local restaurants, cafes, schools and more.
• Edit and update details for existing places.
• Help avid hikers by mapping trails, be it for a casual walk or an adventurous trip!
• Get driving directions and also help in making them more accurate.

• See what your peers are mapping in specific areas.

A very detailed Getting Started Guide explains toolbar features, how to navigate in Map Maker, different views on Map Maker, specific instructions for street view on Map Maker, labs features, your Map Maker profile, Map Maker settings, markers and information windows, getting the links to places, how to add points of interest, mapping in your language, and system requirements.  There is also a comprehensive list of countries in Google maps. 


Users can sign in using their Google or Gmail account; one and the same I believe. Once a user has entered in the new information it will be confirmed before it appears on the maps. I attempted to show the driveway used to get to the County Recycling bins.  Time will tell if this becomes a permanent fixture on the map.

Believe it or not there are Mapping Party Kits available.  After checking the terms of service there does not appear to be an age limitation. 



Thanks to Richard Byrne for this info on his blog post of April 19, 2011 at Free Technology for Teachers.



A blog called NewsLab has posted two videos which instruct users in the creation of interactive graphics.  Although the NewsLab blog is designed to be read and used by journalists these two web sites offer ways to manipulate data that can be used in the classroom and for personal use as well.

One of the sites, Many Eyes is an experiment brought to users by IBM Research and the IBM Cognos Software Group.  Registration is required for this by entering in an email address and password.  Users are invited to explore visualizations, data sets, leave comments and visit topic centers.  Participation is in the form of creating a visualization in just three easy steps:  choose a data set, choose a visualization style, customize and publish.  A quick start guide is available as are visualization types and data format and styles.  The seven visualization styles are:  analyze a text, compare a set of values, see relationships among data points, see parts of a whole, see the world and track rises and falls over time.

This is a very simple visual that I created using one of the styles under compare a set of values.







The second instructional video at NewLab extends the use of Google Maps.  It is by far simpler to use and for that reason might be more advantageous for students at the lower levels or those with fewer online computer skills.  Using Google Docs create a two column spreadsheet.  In the first column put the address.  Name the place of interest in the second column.  Click on the Insert tab at the top to change the data into a widget that can be embedded into a place of the users' choice.  Below is a simple map that I designed showing my favorite places to get books.



This is the link to the video that very easily describes how to do this.
How To Make A Google Map

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for a post earlier this month at his blog, Larry Ferlazzo's Web Sites of the Day about these two videos.

A Must Read About The Value of Access To Books

Donalyn Miller, a 6th grade language arts teacher in Texas, has written a book titled The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child.  Her blog, The Book Whisperer, has a post today that is a must read.  The post titled Access Denied can be accessed by clicking on its title.

"Watt" Are You Waiting For?

Melanie Watt....just reading that name makes a giggle start to well up inside that eventually bursts forth in a loud guffaw.  Copies of her Scaredy Squirrel and Chester books are hardly lonely on the shelves of our library media center but are being held in the hands of students who have eagerly waited to check them out as soon as they are returned. 

When I spotted You're Finally Here! in a local bookstore, I knew that my readers would love it.

Book jacket flaps proclaim YOU'RE HERE!  YOU'RE HERE! amidst the carrot crammed endpapers.  The first two page spread oozes happiness as the wide-eyed rabbit cartwheels, sings, plays maracas and an ukulele with joyful abandon only to come to a screeching halt.  Turning to the next two page spread readers are greeted with BUT WHERE WERE YOU? covering the entire left side as a large accusing bunny head with hands on hips partners it on the right.

Yes, you the reader after a hearty welcome are on the spot.  As the tale continues readers are questioned:  Do you know how long I've been waiting in here?...Do you know how BORED  I get when I'm waiting?...Do you know how UNFAIR it is to keep me waiting?...Do you know how ANNOYING it is to have to wait?  Each question is followed by a picture foursome with probable answers, silly as they may be, that clearly call for readers to connect and recall their own frustrations at having to wait. 
Several times bunny backs up to a lesser mode of rudeness trying to gather in the previous glee at having you present, finally coming to a compromise in the form of a contract that concludes with,  And oh yes, YOU, the reader, will provide ME, the bunny, with carrot treats every day.
Is that the end?  Of course not, Melanie Watt (or the bunny) has a twist in her paw.

Watt has stated in interviews that she enjoys and is inspired by the work of Mo Willems, but her style is clearly her own, adding layers to original thoughts that call forth humor prompted by exaggeration. As in her other books the use of bold, bright acrylic color add to the brashness of her bunny character and his mood swings. WAIT! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?  WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID?  No, but this post is finished and I'm getting ready to start laughing again as the pages turn in You're Finally Here!

Racing The Last Great Race

As February crosses the halfway point each year the walls of Charlevoix Elementry School Library Media Center expand across the miles to the state of Alaska, the site of The Last Great Race on Earth, The Iditarod.  Mrs. Culver and her students immerse themselves in books, reading and research about this one of a kind dog sled race which has started on the first Saturday in March since 1973.  (Middle school students who have been a part of this educational adventure still inquire about the race each year.)  It is an unparalleled event where mushers and their dogs become heroic partners pitted against the majestic wilderness of this state and the unpredictable fury of Mother Nature. 

The most compelling nonfiction reads like fiction where reality is revealed with such insightful knowledge that the reader revels in the events spread before them scarcely believing that this could be true.  This is also true  with the finest fiction that reads like nonfiction; in that painstaking research discloses the writer's astute knowledge of the setting and events to such a point that readers willingly  follow the characters' dialogue, decisions, and actions believing that without a doubt this is true and they are living in the moment as the pages turn.  That is the stuff of Andre Jute's Iditarod. 

On a collision course from the beginning Rhodes Delaney and James Alderston Whitbury III come from backgrounds as different as night and day.  Nothing either says can deter the other from seeing them in a light prejudiced by their initial meeting.  A challenge has been made and the two are rookies in the Iditarod racing not only against the other mushers but against each another in a separate race altogether, one with experience that money can't buy and the other with the money to buy whatever is needed.  Lines are drawn and the stakes are high--ten thousand dollars.  Unbeknownst to Rhodes and James the ante has been upped in the formation of a wolf pack numbering over fifty strong.

As the race commences the meticulous groundwork laid out by Jute in the earlier chapters begins to accelerate in alternating episodes following first the one than the other of these two mushers with their courageous dogs crossing the vast expanse of Alaska.  Not yet near but lurking in the background are the wolves whose voice is given separate chapters adding to the growing tension; for readers know that Jute would not have placed them so unless the three groups are destined to meet.

Anxiously we survive with Rhodes and James the attack of a bull moose, a mother bear long denied food, and an explosion on a river.  We are their shadows on those sleds as they engage in the timeless conflict of man and woman against the every changing elements of bone-chilling temperatures, frost-biting winds and white-out blizzards while traveling over treacherous terrain cloaked in darkness and snow.

While expected the final conflict is utterly frightening and fascinating at the same time; frightening in its gruesome reality but fascinating in the instinctive nature to survive at all costs.
The wolves picked up pace to close faster on the two dog teams and their mushers.  They were now less than twenty-five paces away.  On one side Siberia, on the other wolves..."Haw, haw, haw!" Rhodes shouted to turn her team, left away from the wolves, towards Siberia.  "Haw, Haw!" she heard James shout over the hullabaloo of terrified dogs.  But dog teams need space to turn, while a wolf pack wheels in the length of each individual free-running wolf.  Oh, my God, I've cut it too fine for James to turn as well.
Even then, in that hazardous split second, James had to admire the wolves' superb nerve and supreme timing. 
And Rhodes, another superior athlete, felt an overwhelming sadness that now she would never finish the contest, would never reach Nome.  But I will!
It struck her that this had been a race not against James but against Alaska, represented by its wolves.

Not too far along in my reading I found myself turning the corners of pages down in this book. (Which as my students will tell you is a huge no-no but I couldn't help myself.) The vivid scenes spread before me by Jute's choice of language were intoxicating; some in their vastness, others in their intimate detail. 
He had joked to the vet at Puntilla Lake about nightmares but this was the true black velvet from which they were cut....He had planned to camp at the top of the mountain and commence the descent at dawn, well rested, alert, able to see the dangers of the trail.  Too late.  He was into the ice chute in the dark, his dogs out of control.  Pitch black. Straight. Left. From above, green and yellow lights reached out for him but to no avail.  He had gone to the dogs, was lost to men, to reason, even to fear, not a man but a speeding demon hurrying on an unknown errand behind the hounds of hell.

The ptarmigan decided he and his dogs were not a threat and settled like down from a tearing pillow fight.

Another noteworthy skill of Jute's is to blend his extensive knowledge into the narrative without it being a distraction or burden.
And, she thought, if Toots ever answers me, I shall stop mushing.
"You know," she told Toots, tempting fate, "the old timers had the right idea.  Before your time, before my time, the musher didn't run behind his sled or ride the runners.  He rode on skis in front of the sled, behind the wheel dogs.  He was tied into the gangline and steered the sled with a pole tied to the righthand side of the sled.  Called the gee pole.  Obviously. But the lighter racing sleds could be steered from the back and went a whack faster without the gee pole, so they did away with it.  Except they didn't foresee situations like this, did they?"

Andre Jute

Andre Jute's Iditarod is the finest piece of fiction that I have read to date about The Last Great Race on Earth.  Packed with adventure at every turn, nail-biting suspense, touches of endearing humor and the fine, subtle thread of romance this tale speaks to what readers crave.  Although written for an adult audience I recommend this for grades 7 and up.

Originally published in 1990 Jute has a new anniversary eBook version on Kindle.  The cover still portrays artwork by Gino d'Achille.  A map of the race is included in this edition.  In May a new hardcover edition as well as a full range of electronic editions will be available via CoolMain Press which can be linked to above by clicking on Andre Jute's name.  The map will also appear in all of the new editions.