Fairly Significant Influx of Books into the Library!

We had quite a few books donated to the Nova Library during our Scholastic Book Fair. All together 25 books were donated to our library. Among the titles donated were A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway; The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex; A Lion Among Men, by Gregory Maguire (author of Wicked); Dead is So Last Year, by Marlene Perez; The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, volumes 3 & 4, by Heather Brewer; The Roar, by Emma Clayton; Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson; The 39 Clues, volumes 4-6; Tentacles, by Roland Smith; The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien; Brooklyn Nine, by Alan Gratz; Bones of Faerie, by Janni Lee Simner; Handle with Care, by Jodi Picoult.

Big thanks to Aaron F., Hannah H., Nicole H., Sam R., Tristan T., and their families for their generous donations of these books.

Thanks also to Derek W. for donating The Sorceress, by Michael Scott (no, not that Michael Scott). And thanks as well to the anonymous donor who donated The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown, to our library.

And of course I owe many, many thanks to the awesomest closing crew ever: Nickan, Gabe, Leah, Riana, Randy (honorary member), and Matt.

Geo Quiz #46: Northcentral U.S. Cities

Illinois: Chicago, Springfield.
Indiana: Indianapolis, Fort Wayne.
Iowa: Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport.
Michigan: Detroit, Lansing.
Minnesota: Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth.
Nebraska: Lincoln, Omaha.
North Dakota: Bismark, Fargo.
Ohio: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus.
South Dakota: Pierre, Sioux Falls.
Wisconsin: Madison, Milwaukee, Racine.

A map of the Northcentral U.S. region can be found here.

Travel Journal Entries

Assignment instructions can be found here.

Assignment is due Thursday, May 13.

Top 100 Children's Books

NYC Librarian Elizabeth Bird, who maintains a blog at School Library Journal called A Fuse #8 Production, sponsored a poll of the best children's chapter books of all-time. It's a fantastic list. I've read many of these books and there are books on this list that I still need to read. Try clicking on the links for the individual books. Ms. Bird has provided commentary about each title, presented multiple cover illustrations for each book, and she also provides links to videos relevant to the titles.

My thoughts:

When You Reach Me already ranks #39. It will continue to rise as more people read the book.

A sequel to The Westing Game will supposedly be released later in the year. Ellen Raskin died in 1984, but evidently she wrote a manuscript for the sequel. I'm curious about the sequel, but on the other hand, I don't think The Westing Game particularly needs one. I loved The Westing Game when I read it as a kid, and I still think it's a classic.

The Golden Compass ranks #45. It would rank much higher on my own personal list, of course. However, I think the His Dark Materials trilogy transcends children's literature, so it doesn't surprise me that it has a relative low ranking on this list.

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Can't really argue with the #1 choice: Charlotte's Web.

Geo Quiz #45: West Indies

British Territories: Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks & Caicos.
French Territories: Guadeloupe, Martinique.
U.S. Territories: U.S. Virgin Islands.
Dutch Territories: Netherlands Antilles (Aruba, Bonaire, Cuacao).
Independent Countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago.

A blank map of the West Indies can be found here.

Geo Quiz #31: Canada Capitals

Edmonton, Victoria, Winnipeg, Fredericton, St. John's, Halifax, Charlottetown, Ottawa, Quebec, Regina, Yellowknife, Whitehorse, Iqaluit.

Geo Quiz #29: Central America and Caribbean Capitals

Mexico City, Belmopan, San Jose, San Salvador, Guatemala City, Tegucigalpa, Managua, Panama City, Nassau, Santo Domingo, Port-Au-Prince, Kingston, San Juan.

Geo Quiz #28: Central America and Caribbean Countries

Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico.

This is a baseball field at the Texas Rangers' baseball academy near San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. A gallery of pictures taken in the Dominican Republic by Dallas Morning News baseball reporter Evan Grant can be found here.

The film Sugar is a great film about a Dominican baseball player who graduates from an academy like this one and who comes to the United States to play baseball. The New York Times review for Sugar can be found here.

Geo Quiz #27: South American Capitals

Buenos Aires, La Paz, Sucre, Brasilia, Santiago, Bogota, Quito, Georgetown, Asuncion, Lima, Paramaribo, Montevideo, Caracas, Cayenne.

Geo Quiz #44: Washington Cities

Bellingham, Olympia, Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Walla Walla, Yakima, Vancouver, Kennewick, Renton, Federal Way, Everett, Port Townsend, Longview, Bellevue.

Geo Quiz #30: Canada Provinces and Territories

Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, Nunavut.

A blank map of Canada can be found here.