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.

-

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.

New Library Books

A Brief History of Montmary, by Michelle Cooper: On her sixteenth birthday in 1936, Sophia begins a diary of life in a fictional island country off the coast of Spain, where she is among the last descendants of an impoverished royal family trying to hold their nation together on the eve of the second World War.

Paper Towns, by John Green: One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears.

Scarlett Fever, by Maureen Johnson: Fifteen-year-old Scarlett, who is beginning to get over her break-up with Eric, stays busy as assistant to her theatrical-agent friend who is not only promoting Scarlett's brother Spencer, but also a new client whose bad-boy brother has transferred to Scarlett's school. This is the sequel to Suite Scarlett.

Mort, by Terry Pratchett: In this Discworld installment, Death comes to Mort with an offer he can't refuse. As Death's apprentice, he'll have free board and lodging, use of the company horse, and he won't need time off for family funerals. The position is everything Mort thought he'd ever wanted, until he discovers that this perfect job can be a killer on his love life.

Yotsuba&!, volume 2 byKiyohiko Azuma: In this volume of the popular all-ages manga series, Yotsuba hasn't gotten much smarter, and her neighbors still haven't gotten used to this wacky tike's exploits.

Geo Quiz #43: Mediterranean Cities

Greece: Athens
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sarajevo
Serbia: Belgrade
Romania: Bucharest
Bulgaria: Sofia
Turkey: Istanbul, Ankara
Cyprus: Nicosia
Syria: Damascus
Lebanon: Beirut
Jordan: Amman
Israel: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv
Egypt: Port Said, Aswan, Cairo, Alexandria
Libya: Tripoli, Benghazi
Algeria: Algiers, Constantine
Morocco: Rabat, Tangier, Casablanca, Marrakech

Geo Quiz #42: Northeast U.S. Cities

Maryland: Baltimore, Annapolis.
Delaware: Dover, Wilmington.
Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Scranton.
New Jersey: Trenton, Atlantic City, Newark.
New York: New York City, Albany, Buffalo, Rochester.
Connecticut: Hartford, New Haven.
Rhode Island: Providence.
Massachusetts: Boston, Worcester.
Vermont: Montpelier, Burlington.
New Hampshire: Concord, Manchester.
Maine: Augusta, Portland.

Here is a map of the Northeast United States.

Geo Quiz #26: South America Countries

Friday, April 30.

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, French Guiana.

A blank map of South America can be found here.
A labelled map of South America can be found here.

Geo Quiz #41: West & Northwest Africa Cities

Nigeria: Lagos (largest city), Abuja (capital).
Benin: Porto Novo.
Burkina Faso: Ouagadougou.
The Gambia: Banjul.
Ghana: Accra.
Cote d'Ivoire: Abidjan (largest city), Yamoussoukro (capital.
Guinea: Conakry.
Guinea-Bissau: Bissau.
Liberia: Monrovia.
Senegal: Dakar.
Sierra Leone: Freetown.
Togo: Lome.
Western Sahara: El Aaiun.
Morocco: Rabat.
Mauritania: Nouakchott.
Algeria: Algiers.
Niger: Niamey.
Tunisia: Tunis.
Mali: Bamako.

A blank map of Africa can be found here.

Geo Quiz #40: South Asia Cities

India: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), Hyderabad, New Delhi.
Pakistan: Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad.
Afghanistan: Kabul, Kandahar.
Nepal: Kathmandu.
Bhutan: Thimpu.
Bangladesh: Dhaka.
Sri Lanka: Colombo.
Maldives: Male.

A blank map of South Asia can be found here.

Classics in Library

Classics are now being displayed throughout the library. 7th and 8th graders will be required to read at least one classic during the 3rd trimester.

How do you find a find a classic you might enjoy?

Here are some reading lists:


College Bound Reading List (Arrowhead Library System, Rock County, Wisconsin)

Classic Novels (The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio)

Time Magazine 100 Best Novels 1923-Present

Books for Country Project

All students need to have their books for their country projects in class on Wednesday, March 10. Students will need at least one juvenile non-fiction book and one guidebook. Books should be reserved through the Timberland Regional Library website and picked up prior to March 10. And, students, while you're at the library, you might as well look for some other good reading material while you're there!

Stump Mr. Gacek Results

As expected, I got some tough questions for "Stump Mr. Gacek!" at the Nova Auction. Altogether 9 questions were asked. I answered 2 of 9 correctly. That's a .222 batting average. Not what I was hoping for, but, hey those were tough questions.

Here are the questions I got correct and the students whose parents asked the questions:

1. What city will host a Major League Soccer expansion team next year? (Leah D.)

2. Who was the shortest player in Major League history and what team did he play for? (Chase W.)Here are the questions I got incorrect:

1. Roberto Clemente wore the number "21" for a specific reason. What was it? (Casey W.)

2. Francis Michael "Whitey" Wistert was the first of three brothers who were All-American tackles in the Big Ten Conference. Whitey played 3 games in the major leagues. With which team did he play them? (Katie M.)

3. Name 3 of the 5 career leaders in on-base percentage in the Major Leagues. (Mr. Kenis)

4. Before Babe Ruth broke the all-time home run record, whose record did he break? (Alex E.)

5. The Golden Compass series of books by Philip Pullman feature people's souls taking animal forms. What other fantasy series published in the last 10 years also features people's souls taking the form of animals? (Hadrian B.)

6. What country is the world's largest producer of citrus fruits? (Natalie R.)

7. What city of at least 1,000,000 people is the farthest in the world from another city with a population of at least 1,000,000 people? (Gabe R.)

The winners will all receive a "I Stumped Mr. Gacek!" t-shirt. Non-winners will receive an "I Failed to Stump Mr. Gacek!" t-shirt. Altogether this event raised $450 for the financial aid fund at Nova. Thanks to all the parents for playing and for students for prodding your parents to play!

And you can play along at home. If you can get more correct than I did, then you are a trivia master!

The answers can be found here.

Oh, and I also won a raffle. I won the life-size cut-out of Catherine Zeta-Jones. Awesome!