End of the school year

is sort of kicking my behind at the moment. BUT when I get my Tech Camp class planned/finished I will post. Opened my big fat mouth and now will be presenting on tools for using visual images in the classroom ... you know, like BigHugeLabs, Picnik, Aviary (mostly screen captures on that one because I still have not mastered all the other stuff ... and their Firefox Talon plugin is the coolest thing since, well, Skitch ... but not everyone has a Mac so there), some Avatar creators. Stuff like that. I hope I don't get so nervous I flub it. :/

H is for ...

Shannon Hale--I love Book of a Thousand Days!


Kevin Henkes--He's pretty multitalented. Picture books and awards for the illustrations. And chapter books. His newest one about the little bunny might be my favorite. Though Junonia is quite beautiful.


Charlie Higson--I did so enjoy the Young Bond series. His newest one is pretty cool, too. If you don't mind zombies.


Tad Hills I keep putting the stuffed animals in my Amazon cart and then waiting.


Penny Horvath Loads of fun. Because The Canning Season made me laugh in parts. And with a name like Everything on a Waffle who wouldn't want to pick that one up and read it?


Mary Henderson--Don't recognize the name? Click through and you'll get a hint. Still one of my favorite SW books.


HERMIONE--which I totally pronounced Her-Me-Own for like the first two books reading them with my little brother. Oops.







This post took me a long time to write. Been getting loads of rotten headaches lately. Booo.

G is for ...

John and Hank Green! I've ever only read Paper Towns. So sorry, John, as I know that is your first and true passion. But with videos like these I had to list you here.




1:36-3:15, especially. Not as big a fan of the first part. :/

(Oh. I just previewed the layout and this video comes with an interesting preview screen shot. But ... the end part really is so cute. Not the dance. The whole nerd boys and nerd girls thing.)



Alec Greven. Please don't become a weird little self help guru. I love your books. SPOT ON with both the How to Talk to Girls and School Rules. ;]




Keith Graves. Cause Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance.





Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. TUNNELS and subsequent followups. I have always been fascinated by underground worlds. Mostly because I would never have the nerve to explore them myself in real life. But I can totally do it in a book! (Side note ... once my family was at a place called Enchanted Rock. Mostly it's hiking but there are some caves to explore. I remember finally getting the nerve to go down there and hearing my little brother from deep within the bowels of the earth say "THERE ARE LIKE A MILLION DADDY LONG LEGS DOWN HERE!" And that, my friends, was my signal to climb back out and be done with my spelunking days.)



Steve Grubman's animal portraits in Orangutans Are Ticklish.

F is for ...

John Flanagan and The Ranger's Apprentice Series--love it. Perfect for those who want the epic fantasy but who are not really quite ready to properly enjoy LOTR. Yet. Anyway. I can't think of one student who hasn't ended up loving these books.


Frederick Wentworth. A patient, patient man. Terrible YouTube posting. And seriously what is that actress doing with her mouth? But here it is.

"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in F. W. I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never. Captain Wentworth to Anne Elliot"



Frog and Toad. My very most favorite of all Frog and Toad stories is the one about the Cookies and WILLPOWER. Awesome. And story of my life. But ... looky here! Creepy claymation.




Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly. OOOH! Shivers. But between that and Dracula (oops. Missed that on D. Have to save it for S) you really have spooky scary stuff covered. Classic.

E is for ...

Dare I say it. Dare I even say it? Once upon a time Edward was special to me. Then it just go to be TOO MUCH. He so broody. But then again if I was stuck with a whiny baby like Bella I'd be broody as well. Is this going to get me flame comments? I really did love the stories, once upon a time. I also prefer RP as Cedric. Even before I got tired of the Twilight stories/movies.


PD Eastman. The Best Nest. I totally remember loving that book as a kid. It was one of the first ones I got on my color Nook just this year. My niece and I enjoy it together.


The City of Ember should never have been made into a movie. The best part about that story was the DUH moment when as a reader I finally realized where they had been the entire time! I loved the first one. Liked them progressively less as I read further in the series but that's OK. I loved the first one enough to make up for all the rest.



ELEPHANT (Gerald) & PIGGIE!!!!!!!!!!! Only because they are the BEST! My two favorites are There is a Bird on Your Head and We Are in a Book! But ... they are all hilarious. Mo Willems is a picture book rock star genius. I was SO excited ... when was it ... about 18 months ago? When we got to attend a limited live webcast? Closest thing to an author visit. Was awesome to see his studio.


Emma--almost as much as I love Anne. And all the different versions. Thank you, Jane!
"I may have lost my heart, but not my self-control. "
"Better be without sense than misapply it as you do. "
"If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."
"There are persons who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves."
"Indeed, I am very sorry to be right in this instance. I would much rather have been merry than wise."
"Dear Diary, Today I tried not to think about Mr. Knightly. I tried not to think about him when I discussed the menu with Cook... I tried not to think about him in the garden where I thrice plucked the petals off a daisy to acertain his feelings for Harriet. I don't think we should keep daisies in the garden, they really are a drab little flower. And I tried not to think about him when I went to bed, but something had to be done."




Excuse the cheesy song cut. Couldn't find a clip with the real movie.

D is for ...

Cory Doctorow--I am embarrassed to say the only one of his books I've ever actually read is Little Brother. And I didn't understand most of the technical jargon. But it was still SO GOOD. And I find him an interesting person ... heard him speak at ALA and have read blog posts. Don't always agree with his opinions but I still find them interesting.




Jennifer Donnelly--seriously. Both of her books. So good! Sad for sure, the first one especially. But must reads.




James Dashner--The Maze Runner series. Creepy FUN. I have had an ARC for his first 13th Reality book for a while now. It keeps getting put down the To Read list because I own it. I am sure this is not what the publisher had in mind. But ... publishers! I'm not like that any more. I didn't have a blog when I first got the book! I promise I won't do that again and now I've let the cat out of the bag ... :X



Dumbledore. Ah, Professor Dumbledore. [SPOILER] How sad we were to see you go.

"In fact, being - forgive me - rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger."
"There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends."
"We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on."

(Quotes found here)

C is for ...

Patrick Carman--can I just say how awesome he is? I first heard about his series The Dark Hills Divide. Then last year we were able to schedule a free Skype chat. AMAZING. He keeps doing cooler and cooler things with Skeleton Creek and 3:15 and all of the other irons he has in the fire. Keep it up!



Ally Carter--this trailer is specifically for book three but it explains the series quite well. Total popcorn lit but who cares. It is SO MUCH FUN. Also love the Heist Society book[s].



Lincoln Child (& Douglas Preston)--LOVE the Agent Pendergast series. If they made movies they'd probably be too gross/scary for me to watch. But I am DYING to find out what is going to happen in the next one. They left us on such a cliffhanger!


Susan Cooper--The Dark is Rising series ... I've done this with a couple of bookclubs now. We struggle a little with the vocab but it's been fun to then watch the (in my opinion horrible but they've enjoyed it) movie The Seeker and compare the two. In one case we got to also watch The Sword in the Stone and sort of talk a bit about how the two versions of the Arthur story compared. And these were 4th graders.



John Christopher--one year I had a SUPER smart group of fifth graders and we read The White Mountains. Oh, the awesome discussions we had about free will and what it means to have choices! They also made the funniest little book trailer video using a little battery powered back massager as a Tripod. I should have kept better track of where I saved that. No idea where it is anymore. :/