Heads Up

Listen up Katherine Paterson fans: now until September 30, librarians and teachers can download the first two chapters of an audio version of Bridge to Terabithia (recordedbooks.wordpress.com) for free, along with a sample lesson plan that focuses on the use of simile and metaphor.

The lesson plan is excerpted from Recorded Books's new Playaway four-packs, which offer four popular audio titles with an accompanying CD-ROM filled with detailed lesson plans, project ideas, handouts, worksheets, and quizzes for each title.

In addition to Bridge to Terabithia (HarperCollins, 1977), the middle school four-pack includes Gennifer Choldenko's Al Capone Does My Shirts (Putnam, 2004), Margaret Peterson Haddix's Among the Hidden (S & S, 1998), and Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins (Houghton, 1960).

Playaways are small, handheld digital players that are preloaded with audiobooks.