“The technological mainstays of science fiction were once spaceships, robots, and time travel,” writes Eric Norton in this month’s Focus On.
“While these all still appear, today they are hardly at the center of the genre. Adult cyberpunk and real-world advances in computing and biotechnology have led to an increase in works on cloning, nanotechnology, cyborgs, and just-over-the-horizon computing… Technology is also blurring genres, so that there are adventure novels with tech gadgets that don’t quite yet exist and mysteries solved with fictional technology.”
ISTE Honors Technology Innovators Two librarians, a second grade teacher, and a Spanish instructor grabbed first place honors in the first annual SIG Media Specialist (SIGMS) Technology Innovation Awards.
Sponsored by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Linworth Publishing, Inc., and Follett Software Company, the awards were announced last week and went to a librarian and teacher team from two schools that created technology projects which integrated resources from the classroom and the media center. read more...
Hot Picks
BOOKS Rex Zero, King of Nothing by Tim Wynne-Jones
From SLJ 5/1/2008 Gr 5-8–That smart and funny sixth grader introduced in Rex Zero and the End of the World (Farrar, 2007) is back. The book is set in 1962 in Ottawa, where Rex lives with his quirky family and his scheming pals.
VIDEO/DVD A Box Full of Kittens PreS-Gr 2–Ruthie yearns to be a superhero. So when her parents ask her to keep Aunt Juanita company right before her baby is due to arrive, Ruthie flies down the street of her Puerto Rican neighborhood in the Bronx.
AUDIO Make Your Own Someday: Silly Songs for the Shorter Set K-Gr 4–This debut album by Ashley Albert and her band, The Jimmies, is pure pleasure. It’s unusual to find an all original album that blends lyrics, vocals, and music so well. The sophisticated lyrics will have listeners learning a bit more than they realize while having fun.
Author Brian Selznick has expressed confidence that his The Invention of Hugo Cabret is in good hands, with the recent announcement that Ice Age and Robots director Chris Wedge will bring the Caldecott-winning book to the big screen.
John Logan, who wrote the screenplay for The Aviator and Sweeney Todd, has also signed on. Johnny Depp’s production company Infinitum Nihil is coproducing the film with Graham King’s Initial Entertainment Group for Warner Bros., Selznick says. read more...
For the second year in a row, And Tango Makes Three tops the American Library Association's "10 Most Challenged Books" annual list.
The 2007 list, which tracks challenges made to school and public libraries, then filed with the ALA, includes three new entries: Olive’s Ocean (HarperCollins, 2003) by Kevin Henkes; The Golden Compass (Knopf, 1996) by Philip Pullman; and TTYL (Harry Abrams, 2004) by Lauren Myracle. read more...
Fresh Approaches: New Editions and Reissues
California Dreaming: Return to Sweet Valley High
In 1983, Francine Pascal introduced the first title in the “Sweet Valley High” series (Bantam), quick-reading, lightly melodramatic fare featuring twin sisters Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield. Though these quintessential valley girls look almost identical (“shoulder-length blond hair, blue-green eyes, and perfect California tans”), they have wildly different personalities. Elizabeth is level-headed, intelligent, and kind while her more impulsive sister, Jessica, thinks about boys more than books and will stop at nothing to get her way. SVH quickly became a hot seller, generating more than 150 titles published through the years, spawning several spin-off print series, inspiring a television show in the 1990s, and garnering a cadre of loyal fans. read more...
Serve as the liaison to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Libraries Systems Department; provide consultation, reference, collection management, and instructional services; develop and teach credit/non-credit courses or workshops for the University community; participate in a variety of Library-wide initiatives, projects and teams; serve as IT troubleshooter for Science Library. read more...
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Gr 5-8–That smart and funny sixth grader introduced in Rex Zero and the End of the World (Farrar, 2007) is back. The book is set in 1962 in Ottawa, where Rex lives with his quirky family and his scheming pals. 
