history 3

although this isn't a book, i still spent a lot of time reading this...anywayz, over the summer, there's this course "History 3", and i have to take it for the RCM examination (music stuff). I learned about the lives, careers and musical styles of several composers from the 17th to 20th century (ex. J.S. Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, etc...total of 12). And also, the 4 main eras of music (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century)...overall, there's just a lot of reading/studying to do + it's exceptionally BORING!!! But if you are interested in learing about music history (and not intend on taking classes about it), my teacher recommended a textbook called "The Enjoyment of Music" (7th, 8th, or 9th edition) by Joseph Machlis and Kristine Forney that covers everything taught in this course.

s.t.e.p.h.i.e.

Best Books from the Blog - Vote now

I would love to know what your favourite book or books are that you have read this summer.

I would like to put together a final list for our readers in the library.

Many of you have read many books, limit your choice to three.

Thanks.

Catherine

Life in the Fat Lane by Catherine - Teen LA

I read your comments and I read the book. I loved the book and thought it was really well written. What appealed to me most was that this story touched on being thin and being fat. The book never really resolved the issue totally for Lara which ordinarily would have bothered me but I was satisfied with this ending.

Actually, this book screamed to me, personally. In my life, I have been every size and every shape. This book was a reflection of my life. I have never had the misfortune of being ill or being a beauty queen like Lara but I too have had weight issues for different reasons.
I can so easily identify with Lara and Suzanne.

Many times, I read some of the realistic fiction that they write for young adults and I find it condescending or far fetched. This book was true to the topic and for this reason, I have to say I liked the book.

Catherine

Teen Book Club Revisited

Thanks very much to everyone who responded to my earlier post. I'm definately inspired to give the book club idea another go! I'm putting this out to all members of the blog: if anyone is interested in joining the Angus Glen Teen Book Club, please email me at acecch@markham.library.on.ca and in the meantime, I'll start working out the details.
Andrea.

Music Trivia - This is a give away

Music Trivia

These are all give aways, this week. All music guide and the Chum Chart is where I got the questions.

Deadline is next Friday, at noon.

Email answers to: teens@markham.library.on.ca

If there is a tie because these questions are so easy, this week, there will be a random draw from the entries.

Good luck!

Catherine



1. What musician worked as a housekeeper with her mom, at a hotel turning off the lights before she got her big break?

2. From _____ to ______helped this star to breakaway with her hazel eyes.

3. What star never has a bad day, anymore but also played the violin, at age 4.

4. What group had a t.v. show this year to find a replacement singer who was worth a fortune?

5. What beauty and the beast singer let her heart go on to Cirque to Soleil?

6. What spicy group sings about dani ______________?

7. Whenever, wherever her hips don’t lie?

8. They maybe ready to run but they are not ready to make nice especially with a certain western leader. Who are they?

9. What insane song was basically a download but not for a basketball player?

10. What singer got into a jam with Christina, Maya and Little Kim, is misunderstood and is not a stupid girl?

11. I can bet some change, a group will tour with Bon Jovi and I am sure have their photograph taken?

12. What superman is not part of quintuplets, finds it’s it not easy to be him?

13. What Austin Power’s star is singing with Jay-z about two bank robbers from the ‘30’s?

14. They always roll out the welcome mat and give love a bad name.

15. Somebody told me that I would be murdered by this group.

16. What singer should have no problems getting a hotel room and used to have a simple life?

17. What dancing song has made this star crystal clear to view?

18. I cannot talk because of this Canadian Idol star.

19. I think everyone knows how to walk because of this group, even if there design is not perfect.

20. What former Mickey Mouse Club star and non-winner of star search has no problems getting a man?

Volunteers Needed this Fall for Homework Help Club

I thought I'd put this out to the blog in case anyone is interested in gaining some volunteer experience...

At Angus Glen Library, the Children's Librarian and I are working together to start a homework help/ reading buddies service. We are going to need volunteers to run these programmes. Reading Buddies will involve helping children develop and refine their reading skills and confidence by listening to children read aloud, helping them with comprehension and looking up words, etc. Homework help, as the name implies, will be an opportunity for kids with homework problems to work one on one with a volunteer to work through problems, practice skills and formulas or get help studying. We are going to run both programmes from October 3 to November 30, and each programme will have one session per week.
We're looking for reliable volunteers in Grade 10 or older who are able to work independently, take initiative and responsibility, and be supportive and patience with the kids. If anyone is interested in this opportunity, please email me at acecch@markham.library.on.ca (please don't post any personal contact information on the blog) and I can give you more details and get an application form to you.

Material Matters: Acid & Bases

Hello!
This book is by Carol Baldwin. Have you ever tasted soap before? YYYYUUUUK! It's bitter! That is because soap is a base. How about water? It's a neutral. Lemons are acidic, so on the chart, it is #2. Water is #7(neutral). Bases, like bread, is between #10 & #11. The chart is from #0 to #14. #0 could be so acdic, that it can burn your skin! What does the swimming pool be related to this? Read it to find out!! I thought this book has a lot of detail and also covers up the main point of acids and bases too!!
-Shummer

Rating:***/5

pig heart boy- malorie blackman

i like how i always pick a book randomly, and it turns out to be such a good book!this book caught my attention because the way "pig heart boy" is written, it looks like letters taken from a magazine. anyways, cameron is a thirteen year old boy desperately in need of a heart transplant. he had a disease two years ago which caused his heart to become weaker and weaker, with only one year to live- at most. a pioneering doctors offer to give cameron a new heart, but instead of a human heart... it's from a pig. it has never been done before. cameron hasn't been excercising the last two years, since his heart can't take it. with a new heart... a pigs heart... hopefully, he can live a normal life just like his friends.
this book has problem after problem, when you least expect it which made me wanna read it all at once!

Go Ask Alice, Anonymous

Hi
This book is a real diary of Alice. The editors have crossed out or changed places, some names, and dates. As you enter this book, you have entered the teenager's drug world. Alice was a good girl, but parties have brought her to the drug world. She even sold LSD stamps to kids no older than 10 years old! As she goes to join the boyfriend world, the virgin Alice is no longer is there. She imagines maggots eating her flesh and bad terrible trips of LSD...... What will happen? Read it!! I thought it was a good book without the sex, the rapes and the dead. I also thought as you went closer to the middle of the book, there was too much swear words.
-Shummer

Rating:****/5

Life In the Fat Lane - Cherie Benett

A fellow blogger wrote about this book, so I thought I would check it out, and frankly, I was amazed. I never knew that the 'fat' people in our society went through so much taunting. This book was written excellently, it really makes you feel for Lara, the main character. At one point in the novel, Lara turns the TV on, and starts watching a 20/20 special on a child's take of being obese. When asked whether a child would rather have one arm or being fat, they said they would rather be disabled. I'm not sure whether that study was actually done or not, but it is still shocking to read. It's a great book about discovery in yourself, and who your true friends are.

Plan B - Jenny O'Connell

Vanessa is your typical over-achiever, who works hard in school and does everything that she can to make it to the top. She has plans to cruise by her serior year uneventfully, waiting for the summer where she can travel Europe with her best friend Taylor, then meet up with her boyfriend Patrick at Yale. But things turn sour when she has a half-brother, specifically, Hollywood heart-throb Reed Vaughn. This news is shocking enough, but when Reed, also a senior, comes to live with Vanessa's family and attend the same highschool, Vanessa's not sure if she can take it. This story is pretty funny so far, although i haven't finished the book just yet.

Pendragon #2, The Lost City Of Faar

The book that I read is called 'The Lost City Of Faar' and it is in the 'Pendragon' series. I liked the first book a lot but it was kind of confusing. If I was Bobby (the main character) I don't know how I would deal with all the new information he was learning about being a Traveler. Being a traveler is a big deal, there something called Halla which basically everything and everything creates a balance right? Well a traveler has to travel to all of the worlds (yes there are tons of different worlds, our world is called second earth.) and try to prevent a huge conflict that could destroy that specific world and lead to the destruction of Halla. Each territory has it's own traveler and all the travelers need each other's help but in the second book it seems as if Booby is kind of like a leader at the moment....maybe it's just because he has the most experience....? Oh well, anyways, I think that you have to have read the first book to be able to understand the second because they only briefly remind you of the basic concepts and go on to harder stuff because Bobby is always learning new things that help you understand but they're all valuable pieces of information. So in the first book you go to Denduron where Bobby saves the poor people there and then in the second he goes to Cloral where there are no land masses that haven't been man-made. This was an exciting book and it was very sad when a lovable character dies but you get over it.....sniff, sniff......eventually. :') Anyways it's a great story and if you like sci/fi fantasy than this book might be for you!

Phsics Lab in the Housewares Store

Hi
this book is by Bob Friedhoffer. Find out a basic principle in basic tools. (nutcracker, chostiks, tee-ter-tooters, an ice cream scoop...etc...) The first, second and third levers, what's the difference? Read this to find out!

-Shummer

Rating: ***/5

Watching the Roses

Hi!
This book is by Adele Geras. It talks about Alice, who was cursed by her 13th aunt. That Alice would by gone like a candle on her 18th birthday. Now to boarding school, a dark shadow comes over Alice. As her 18th birthday comes closer, Alice speaks only to her diary. The truth is coming, all about her......
Find out what it is!!
I thought this book was on the medieval side. A bit boring.
-Shummer
Rating:**/5

Ordinary Genius: The Story of Albert Einstein

Hi!
This book is by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson.(long name) Did you know that Albert had a sister? Guess how they looked like together? TWINS! (not literally) The amazing facts of Albert's life, included the war. the genius did well in only math and physic. the others, were a mess. Albert likes to sail, play music. Music? His mother was a violin teacher! The amazing facts of Albert are in here.(non-fiction) I learned a lot in this book! There also funny times in his life!
Read it!

-Shummer

Rating:****/5

The Usual Rules

On Tuesday, September 11th in Brooklyn, thirteen-year-old Wendy sits in class just as she would any other weekday. She left home slightly angry at her mother and a little annoyed at her stepfather, which seemed typical to Wendy these days. But when the earth beneath New York City shook and debris started raining from the sky, Wendy's perspective changed.Wendy's mother, a former dancer, worked in one of the World Trade Center towers. After the attack, Wendy, her stepfather Josh and her little brother Louie hold on to hope that she has survived. As the days go by, it becomes apparent that Wendy's mother is dead. When the biological father she hardly knows (but always dreams about) shows up, Wendy decides to go to California with him. She hopes that life with her father will help her heal and allow her to create a new life for herself. But she doesn't realize how difficult it will be to start again and leave Josh and Louie behind.In California Wendy does create a new life, but one based almost solely on shedding the traces of her past. She stops going to school and spends her time at a local bookstore reading the classics suggested by the friendly owner. She also befriends a teenage mother struggling to raise her son alone. To each she tells a different story of who she is and where she comes from. And she tries to build a family with her father and his girlfriend, who have family issues of their own. Much of Wendy's California life is concerned with defining family, and ultimately she yearns for the one she left behind in New York.THE USUAL RULES, as much as it is about healing and growing up, is about family. Yes, Wendy must mourn the loss of her mother, and Maynard captures her loss with a stinging accuracy. But the real story is that of Wendy gaining strength and deciding what she will do with her mother's memory, who she will become, and who she will include in her redefined understanding of family.

- Pandyy

The Elements: Hydrogen

Hi
This book is by John Farndon. The lightest element (even air) is what you are about to discover. The case of the exploding air ship who did it? Find out in this book, 2 what? And 1 oxygen. How about helium? Find out in this book. Read it. I learned a lot in this book!
Rating:**/5
-Shummer

Carbon

Hi
This book is by Nigel Saunders. The elements of the world....One of them is carbon. Carbon on Group 14, the carbon diamond, or is it what we breathe out? Find out in this book! Read it!
-Shummer

no more pranks- monique polak

all pete does is pull pranks. big, small, medium, whatever. just pranks. one night, he pulled what seemed like a little prank, impersonating himself as his vice principal mr. quincy on a radio show, and refers himself to some innapropriate stuff. it's one of those call-in shows. he even taped the call, which was his second biggest mistake. his biggest mistake was lending it to joseph, who made to copies for some guys on his basketball team. uh oh. next thing you know, he's in the office with mr quincy-- the real one, and he was suspended for five days, and he even had to switch high schools...uh oh again. but instead, his parents make him go to tadoussac for the summer, where his uncle jean lives.
quote from book: "getting suspended is one thing. being forced to go to another school is another. but spending a summer in tadoussac? now that's a life sentence." his uncle jean owned a kayaking company, and he is very large. turns out, everyone in tadoussac was already told about what pete had done. and that ruined everything! uncle jean always said-- no more pranks!!!!!! but pranks were just a natural part of pete! just one more? please?

the summer of the swans- betsy byars

this book was pretty good, and is short so you don't have to spend weeks reading it. the main character's name is Sara. she has a younger brother, charlie, who is mentally handicapped and hasn't talked since he was 3 years old (he's ten). also, sara has a beautiful older sister, wanda, who she is jealous of for so many things. wanda is 19 years old, and is just really pretty. sara, however, is tall, skinny, has huge feet and ugly orange- dyed sneakers. everything up until her fourteenth summer had gone great, and just glided like the swans on the lake. but one day, sara wakes up to her bossie aunt willie telling her to get charlie for breakfast. he's not in his room. he's not in the washroom. he's not in the house! where could this tiny- for-his-age ten year old who was unable to speak have gone? is he even able to call for help? does he need help? where is he?!

The Mediator: Darkest Hour

Hey!
This book is by Meg Cabot. It talks about a girl called Suze. She gets a job to baby sit and meets a boy called Jack, who she finds out that he's also a mediator. ( Mediator is a person that helps the dead move on) She falls in love with a ghost called Jesse. Maria was the future wife of Jesse because they were cousins. Maria was supposed to marry him, but loved some else. So who killed Jesse? Read to find out!
I thought this book was a bit on the boring side. Rate:***/5
-Shummer!

The Thief Lord- Cornelia Funke

I meant to post this a while back, but didn't have the oppurtunity.

This book was a huge disappointment.

Major.

If I had raised my expectations a little higher I might be crying right now.

I'd heard this book was excellent though simplistic and I simply cannot agree. The realism of half of the events is ridiculous and as lovely as a magical merry-go-round that holds the key to youth sounds, it's even more ridiculous that the thief lord chooses to remain an adult forever and is somehow able to make it on his own without the natural lessons he would have learned from a normal maturing. It's ludicrous. The book does not even address the emotional turbulence he would have had to go through.

Most of it sounds like a pile of dung. The author seems unwilling to recognize that although the thief lord's father may not be the best at conveying his emotions or building a bond with his son, he can still love him in a respectful manner that is realistic to the time period. Suddenly, it seems that because the father son pair have a few scruples, the thief lord decides to ride the magic merry-go-roung and remain an adult forever, perfectly content with no emotional complex. Really now, who does that?! Funke is almost daring kids to be uncontent with every little thing that doesn't go their way.

The beginning was tolerable, the middle and transition were mediocre, the ending chapters were horrifyingly unimaginative and emotionally-retarded.

I'm almost angry, as ludicrous as it sounds.

Rating: 0/10, a waste of paper and ink and MY TIME.

Miss Anne Thropic
Isabelle

If book burning were legal or right, this one might make me a cozy fire.