pafa.net

My nephew is writing some wonderful stuff!

Interpreting the Evolution of English - Accents, dialects, slang and how we got from King James to hip-hop swagger.

Reviews of: The Prodigal Tongue, by Mark Abley and By Hook or by Crook, by David Crystal.

By Timothy Farrington, editorial staff of the New Yorker.
Wall Street Journal, June 28, 2008; Page W8

I hate throwing books out, but these are too old to donate to my local public library for their book sale. And I imagine anyone with a ‘history of the internet’ collection will already have these.

I remember the excitement of ordering and receiving these titles. Back in those long ago days, there weren’t the zillions of internet related titles there are now, so getting a new one was a thrill. Call me a geek, I dare you! I think I’ll let them gather dust for another week and then recycle them.

Last week Nancy Pearl was in town for the 50th anniversary of the Southern Adirondack Library System and gave a delightful talk at their annual dinner. She also presented several other programs, including a session on readers advisory for children & teens. And even though I’ve never done any real RA work, the librarians I work with do. Going to events like this helps me keep a bit better in touch with the real world of libraries! Little did I know that I’d learn so much in that hour. Nancy’s framework for looking at the appeal of books is so elegantly effective, yet simple enough for my non-literary brain to wrap itself around.

I won’t attempt to write up my notes since my good friend and librarian extraordinaire, Sue Rokos, did such a great writeup.

Some excerpts from Sue’s excellent post.

… every book of narrative fiction and non-fiction fits
at least one of Nancy Pearl’s four potential doorways through which
readers enter a book:Doorway # 1 is Story

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Congratulations to the seven children in New York State who submitted videos about their favorite books to the nationwide StoryTubes video contest.

All the New York State entries have been posted to the NYS Summer Reading Program web site.

To enter the contest, children in grades 1 to 6 made short videos about their favorite books. And they’re delightful to watch!

All of the entries from around the country can be viewed at the StoryTubes site. During May, finalists will be selected the following categories and everyone will be able to vote.

• May 5 - May 11, 2008 - Hair-Raising Tales
• May 12 - May 18, 2008 - From or For the Heart
• May 19 - May 25, 2008 - Of Heroes and Heroines
• May 26 - June 1, 2008 - Facts, Fads and Phenoms

The StoryTubes project was created by the folks at Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin IL. Staff of the Children’s Services department at Middle Country Public Library in Centereach & Selden NY were the coordinators for the Northeast region.

Granted I’m a proud aunt, but I think my nephew is a terrific writer and reviewer! And I’m so pleased to this review in this Sunday’s NYT Book Review section. Way to go Tim!

Amo, Amas, Amuse a review of “CARPE DIEM: Put a Little Latin in Your Life” by Harry Mount.

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I just came across a wonderful multimedia project called Great Book Stories. It offers students and teachers the opportunity to share their favorite books through pictures, text and audio. The wiki links to digital stories created by students and teachers and encourages others to join in.

A number of tools for creating digital stories are mentioned, including VoiceThread. (I was looking for more info on VoiceThread when I came across this project.)

VoiceThread is (more…)