November 2009 Archives

Lower School Book Club

By Barnes on November 20, 2009 1:45 PM |

It's amazing how much the LS book club reads this year--I have trouble keeping up with you guys!  We finished The Alchemyst by Michael Dylan Scott and talked about it today.  Most members who haven't already done so are planning to read the next two books in this series (there are three out of six projected books published so far).  Several people followed up last month's book by Cinda Williams Chima, The Warrior Heir, by reading the sequels The Wizard Heir and The Dragon Heir.  (Last month, we agreed to choose one book in a series and then move on to another author or series for our meetings, but anyone who wants to continue a series can do that and a lot of people will.)

We picked two titles to read over the Christmas holidays:  The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett, which will introduce us to the world of 'speculative fiction,' and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  The US book club read The Hunger Games earlier this year, and The Color of Magic is the first book in a whole collection of books involving Discworld, "where it all begins."  Happy reading for the holidays!  We'll meet again on January 22.

E-books?

By Barnes on November 16, 2009 3:22 PM |
You may have seen articles about a boarding school library that recently got rid of all its physical books (except for a few).  E-books are wonderful, but why throw out the baby with the bath water? Here are some comments that occur to me:
 
1.  Check out the Cushing Academy website and read this unbelievable article within it, penned by their headmaster:  http://www.cushing.org/21c/open-content-curricula.shtml
2.  Here's one of the first reports on the school's decision from the Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/04/a_library_without_the_books/
3.  See this article that ups the count of Kindles at Cushing to 65 (the original 18 must not have been enough, but 65 would cost $16,000+):  http://www.usatoday.com/LIFE/usaedition/2009-10-27-nobooklibrary27_st_U.htm?csp=34  
4.  Supposedly, someone at the school 'spot-checked' the circulation for one day last spring and only 48 books had been checked out--does that mean 48 books had been checked out that day?  Why did this school that's over a hundred years old only have 20,000 books, and were they buying recent books that the kids are interested in?  Why did they only 'spot-check' the circulation on one day?! The methodology is suspect. I found a discussion that discredits this statistic (see the comment near the end by Joan): http://www.teleread.org/2009/09/04/cushing-academy-gets-rid-of-all-its-books/
5.  See another article by cultural critic Roger Kimball that calls Cushing a 'B-list prep school':  http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2009/10/03/barbarians-at-the-gate-cushing-academy-edition/
6.  One final message board with some excellent responses:  http://education.zdnet.com/?p=3035
 
Like most school librarians, we're proud of our digital collection at MUS, but we know that print books are still thriving and being read all the time.  If you doubt the future of books, go to a Barnes and Noble store, stand in line at the public library, or visit our library during 7th period.

MUS Book Clubs 2009-2010

By Barnes on November 12, 2009 1:52 PM |

We have several book clubs going this year.  In the Upper School, Mrs. Crosby, Mr. Reese, and Mrs. Arant are meeting regularly.  I go to Mrs. Arant's group when I can, and I sponsor a Lower School group that has about 12 guys in it.

Right now the LS group is reading The Alchemyst.  We meet again during lunch on Nov. 20.  If you want to join, just let me know.

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