Return of the Podcasters!

This week Julia and Clare discussed the Inheritance Cycle, by Christopher Paolini. Paolini recently announced that the third book, Brisingr, will be released later in 2008. The news rekindled reader-interest in the first two books, Eragon and Eldest. In their conversation, J. & C. tell you about the first two books, what the name "Brisingr" means, and more.

According to the experts, if you love "fantasy, war, elves, dwarves, dragons, magic, and things like that," the Inheritance Cycle might be for you!

BHMS Library Podcast -- The Inheritance Cycle (mp3)

[Right-click the picture or link, to download the mp3 to your computer,
or just double click to begin streaming it.]

Have you read Eragon or Eldest? Did you see the Eragon movie? Are you looking forward to Brisingr? Share your thoughts in a comment!

The BHMS library podcast is back!

Julia M. and Nathan returned to the library, before break, and discussed Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series. Fascinating stuff!

BHMS Library Podcast -- Keys to the Kingdom (mp3)

[Right-click the picture or link, to download the

mp3 to your computer, or just double-click to begin streaming it.]

Share your thoughts in a comment.

My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were the planets of our solar system....until last year.

Last year, scientists decided that Pluto doesn't count as a full-fledged planet. That means that any of our planet books that were published before mid-2006, are a bit wrong! It's a good thing that a few new planet books have come out since then.


When Is a Planet Not a Planet? -- The Story of Pluto, by Elaine Scott, is the best I've seen so far.
Here we have a remarkably in-depth account of planetary science and the history of astronomy, a clear explanation of what we know about Pluto and why scientists decided to redefine it as a dwarf planet, and beautiful photographs and images.

This promises to be a gripping read for curious Middle School and Upper Elementary minds wanting to know as much as they can about astronomy, planets, and the world beyond our stratosphere. It's very attractive and very readable. The pages are loaded with solid facts and terrific trivia.

For a much simpler account of the solar system and dwarf planets, take a look at Exploring the Planets In Our Solar System, by Rebecca Olien.

Want to know more about Pluto? Visit our databases, like Grolier Online and Kids Search, from home or school, to learn more. [Go to our library web-page, scroll down to Online Resources, and click whichever you'd like to explore. See Rebecca for passwords to access the databases from home.]

Check out NASA's Pluto page: Pluto

Anyway, it's time for a new mnemonic device!

M V E M J S U N

Leave your ideas in a comment.

Two Facts About Your Librarian

1. I'm a big fan of wordless picture books.
2. I'm also a big fan of robots.

One of my favorite new books is Robot Dreams, by Sara Varon.
It has robots and tells a wordless story! [Well, almost wordless... a few pictures have funny word details, such as titles of books, postcard messages, and shop names, but that's about it.]

A lonely dog builds himself a robot friend. When robot and dog get separated, we get to see the robot's dreams. We also get to see what the dog does to keep busy without his robot friend.
There are some moments in this story that made me really sad. But it was the kind of sad that made me want to keep reading.

I highly recommend this for Upper Elementary and Middle School students looking for a quick-to-read book, with super-appealing illustrations, that tells a sweet story about making friends and losing friends and finding friends.


Find it with the graphic novels-741.5!

Shug

by Jenny Han



Shug is a great book about a teenage girl entering middle school. She has a great big sister and a mother who only cooks when her husband is home (which isn’t very often).
I think that any teenage girl with an amazing, caring, and sometimes annoying family would really like this book. Every girl in middle school should read this book.

Review by Sarah J

Shug trivia: Jenny Han is a local Brooklyn author!