Week 9 Assignment 3 The Wrap up

I had a lot fun with this project, it has been challenging and well worth the effort. In some cases I can say it was eye opening. The array of Reader's Advisory tools are enormous. Street Fiction was a great find and the Prezi Fiction Genre Flowchart was fascinating. Early Reads is a good heads up tool and the Soon to be a Movie feature is wonderful. 

I almost got hooked on Sporcle, it has a Jeopardy appeal...Oops, I did get hooked.

There were some very nice things too.:

•  Very cool, but not surprising, adults like teen books. 
  

• Book Trailers, very, very, very surprising...Who knew?... Book Trailers!...Wow!... And to think that they have been around for a decade...Shocking! Spend more time on YouTube folks, things could be trending right now.
  

Week 9 Assignments 1 and 2 Book Trailers

And now for something completely different...Book Trailers. There are so many of them that this is not new... They are just new to me. These videos go back several years. Where have I been? 

Obviously, not on YouTube.

Yet, the concept is not new, because when you think about it...it's a commercial. Commercials are used to sell every product imaginable.  Case in point, music videos are used to sell records...Why not use the same strategy to sell books? Makes sense to me.

Create a video that appeals to the market you are after and the readers are drawn in...Build it and they will come...

The trailer for the Glass Castle is presented in a documentary fashion, yet it has an Oprah like feel. I found it compassionate and hard hitting at the same time. The combination of animation and music for Chronicles of the Red King are mystical and magical. It will capture the imaginations of lots of kids. If they see it they will want the book.

These trailers can be good reader's advisory tools, they are visual book talks...eye candy designed to peek your interest.

I would disagree with Nina Metz, of the Tribune, that most are terrible. I would say that a number of them are, but not most. Take two pretty good ones, Nic Bishop's Spiders...uses great photography and the music from Spider Man to pull you in. And Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall is compelling and thought provoking.

Judge for Yourself

Week 8 Assignment 4 You should try: Book Talks

The Other Wes Moore

Monday, February 7, 2000... 11 a.m. Pikesville, MD. It's an ordinary quiet morning for off duty police officer Sgt. Bruce Prothero. He is working his part-time job as security for J. Brown Jewelers. That peace is about to be broken by four young thugs. A brazen smash and grab robbery is going down. Troy and Donald White, the Moore brothers, Richard and Wes, are looking for an easy score and they will get it by any means necessary. That means...means blood.

Moments later Bruce Prothero, veteran Baltimore County police officer, father of five is dying alone on a cold concrete parking lot.

Fast forward several months... a former Marine, investment banker and Rhodes Scholar, reads an article that grabs him. It's about a cop killer. A killer from Baltimore, he too is from Baltimore. Oddly enough they are the same age, but most intriguing... they share the same name...Wes Moore. How did he end up here and the other Wes Moore ended up there? Wes must meet Wes. Wes Moore must understand why the other Wes Moore ended up a killer and he ended up aide an to Condoleeza Rice.

This is the story of two young African American men who started life in same place, but somewhere in time and space each took different paths.

Do you like Urban Fiction? Are you into social issues? Don't miss this book!


The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

She never knew it, but she would lead doctors and scientist to discoveries that only Science Fiction writers of the 1950's could have imagined. Poor, uneducated and living in a segregated Baltimore a black woman, Henrietta Lacks, would die of cervical cancer in 1951.Without her or her family's knowledge samples of her tumor were taken. The cells would become known as the HeLa cells and they would change our world forever.

HeLa cells would be used to develop the vaccine for Polio, cloning research and help to launch a research industry worth billions. The HeLa would spread throughout the world and eventually into outer space. And her descendants would never see a dime.

If you like medical stories from Robin Cook or if you are into social issues don't miss this book.

Week 8 Nonfiction Assignment 3

For our nonfiction genres let's go with Medical, Crime, Biography, Sports and Entertainment.

(Medical-Science)616.027 The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skoot

(Crime)364.1523 Dead by Sunset by Ann Rule

(Biography)Bio Moore The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

(Sports-Bio)Bio Connors The Outsider: by Jimmy Connors

(Entertainment)791.092 The Rat Pack: The Original Bad Boys

Week 8 Assignments 1 and 2

This assignment hit home with me, since I read a great deal of nonfiction. I've always been partial to the adage that fact can be stranger than fiction. Looking back, on week two assignment two,  I posted a comment about a nonfiction book entitled L.A. 56. I felt a good fiction read alike would be L.A. Confidential. It was great to hear Mr. Oloizia from Pratt making a similar comparison. Not everyone who reads nonfiction is looking for just the facts. Don't get me wrong the facts are very important, but the telling of the story is a huge part too. Professor Ross made a great point, in that nonfiction books have counterparts in fiction genres.

Week 7 Assignment 4 Trends

From looking around at the teen book sites it seems to me that publishers are sticking with two things. The coming of age theme(Secret Ingredient by Sarah Dessen) and the fantasy paranormal (Goddess from Harper and Renegade from Macmillan Tor) It looks as if most publishers are moving along a similar path.

Week 7 Assignment 3 John Green Books and Squeetus

The first blog I picked was Squeetus because it seemed pretty light and silly. However, as I read through Shannon Hale's earlier post I found some very serious and disturbing subject matter. The post about sexual assaults were touching and timely. They made me think about how cold and insensitive we can be as a nation... The early warnings to younger readers were thoughtful.

At first glance, John Green Books YouTube videos make no sense. However; when you view them for a second time they still make no sense. I decided to view his blog on Tumblr hoping that would shed some light on the rambling offbeat humor...It didn't. But I must admit that the quirky videos can grow on you. I'll try to read one of his titles, maybe that will help me to understand.