Friday, March 23, 2012

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

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In the remarkable, bizarre, and heart-wrenching summer before Cullen Witter's senior year of high school, everything he thinks he understands about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town vanishes. His cousin overdoses; his town becomes absurdly obsessed with the alleged reappearance of an extinct woodpecker; and most troubling of all, his sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother, Gabriel, suddenly and inexplicably disappears. As Cullen navigates a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young, disillusioned missionary in Africa searches for meaning wherever he can find it. Through masterful plotting, these two stories are brought face-to-face in a surprising and harrowing climax that is tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, and above all, hope. 

App of the Week 3/23/12

 Panorama is a free app. To capture a panorama just tap the camera icon and slowly move your phone from left to right. You can apply three different effects to the images or just use the image as-is. You can share your panoramas directly to Facebook or Twitter from the app. In my limited early testing of the app, no pop-up ads appeared.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Everybody Sees the Ants by A. S. King

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Overburdened by his parents' bickering and a bully's attacks, fifteen-year-old Lucky Linderman begins dreaming of being with his grandfather, who went missing during the Vietnam War, but during a visit to Arizona, his aunt and uncle and their beautiful neighbor, Ginny, help him find a new perspective. 

NASA App for Android

From Android 4 Schools post:

 The NASA App for Android is a free app that gives you access to thousands of NASA videos and images. Not surprisingly, the videos are found in the “video” section of the app. The images, however, are not nearly as well organized. To view the images you need to sort through the “missions” section of the app. You will also find images in the “featured” section and the “news & features” section of the NASA App.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Countries of the World-Free App for Droids

 

Countries of the World from Socratica is a free Android app that students can use to study world geography. The app has two main parts; a study section and a quiz section. The study section includes basics facts about the location of each country and basic statistics about the government, people, and economy of the country. The study section also includes audio pronunciations of each country’s name and, in some cases, videos about the country.

Only Hope: Coming of Age Under China's One Child Policy by Venessa L. Fong

Product Details


The first generation of children born under China’s one-child-family policy is now reaching adulthood. What are these children like? What are their values, goals, and interests? What kinds of relationships do they have with their families? This is the first in-depth study to analyze what it is like to grow up as the state-appointed vanguard of modernization. Based on surveys and ethnographic research in China, where the author lived with teenage only children and observed their homes and classrooms for 27 months between 1997 and 2002, the book explores the social, economic, and psychological consequences of the government’s decision to accelerate the fertility transition.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Media Production Studio-New at IHHS Library Media Center!


Press the play button to hear my avatar describe our new media studio!


Hover your mouse over the equipment below to find out more.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Candor by Pam Bachorz

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The picture-perfect new town of Candor, Florida, is attracting more and more new families, drawn by its postcard-like small-town feel, with white picket fences, spanking-new but old-fashioned-looking homes, and neighborliness. But the parents are drawn by something else as well. They know that in Candor their obstreperous teenagers will somehow become rewired - they'll learn to respect their elders, to do their chores, and enjoy their homework. They'll give up the tattoos, metal music, and partying that have been driving their parents crazy. They'll become every parent's dream.


App of the Week 3/2/12



The World Book Day App!


The brand new World Book Day App is available now for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch on the iTunes store, the low, low price of absolutely FREE!
It includes six brilliant short stories written especially for World Book Day by some of the best Young Adult authors in the world! Find out about the stories and browse and buy books by their authors.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/world-book-day-2012/id502505904?mt=8