Alt History/Steampunk Cover Design Contest

Have you ever found that the cover of a book grossly misrepresented its contents, and that this misrepresentation seemed to keep the book from finding what would otherwise be its natural audience?  A bunch of bloggers have, which is why over at Bookshelves of Doom, Leila is sponsoring a cover design contest for Jenny Davidson’s, Ysabeau Wilce’s, and D. M. Cornish’s works, all of which fit in this category.

Go check it out - you could win books!

The contest is part of a larger multi-blog celebration of overlooked and/or misrepresented alternate history and steampunk books which will take place the week of December 13th.  Keep an eye out for more info as that week gets closer!


Non-fiction Monday Book Review: Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts

This review was written for my children’s literature class, so it addresses some concerns from a more professional perspective than many of my earlier reviews have.

Colman, P. (1997). Corpses, coffins, and crypts: A history of burial. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts demystifies a process which many children encounter for the first time in late elementary school: what happens to the body after a person dies. Penny Colman is an award-winning author of children’s non-fiction; while she is not an expert on burial practices, she is an expert on researching and presenting information.

This book, which will have a natural pull for spooky kids such as myself, is very straightforward in its approach. Colman first defines death and explains what exactly happens upon death. She then discusses various possibilities for what happens to a corpse, including medical uses, embalming, and creation. Next she discusses different containment options: urns, coffins, crypts, and mausoleums. She goes on to describe burial sites and celebrations, finishing with a discussion of death as portrayed in the arts and everyday life.

The book’s intended audience is readers age 9 - 12, although School Library Journal recommends it for grades 6 and up. I think it would appeal to an advanced 4th or 5th grader. The text is very clear. Colman frames her discussions of history and science with stories of her own experiences with death and those of her friends and acquaintances. This keeps the subject from being sterile, but does not sentimentalize. Colman draws on many disciplines, including anthropology and archaeology. Her information comes from a variety of sources, some as old as the Roman historian Herodotus and others as current as her own interviews with morticians. Images include photographs of burial sites and reproductions of paintings and engravings dealing with death. All of the images are in black and white. In most non-fiction texts I would consider this a detractor, but here I think the monochrome images suit the book’s somber subject matter.

The text provides both finding aids and additional material. A table of contents, chronology of burial customs, glossary, bibliography, and index are provided. Colman also includes a gazetteer of burial sites of famous people, a collection of interesting epitaphs, and an explanation of the symbolism of images commonly carved on gravestones.

Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts illuminates the burial process and illustrates how it is a common part of every person’s life. It is an interesting, warm, and respectful examination of customs across time. It may not appeal to a broad audience of middle grade readers, but it will interest and entertain some and comfort others.


New Resource: Storytelling

I’m currently enrolled in a storytelling class.  This is a video of my first attempt at storytelling.  As I learn more, I intend to offer storytelling as one of my librarian/educator services, as well as perhaps performing at storytelling events and in other venues.


New Resource: Banned Books Week Display

For Banned Books Week at the end of September 2010, I created the following display at my field experience school. Click each image to see more.

[gallery columns=ā€œ3ā€ orderby=ā€œIDā€]


Book Review: Tales of the Cryptids

This review was written for my children’s literature class, so it addresses some concerns from a more professional perspective than many of my earlier reviews have.

Halls, K. M., Spears, R. & Young, R. (2006). Tales of the cryptids: Mysterious creatures that may or may not exist. Plain City, OH: Darby Creek Publishing.

This book caught my eye with its clever title. When I pulled it down from the shelf, its cover, cleverly designed to mimic a sideshow advertisement, drew me in even further. Despite its whimsical appearance, the text contains a good bit of information about how science is used to prove or disprove the existence of mysterious creatures.

The authors of Tales of the Cryptids have no special experience that qualifies them to write on this topic; it is an area of personal interest for each of them. To supplement their own knowledge from personal studies, they have interviewed cryptozoologists, primatologists, paleoanthropologists, and geneticists. Because cryptozoology inherently studies creatures whose existence is difficult to prove, it’s hard to evaluate the factual accuracy of the text. An important part of the book is that the authors emphasize this very dilemma; they go to great lengths to explain that some of these animals have been proven hoaxes, some may or may not be real, and a very few have actually been proven to exist. The authors focus on the importance of scientific inquiry, describing the need for DNA, blood, and bone evidence to prove the existence of many of these creatures.

The book is designed to inform, entertain, and teach critical thinking. It states, ā€œWe hope you’ll have moments of doubt and wonder as you read over this book, because that’s the reaction any smart reader should have to a book of unsolved mysteriesā€ (5). It lists its audience as readers ages 11 and up, but I believe it is accessible to readers as young as 8 or 9. It covers several different types of cryptids, presenting reports from both believers and skeptics. The book may inspire readers to take on their own inquiry process while trying to solve mysteries.

Information in the book is presented clearly, divided by type of creature (Bigfoot, sea monster, prehistoric, mammal). Each type of creature is introduced by a brief narrative passage which invites the reader to imagine she has encountered the creature herself. Each section has several subsections. Content includes profiles of specific cryptids, explanations of possible evidence, and interviews with scientists and with artists who portray these creatures in various media. Illustrated maps indicate names of similar cryptids in different regions. Illustrations consist of photos, sketches, and maps. The book includes a table of contents, a ā€œcryptidictionaryā€ which describes different cryptids and provides a ā€œreaity indexā€ indicating whether they are more likely to be a hoax or real, a bibliography, specific citations for interviews including locations and dates, a list of related websites, and an index.

Tales of the Cryptids discusses a high interest subject while maintaining the importance of scientific inquiry. Its structure, illustrations, thoroughness, finding aids, and extensive proof of careful research make it an excellent nonfiction book for readers in the middle grades.


Book Review: Stan Lee

This review was written for my children's literature class, so it addresses some concerns from a more professional perspective than many of my earlier reviews have.

Miller, R. H. (2006). Stan Lee: Creator of Spider-Man. Farmington Hills, MI: KidHaven Press.

Stan Lee: Creator of Spider-Man is part of the KidHaven Press Inventors and Creators series, a series which introduces the lives of famous people to middle grade readers (Grades 4 - 8). The author, Raymond H. Miller, has written over 50 children’s nonfiction titles on various topics. While he is not an accredited Stan Lee expert, his experience in writing this type of book lends him some authority. The text, published in 2006, covers Stan Lee’s life from his birth until the 2000s, with up-to-date information about his current work. It focuses primarily on his career; sections about his childhood slant heavily towards how his childhood experiences influenced that career.

The book is clearly designed to provide an introduction to the life of one of the most famous writers in the history of comic books. The text is not overly complex, but it is not so simplistic as to bore or insult the intelligence of its intended audience. It does not present differing perspectives on Stan Lee’s life; it does, however, report conflicts objectively, simply stating the facts of situations like Lee’s lawsuit against Marvel rather than taking one side or the other in these matters.

The structure of the book is chronological; chapter titles and subtitles break up the text but do not reveal a great deal about the content that follows them. The book includes extensive reference aids, including a table of contents, a glossary, an index, endnotes which provide citations for quotes used in the text, a page of ā€œFor Further Explorationā€ recommendations, and photo credits. These serve as excellent examples for readers if they need to write biographical texts themselves.

Illustrations include photographs of Stan Lee in various situations, images of his influences (such as William Shakespeare) and experiences (such as chess, ping pong, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor), and scenes from movies based on his films. These are colorful with clear captions which add to the text’s meaning. There is one confusing illustration, a combined map of Manhattan Island and timeline which features characters from Stan Lee’s comic books. The text on this image, in comic-style bursts, is arranged in no discernible order.

Overall, this book is well-suited to its audience and purpose. The text is clear, the presentation is attractive, and it is a fine example of well-researched non-fiction.


New Resource: Kerry Madden Author Exhibit

I’ve updated the Education and Library Services page to include a link to a virtual author exhibit which I recently created about Kerry Madden. Kerry is one of my favorite authors writing for children today. I had the good fortune of attending her book release party for Jessie’s Mountain a couple of years ago and it was a delight to meet her.  I hope this author exhibit prompts you and/or your students to seek out her work.


Book Review: Black Cat

This is another of the evaluations I wrote for my children’s literature class.

Myers, C. (1999). Black cat. New York: Scholastic Press.

Christopher Myers’s Black Cat is a poetry picture book about a cat who roams the streets of New York. This book is appropriate for students throughout the elementary grades. Its rhythmic language and collage artwork appeal to a wide variety of ages. It introduces readers to poetic devices such as simile – ā€œsauntering like rainwater down storm drains.ā€ Its theme is the search for a home in a big city. The text has predictable elements. The invisible narrator often addresses the cat directly and rhythmically, with questions like ā€œblack cat, black cat, we want to know/where’s your home, where do you go?ā€ This particular stanza is repeated throughout the book, providing a measure of predictability. While the vocabulary is simple enough for younger readers, the poetic language will engage readers who are beginning to develop metalinguistic awareness.

The collaged illustrations feature a black cat painted on photographs of areas in Harlem and Brooklyn. The cat is usually shown in the middle of motion. Each page or spread relates directly to the text on the page. The images juxtapose photographic realism, which matches the theme of finding a home in the streets of New York, with the more fantastical painted postures of the cat – including dunking itself through a basketball hoop – which suit the poetic language. 

The book is a large vertically-oriented hardcover with high quality pages. Endpapers feature photographs of parts of New York where the black cat might roam. Type is a bold sans-serif font, easy to read, in bright colors which vary to contrast with the colors in the illustrations. Sometimes the text is set directly on the picture and other times it is set on a black background. The pages are sturdily sewn into the book.

The colorful collages and text, as well as the poetic language, capture the energy of a lively city. This picture book’s rhythmic language and distinctive style of illustration might capture the interest of a variety of elementary-aged readers.


Book Review: Going North

For my children’s literature class, we write evaluations of the books we read.  I thought I’d share mine here.  These will illustrate some teacherly/librarian concerns which don’t come out as much in my reviews of YA lit.


Harrington, J. N. (2004). Going north. New York: Melanie Kroupa Books.

Going North is the semi-autobiographical story of an African American family’s move from Alabama to Nebraska in the early 1960s. The story is told from the perspective of Jessie, a young girl who is reluctant to leave the home she loves. She is both anxious and optimistic about the prospect of a new life in the North.

This book is appropriate for readers in grades 3 – 5, who are beginning to move away from egocentrism and beginning to be able to see things from others’ perspectives. It is set in the segregated South of the 1960s. This is conveyed both in text, with statements like, ā€œCan’t stop just anywhere./Only the Negro stations,/only the Negro stores,ā€ and with images of the African American family staying in their car at a gas station while a white family’s car is serviced by a white attendant. Jessie, the narrator, is the only character who is very well developed. Because she is telling the story, we get a sense of her own fears and hopes. Despite its focus on racial tensions, the book manages to avoid stereotypical portrayals. 

The rich language conveys powerful images such as ā€œI wish my toes were roots./I’d grow into a pin oak and never go away.ā€ The language uses literal descriptions, onomatopoeia, and metaphor. Phrases such as ā€œgood luck,ā€ with the first word in the phrase in larger print than the second, imitate the sounds of tires on a road. The themes of memory and movement are conveyed through the misty quality of the oil painting illustrations and the multiple perspectives of the yellow station wagon as it heads north. Jessie’s concerns, such as whether she will like her new home and if she will have much in common with the children there, are common to many children as they move to a new city.

The book is large and horizontal, so readers who are still struggling with fine motor skills can handle it quite readily. Endpapers with maps of the region the characters travel add to the sense of place in the story. The jacket design shows the family in its yellow station wagon. The title text and author attribution are in fonts which follow a curving line, adding to the book’s sense of movement. Inside, the text is printed with plenty of space around it so that the eye is easily drawn to it. The paper is high quality, glossy, and the binding is sewn together sturdily. At the end of the book, Ms. Harrington provides an author’s note explaining how the story reflects her own experience as a child moving from Alabama to Nebraska.

Going North is an excellent book to introduce middle grade children to issues of segregation and to provide them with a connection to the lives of children from earlier time periods as they learn that some experiences, such as anxiety about going to a new place, are universal across time.


Backwards design, inquiry learning, and Pokemon: Scenario

Before we jump in to the actual lesson planning part, let’s set up a scenario.

Let’s imagine that I’m an elementary school media specialist in the state of North Carolina. Animals are a key part of the 4th grade science curriculum in North Carolina. At my imaginary elementary school, a fourth grade teacher has approached me. She’s interested in inquiry learning and wants to incorporate popular culture into her class; she’s noticed that her students seem especially interested in Pokemon. Some of them have even been sneaking their Pokewalkers into school hoping to rack up more steps to help them in the most recent Pokemon releases, HeartGold and SoulSilver.

She knows that Pokemon look a lot like animals and she thinks she can somehow put that to use in her animal unit plan, so she turns to Google. A search for ā€œPokemon lesson planā€ brings up JP’s post a little down the first page of results. She’s also familiar with the Thinkfinity project (let’s just assume it’s because I’m an awesome librarian and make sure my colleagues know about these resources). She performs a search there for ā€œanimalsā€ and limits it to lessons for grades 3-5. She finds Animal Adaptations, which addresses adaptations and habitats - exactly what she wants to address in her unit.

Armed with these two lesson plans, she comes to me looking for any additional resources which might support her students’ research. I indicate to her that I’m very interested in games in education and ask her if she would mind if we collaborated more fully on this unit plan and offer to assist with the assessment of the final product as well. As you might imagine, she is thrilled to have an offer of help with that part of things. I give her a quick overview of the backwards design process, much like I gave in my previous post, and we set up a meeting to work through the backwards design template and create a unit plan with JP’s post and the Thinkfinity plan as inspiration.

Next time: Desired Results.

Earlier posts in this series: Introduction


My First ALA Annual

I'm very excited to be attending ALA for the first time next week.  I'm trying to plan out my days.  I'd love to know if you're going to be there.

And most importantly, if you’re going to be at KidLit Drink Night.  Because I’m still undecided on that and I need to RSVP by Sunday.


Backwards design, inquiry learning, and Pokemon: Introduction

Soon after I wrote Pokemon for the 21st Century Learner, JP at 8bitlibrary.com continued the Pokemon series he began in Pokemon 101 with the posts Pokemon 102 and Pokemon Project Based Lesson Plan Idea: Habitats. JP’s lesson plan planted the seed of an idea in my head. I would go one step beyond a project based lesson, and turn it into an inquiry-based lesson.

My work at LEARN NC consists primarily of reading lesson plans and aligning them with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. This means I’ve read many lesson plans about animals and their habitats. It also means that first and foremost in my mind in any lesson planning project are the standards, both from North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction and from the National Science Teachers Association (the relevant professional association in this case).

This focus pushed me to consider using backwards design to write my inquiry-based Pokemon lesson. Backwards design begins with the end in mind, asking three key questions:

  1. What do we want our students to know and be able to do?
  2. How will they demonstrate their knowledge and ability?
  3. What activities will support them as they move through this process?

It was my original intention to write a whole unit plan and then present it to you, The Internet, fully formed. But I’ve since changed my mind. I’m going to walk you through this process with me. So get ready, because we’re in for what might be a lengthy ride.


The Generosity of the Internet: Smoothies, Streamys Nominees, Felicia Day, Leo Babauta & Tim Gipson

Again, I quote Maureen Johnson’s Manifesto: Make stuff for the internet that matters to you, even if it seems stupid. Do it because it’s good and feels important. Put up more cat pictures. Make more songs. Show your doodles. Give things away and take things that are free. Look at what other people are doing, not to compete, imitate, or compare . . . but because you enjoy looking at the things other people make.

On Monday I went to the thrift store with elfstar18.  She asked me what I’d been doing this summer.  (She’s been working, going to school, deconstructing and reconstructing clothes, and dressing up pretty for a con, among other things.)  I was stumped.  I feel like I’ve been doing a lot but it feels now like not as much - making cupcakes, crocheting hats, playing Dungeons and Dragons, straightening up my home office, decluttering…  For some reason I didn’t think to say any of that and instead said ā€œI’ve been watching a lot of web series, you know…  I’m telling myself it’s research."  Because I do want to write, produce, and direct a web series, ever.  And I feel like the pacing in a web series is fairly unique.  After reading Maureen’s manifesto and the comments, it occurred to me that I’d been learning a lot from free content people were just giving away on the internet.  So I thought I’d share with you some of what that content is.

  1. Smoothie Handbook I’ve been having a smoothie for breakfast every day for weeks now.  It’s excellent - I get in two or three servings of fruit first thing in my day, it feels kind of like drinking a milkshake, and they’re so sweet that I’ve found myself searching out other sugary treats much less often than I used to do.  (Fruit Smoothie > Snickers bar, if we’re talking about nutritional value.)  Most recently, the smoothies have been from recipes provided by DaNae Johnson in a free ebook she gives away on her Smoothie Handbook website.  The site also has a lot of information about what smoothies need to work and the benefits of particular smoothie ingredients, as well as advice on buying the best blender and vegetable gardening tips.

  2. In my quest to learn more about how a web series should look, I went to The Streamys website and started to check out their 2009 nominees.  Some of you are probably familiar with Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog and The Guild, but I was amazed by the variety and quality of production that is out there.  I just want to throw out names and descriptions for a few I’ve really enjoyed:

After Judgement is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi about the people who are left behind once rapture happens. It has great acting, excellent production values, and most importantly excellent writing. I watched a promo for it and immediately wanted to know more about that world.

Backyard FX provides instruction videos on how to achieve professional looking effects with a budget of $50 or less.  I had a lot of fun watching How to Build a Jet Pack.

  1. Because I do want to be a writer-director-producer on any web series I might create, I decided Felicia Day, who is exactly that for The Guild, would be a good source of inspiration.  I went to her website looking to see if she had done any how-tos and found an excellent post about the resources she uses for writing.  Thanks to her recommendations I’ve got 3 used books coming my way and the intention of working harder at being a writer.

  2. Felicia (I feel like we’re on a first name basis, even though we’ve never met or even communicated really) reminded me about some productivity blogs I used to read regularly, and I’ve been spending a lot of time reading Zen Habits, which is Leo Babauta’s blog.  Leo writes not only about productivity but also about simplifying your life and there is an amazing amount of content there.  You could probably spend the rest of your life just reading his blog posts.  And that doesn’t even include his books, some of which he’s put in ā€œbetaā€ form on the internet.

  3. For almost two years, my dishwasher has spewed crap onto my ā€œcleanā€ dishes, which means that at least 50% of our dishes have to be re-rinsed by hand.  Yesterday when unloading the dishwasher I noticed there was some standing water in the bottom of it, so I went online and found this how to video for unclogging the dishwasher drain, provided by Tim Gipson, a home repair specialist.  This is what he does for a living, and he’s giving it away on the internet.  Which is good for me because he lives in Tennessee and it would take a long time for him to get here to help me out.  So, thanks, Tim.  I think my dishwasher might actually wash dishes now.

How many times a day do you benefit from content people have provided free on the internet?


Maureen's manifesto and my consumption

Hi there.  Via Gwenda, I found my way to Maureen's manifesto.  Do read the post itself but I quote the most important part below.

The internet is made of people. People matter. This includes you. Stop trying to sell everything about yourself to everyone. Don’t just hammer away and repeat and talk at people—talk TO people. It’s organic. Make stuff for the internet that matters to you, even if it seems stupid. Do it because it’s good and feels important. Put up more cat pictures. Make more songs. Show your doodles. Give things away and take things that are free. Look at what other people are doing, not to compete, imitate, or compare . . . but because you enjoy looking at the things other people make. Don’t shove yourself into that tiny, airless box called a brand—tiny, airless boxes are for trinkets and dead people.

In the comments, kathleen duey said: I learned how to de-seed pomegranites on YouTube today. Thanks, guy from Arizona who put it up. I have wrestled with pomegranites all my life and now I won’t. I really, really appreciate it.

And that got me thinking about the ā€œmissionā€ of lectitans.  I started this as a way to share my feelings about books I read.  I have lots of blogs other places - kimberlyhirsh.com is my online business card as it were and I use that as a blog on occasion, kibathediva.net has been most recently a craft blog which I’m not calling a lifestyle blog and focusing on the ā€œnew domesticity,ā€ mimula is about my adventures in theatre, both as performer and audience member (performer most recently), and then Whedoncraft (not udpated for nearly a year - I need to get on that, seriously) is for pointing readers to things other people make when they’re inspired by Joss Whedon.

I have a lot of times when I get overwhelmed thinking about updating one or the other of these, or I think of something but am not sure where to put it.  I think I’ve found a new grounding, sort of.  Work/school stuff will go at kimberlyhirsh.com; kibathediva.net will be all about anything I produce (cupcakes, hats, a web series?), and lectitans will be about what media I consume.

The subtitle for lectitans is ā€œreading eagerly and often,ā€ but we use ā€œreadā€ to mean things other than books.  So I’ll be going with that interpretation of the word.  My next post will be all about what I’ve been reading lately.  I want to thank the people who put free things on the internet, where I can then learn from them.


48hbc postponed until Wednesday-Thursday?

So there’s no way I’m getting time logged in for the 48 hour book challenge proper, but I’ve been longing for a break from myself (I was sick for a week and felt guilty about not doing housework the whole time).  I’m going to try doing my own 48 hour book challenge from 10 am Wednesday to 10 am Friday.  We’ll see how it goes.


My 48 hours postponed, probably.

My sister and husband are living with a broken air conditioner right now, and with temperatures poised to be in the 90s and up, and the inside of their home tending to be hotter than outdoors, I'm going to be hosting them for much of the next few days.  I like them very much, and so I'd like to be a good host, which probably means spending time with them, as opposed to ignoring them while I read books, so while I'll officially sign on tomorrow morning when I get up, I don't anticipate getting many hours of reading done.


Booking Through Thursday: Short Stories vs. Novels

Which do you prefer? Short stories? Or full-length novels? I like both, but which I’m inclined to read depends on my mood.  I generally gravitate towards novels - because they take less time, if you can believe it.  By that, I mean that they’re usually divided into chapters, and in my experience, a short story is longer than a chapter of a novel.  So if I’m riding the bus and want to read, I’m more likely to finish a chapter than a whole short story.  But each has its place, and I think some of the best writing has been done in short stories.  Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor spring to mind, but there are many others as well.

What about you?


48 Hour Book Challenge: It's almost time!

For the past couple of years, MotherReader's 48 hour book challenge has signified the start of summer for me.  Now that I'm back in academia instead of K-12, I actually feel as though a third of my summer has passed me by.  This is the start of the rest of the summer, this time.  It runs from 7 am Friday to 7 am Monday, and you choose a 48 hour block within that window of time to do your reading.  I'll be running 7 am Saturday to 7 am Monday.  What will I be reading?

By Richard Peck: Are You in the House Alone?, Father Figure, Ghosts I Have Been, Remembering the Good Times By Patricia McCormack: Cut, Sold By Jacqueline Wilson: The Illustrated Mum By Robin McKinley: The Blue Sword, The Hero and the Crown By Gail Carson Levine: The Two Princesses of Bamarre By Azar Nafisi: Reading Lolita in Tehran By Holly Black: Ironside By Christopher Golden: The Ferryman By Herbie Brennan: Faerie Wars By Meg Rosoff: How I Live Now By Susan Beth Pfeffer: Life As We Knew It By Catherine Gilbert Murdock: Dairy Queen, The Off-Season By Sarah Miller: Miss Spitfire: Reaching Hellen Keller By Laurie Halse Anderson: Fever 1793 By Shannon Hale: Book of a Thousand Days By Kirby Larson: Hattie Big Sky By Russell Freedman: The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marion Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights By Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Do I expect to read all 24 of those in that time?  No, but it’s always good to have some extra books lying around in case you’re not in the right headspace for one of the ones you pick up.

Will you be joining me in the challenge?


šŸ“š Summer Blog Blast Tour, Day 3


Summer Blog Blast Tour, Day 2


Happy National Library Week! Also, Happy School Library Month!

Here just a few weeks away from the end of the semester, I feel like I've finally gotten into a rhythm where I'm ready to return to the kidlitosphere.  I hope you'll all take me back!  I thought this week was an especially good time for it, due to it being National Library Week, School Library Month, and the Teen Book Drop on Thursday.

While you’re waiting for me to return with real content, please contact your senators to support library funding, participate in Operation TBD, and/or help out with the reservation book wishlists at Guys Lit Wire.

Also, if you’re planning on going to ALA annual I’d love to know! My husband and I will be there at least Friday night through Monday afternoon, and we may end up staying through Tuesday. I’d love to meet up!


Resource Review: GameFAQs

GameFAQs (http://www.gamefaqs.com) is a fully-searchable online archive of video and computer game information.  It is owned by the GameSpot network but independently operated by Allen Tynan, a member of the site since its inception in 1995 and a GameFAQs employee since 2004.  GameFAQs is free but ad-supported.  Strict policies ensure that ads are relevant and appropriate for all audiences.

GameFAQs provides multiple interface options.  For the user who wishes to find information for a specific game quickly, a search box sits immediately below the site’s logo, with a drop-down menu allowing the user to limit the search to a specific platform.   Those who prefer browsing may use the navigation bar labeled ā€œPlatformsā€ which lists all of the video game consoles in the two most recent generations as well as PCs and an ā€œAll Systemsā€ option; the site also provides a dropdown menu on the same bar which includes several older platforms.  The user can then further narrow her options by selecting titles beginning with a specific letter of the alphabet or in genres such as ā€œAction,ā€ ā€œRole-Playing,ā€ and ā€œSports.ā€

The site’s scope is both broad and deep.  It includes user-submitted FAQs for games as old as the 1972 Magnavox release ā€œTable Tennisā€ and as new as ā€œFinal Fantasy XIII,ā€ with a US release date of March 9, 2010.  The full system list includes over 100 platforms for computer and video games.  The depth of FAQs varies depending on the game.  For the puzzle game ā€œTetris,ā€ only general FAQs are provided, consisting of information such as game controls, pieces, and general strategies.  For ā€œDragonAge: Origins,ā€ a recent role-playing game, a nearly 40,000 word walkthrough guides the player through each plot element in the game; also available for this game are guides for specific character types, hidden content, the magic system, and item creation.

While GameFAQs is not the only resource of this type, it is unique in its affordability, comprehensiveness and accessibility.  Commercially available guides such as those produced by Prima and Brady Games only address one game at a time and have list prices in the $20 to $30 range.  Gaming magazines like GamePro do not have searchable archives and have cover prices of about $6 per issue.  Other online sources, such as IGN, include only general FAQs.  Unlike these sites, GameFAQs requires that most of its guides be presented in ASCII text format, ensuring accessibility and interoperability.  GameFAQs also includes social aspects such as message boards and a Q&A feature where users can respond to each others’ questions about games.  Both this and the fact that GameFAQs relies entirely on user-contributed content give young adults who join the community the opportunity to write for an authentic audience.

GameFAQs is a valuable resource for all gamers, but may be of particular interest to library youth services departments and middle and high school librarians.  Teachers looking for authentic audiences for student writing can take advantage of the community aspects of the site.  Young adult services librarians will find it useful both for individual patrons and as a support for gaming programming.  With its low cost and wide appeal, this resource is suitable for school, public, and academic libraries.


Pokemon for the 21st-Century Learner

In his excellent post, Pokemon 101 for Teachers & Librarians, JP of 8bitlibrary.com answers the question, ā€œWhat does Pokemon have to do with schools/libraries?ā€  I’d like to take that a bit further and, based on his points, articulate what it has to do with school libraries.

I believe that gaming is an excellent way for students to develop the skills, dispositions, responsibilities, and self-assessment strategies which will carry them into the future.  We can see exactly how this works for Pokemon by aligning it with AASL’s Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.  [Note: I have only played Pokemon Red and I never actually finished it; I have played the Pokemon Trading Card Game quite a bit.]

First, let’s address a couple of the foundational beliefs.

Reading is a window to the world.  If a student can’t read, she’ll have a hard time playing Pokemon, either the video game or the card game.  In both the video game and the card game, students are required to read descriptions of the individual Pokemon and their powers to determine which Pokemon to use as they battle their opponent.  In the video game, they also have to read as they engage in conversation with characters in the game.

Learning has a social context. In some versions of Pokemon, players can engage in multiplayer battles.  Players must trade Pokemon if they wish to complete their Pokedex, an in-game database which contains information about the individual Pokemon.  There is, to my knowledge, no solitaire version of the Pokemon card game; it must be played opposite an opponent.

Now, let’s move on to specific standards and indicators.

Learners use skills, resources, and & tools to:

1. Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.
  • 1.1.2 Use prior and background knowledge as context for new learning. As students play Pokemon, they build their knowledge about the game's system and rules.  They can transfer this knowledge to new situations within the game and to other games in the series.
2. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to knew situations, and create new knowledge.
  • 2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information. As mentioned before, players must use the Pokedex as they play the video game to make decisions.  As JP mentions in his post, the community-driven encyclopedia Bulbapedia involves a significant flow of information which students might use to enhance their playing or contribute to from their own knowledge.
  • 2.1.5 Collaborate with others to exchange ideas, develop new understandings, make decisions, and solve problems. The social nature of Pokemon encourages this kind of behavior.
  • 2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.  Bulbapedia provides players with the opportunity to do just this.  It also has a style manual, which will help students learn to write within certain constraints.
3.  Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.
  • 3.1.3 Use writing and speaking skills to communicate new understandings effectively. Once again, the social aspects of Pokemon and opportunity to contribute to a community-driven encyclopedia come into play.
  • 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess. I'm beginning to sound like a scratched CD here, but this is yet another example of a time when communication about the game, rather than the game itself, is relevant.
  • 3.3.5 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within and beyond the learning community. See above.
4. Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
  • 4.1.1 Read, view, and listen for pleasure and personal growth. I think "Play" should be added to this indicator, but even if it is not, the other three actions are situated within the game.  There is a wealth of relevant non-game material as well, including both fiction and non-fiction books, a cartoon series, and movies.
  • 4.1.7 Use social networks and information tools to gather and share information. Look, another opportunity for social interaction surrounding the game to come into play!  (Forgive the pun, please.)
  • 4.3.1 Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person. See above.
There are many other ways in which Nintendo's vast Pokemon empire can be used to enhance students' learning.  How can you take advantage of this opportunity in your school library?

An actual announced hiatus, kind of.

My participation in the Kidlitosphere is on again-off again, mostly off, and right now while I’m not actually physically stressed out by the subscriptions in my Google Reader or the messages in my inbox, it has become only so much digital clutter.  So I am declaring myself on hiatus until further notice, which I hope will be sooner (March or April?) rather than later.  I have a lot going on and I need to pare things down.  So where can you find me in the meanwhile?

I’ll still be posting my booklists here.

I won’t be using the @lectitans Twitter account during this hiatus. I’m planning to use @kimberlyhirsh, though. You can search for me on Facebook.

What’s going on in my life?

  1. I’m in library school. It’s excellent but it’s a lot of reading.
  2. I’m in the Durham Savoyards’ production on The Mikado.
  3. I’m working on my own happiness project. If that’s something you’d care to follow, I’ve created a livejournal for it at ping_jing. Adding the Kidlitosphere back to my life will be part of the happiness project but it’s a later phase. Right now, I’m focusing on my health.

Where can you not find me? Here for anything other than my booklists, probably. On mailing lists - I’ve set them to Web only, except for yalsa-bk.

I’ll see you all later. I’m not gone forever. I just thought it would be rude to keep up this absenteeism without letting you know where I was.


Comment Challenge 2010 Check In

How are you doing?  Here’s my count:

Jan 8 - 5 comments Jan 9 - 5 comments Jan 10 - 0 comments Jan 11 - 2 comments Jan 12 - 0 comments Jan 13 - 0 comments

As you can see, I started strong and then fizzled out.  I’m going to adjust my goal to 2 comments per day.  (It’s 2 more than I was doing before!)  That’s for a total of 42, which is always a good number to be aiming for.