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Review "Not if I Save You First" by Ally Carter

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I just finished listening to the audiobook version of "Not if I Save You First" by Ally Carter. This is the second book of hers that I've read - Heist Society was on our district's Battle of the Books reading list last year. Here is the link to the Kirkus Review of the book: Kirkus Review - Click Here! I enjoyed this story. It reminded me a little of Hatchet - as the main characters were forced to survive in the Alaskan wilderness. I found myself wanting to finish quickly because I was worried about leaving the characters stuck and stranded in the Alaskan wilderness! The setting is as much a character in this story as the people the story revolves around. I'm placing this book in the Adventure genre in my library, but I'm wishing I could also code it as romance because there is a romantic storyline that I feel like would appeal to readers who may not initially pick it up from the adventure section. I will have to make sure and promote it as both! I
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National Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day at the Frasier Library

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One of my favorite things to do when I get my new school calendar is to look up all the National Days - some are silly, some are really sweet, but all of them have a cool back story and the celebrations for the days are unique. I basically live for this and try to incorporate as many National Days into my library life as possible. That brings us to today - the second week of school happened to be the same time as National Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day. What is the Rainbow Bridge? Well, ironically the best definition I found of what the mythical place is was from Wikipedia, "The  Rainbow Bridge  is the theme of several works of that speak of an other-worldly place where pets go upon death, eventually to be reunited with their owners." In my time as a school teacher and librarian I have watched kids try to deal with things much bigger than themselves. I know we have school counselors, but we don't have outlets for kids to FEEL.  In a lot of ways I think this
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LIVE: NASA Spacewalk at International Space Station

LIVE: NASA spacewalk at International Space Station American and Japanese astronauts embark on an expected six-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station to fix the station's robotic arm. http://www.cnn.com/specials/live-video-2?adkey=bn
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Mesquite ISD Digital Library

I know many of you already know that we have and how to use our digital library in Mesquite, but here is a reminder! If you would prefer to watch a screencastify video I made that shows you how to access the digital library, you can watch that here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJMcn_g5vLA There is a new login process with our digital library. You can access the library by going to digitallibrary.mesquiteisd.org or, by using the Mesquite ISD website, selecting departments, library services, then online library resources. From there, there is a button that says Download audiobooks and ebooks. That will take  you to the digital library.  http://www.mesquiteisd.org/departments/library_services/online_library_resources/ Once on this page, you will select Mesquite ISD from the dropdown menu, and it will take you to the login screen. You just use your normal login and password to get in. For students, they use their login and password like they would for Google or to sign i
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I found the best site!!!

I stumbled upon this blog on Twitter today: http://www.controlaltachieve.com/ The author, Eric Curts, had posted 6 WONDERFUL Google (GAFE) activities that I've sent to my staff today for great technology pieces as we wind down the year and head into the winter break! http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2017/12/winter-activities.html I had NO idea about the rainbow add-on, but I'm fairly certain it will change my life. I love Twitter because it helps me find such great ideas and people!!!
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Virtual Chat with Santa

 I wanted to let you know about an event happening today. You can watch a virtual chat with Santa with your students! The event starts at 2:00pm and goes until 2:30pm. You can stream the chat through a youtube link that I have pasted below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOJ2jZ499xc&version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0&autoplay=1 Take pictures of your kids watching this event if you are going to host it! All you need to do is pull up the link. There is no sign up, there’s nothing you have to do in advance, just click the link and watch.  This is coming straight from the TCEA website, which is the Texas Computer Education Association. Here’s the link to where the youtube video is coming from: https://www.tcea.org/santa/ I’m watching right now and it looks like there’s a video up right now where Santa is reading a book.  Enjoy! 
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National Gazpacho Day

Yesterday was National Gazpacho Day. I hate that I missed it because one of my favorite picture books is: “Gazpacho for Nacho!" by Tracey Kyle.  Gazpacho is a cold soup that originated in Spain.  If you have a few minutes in class, here are some things you can share with your students to celebrate (a day late) National Gazpacho Day!  Here is a link to a recipe for Gazpacho: (Perfect for those procedural text connections!) http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/gazpacho-recipe-1941264 Here is a video of someone making the soup and it uses text for the instructions. (Notice all those transition words!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUdKj8Zu0u0 Here is a link to the website for the story “Gazpacho for Nacho” - You can read about the author, read about what gazpacho is, and look at pictures from the book. http://www.gazpachofornacho.com/ And finally, here is a link to a student reading parts and reviewing the book “Gazpacho for Nacho” on youtube
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