Fall events

Many exciting events take place over the next few months. Here is a sampling:

Fall Book Harvest is a chance to meet local authors and illustrators on Sunday Oct. 5. Click on the website to learn how to win a free author visit to your school.

International School Library month takes place in October. The IASL website has good resources: flyers, bookmarks, event planning tips and more.

The BCTLA is promoting a province-wide Drop Everything and Read day for Oct. 27 to celebrate International / National School Library Day. They are suggesting 11:00 to 11:20 am. For more information and ideas see the BCTLA forum. The BCTLA is using Google Calendar to post upcoming events.

For a smorgasbord of free online ProD offerings set some time aside for this year's k-12 Online Conference. It runs Oct. 20-24 and Oct. 27-31.

Other Online Offerings:
For science teachers, the last season of Nova Science is available for download free from PBS.

Listen to Time's interview with author Stephenie Meyer.

Tales of Dystopia

For high school English classes, committed Science Fiction fans or just lovers of good fiction here are several booklists recommending dystopic fiction.

Slayground in Livejournal.
Cynthia Leitch Smith's YA Science Fiction List.
Library Thing: Young Adult Dystopias
ATN Reading Lists

Get a Book/Write a Review

Back to school means back to blogging. I feel a little rusty. A morning spent presenting to librarians in another district forced me to get back on track quickly. There's nothing like a room full of librarians for inspiration. They are just so eager to learn!

I have ignored my RSS feeds for over a month and this morning it was time to delve back into that goodie bag. The first treasure came from Tara's TLC=Tech+Library+Classroom blog. She writes about receiving free books to review from Library Thing. They will mail to Canada.

I wrote book reviews for BCTLA's The Bookmark some years ago. If you have the gift of writing or just love to book talk try out it out. They are always looking for new reviewers. Download the application form. Check the latest issue of The Bookmark online for the new review coordinator's address. The one given on the form is outdated.

Are you headed to Victoria for the 2008 BCTLA conference in October? Check it out at Mission: Literacy.

Exploring My Own Backyard

Visiting relatives in northern B.C. was the perfect reason to see more of this beautiful province. We hiked up to a glacial lake one day and two stunning twin waterfalls on another. We watched a fox crossing the road ahead of our car. We saw eagles fishing and loons diving to safety as the eagles passed low over the water. No number of wildlife programs on T.V. make up for the privilege of seeing animals in the wild.

In Smithers we visited the Northern Lights Wildlife Society where they are giving injured and orphaned wildlife a chance at survival in the wild. They are doing amazing things on a shoe string budget and recently released two grizzlies, a first in B.C.

As my holiday draws to a close I will have many wonderful memories of sunny days spent in the outdoors with friends and family. This will see me through the rainy days of a west coast winter.

Photo Credit: Michael Edwards

Waiting for Halloween

I'm very excited. A friend was traveling to Seattle and picked up some of those wonderful Illustrated Librarian tattoos for me. So I am already planning my Halloween costume. I think a biker look with Read or Die on my left arm and the flaming skull with an overdue book on my right. A little gel should turn my conservative hair style into a fright wig. Too bad I don't have any piercing so I could complete the look with safety pins. Who knows, the look might grow on me.

Summer Reading

Ah, to have the time for some discerning reading. This summer's bookshelf started off with "The Cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway. This book moved me to tears and pricked my conscience. It's the kind of book that wrings you out but won't let you stop reading. For a review that says it better than I ever could check out Music for a Broken City.

The music refered to is Adagio in G Minor and it has a story all its own. You can hear a snippet of it on Last FM.

From there I moved on to some humorous fluff, Nora Ephron's "I Feel Bad About My Neck." I needed a laugh and found it here. If you're female and approaching middle age (whatever that constitutes these days) you will identify with it. For some time now I have been contemplating retirement and wondering what shape it will take. I'm not ready to give up the learning, just the job. Perhaps I will start an 'on the eve of retirement' blog.

Image used under Creative Commons Licence thanks to: bartimaeus from http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamilsoni/96627234/

Taking a Break

I like to wean myself off slowly as the school year finishes. I find a good book, in this case The Cellist of Sarajevo, and vow to check my RSS feeds and email not more than twice a day. It's been difficult. The book is riveting but there are all the wonderful posts and resources surfacing in the wake of NECC and they are calling to me.

It's wonderful to get a small taste of the excitement and AHA moments as conference goers discover new tools, new ways of reaching students and share all that is good in the world of teaching and technology. I'm checking del.icio.us and diigo for necc08 tags and watching ustreamed presentations.

It's amazing how many people I recognize now in the video clips and photos but have never met in person. At the first NECC I attended in Philadelphia in 2005 I remember being ecstatic when I stopped someone in the hall to ask directions and read Kathy Schrock on her name tag.

So I'm taking a little break from blogging, catching up with family and friends. I fear that some of my newly acquired technology skills will atrophy over the summer so I know I will be back from time to time. Especially if the monsoon-like weather we've been having stays around.

Photo: My daughter at her summer job feeding Moose in the wild Canadian north.