Northview in the news

The Des Moines Register published an article about a recent issue with one of the 9th grade literature circle books, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Maya Angelou, author of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" wins

Many 9th graders are currently reading a book by a living literary legend, American author Maya Angelou.

In last night's National Book Award ceremony, Angelou was presented with the 2013 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.  The National Book Foundation's webpage and press release today described I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as "an intelligent and sophisticated story of how Angelou transformed herself from a victim of racism with an inferiority complex into a self-assured, dignified young woman and civil activist."

How are books selected for classroom use?

If you've been curious about how our school selects instructional materials (e.g. books, articles, etc.), consider reading the school board policies.

They're pretty dense, but if you exercise your close-reading skills, you'll probably be able to make sense of them!

605.00:  Selection of Instructional Materials

605.1:  Instructional Materials Inspection

605.2:  Objections to Instructional Materials

605.2F:  Reconsideration Request Form

You might also want to read the "Materials Adoption" section (page 3) of the English Language Arts Curriculum Review summary or curriculum approved by the school board.
There are similar policies for library materials:

Are you mentally strong?

Take a look at these 13 things that mentally strong people don't do.  

Which ones do you need to work on? How mentally strong are you?  Are there other things you think should be on this list?

We need you to enter our contest!!!

Enter our contest for a free book!

Just read this blog post and enter a comment--don't forget to sign your name!

YouTube is cleaning up its comments

Check out this interesting blog post from the New York Times's Taking Note blog:

YouTube Cleaning Up its Comments

And then comment below:  Do you think it's a good idea?  Or is it censorship?

Flex your artistic muscles in Ankeny's Anti-Bullying poster contest!

Are you looking for a way to share your artistic talents for a good cause?  Check out the instructions for Ankeny's anti-bullying contest!

Submissions will be accepted through December 13th.

Need a new book to read? Try Marie Lu's Legend series

I think the best-kept secret in the young adult dystopian books world is the Legend series by Marie Lu.

Champion, the third and final book in the series came out on Tuesday (and your NV library has two copies!), so you can read the whole series now--no waiting for release dates months away!

What I love about Legend and Prodigy--and I'm hoping Champion will be just as amazing--is the two main characters.  A young man named Day is the most-wanted criminal on the streets, famous for crimes meant to thwart The Republic, the government that took over after the United States crumbled because of environmental disasters.   June, who narrates the book in alternating chapters with Day, is a highly trained solider in the Republic, and she begins the series hunting for Day--her brother's killer.  These two characters feel more real to me than Tris and Four in Divergent, and I honestly care what happens to them.

I read somewhere that author Marie Lu was inspired to write this series after thinking about the premise of so she created the criminal-on-the-run character of Day to parallel Jean Valjean and the defender-of-the-law character June to parallel Javert.  As far as I can tell, the parallels to Les Mis end there, but I still think Lu has created a really gripping dystopian world with original flairs.

Another cool thing about Marie Lu is her website:  she posts a few examples of her early writings and her self-described mediocre poetry, there's a link to her artsy blog, and there's also a Legend-inspired game!  (Note:  I haven't previewed the game, so use your best judgment before playing!)

In short the verdict is:  put Legend hold today!  

Bullying . . . or "Drama"?

Last month was Bullying Prevention Month, last week Northview students attended a seminar about bullying during Flex, and earlier this week, Governor Branstad hosted the second Bullying Prevention Summit.  Student-on-student cruelty his a huge issue, and it's on everyone's minds.

All of these efforts are so important, but I also keep thinking about this article I read a couple years ago in the New York Times editorial pages.  The authors are researchers who have studied the language behind bullying, and this interesting op-ed piece talks about how the word "bullying" may be getting in the way of the conversation.

Read their reflections based on their research data, and share your thoughts below in the comments.  Is what teens call "drama" actually bullying?  Does the word "bullying" turn teens away from facing the reality of peer cruelty that they do witness and experience?

Do teens have too much homework?

Freshmen Beth Tejral and Allison Dorpinghaus want your opinion on something--and so does your humble librarian!

Beth and Alison showed me this little estimation of how much free time teens have, and I immediately started poking holes in the writer's logic and math skills.

What do you think?  Is this teen (whose post has been floating around Twitter and other social networking sites) a whiny teen?  Or is he/she bravely pointing out a horrible injustice?

Let's put a little reward on the line...a free book to both the best argument SUPPORTING and and the best argument CRITIQUING this person's math and logic.

Put your argument in the comments below!

Where do you get your confidence?

Writer, actress, and producer extraordinaire points out how rude this simple question is.  Check out the image and quotation on Upworthy--and consider subscribing!  I love getting Upworthy's daily videos, images, and stories that are about building people UP and not down!

Fight Hacking with Hacking!

Got computer skills?  Looking for an up and coming new career?

Check out this story about Carnegie Mellon University's program to train cybersecurity technicians by teaching them to think one step ahead of hackers.