Illegal by Bettina Restrepo

Nora, a fifteen-year-old Mexican girl, faces the challenges of being an illegal immigrant in Texas when she and her mother cross the border in search of Nora's father.

Ending up in inter-city Houston, Nora and her mother struggle to survive while living under the radar of immigration services. Follow Nora on her journey as she tries to find her father, earn money to survive and tries to figure out her way among the diversity of people in her neighborhood.

A realistic look immigration and the struggles of families to stay together.

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

While sitting in the airport with her parents, sixteen-year-old Gemma strikes up a conversation with Ty, a gorgeous young stranger. Before she knows it, she is drugged by Ty and dragged off to the Australian outback where she is held captive. Soon Gemma realizes this desert is so desolate and remote that any escape attempts are futile. In time she believe that Ty is not as despicable as she first believed. But, is she just tired of fighting and willing to give up or will this nightmare eventually come to an end. One thing she knows is that she is losing hope as each day passes.

The Queen of Water by Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango

Seven-year-old Virgina, is an indigenas living near the Andes Mountains in Ecuador. Taken from her home to be a servant to a mestizo family, her parents are to be paid for her services to the family. She leaves thinking she will be back for visits with her family, but soon finds out she won't be going anywhere.

Virginia quickly learns she will be the family's indentured servant and is told her parents don't want her. Throughout this time, Virginia stops wearing indigneous clothing and learns to speak Spanish. Soon her customs, her family and her home seem to fade from her memory. Will she dare to believe she could some day have a life outside of the mestizo family she serves?

The story, co-written by Maria Virginia Farinango is a fictionalized accounts of Farinango's childhood and adolescence. Moving and memorable, this is a look into a culture many of us can't relate to, but helps us to see beyond what we know. Highly recommended.

The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines

It is 1942 and fifteen-year-old Iris has just lost her mother to suicide. As she struggles to fit into a public school on the lower east side of NYC, after attending a private school, Iris grieves for the loss of her mother, the life of privilege she knew, and secretly helps her father with his detective business since he, having lost a leg at Pearl Harbor, struggles to make ends meet.

Customize your phone with the right apps

Did you know that over 40% of us have smartphones and the number keeps growing, and growing fast. But like most things, human nature is to follow the crowd and that seems to be the same with apps. Instead of tailoring our phone to fit us like a glove, many of us seem to take the one-size-fits-all approach. To tailor your phone for your needs, you might want to take a look at some of the apps below. They can be great tools for school use.

Check out Simplenote for notetaking. It is available for the iPhone and iPad and free if you want to tolerate a few ads. A personal favorite of mine is Evernote. If you want something that does more then taking notes, you might want to look at SoundNote, $5 and available for the iPad. It also records audio while you type. One app definitely worth looking at is Easybib. Citing work was never easier. Minimal writing, mimimal typing.

If you give any of the above a try, let me know how you like them or if you have a great apps that you thinking students could use in class, let me know and I will post it.

Lost in Time by Melissa de la Cruz

The 6th installment of the Blue Bloods series is out and Melissa de la Cruz will be at Barnes and Noble Stonebriar tonight, October 13 to read and sign copies of Lost in Time. Check out a book trailer for Lost in Time @ http://www.melissa-delacruz.com/. It is fantastic! Blue Bloods fans won't want to miss Lost in Time.

Meeting author Matt de la Pena

This week, a number of FHS students had the opportunity to be involved in presentations given by visiting author Matt de la Pena. Among Matt's published books are Ball Don't Lie, Mexican White Boy and We Were Here.

During presentations, Matt talked about how his childhood shaped his future as an author and how if one dream doesn't work out, that other dreams and plans can. Even though his desire to play basketball beyond college didn't work as planned, it led him to writing poetry, short stories and eventually writing four books with another to be published in the future. The FHS varsity basket ball team all read and discussed Ball Don't Lie, so meeting him and being able to ask him about this book was especially meaningful. Players even got a picture taken with Matt. They presented him with a signed FHS basketball shirt to remember his visit at FHS.

Matt de la Pena's books are available in the library, so stop down and check one out. Guaranteed you will like it and want to read more.

Some top sites to use for file conversion

Most new computers can convert some file types, although there are still some that need help. Especially if you are going cross platform from mac to PC. Below is a list that includes a variety of different file conversion types.

Comet Docs - Very user-friendly.

Zamzar - One of the easiest conversion sites available. One of my personal favorites.

Vixy - Great for converting or downloading videos onto a computer or even a mobile device.

YouConvertIt - Used for converting multiple files.

OCR Terminal - Converts scanned images into usable data such as text, rtf, or doc.

If you give any of these a try, let me know how it works for you. Or if you know of a good conversion site, let me know.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Is it OK to hate a dead kid? Even if once he was the love of my life? My best friend? Is it OK to hate him for being dead?

I spent my whole life secretly in love with my best friend, Charlie Kahn. Over the years he betrayed me and kept alot of secrets. I still love him even after he ruined everything.

This is how Vera Dietz feels about Charlie Kahn. After Charlie dies under dark circumstances, Vera who knows more about Charlie then anybody else, struggles with whether she should provide information that could clear Charlie's name. But why does Charlie's name have to be cleared? Why would the police want this information? For Vera, this is could be the biggest decision of her life.

This is an unforgettable novel. Smartly written, funny, edgy and always surprising.

Highly recommended.

BYOD and the library

Welcome back for the 2011-2012 school year. Hopefully you had a fantastic summer and are as excited about this school year as I am. Once again, there will be lots of exciting things happening in the library. Included among these is bring your own device, an author presentation and book signing.

Visiting author Matt de la Pena will be in the FHS Library on the morning of October 5th. Look for more posts to this blog with details about this books and his visit. Matt is a wildly popular young adult author who writes books about teens faced with tough decisions and tough life circumstances. His debut novel, Ball Don't Lie was made into a major motion picture. Check out more about de la Pena at http://www.mattdelapena.com/.

One of the goals of the FHS Library is to embrace, teach and promote a 21st century digital learning environment. To support this commitment, students will be able to use their own devices (laptops, smart phones, eReaders, iPads, etc) for learning while in the library. For specific details, see the BYOD guidelines on the FISD homepage, ask the librarian or look for signage throughout the library.

Ms. Bivins (library-media specialist) is available to assist you in learning to use and navigate Google Apps for students. Ask for help on Google Docs, Google Sites, Gmail and Google Calendar.

Welcome back! I hope you have a great school year.

Dressing for the job

It seems generational differences in attitudes related to proper office attire sometimes causes concern for employers in the workplace. As you go into another summer or possibly into a fulltime job as an FHS graduate, you might want to heed the following advice from Monster.com and Career Services at UT-Arlington.
Luckily for you, the button down, oxford cloth shirt and khaki pants have gone the way of the dinosaur. Many organizations have relaxed their dress code for business casual attire to include capri length pants and leather sandals, but if you think the rubber flip flop and cut off jeans are still considered appropriate, you are in for a surprise. If you want to put yourself in the most positive light and get ahead of fellow classmates who are also seeking employment, you want to use good taste with your clothing choices.
Now let's get to what is considered professional attire in the workforce. According to the Career Services Department at the University of Texas-Arlington, it means a skirt or pants and a nicely pressed shirt, minimal jewelry and (believe it or not) closed-toed shoes for women. For men think about pressed slacks and shirt and dress shoes with black socks.
Once you have been offered employment and proved yourself responsible and professional, only then think about relaxing your dress as you take cues from your colleagues in the workplace as well as your employer.
Good luck in your job hunt! I hope you find a job doing something you totally love.

Hunger Games Movie

It should be all Hunger Games, all the time. Even though the movie is reportedly not to be released until sometime in 2012, news about the filming of the Hunger Games movie is flying all over the internet. Especially check out the sites below for everything Hunger Games and stop into the library to see the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, it has all the details about the casting and filming of the movie.

http://www.ew.com/ew/package/0,,20419951,00.html

http://hungergamesmovie.org/

http://www.myhungergames.com/tag/hunger-games-movie

Graveminder by Melissa Marr

Melissa Marr has written a fantastic new cross over book for adults and teens as well titled Graveminder. It has all the elements of a great mystery. A small town, a curse, and a buried secret. But the twist in this one is that it is all in the grave and it doesn't want to stay there.
It captivated my right from the start, drew me in and is the type of book you just won't put down. Highly recommended.

Due out May 17.
Check out more at: http://www.melissa-marr.com/

Online profiles vs. resumes

With the new age of social media, it seems like a change may be on the horizon. Will online profiles take the place of resumes? In mentioning online profiles, I am thinking about networking sites such as Facebook or Linkedin (used mostly by the business community).

With summer, approaching many of you are thinking about applying for a summer job or even a full time job if you are graduating and moving on to the next chapter in your life. In a recent survey done by Office Team, a staff service that questioned approximately 500 human resource managers, 63% of respondents said that it is not likely that the resume' will be replaced. They did suggest there could be a real benefit to having an online profile, but emphasized that you should be careful about what you put on your Facebook page. If you are communicating on Facebook with mostly friends, you may want to start thinking about changing your posts to be more professional. You may also want to untag yourself in certain photos and set privacy setting to control who can see certain parts of your profile. Other suggestions included listing beneficial qualities related to your achievements as well as as posting appropriate hobbies and interests.

Source: Creators Syndicate; Office Team Staffing

Xtranormal: The place to make movies

I happen to be watching a student in the library working on a class project. He had done research on a common disease and was looking for a new, inventive way to present his research. When I asked about what he was doing, he showed me the movie he had made on Xtranormal.com. It was really quite cool. Then he went on to tell me that with a mic he attached to his home computer, he was able to narrate the movie using his own voice. Being the researcher that I am. I went right out and researched Xtranormal. What I found is that it can be a great tool for student projects. Below is what Xtranormal says about themselves.

Xtranormal says they have a mission. They want to bring movie making to the people. We all watch movies, right; Xtranormal believe everyone can make movies. Movie-making, short and long, online and on-screen, private and public, will probably be the most important communications process of the 21st century.
Their revolutionary approach to movie-making builds on one of the most universally held skills—typing. You type something; we turn it into a movie. On the web and on the desktop.

Check it out. It is free for the starter version. If you want extra bells and whistles, there may be a fee.

College Access & Opportunity Guide

The College Access & Opportunity Guide put out by CSO College Center is a fantastic new guide we just added to our library collection. It features a section related to planning for college as well as high school timelines with a checklist for things to do during each year of high school. It also includes advice from college students and other experts as well as a section on why you should find a mentor and how to go about finding one. The best find in the book would be links to a wealth of information about how to apply for college scholarships and other grants.

The last part of the book has profiles of colleges and universities from all fifty states. Most of the UT campuses throughout Texas are listed. Look below are sites that are affiliated with this publication. These would be a great place to start, or stop in at the FHS Library to check out the print edition of this guide. If you are looking for other resources on college planning, don't forget to look in the college and career collection in the library.

http://www.csocollegecenter.org/

http://www.knowhow2go.org/

Virals by Kathy Reichs

Tory Brennan and her friends are exposed to a canine parvovirus when they rescue a dog from a medical testing facility and soon realize they have heightened senses, which they use to solve a cold case murder.

A fantastic mystery read!

Writing a Paper? Try These Research Tips

Maybe you have already been hit with or soon will be hit with a major research project. Below is the FHS Research Wiki. It is just a beginning and more content will be added later. But right now it has tips on how to be an effective researcher and includes survey information that I conducted with some local college professors and former high, now college students. I hope it includes some tips and information that will guide you in researching and completing your next research project. Just click on the link below:

Research--High School and Beyond

If you need further assistance, always remember I am available as a resource. Just stop by the library.

Original Recipe Revealed?

Many news outlets from ABC News to CNN to others are reporting that the National Public Radio show "This American Life" has come across the original recipe for Coke. If you link to the text above, you can read the article, read the recipe and even vote whether you think it is the original formula. Coke of course denies that it is their original recipe. Stating that it is probably a knock off. I guess only Coke knows for sure. Although, NPR did say that really any food chemist has the ability to deconstruct the formula if they really want to make the attempt. Coca-Cola Company archivist Phil Mooney says the NPR stated recipe lacks the "bite and burn" of the real thing.

But, here is the point of this post. By reading the article on "This American Life", it is evident that the show did their research. How would they have come across this recipe if they didn't keep digging? Something led them to want to get to the bottom of this. To see if maybe they really did stumble upon the original recipe. That's what research is. It is having the persistence and desire to want to get the answer, solve the problem, find the evidence to support or dispute whatever question you are answering. Don't just scratch the surface and think that you have answered the question. If you dig deeper what you find is the real interesting, important and unique finds. In this case, NPR not only discovered a mystery that others have been trying to uncover for years. It also brought exposure and attention to their radio show and website. The big news guys picked up their story. Is it the original recipe, who knows? Just get in on the fun by voting on their site and following the tally.

Sources:

http://www.coke.com/

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

Beatles or Stone? Which are better?

Recently I came across a great online tool called aMap which I think students can make good use of. aMap stands for argument map. It is based on informal logic, When you think about it, essentially we are use logic to argue and debate in everyday life. aMap started as a research project between a research organization and an economics foundation and has grown ever since.

To check it out and see how you can use it in a class or with a group, just go to the aMap website and link to 'Start an Argument'. Once there, you will need to set up a free account, but after that you are off and running. To 'start an argument', add the overarching question you're arguing about, and then state your position. A simple example is below:
Overarching question: Beatles or Stones?

Your position: The Beatles are way better than the Stones.

Once you have done this, post it to aMap and watch for the debate to begin.

Think about the times you need to come up with a thesis statement, decide which side of the issue you are on and then find evidence to support your argument. This seems like a great tool for starting an argument and then looking at the position others take on the topic. Try it out and let me know how it works for you. Did you find it a worthwhile tool?

Keeping Faith by Jodi Piccoult

Review by Catherine Walker, 9th grade English Teacher @ FHS.

The story and characters really draw you in to their lives, loves, and troubles. The story revolves around a little girl named Faith. Her parents separate and divorce. Faith then begins to develop what many people think of as an imaginary friend. But this is not a regular kind of imaginary friend – this friend is God. It must be rather nice to have friends in high places, don’t you think? The book keeps you going until the very last page.

Shooting Star by Fredrick McKissack, Jr.

If only, that is all Jomo Rodgers hears from his coach and fellow teammates during his first year of varsity football. They say his talent on the field is easy to spot, and local papers and college recruiters are taking notice. But reality is, recruiters have his best friend on speed dial and he is treated like a king at football-crazy Cranmer Academy. Deciding he wants to be the real deal, he decides to step things up and pronto!

Taking his coach's lecture about commitment to heart, Jomo dives into a new workout regimen that will make him strong and faster. But will it be enough and in time? Will juicing be the difference between being good and being great? It seems like an easy choice, but one that is about to make his life a whole lot harder.

This is a fascinating look from the viewpoint of a student athlete.