Well, it's been one hell of a week. On the good side, we got through Dr. B's retirement party last night without incident or technological disaster, and we had a very good time. His gifts from the media staff were an early copy of Steinbeck's Travels with Charley (which he brought up when he announced his retirement earlier this year) and a particularly well-decorated copy of an Aztec/Inca/Maya reference book in which the 7th graders had done an exceptional job of adding interesting *ahem* items to the illustrations and photos of artifacts on virtually every page. We added a nice brown paper wrapper cover to conceal the semi-pornographic artistic nature of the contents, and entitled it "Central Middle School Media Center: Cure for Retirement Misgivings." One look through that and you'll never want to go back dealing with the hormonally challenged!
Saw Eoin Colfer this week at Arcadia/Just Books Too. He's hilarious! I really enjoyed meeting him and hearing him talk to the kids. Jenny gave me the advance copy of Stephenie Meyer's New Moon, sequel to Twilight. Blazed through that one in two nights, mostly because I knew the 8th grade girls were going to storm the media center desk if I didn't get it to them before the weekend. Once again, I loved the story, her poetic writing, the romantic aspects of the story and how on target she is with the experience of first love, true love, and rejection/abandonment. Her characters are well drawn and, although we are dealing with vampires and now also werewolves, she has taken the cliches of those two archetypes out of the mix entirely. This is a refreshing take on the fantasy/horror business, and I appreciate how Romeo and Juliet references get worked in throughout. Talk about a reason for kids to go back to the play and see what they forgot, missed, or haven't seen yet! Wonderful stuff. I'm working on a draft of a review to post online...maybe get it done tomorrow or Monday. Have to call Jenny and see if she can lay hands on another advance copy ... maybe, maybe not. If not, they'll just have to hound each other to read faster!
Kindergarten orientation went well, I think. I got the feeling afterward that Jake was more nervous than he let on. I knew he was worried that he didn't know anyone in the room when we went to the parent meeting, but he held it together very well. The Barbie doll factor wasn't in such evidence at our parent meeting (only half of the parents -- they did this in two shifts), possibly because they put most of the normal parents in this group, or possibly because of the weather. Should go well in the fall, I think. Looks like the early morning drop off program will work nicely once he has adjusted to going, and I am sure he can find his way to his room without me. Went through most of the reference collection over at EMS, and it is screaming for an overhaul. I think almost the entire science and technology section will have to be pitched, as most of the sets are from either the 60's or the 80's. Either way, they are eons beyond the recommended age for books for that particular section of the collection. I met with one of the newer (read: since I left) science teachers, who basically said there was no point in bringing her kids into the media center for books as the science ones were "so awful." Changing those sorts of attitudes is going to require a lot of work, a lot of creativity, and a lot of money from Ralph. Fortunately, I think I can work all that out -- we'll just see how receptive the staff is to change.
:)
