Coraline This Week!

Well the time is almost near. Yup! This Thursday, April 17th at 7 pm is our next Book Club Meeting. Before you come, think a little about Coraline and her relationship with her parents. How about her relationship with her "other parents"? If you were Coraline, how would you act? How is Coraline's personality different than yours?

So for this Thursday, drinks will be provided by Megan and we still need a person for food. Any takers? You'll have my undying gratitude :)

Also, did you guys know that a Coraline film is being soon coming to a theater near you? Oh yes!

Here is a link to the IMDB entry.

And below is the trailer:

Clan Apis Meeting Recap

Last night's meeting on Clan Apis involved opinionated discussion on Nyuki's fears, whether people are social or solitary creatures and more. One thing many of you guys learned from the book that you hadn't known before...bees start out as pupas! Also, Megha didn't know that honey was bee vomit. You'll never eat honey the same way again! Emily's favorite funny moment occurred when Sisyphus the dung beetle and Nyuki were discussing what would happen if Nyuki stung anyone. Basically, she would die! Suddenly, Nyuki was no longer brave and demanded that Sisyphus make a spot for her behind his huge dung ball!

We also learned that bees see flowers in ultraviolet light; therefore the flowers look different than how we would see them. Everyone looked at pictures of flowers and drew how they thought bees would see them. Below are the pictures that everyone looked at (next to their bees-eye view counterparts) They were taken from this site.

The Work Of Jay Hosler

If you guys enjoyed Clan Apis then you may also enjoy The Sandwalk Adventures: An Adventure in Evolution Told in Five Chapters, also by Jay Hosler. The Sandwalk Adventures is a graphic novel about Charles Darwin, his family and the mites that live in his eyebrow. Here is an excerpt: Sandwalk Stroll

Jay is also working on a science comic about the eye. You can find out more about it here: Optical Allusions

Bee Movie coming to Elkridge Branch Library!

So just by pure coincidence (Though Assistant Branch Manager Karen Marks and I are working on changing that), Elkridge Movie Night next month will feature Bee Movie! It probably won't be as accurate as Nyuki's story, but it'll be fun. Movie night will be Wednesday, April 30th at 7 pm. Here is the official website:
Bee Movie Official Site

Clan Apis Official Website

Hi Guys! Are your ready and excited for Clan Apis!?!?!?! I sure am. It is one of my favorite graphic novels. To get you guys all excited, here is the link to the official website:

Clan Apis: An Online Guide Through Nyuki the Honeybee's Life

Check it out! You'll be learning all of these science concepts about bees and not even realize you are doing it, this book is so much fun :)

Skittles Touch

I thought you guys would find this amusing considering our reading of The Chocolate Touch! Hope you guys are enjoying time off in the snow.

ALA Has Announced its 2008 Literary Award Winners...

And one of them is The Invention of Hugo Cabret!!!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret just happens to be on our reading list for the month of May. And now it also has the distinction of being the 2008 Caldecott winner.

For a complete list of winners:
http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2008/january2008/announce08.htm

For more information on the Caldecott Medal:
http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bookmediaawards&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=170846