July E-book available now...

Graphic Universe™: Beowulf

by Storrie, Paul D.; Randall, Ron
Lerner Publishing Group, 2007
Product ID: 205964

Retold as a graphic novel, this action-packed edition brings to life one of the most enduring legends in the English language.

The hero of Beowulf is a brave and mighty warrior, known to have the strength of thirty men. At home in Geatland, Beowulf hears about the terrible troubles of his father’s friend, Hrothgar, the king of the Danes. Hrothgar’s land is plagued by Grendel, a vicious monster who attacks the Danes by night. Beowulf sets sail to aid Hrothgar and the Danes. But is Beowulf strong enough to slay the monstrous Grendel? And even if he succeeds, what other dangers lie ahead for the warrior-hero?

In this Graphic Universe™ edition from Lerner Publishing Group, the author and illustrator of Beowulf: Monster Slayer bring to life one of the most enduring myths in the English language. Action-packed and richly illustrated, this age-old story will engage readers of all ages with supreme artwork and a faithful interpretation of the original epic.

25 years of Poetry Slams

In The News

Once on the fringes, poetry slams have firmly entered the mainstream, and an early pioneer expresses concern

Is Slam in Danger of Going Soft? [Free registration may be required]
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/books/03slam.html?hp

Slam's new round: The founder of the poetry slam issues two books to renew the genre
http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/books/74004/marc-smith-of-uptown-poetry-slam

Obama Hosts White House Poetry Night
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104079608

Poetry Slam, Inc.
http://www.poetryslam.com/

The Poetry Foundation: Chicago Poetry Walking Tour [iTunes]
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/gallery/walking-tours/chicago/index.html

Green Mill Cocktail Lounge
http://www.greenmilljazz.com/

While the exact origins of the poetry slam are hard to pin down, some might point to the northwest corner of Broadway and Lawrence Avenues in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. Here, hidden by a dazzling neon sign, is the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge where poetry slammer Marc Kelly Smith fused various elements of spoken word performances, poetry, and a touch of Tom Waits into what is now called a poetry slam. 25 years later, Smith is concerned about the future of poetry slams, noting in a recent interview in the New York Times, "Now there's an audience, and people just want to write what the last guy wrote so they can get their face on TV." This unique art form has certainly flourished over the past several decades, and poetry slams have been organized from the Ozarks to Reunion Island. Others still remain ambivalent about such events, including literary critic and scholar Harold Bloom who once called poetry slamming "the death of art." Despite being co-opted by some in the mainstream media, Smith maintains that the poetry slam can retain its unique qualities and its subversive form of social commentary. [KMG]

The first link will take visitors to a news story from this Tuesday's New York Times on Smith and the world of poetry slams. The second link will lead interested parties to a recent article from Time Out Chicago that talks about Smith's two recent books on the subject of poetry slams. Moving on, the third link leads to an NPR news feature on the recent poetry night held at the White House. The fourth link leads to the homepage of Poetry Slam, Inc., which is the organization charged with overseeing the international coalition of poetry slams. The fifth link leads to an excellent audio walking tour of important poetry sites in Chicago, created by the Poetry Foundation. Finally, for those who might be in or around Chicago soon, the final link leads to the homepage of the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge, where Smith and his band do their thing every Sunday night. [KMG]

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Below are the copyright statements to be included when reproducing annotations from The Scout Report.

The single phrase below is the copyright notice to be used when reproducing any portion of this report, in any format:

>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/



(There you have it! --Micaela)

June 2009 E-Book of the Month

The Career Clinic
Eight Simple Rules for Finding Work You Love

by Maureen Anderson
AMACOM Books, 2008
Product ID: 251065

Since the Baby Boom generation, we have been raised with a sense that self-fulfillment is one of our inalienable rights—yet most of us probably do not love our work. As the longtime host of a radio show devoted to helping people find careers they love, Maureen Anderson has often invited listeners in to hear firsthand accounts of people who not only relish their work, but live without regret.

The Career Clinic: Eight Simple Rules for Finding Work You Love by Maureen Anderson (AMACOM 2008) collects intimate and revealing first-hand accounts of people who have made the leap from the 9-to-5 doldrums into jobs that leave them feeling happy, satisfied, and filled with the sense of contentment that comes from knowing they're doing what they were put on this earth to do.

New book coming

The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World
Safe for Quantum Mechanics
Contributor(s): Susskind, Leonard
"The Black Hole War" is the thrilling story of Susskind's effort to
reconcile Stephen Hawking's revolutionary theories of black holes with
his own sense of reality--an effort that would eventually result in
Hawking admitting he was wrong.
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Pub Date: 07/2008
EAN: 9780316016407
ISBN: 9780316016407
Binding: Hardcover
US SRP: 27.99
BISAC Categories: Science | History; Science | Astrophysics & Space
Science; Science | Cosmology; Science | Astronomy | Universe; Science |
Quantum Theory; Science | Mathematical Physics
------------------------------------------------------------------------

How did I miss this?

The New York Times reported last summer:

Learning
Ultimate Study Tool: Testing

By LAURA PAPPANO

Published: July 27, 2008

REREADING class notes with highlighter in hand may not be the best way to study. New research suggests that frequent testing — even self-testing — is a better bet for retaining information.

Henry L. Roediger III, professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, says his study of 180 students shows the benefits of “the testing effect.”

Students were asked either to study a passage four times, study it three times and take a test on it once or study it once and take a test on it three times. They were then retested on the material after five minutes and after a week. Those who only studied — O.K., crammed — did slightly better after five minutes, but a week later the three-time test takers outscored the other groups significantly. “Just repeatedly looking at something doesn’t mean you own it,” Dr. Roediger says. “The act of retrieval is a very active memory enhancer.”

In addition, says Dr. Roediger, frequent testing has the practical effect of breaking material into chunks, which helps students keep up in courses that cover lots of ground.

His study will be included in “Psychology and the Real World: Essays Illustrating Fundamental Contributions to Society” (Worth Publishers); a related study, by Dr. Roediger and Jeffrey D. Karpicke, was recently published in the journal Science.

Do the findings suggest that standardized testing improves student performance?

Dr. Roediger says he doesn’t take a position on policy debates. But then he adds: “The bottom line is yes.”

May Showers...

From the good folks at Grand Valley State University came this:
"During April, we anticipate "The Soloist," a film about a student
afflicted with schizophrenia who grew up to be a homeless street
musician - then was befriended by members of the LA Philharmonic and an
LA Times columnist. Meet the real people, hear the music which helps
"The Soloist" stay calm and watch him play various instruments in this
story behind the movie.
http://www.awesomestories.com/flicks/the-soloist

In addition, we're thinking about the earthquake of April 6th (in which
"a jewel of medieval Italy collapsed"), Mahatma Gandhi (who "broke" the
unfair salt laws by following non-violent resistance), the San
Francisco earthquake and fire (which devastated the city on April 18,
1906), the Chernobyl meltdown (which remains the world's worst nuclear
accident) and "the miracle" at the water pump (when Annie Sullivan made
a startling breakthrough with her pupil, Helen Keller). Learn the
details of those, and other events, in this summary of April
Highlights.
http://www.awesomestories.com/newsletters/april-highlights

Also provided are databases for:
videos, http://www.awesomestories.com/videos
images http://www.awesomestories.com/images/
audio-clips http://www.awesomestories.com/audio-clips
documents http://www.awesomestories.com/documents.

Group access to the site is free for all schools, libraries and
educators. Request group access with this form.
http://www.awesomestories.com/signup It is also free for students and
members of the general public. Select an individual password using the
same URL.

The site's privacy policy is strictly enforced.

Carole Bos
Dean's Advisory Board
Grand Valley State University
bosc@gvsu.edu

Three posts...

in one day. I don't usually do that. But this Project Information Literacy has been picked up by Butler's Research Office and the website has a bit of information, including this summary by Joseph James, whom I heard speak in Kansas City a few years ago:

http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/internet_librarian_al_april_2009.pdf

Strange thing - when the students speak, I am reminded of my undergrad years... I was so typical. Then I became a mother. Then I decided to go to grad school. The memory of papers written and diapers changed somehow conflated in my mind and in my actions, and I became a great student. And yes, there's a pun or a joke in there somewhere... which I leave to your imagination.