Deb's Musings | Books and Beyond

A special book lingers long after you close the cover. I can't help thinking about Kate Messner's Breakout, and I finished it days ago . The main plot of the story involves two inmates who escape from a maximum-security prison. Everyone's life is impacted by the two week manhunt. The underlying theme, however, is racism and racial profiling. When Elidee's brother is incarcerated, she and her mother move to the small upper NY state community near the prison. They pride themselves on being a friendly town--yet we see many evidences that they are not as welcoming to a black family. Elidee's classmate, Nora, is a middle school journalist who uncovers more than a story in Messner's novel. In fact, at the conclusion, she may have more questions than answers. Told in letters, poems, text messages, news stories, and comic—a series of documents Nora collects for the Wolf Creek Community Time Capsule Project— Breakout is a thrilling story that will leave readers th...

Sunset in Madison, WI After a brief interim, I've landed in a new job. I'm now one of the Implementation and Training Specialists at TeachingBooks.net . What's interesting is that my "territory" is California. So, long story short, I'll be traveling back to where I came from before I moved to Ohio. The California State Library did a wonderful thing--they acquired three databases for the entire state of California. Every public school. Every County Office of Education and every charter school will have access to TeachingBooks.net, ProQuest, and Encyclopedia Britannica. “It’s a simple idea: Help more California school kids succeed by being able to find more reliable information more easily where they look for it the most – online,” said Greg Lucas, California’s State Librarian. Here's where I fit in. My job will be to reach out to administrators, teachers, and librarians to set up training. From workshops to webinars, I'll be working with ever...