Category Archives: mystery

A little mystery is just what we need… and like.

Posted on by
Reply
All wrapped up with a message clue..
 Last week we created our version of “Blind date with a book”. We saw other libraries around the world doing this for their patrons – images are on pinterest and in blog posts like this one from Rockville Library
Sharing the surprises
We were amazed at the response from our students. We chose YA fiction with International settings and issues to encourage not only the risk taking element but also international mindedness. We limited the books to students in grades 5 – 12 because they are Young Adult books. We set up the display on Thursday morning and by Friday morning the entire display was decimated. 
The sign of a successful display – many gaps to fill.
Unwrapping the surprise

Word got out and students came in specially to choose one of the mystery books. The challenge we gave to the students was to choose a book based on the message and then commit to read it. What impressed me was the willingness on the part of the student to participate. Boys were opening books that had covers that were a little ‘feminine’ but they were not put off, in fact they were more willing to take a risk to read something very different to what they would usually choose. Girls were unwrapping books about war and instead of saying they weren’t interested they were checking more details by reading the blurb and then starting the book. 

Most of the books came from my “Round the World in 80 books” adventure last year – reading 80 YA fiction books meant I knew what to choose. It was so much fun to watch the students unwrap their books and then excitedly share them with their friends.
We have now had a delegation from the lower grades to make blind dates for them too. Next week…

Wondering at work – mystery

Posted on by
Reply
When creating a book display showing “Mystery” books we created a tagxedo word cloud using synonyms for mystery. I like how so many of the words also apply to wondering. 
This week I was paid a huge compliment by a colleague when he was discussing some course readings on a forum. The reading was an article by Barbara Fister entitled “Playing for Keeps: Rethinking How Research Is Taught to Today’s College Students” My colleague shared about how we use the Wonder of the Week and invite our school community to answer the question we post on the library door. This week’s question “How do hibernating animals know when to wake up?” 

Anyway here are some responses to my colleague’s post:   The example of the post it note allowed students to engage without the pressures of the right answer or proper procedure which brings learning back to one of its essential properties, inquisitiveness. Setting a challenge but not prescribing the path to success enables students to find their own way, in their own time, allowing for ownership of the process.”

“I also really appreciate the examples you gave of incorporating play into the library. The post-it example facilitates intrinsic motivation by piquing students’ curiosity through an interesting question. It also creates a version of the collaborative research environment Kuhlthau describes by allowing students to see other approaches and responses to the question.”

Simmons, Michelle. “LIBR:287: Information Literacy.” Lesson #5 Discussion. San Jose State University, 2013. Web. 3 March 2013.


I was so delighted by these responses. I had never thought of the wonder door as achieving these things but it really does. Inquiry at play. My kind of inquiry learning. Barbara’s article is worth the read as well.

So we continue to encourage wondering, mystery and play in our library. It is a learning process for us and the students at the same time.

Book 80 – The Danger Box by Blue Balliet – Three Oaks, Michigan, USA

Posted on by
Reply
How can a legally blind boy solve a mystery? Zoomy is legally blind – his world can be scarey sometimes as things come in and out of focus.  He lives with his grandparents who have taught him how to make lists to help bring some order and predictability into his world. 
One evening Zoomy’s father returns driving a stolen car, bringing a mysterious box and danger into their quiet lives. This is the first time Zoomy has met his his absent father and he is not sure he likes the way Buckeye creates havoc for his family.
Zoomy’s grandfather is an antiques dealer and he takes the box to his shop but not before Zoomy, a keeper of notebooks himself, asks if he can read the notebook they found inside the box.
The notebook holds many mysteries for Zoomy who spends time at his library trying to discover what the notebooks is all about. While at the library Zoomy meets a true friend in Lorrol, who is at Three Oaks for the summer vacation. Together they begin to work out that the notebook is very precious indeed and written by a famous man who not unlike Zoomy is full of self doubt and uses the notebook to bring order into his life.
Throughout the novel there are issues of “The Gas Gazette” written by Zoomy and Lorrol with clues as to the identity of the notebook writer. 
Review from Kidsreads by Norah Piehl   Review from the Chicago Sun Times by Deborah Abbott
Blue Balliet speaking about her novel

Book 48 – Trash by Andy Mulligan – South East Asia, somewhere

Posted on by
Reply
Raphael is a trash sifter. That is all he has known all of his life. He lives on the rubbish piles of the large city (unnamed country) and goes through the trash sorting it for plastic, wire and other bits you can sell. Like every other person on the rubbish dump he dreams of making a big find which will change his life and then one day – he does.
The only trouble is lots of other people are looking for the things Raphael found – including the police. Instinctively Raphael knows to keep his find a secret even though some amazing rewards are being offered for it. His friends Gardo and Rat help him. They suddenly find themselves in the middle of a dangerous murder and embezzlement situation. It takes all their cunning and courage to find a way to bring justice to the people who most deserve it.
This book has had mixed reviews. Some think it is too  violent and inappropriately candid about the poverty of the boys and the corruption of the police and those in authority. The method of narration is interesting and demands attention from the reader. Mulligan has many of the characters involved telling their part of the story so the narrator changes throughout the book. I enjoyed this and found the pace even more compelling as a result. I will be recommending this book to my students and I will see if those who enjoyed the Hunger Games will also enjoy this tale of determined survival and triumph over the odds.