Monday, July 29, 2013

170. With All Due Respect by Ronald G. Morrish

Keys for building effective school discipline
A guide for teachers on how to use discipline instead of negotiation and consequences to achieve an effective, safe learning environment. Moorish's method is broken down into three triplets: Training (rules, limits, authority; Teaching (skills, attitudes, knowledge) and Management (independent choice). A good resource to keep on hand.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

169. The Castle of Adventure by Enid Blyton


Jack, Phillip, Dinah and Lucy-Ann befriend a feral "gypsy" girl named Tassie who joins in their adventures when exploring an abandoned castle with a mysterious past. Secret passages, hidden rooms and suits of armour all figure in the plan to capture the criminals and recover of the treasure.

168. The Sea of Adventure by Enid Blyton

The children are off of school so that the can recover from the measles. When their mother falls ill, their old friend Bill agrees to take them to a remote island in Scotland. He is hiding out from a band of rogues that caught on to his trailing them. As always, it becomes an adventure featuring their parrot Kiki, rats, puffins and "the enemy".

Thursday, July 25, 2013

167. The Wealden Iron Industry by Jeremy Hodgkinson

A very accessible and well illustrated history of ironmasters and gunfounding in the Weald from Roman times to the 18th Century. Hodgkinson explains the processes used to make iron and the workforce, buildings and transportation aspects of production.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

166. The Valley of Adventure by Enid Blyton

 After stowing away on the wrong airplane, the children find themselves in a remote valley hiding from treasure hunters. Using their wits and survival skills, the four kids and their amusing parrot Kiki help capture the rogues and save an elderly couple who have been guarding the treasure for years.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

165. Erewhon by Samuel Butler

First published anonymously in 1872, this novel is set in nineteenth-century New Zealand. A young man leaves the sheep station he's employed at to scout out distant valleys in the hope of finding pasture land he can claim for himself. What he discovers is the land of Erewhon (Nowhere) and its odd civilization. All machines and technology have been destroyed and outlawed. Being sick is treated as a crime and crime is treated as illness. Interesting social and political satire that can, to some extent, be applied today.

Saturday, July 06, 2013

164. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

In the final battle between the Olympians and the Titan Kronos, Percy and the demigods get help from surprising sources.