MAP Test Practice

Trapped Under the Sea

Some say it was because of corporate greed and others think it was because no one wanted to speak out against the proposed action or the perceived safety hazards because they had no better solution.  Wherever the blame lies, it left two men dead and several others' lives in shambles.
The Boston Harbor has been the scene of much drama throughout the history of the United States from the Boston Tea Party to the MWRA court-ordered sewage cleanup which is the focus of this book by Neil Swidey.  Mr. Swidey once again gets intimately acquainted with the subjects just as he did in his book The Assist.
The sheer immensity of building a tunnel 450 feet under the earth that extends 10 miles out under the ocean floor is incredible.  It starts out 24 feet in diameter and narrows until it is only five feet in diameter.  Add in the fact there is no electrical or oxygen supply provided as well as no place for the dangerous gases to vent increases the level of danger to the point where few places on earth are as dangerous.  Oh, when it was first built there was power, ventilation, and an oxygen supply but the powers that be determined that in order for the company that built the tunnel to be signed off all of that infrastructure had to be removed before the plugs that kept the seawater at bay in case of a shipping accident had yet to be removed.  The majority of the book deals with the process of removing those plugs, the people tasked with the removal, and the tragedy that ensued.
To say I enjoyed reading this book is probably inappropriate.  It was a gripping read that kept my interest from start to finish and the story is still lingering in my mind.    

The Girl in the Road

The Girl in the Road does not fit easily into any one genre.  It is set in the future with lots of science fiction but there is plenty of realism in the story as well.  The story centers around two females, Mariama, born in Western Africa, and Meena, born prematurely in Addis Ababa to parents who were murdered but spent her adult life in India.  Mariama's story starts when she is young and without any family.  She sneaks aboard a convoy heading east to Ethiopia and finds some protectors who care for her and teach her to read.  Meena's story starts in India after an encounter with a snake sends her into hiding.   She decides to head to Africa on the Trans Arabian Linear Generator also known as the Trail.  It is an electricity-generating string of buoys across the Arabian Sea.  Both women have things from their pasts which they have difficulty facing.  I really enjoyed reading this book.  The narrative is so descriptive I had no problem imagining myself as part of the story.  While parts of the story are dark, the darkness was not overwhelming.

"I received this book fromBlogging for Books for this review."

The Warhawk Symbaloo

If you have been to the Destiny webpage you may have noticed something new.  If you've been looking along the right-hand side of this blog you may not be able to find some of the links that have been there in the past.  Both of these changes reflect the Warhawk Symbaloo that is now present on the Destiny homepage.  I am please to have incorporated Symbaloo into our technology available now at West Fork.

There are still links to individual games along the right side of the blog but links to learning game sites or other Web 2.0 technology are now on the Destiny homepage as you can see above.  There is even a link on the Destiny homepage to take to to this blog!

My hope is that this change makes using all that is available to us at West Fork even easier to use.

It's a Book Fair Luau

The Book Fair has returned to the Warhawk Library at the Sheffield campus. The book fair will be open Monday and Thursday, March 26 & 29, from 8:00 am until 8:00 pm. Stop by before or after your conferences! It is also open Tuesday and Thursday, March 27 & 28, from 8:00 am until 4:00 pm.

The Book Fair is a great place to buy gifts for birthdays and upcoming holidays such as Easter!

There are books for all tastes. If you haven't gotten enough of the Hunger Games yet all three titles in the series are available for purchase. Other popular books at the fair include books by Sarah Dessen, Anthony Horowitz, and Alex Flinn.

For elementary students, the Book Fair has the newest Magic Tree House book, Abraham Lincoln at Last as well as Froggy Goes to Hawaii and Bad Kitty for President and many more titles.

For the preschool set, we have How Do Dinosaurs Eat Cookies and If You Give a Dog a Doughnut and lots of other fun titles.

Also, as in the past, there are plenty of other things available for purchase as well - pens, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, book marks, stickers and many other novelty items. These would make great Easter basket stuffers.

Hope to see you there!

Your Next Read

Just read a really great book and want another one like it? Click on the title link, enter the book title that you liked in the search bar and see what is recommended. Then click on the book you read from the list and you will go to a page that will have 8 or so choices to look at. Not all will be available at our libraries but I will work with you until you are satisfied!

5th Grade tech class

I have created a survey for you to complete. Please take your time and make sure you give the whole answer.