Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

It's not enough that he was the 16th president of the United States.... and helped to abolish slavery. Nope. There's more.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (by Seth-Grahame Smith)




Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

February reading

Are you caught up in the numerous futuristic books like Hunger Games and Matched? If you haven't tried them, you are falling behind! The Hunger Games movie will be out in March, so be prepared.

Matched is a similar series envisioning a futuristic society where the government decides everything for you. (How does anyone not see this as extremely scary?!)



On her seventeenth birthday, Cassia meets her Match. Society dictates he is her perfect partner for life. Except he's not. In Cassia's society, Officials decide who people love. How many children they have. Where they work. When they die. But, as Cassia finds herself falling in love with another boy, she is determined to make some choices of her own. And that's when her whole world begins to unravel....

Friday, January 6, 2012

I love free software

First, ALWAYS be careful about what you upload, download or allow access to your computer or mobile device.

That said, this site offers links and downloads for useful, fun and sometimes just crazy free software. These are not trial versions of paid software and all are completely free, and legal.

http://www.ilovefreesoftware.com/

More thoughts on E-books

More thoughts on E-books
If you are looking to develop ebooks or help your students create an ebook here are some fun sites to start:


http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/ebooks/background.html


http://www.biguniverse.com/readkidsbooks

Thursday, January 5, 2012

E-Book Management

E-books are all the rage, as someone said to me the other night, get with the modern times LOL. Well I don't deny my love of the real (?) paper books that I can hold in my hand, turn real pages and carry with me and read anywhere, with no care for battery life or electricity. Okay, you get the picture, I love book books. However, I do like the e-books and their instant capabilities and the convenience of uploading a book anytime anywhere.

If you are uploading ebooks onto your computer or device, I just stumbled upon a cool, easy to use software (free by the way, at least the last time I was there) called Calibre. It syncs with every known e-reader out there and you can transfer books back and forth between your device and computer. Nice. The link is http://calibre-ebook.com

Other options for calibre is uploading other literature and periodicals directly to your calibre library. There is a very simple tutorial at the very beginning and you are good to go!

Let me know if you try it and how it works....