Ms. Dickinson's Purple & Gold Pick of the Week: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Since birth, Ismae has been marked by death.  The red birthmark running across her body is both a reminder of the dark circumstances surroundign her birth and a sign that her true father is likely Mortain, the god of death himself.  However when Ismae find refuge from an unwanted arranged marriage with a cruel man at the ancient convent of St. Mortain, she learns that her strangeness might mark her for an unusual and dangerous destiny.  At the convent, the old gods of Brittany are still worshipped and women swear to serve as Death's handmaidens--highly trained assassins working to keep the balance of life and death at all costs.

If you're looking for an exciting and rich new fantasy, then Robin LaFevers' debut novel might be just your cup of tea--or, more appropriately, goblet of poison!  Grave Mercy fits nicely into the emerging subcategory of fantasy writing frequently identified as historical fantasy.  Ismae lives in an alternative version of the medieval duchy of Brittany fighting to remain independent from France and the tale winds through dark roadside inns, tension-filled feast halls, and the chilly passages of castles.  The story combines mysterious court intrigues, a thrilling spy and assassin plot, swoon-worthy romance, and richly detailed characters.  Ismae is an intriguing narrator. Her past experiences as a social pariah and the abuse of men like her father and husband have scarred her; while her training at the convent has strengthened her confidence, she remains distrustful of outsiders, especially men.  When beginning her largest mission yet posing as the young Breton duchess's mysterious brother Gavriel Duval's mistress, Ismae is excited to have the opportunity to serve Mortain and to prove her worth to the convent.  However, she soon finds herself both unprepared for the layered intrigues of the Breton court and unnerved by the questions Duval raises about the convent's motives and methods.  The reader is drawn into Ismae's quest for the truth quickly and pulled through a twisting and thrilling journey that is impossible to put down.

This fresh and fierce fantasy has a well-crafted plot full of mystery and romance, fascinating characters, and rich, atmospheric setting.  Best of all--it's the first in a trilogy (titled His Fair Assassin) so we can all look forward to hearing more about Ismae's adventures as she strives to find her own path in a dangerous and unpredictable world.     

APP-solutely Fabulous: Flashcardlet

image credit: adamr on freedigitalphotos.com

It's getting to be that time of year again--the time when the study guide pile up, a rainbow of colored tags poke out of every text book, and index cards supplies start to run low.  We have entered the dreaded exam season.  So for this edition of APP-solutely Fabulous, we're featuring a neat app that might help you streamline your study habits.  For many students, the old fashioned flashcard remains a favorite study method, especially for subjects with long vocabulary lists or pages of facts and dates.  Available for iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, the nifty app Flashcardlet (listed as Flashcards in the App Store) allows you to use this classic memory tool while removing the piles of easily damaged index cards from the process.   With this app, you can flip through stacks of digital flashcards in a variety of subject areas.  You can grab sets of flashcards from the flashcard and study games website Quizlet and add them to your Flashcardlet library in minutes or you can use the app to create your own sets of flashcards.  You can also create a free account on Quizlet and create flashcards there to access online or through the app later.  This app also allows you to view images as part of the flashcards, an advantage especially for art history or vocabulary studying.

Once you've chosen a flashcard set to work with, Flashcardlet also permits you to customize the way you use the flashcards.  You can go through in the original order or have them randomly shuffled.  As you move through the digital deck, you can star cards that you need to review again and you can check off cards with terms or ideas you've mastered.  You can also share flashcard sets with friends via Dropbox or email.

The app has a free version with advertisements running along the bottom of the screeen; for $2.99, you can get a version without advertisments.  It is generally easy to learn and use; I suggest using the Tutorial deck included with the app to get a quick lesson in how to manipulate the flashcards and customize your studying experience.

For more study habits help, stop by the library or the TLC to grab one of the TLC's great handouts on test prep and test taking strategies!

Show Your Library Some Love (And Get A Delicious Thank You!)

Need a break from AP exam panic and end of term crunch time?

Stop by the NCS Library for a sweet distraction!

 Swing by the library all this week, Monday May 14-Friday May 18, to join in our Love Your Library Cookie Campaign and/or to enter your name in our raffles for some free books!

To snag a sugary treat, just venture over to the library and find the yellow bookcart with markers and 'I Love Our Library' pink posters.  Then fill in the heart with the reason (or reasons) you love our library.  Return your library love proclamation to a library and choice a reward from our varied selection of homemade cookies! 

While you're there, check out our book raffles and enter your name for chances to win a copy of several great books.  The prizes include a signed copy of Kristin Cashore's brand new novel Bitterblue and a signed copy of the newest Gallagher Girls novel Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter!

Zite: APPS-olutely Fabulous Returns!

image credit: adamr on freedigitalphotos.com

After a bit of a hiatus, we're bringing back our APPS-olutely Fabulous feature here at the NCS Library blog! The lists of available iPad/tablet and smartphone apps keep growing daily--at almost alarming rates!  It can be difficult to keep track of them and sometimes surfing through the Apple app store can be overwhelming.  So every two weeks, we'll highlight a different app that we've discovered to particularly interesting, useful, and (hopefully) fun!

This week, our featured app is Zite, the personalized news reader that goes above and beyond the call of duty!  While there are many great ways to keep track of your favorite websites, blogs, and new sources on your tablet or smartphone, Zite stands out.  Zite (whose name comes from the word, "zeigeist") does more that simply track your favorite RSS feed in shiny new format; it also gathers new content based on your interests and your use of the app.  In much the same way a tool like Pandora suggests new musical artists based on your stated preferences and your ratings of new songs, Zite's personalized article collecting improvesas you use it.  So Zite not only creates a personalized magazine for viewing on your tablet or phone; it also helps you discover new content daily.

An example Zite homepage!

You can download Zite for free and it is currently available for iPad, iPhone, HP TouchPad, and Android phones.  When you first begin using Zite, you can give the app access to some of your existing methods for tracking content online, including your Twitter, Google Reader, and Delicious accounts.  The app will use information from these sources in addition to content areas you select or add to customize your personalized magazine.   

If you have a favorite app that you think we should highlight, 

tell an NCS librarian or leave a comment here!

Ms. Dickinson's Purple & Gold Pick of the Week: Strings Attached by Judy Blundell

Kit Corrigan came to New York City to become a star.  But it's 1950 and making it big on Broadway isn't easy.  So when her ex-boyfriend Billy's dad offers to give her a little help, Kit can't refuse.  Soon, she's got herself a nice new apartment and new job as a chorus dancer at the hottest new club in town.  It seems like Kit is finally in with the right crowd to make her way to the top.  But Mr. Benedict isn't just Billy's father--he's also a lawyer with mob connections.  Suddenly Kit is in way over her head as she becomes tangled up in a web of lies, love, and murder that digs up some unpleasant pieces of her family's past.

A peek at the somewhat seedy underbelly of glamorous 1950s New York City?  Rich historical details about theatre, crime, and clothing? A sizzling mystery with plenty twists and turns? Judy Blundell's newest novel has all the elements of an exciting and compulsive read for historical fiction fans and skeptics alike!  Like her earlier novel, the National Book Award winning What I Saw and How I Lied, Blundell's new story places a young woman living during a transitional time in America's history in the middle of progressively more complex mystery that forces her to face the dark reality of the grown-up world she's entering.  Our heroine in Strings Attached, Kit, is a determined and smart young performer determined to take her small town stage success and year of dance drills to the big time in New York City.  From the opening scenes, the novel shows the difficulties facing an aspiring artist alone in the big city during the mid-20th century--illustrating challenges and unpleasant realities that remain unchanged today in many ways.  Full of rich historical details but never overburdened by such information, the narrative shifts back and forth between Kit's current life in the early '50s and her childhood growing up during the Depression.  Kit's reactions to the growing intrigue in her life illustrate an appealing combination of worldliness, courage, and naivete.  

The mysteries winding through the plot are exciting and full of unexpected twists, making this a good bet for readers who like mysteries as well as those who want solid historical fiction.  Slowly, the reader learns along with Kit that the chilling chain of events leading her to mob involvement and a murder goes back deep into Kit and her family's conflicted past and their strange relationship with the Mr. Benedict and his son Billy.  The connections between her own and her loved ones' past actions and the present danger and eventual tragedy in Kit's life are slowly revealed, making the mystery both poignant and thrilling.

If you're look for some other glamorous and gritty historical mysteries, try What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell, The Girl Is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines, or Jillian Larkin's Flappers series.

For a compelling and thrilling historical mystery and a brilliant tale about the way dark family secrets can come back to haunt us, check out Strings Attached by Judy Blundell, on display now in the fiction section      

Looking for a Fierce & Fantastic Read?

Here in the NCS Library, we're very excited and honored to be welcoming famed fantasy novelist Tamora Pierce, author of a plethora of fabulous books, as one of our writers at Writer's Day 2012 tomorrow!  Some of her most popular series include The Circle of Magic novels, The Song of the Lioness quartet, The Immortals series, and the Beka Cooper trilogy.  In celebration, I put together a list of fantasy novels featuring fierce heroines and thrilling adventures.  This list includes Tamora Pierce's novels as well as a range of books with similar themes, characters, and settings!

Click on the link below to check it out!

WARRIORS: Fantastic Tales Featuring Fierce Heroines  

Calling All Hunger Games Fans: Let Your Library Help You Survive Until March 23!

Attention All Hunger Games Fans!

Can't Wait Until March 23?

Trying To Survive Until You Can See Panem On The Big Screen?

Come to the NCS Library & Enter Our DYSTOPIA Trivia Contest!

-Form a team of no more than 5 members.

-Swing by the library and pick up a yellow DYSTOPIA entry packet.

-Answer the 20 trivia questions inside and return the packet to a librarian by FRIDAY MARCH 16 @ 5pm!

There will be winning teams in both Upper School and Middle School and the each winning team will receive a goodie basket (including gifts cards for local theatres) for their inevitable trip to the see the movie over spring break!

Don't Forget! Drop your answers to our bonus Hunger Games geography trivia in the red box in the library by TUESDAY MARCH 13 and you have a chance to be one of the lucky recipients of a special Girl On Fire cupcake before break!

And May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor!