CM February 23, 1996. Vol II, Number 19

Table of Contents

Book Reviews

CDNA People Apart.
Kathleen Kenna. Photographs by Andrew Stawicki.
Review by Deborah Mervold.
Grades 3 - 8 / Ages 8 - 13.

CDNBreathing Not Required.
Michele Martin Bossley.
Review by Donna J. Adrian.
Grades 4 - 6 / Ages 8 - 11.

CDNRocket Science:
50 Flying, Floating, Flipping, Spinning Gadgets Kids Create Themselves.
Jim Wiese.
Review by Lorraine Douglas.
Grades 4 - 6 / Ages 8 - 11.

CDNModems, Megabytes & Me!
Telecommunicating Across the Curriculum.
Gary Garfield and Suzanne McDonough.
Review by Harriet Zaidman.
Teachers: K - 8.

CDNThe Ecstasy of Resistance:
A Biography of George Ryga.
James Hoffman.
Review by Joanne Peters.
Grades 11 and Up / Ages 15 and Up.

CD-ROM Reviews

INTMultimedia Cats: The Complete Interactive Guide to Cats.
Inroads Interactive.
Review by Diane Fitzgerald.
Grades 2 - 6 / Ages 6 - 10.

CDNEarth Explorer.
Apple Home Learning.
Review by Harriet Zaidman.
Grades 5 - 8 / Ages 10-12.

Features

Notable Web Sites

Collaborative Book Review Project

The Great Canadian Trivia Contest

The Little Math Puzzle

News

The Digital Electronics Site: Call for Participation

Newswave 96: Call for Participation

Freedom to Read Week

CM
Editor
Duncan Thornton
e-mail: cmeditor@mts.net

CM
Executive Assistant
Peter Tittenberger
e-mail: cm@umanitoba.ca

Book Review

A People Apart.

Kathleen Kenna. Photographs by Andrew Stawicki.
Toronto: Somerville House, 1995. 64pp, cloth, $19.95.
ISBN 1-895897-59-9.

Grades 3 - 8 / Ages 8 - 13.
Review by Deborah Mervold.

****/4

excerpt:

"Mennonites do not usually allow their pictures to be taken, because they believe that pride is a sin. They do not have family photograph albums or carry photographs of their children. That would be considered showing off. Many of the people in this book had never been photographed. Some had never even spoken with anyone who was not a Mennonite, because they believe that in order to preserve their traditions, they should stay separate from people who are not Mennonites. But as they came to trust us, members of several Old Order congregations spoke about their lives and welcomed us into their homes and meetinghouse. They agreed to be photographed and to speak with us about their lives because they want readers to understand how Mennonites live."

> In A People Apart, the photographs of award-winning photographer Andrew Stawicki -- incredible in their own right -- complement journalist and reporter Kathleen Kenna's well-written account of the lives of "Old Order" Mennonites. Kenna's short, simple sentences, and carefully chosen vocabulary make this an excellent non-fiction choice for the study of families in primary grades or of culture in middle grades. Adults will also enjoy both the information and the photographs.

As the excerpt above explains, the book was created with the cooperation of the Mennonites in Elmira and Saint Jacob's, Ontario. The project is unusual because of the Mennonite feeling that they are a "people apart" from modern society. Kenna covers many important aspects in the life of the Mennonite community from barn-raising to religious services and education. A brief historical note is included putting the community into a Canadian and world context.

A People Apart examines the whole life of the commmunity: behaviour, customs, and traditions. The use of excommunication to discipline of family members completes this realistic account of an Old Order Mennonite community. This book would be a welcome addition to any school, public, or home library.

Highly recommended.

Deborah Mervold teaches senior high-school English and works as a K-12 teacher-librarian. She lives in Shellbrook, Saskatchewan and is also chair of the local public Library board.

Book Review

Breathing Not Required.

Michele Martin Bossley.
Toronto: James Lorimer & Company ("Sports" series), 1995. 84pp, paper, $8.95.
ISBN 1-55028-474-6. CIP.

Grades 4 - 6 / Ages 8 - 11.
Review by Donna J. Adrian.

***/4

A fun, fact-filled novel of synchronized swimming, friendship, jealousy, and family relations.

In losing her bid to become the team's solo performer in competition to newcomer Christy, whom she dislikes, eleven-year-old Gracie's competitive spirit spoils her relationship with her best friend and duo partner, Laura, who wants to swim only for fun. While preparing for a competition, and in the classroom, the three girls' relationships and problems are typically teen; and they are satisfactorily resolved during a synchro meet.

A good read. The plot moves quickly. The action at the pool, at home, and at school is believable, as are the relationships among the three girls.

The novel shows the need for discipline, endurance, good sportsmanship, and the importance of team work and cooperation for success in athletic endeavour.

A good sports novel for girls, and with the Summer Olympics approaching it should be popular.

Recommended.

Donna J. Adrian is a Library Coordinator for the Laurenval School Board in Quebec.

Book Review

Rocket Science:
50 Flying, Floating, Flipping, Spinning Gadgets Kids Create Themselves.

Jim Wiese.
Toronto: John Wiley and Sons, 1995. 115pp, paper, $18.50.
ISBN 0-471-11357-3.

Grades 4 - 6 / Ages 8 - 11.
Review by Lorraine Douglas.

****/4

excerpt:

We often take water for granted. We usually have it in a plentiful supply. We drink it, cook with it, water our lawns and gardens with it, and complain about it during droughts and floods. But water has other uses as well. It can power a rocket, tell time, and even generate electricity. Do you find that hard to believe? Try the following projects and see what water can do.

This nifty and appealing book should attract and engage children, parents, and teachers. Wiese, a science educator in British Columbia, explains in his introduction how you can be a good scientist, and how to use the book to do a science project. He also mentions that adult help is needed for many of the experiments (something also noted in the experiments themselves).

Rocket Science is divided into sections -- mechanics, air power, water power, electricity and magnetism, chemistry, acoustics, and optics. The projects are fun. They include a flip book, a periscope, a natural battery from a lemon, a waterwheel, and a mousetrap car. Each project clearly explains the pertinent scientific principle. The book is illustrated with perky black-and-white drawings and includes a glossary and index.

A useful and very appealing title.

Highly recommended.

Lorraine Douglas is Youth Services Coordinator for the Winnipeg Public Library.

Book Review

Modems, Megabytes & Me!
Telecommunicating Across the Curriculum.

Gary Garfield and Suzanne McDonough.
Winnipeg: Peguis Publishers, 1995. 144pp, paper, $16.00.
ISBN 1-895411-78-5.

Teachers: K - 8.
Review by Harriet Zaidman.

**1/2 /4

excerpt:

How far have we traveled since the days of the little red schoolhouse? Although rapid population growth spurred the expansion of schools from one route multi-graded classrooms to today's mega school districts, we wonder: How much has really changed? . . . With a computer, telephone and modem you can give the child access to the world. Anywhere a telephone and computer exist together is a potential source for information and learning . . . an idea and practice that will forever change the way you think about, and teach children to think about, learning. This reality will also require all teachers to think differently about how they teach and how children learn. This knowledge by itself has the potential to change the basic premise and foundation of education.

We are know teachers who are crazy about computers and use them as much as possible in their classroom routine. We also know teachers who don't want to have anything to do with technology and ignore its potential for themselves as teachers and for their students. But teachers need not be afraid of learning, nor should they be afraid that, at least initially, students may know more than the teachers about telecommunicating. This book gives reluctant teachers gentle guidelines for jumping into the fray.

Teachers who are terrified of technology can read Modems, Megabytes and Me! and realize that technology need be neither terrifying nor separate from daily classroom activities. It is a step-by-step and reader-friendly book that outlines why teachers should get connected, how to connect (including the basic definitions), and provides more than seventy pages of theme-related activities that fit in with the classroom curriculum from kindergarten to grade eight.

Chapter two explains what a teacher needs to set up a basic computer centre in a classroom. It suggests sources of financial support from the school and the community -- an important element in education today. It also mentions some different software packages available to go on line, and where to find them. The instructions for setting up software are very specific, and should give teachers new to telecommunicating some confidence. The conclusion of the book offers some case studies of students who benefitted from using telecommunication resources.

The themes suggested are aimed at specific grade levels. They are set up as lesson plans, with objectives, related topics, preparation, and procedure and activities. The activities range from researching cookie recipes, collecting jokes, chatting on-line with CEOs of corporations, collecting scientific information from NASA and graphing it, getting answers directly from scientists, to doing genealogical researchn and so on.

There is nothing special in the activities outlined in the book. But each theme has a suggested telecommunications activity that combined with conventional teaching practices to the greater store of knowledge and resources for students. The authors assert that using telecommunications is an essential part of educating a child in today's world, and that teachers are obligated to become familiar with telecommunicating practices and make them a part of their teaching routine. Children must learn to use the resources offered through computers and modems and whatever else is the next development of telecommunications in order to be able to function capably and confidently.

Modems, Megabytes and Me! is a book that has up-to-date information about computers and telecommunications. Some of it may become dated as new advances in technology are introduced. But the ideas for themes and activities will be useful by themselves and as springboards for a teacher's own ideas for a long time.

Recommended.

Harriet Zaidman is a teacher-librarian in Winnipeg.

Book Review

The Ecstasy of Resistance:
A Biography of George Ryga.

James Hoffman.
Toronto: ECW Press, 1995. 336pp, paper, $19.95.
ISBN 1-55022-246-5.

Grades 11 and Up / Ages 15 and Up.
Review by Joanne Peters.

** 1/2 /4

excerpt:

He has remained in popular assessment variously a warrior, troublemaker, poet, "political" writer. As a subject for criticism, he has invited either a rapid dismissal or a pat summation, both far short of the complexity of the man. He has been discussed as artlessly political, or alternately, poetically undramatic. I believe that in Ryga we have a writer of major significance, in part due to sheer output; about two dozen of his works are still in print, including two recent anthologies, The Athabasca Ryga and Summerland, which contain many of his lesser known and previously unpublished works. He may or may not be a great writer -- Ryga's corpus is especially unwieldy; he may or may not be, as some have suggested, a "one-play" playwright. He is, however, indisputably an important Canadian writer.

Mention the name "George Ryga," and immediately the plays Indian and The Ecstasy of Rita Joe come to mind. Ryga is best known for these two works that; indeed, they are often the only works associated with his career as writer. In fact, Ryga wrote in a variety of genres, although it was through drama that he gained renown. James Hoffman has extensively and exhaustively researched his subject; letters and personal interviews with former colleagues, family members, and Ryga himself form the basis of this comprehensive review of Ryga's life and work.

The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Ryga was often ambivalent towards his heritage: drawn to life on the land, yet hating the harshness of that existence. He lacked extensive formal training as a writer, and gained his knowledge of the craft through a variety of jobs, some of which enabled him to hone his talent, and some of which served to constrain it. Although the title of Hoffman's book suggests Ryga was a passionate individual, somehow that emotionality is lost in the telling of his story.

The Ecstasy of Resistance is undeniably comprehensive, but in that thoroughness, some of the fire that fuelled Ryga burns out. Though the book is an excellent source of information about Ryga and his work, it often reads slowly and the expectation of intensity created by the title is lost in details.

Recommended for secondary school and university collections, especially those focusing on Canadian literature.

Joanne Peters is a Teacher-Librarian at Kelvin High School in Winnipeg.

CD-ROM Review

Multimedia Cats: The Complete Interactive Guide to Cats.

Boulder, CO: Inroads Interactive, 1995. CD-ROM (PC and Mac), $24.95 US.
256-Colour monitor and 486 / 040 CPU recommended.

Grades 2 - 6 / Ages 6 - 10.
Review by Diane Fitzgerald.

**1/2 /4

excerpt:

Serval

One should not be fooled by the seemingly diminutive size of the Serval. Its narrow frame and long legs give the appearance of a small body, but this animal maintains the survival skills and feline instincts of its larger (and better known) wild cat cousins. Able to run, climb and swim, Servals also employ excellent sight and hearing to hunt for food during any part of the day or night.

They prefer solitary and hidden lives, rarely seen by humans or other animals. They live in enclosed spaces, such as rock crevices, old burrows or among long thick grass. Hunted for their exotic fur, Servals have moved into sparsely populated regions for protection.

cat Multimedia Cats sounds like one of those no-fail titles publishers joke about (like, "Finding Your Diet Angels"). But of course it's really a CD-ROM aimed at elementary-age children. The content is nothing special, but Multimedia Cats works smoothly while managing to be informative and entertaining.

Children who just like cats, or wish they had one, will like the sections on domestic and wild cats. The information is not too detailed (the excerpt above is the complete section on Servals, for instance), but it compares well to introductory picture books. There are links to larger pictures, brief video-clips, and more detailed information -- "Feral Facts" for wild-cats, which include the latin name, the conservation status, and a "Fascinating Fact"; or "Ideal Breed Characteristics" for domestics.

cat

Younger children will appreciate the "Loudspeaker" icon on these pages linked to an audio clip of the text read aloud (a male voice for wildcats, a female for domestic). In the longer and more detailed information -- on Feline evolution, for example -- in the sixty-four page reference section, there is no loudspeaker, but there is also good basic advice on selecting and caring for cats (that it's a good idea to have two cats to keep one another company if they're going to spend much time alone, for example), on cat illnesses and caring for your cat's health, and so on. There are also short, narrated videos on adopting, grooming, and training cats in the reference section.

The "Cat-Scan" section provides a computerized way of selecting the ideal breed of cat for prospective owners (based on factors like temperament, short or long hair, and affinity for children). The "World" section lets you locate breeds or species by geographical origin.

There is also a "Fun" page that includes quizzes and entertaining video clips of cats (kittens chasing their tales; cats morphing into one another) which also ought to amuse young ones.

cat

Throughout, the CD-ROM keeps a sense of fun; there are plenty of puns, and there is a little mouse named Herman who shows up in unexpected places. Clicking on him triggers some odd or humorous result.

Multimedia Cats is a decidely American product; in the contacts for adopting a cat, for example, only U.S. organizations are listed. That aside, if Multimedia Cats is un-ambitious, it is also successful -- it's an accessible and pleasant title that will entertain young cat-lovers and provide some basic information for those a little older.

Recommended.

Diane Fitzgerald is an elementary-school teacher in Saskatoon.

CD-ROM Review

Earth Explorer.

Apple Home Learning.
Claris Canada, 1995. CD-ROM, $49.00.

Grades 5 - 8 / Ages 10-12.
Review by Harriet Zaidman.

***/4

CD-ROMs are the wave of the future, we're told, and information is being formatted on compact disk at a fantastic rate. It's being presented in user-friendly formats, with several different ways of finding information, links back and forth, titbits of explanations, pictures and captions, quizzes and games, just to mention a few. Some of these CD's are for school use, and some are informational, but are more suited for recreational (home) use.

Earth Explorer is a highly informative and interactive CD-ROM published by Apple, respected for quality educational software. A 256-colour monitor is necessary. For a Mac you'll also need at least five megs of RAM; for Windows, a 486 system or better is recommended (it will run more slowly on a 386) and at least four megs of RAM (eight is recommended).

The CD explores the environment, with articles, "hot topics," maps, data, games and quizzes. Each topic leads to further subtopics. The buttons that lead into the information are described as well as illustratedwith appealing drawings that relate to the topic of the environment and are age-appropriate.

The user chooses the topic, and begins to explore the different issues and problems facing the earth. The articles (choose from climate, sun, wind, climate change, water, oceans, land, micro-climate, or explore) are accompanied with pictures and links on the right sidebar. The articles provide extensive information, often over twenty screens in length. Each screen is presented as a page torn from a book. Significant words are underlined; clicking on them brings up a definition. The File menu allows the user to print the screen or print the article, and the option of including the photos. The writing style is casual and conversational. Here's an example:

Here's a challenge for you.
Think of something that runs on solar energy. Piece of cake, you might say, and you start naming items that use the sun as their energy source. There's the calculator on your desktop, and the small electric fan you saw in a specialty store. There's the house down the street that heats water with solar energy, those experimental cares they race every three years in Australia . . . and what about earth-orbiting satellites?

The "Hot Topics" provides eighteen different subtopics for the user. Each button leads to a game. The games are talking stories, in which the user must match different sides of an environmental issue with the sixteen different personalities presented. The goal is to match the personalities with the strongest views on each side of the argument to score the highest number of points. Each personality reveals their views before players attempt to match them to either side of the argument. A click on the score button tells the user what to do to improve it, and users can go back and continue working on the same game.

The Data Sets includes eighteen subtopics, with maps and graphs on each. Explanatory text boxes appear at the bottom of the screen that complement the variety of graphs offered on the right of the map. Click at an area on the map and the appropriate information appears in the text box. Instructions appear for interpreting the graph and for retrieving further information.

The Explore menu offers twelve subtopics that are informational games/quizzes. One is called "Who Eats Who," and asks the user to organize different aquatic animals according to their order on the food chain. Again, the user can check the score and go back to get things right. Information about the different animals is provided. The numbers 1, 2 and 3 decorate the left side-bar. Clicking on the different numbers gives instructions (1), hints on what to notice in the game (2) and the conclusions that can be drawn from the investigation (3).

This CD-ROM is full of interesting information about the issues facing the earth's survival and about the different arguments surrounding these issues, and presents scientific information valuable for the intended age-group. Earth Explorer is not appropriate, however, for a school library reference, because as a reference tool it is slower than comparable disk-based encyclopedias. But it would be suitable as a supplement to reference material within the classroom, especially if the class is studying a unit on pollution, the ecology, and so forth. Earth Explorer is also an appropriate educational resource for the home. Parents looking for educational material for young children can trust that Apple will provide them with value for their money.

The problems with this CD-ROM are the same problems that exist for education CD-ROMs in general. The more complex they are the slower they are, and the wait is boring, not exciting. It's faster to turn a few pages, browse through an index, and look at some pictures on a book -- and flipping through a book is actually a more "interactive" experience, since one can stop and read at any page. The delay in finding information may cause a child to give up and go away.

Are children using the educational home software as fast as it is being produced? Probably not, despite their parents' best wishes. After the novelty has worn off, it will be used when it is needed. When it is, Earth Explorer is a useful CD for intermediate age children.

Recommended.

Harriet Zaidman is a teacher-librarian in Winnipeg.

Feature

Notable Web Sites

Every week, CM presents a brief collection of noteworthy, useful, or just interesting sites we've turned up and actually checked.

Please send us URLs and evaluations of any web-sites you think deserve the exposure.

Drew's Scripts-O-Rama
http://home.cdsnet.net/~nikko11/table.htm

It can be hard to study film critically because you can't slow it down -- unless you have the script. This site has links to a fair number of interesting or impressive movie scripts, from The Little Mermaid to The Rocky Horror Picture show. There's enough adult material you won't want to just point your students at it, but there are valuable resources for senior students studying media or film.

Voice of Hibakusha
http://129.171.129.67/mf/hibakusha/index.html

"Eye-witness accounts of the bombing of Hiroshima, from the video HIROSHIMA WITNESS produced by Hiroshima Peace Cultural Center and NHK."

Those of us who were in University in the 80s remember how likely it seemed that the world would end this way. If that shadow has receded, it's still important to hear what the people of Hiroshima passed through.

The Mary Rose Virtual Maritime Museum
http://www.synergy.net/homeport.html

The Mary Rose was a Tudor warship built on orders from Henry VIII. Sadly for her crew, but happily for historians and archeologists, she sank accidentally -- to be recovered in the 20th century. This site does not use a dopey map metaphor, but tells the story of the Mary Rose and her recovery, and links you to appropriate images and sub-topics as they arise.

The Great Globe Gallery on the World Wide Web
http://hum.amu.edu.pl/~zbzw/glob/glob1.htm

When I was a kid, we reduced our teacher to tears once by putting our pencils against the globe making it spin it really fast. This fancy, and therefore slow, site from Poland does not offer that particular avenue of pleasure, but it has hundreds of different views of the Earth -- climatic, geologic, and of course, the famous NASA picture from space that some claim has changed the way we think.

Distinguished Women of Past and Present
http://www.netsrq.com/~dbois/index.html

"This site has biographies of women who contributed to our culture in many different ways. There are writers, educators, scientists, heads of state, politicians, civil rights crusaders, artists, entertainers and others. Some were alive hundreds of years ago and some are living today. I'd like to acknowledge as many as I can."

How did it do on "Canadian stuff the editor knows about test?" well, nothing on Sheila Copps, Nellie McClung, or Margaret Atwood, but go to Lucy Maud Montgomery and you can find out quite a bit about P.E.I...

News

The Beginners Digital Electronics Site
Authorized by Industry Canada through the Schoolnet Program

Call For Participation

This is a call for people around the world to contribute to the creation of a web site designed to help students learn the basics of digital electronics. It is hoped that these pages will be the work of a variety of groups and individuals from many parts of the globe. The process of developing the site is meant to promote the peaceful view that together we are stronger.

The site is to contain at least the topics listed below. Ideas concerning how to present these topics, as well as suggestions for additional topics, are invited. People are also invited to develop actual content for the site. For example, students of one school might develop a section on the binary number system, pages on the creation of a half adder, or a set of career or industry links. Each of these might be done by one school or in conjunction with other schools.

Students in a grade 10 computer science course at Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School in Gloucester, Ontario, are positioned to produce alone the contents for the digital electronics site. The project, however, has the potential to be of far greater value to themselves and others if they are primarily the coordinating body for it, so if you are in a position to participate, please consider joining in.

To avoid duplication of efforts, please contact us before investing much time and energy to insure that your ideas are not already being developed by others. Kindly put Digital Project as the subject of all communications.

Content Description:

The content is expected to include the following, but is likely to expand and undergo modifications with the suggestions and contributions of new participants in the project.


  1. Number systems: A look at the history of numbers, numbers of different bases, converting between number systems, how binary and hexidecimal number systems have been used in programming computers, and how to do operations with binary numbers.
  2. Boolean logic: The consideration of electronic gates, truth tables, Boolean expression, and Karnaugh maps.
  3. Electronic components: The presentation of the simple circuit, pictures, diagrams and explanations of resistors, diodes, capacitors, transistors, LEDs, integrated circuits, and breadboards.
  4. Circuit wiring: The development of a variety of experiments that explore the properties of resistors, diodes, 7-segment LEDs, gates, and then more advanced circuits including half and full adders, clocks, flip-flops, and binary to decimal decoders. Special projects involving practical applications might be included here.
  5. Career Links: Links to the home pages of people who have careers in digital electronics.
  6. Digital Links: Links to the sites of companies involved in digital electronics as well as to other sites where students can learn about the topic.
  7. The community of contributors: A section on the people who helped to create the site including links to their home pages, school home pages, and institution home pages.

Dates: February 5, 1996 - May 31, 1996.
Contact: Richard Fransham: richfran@icons.net

The Digital Project
Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School
2072 Jasmine Crescent
Gloucester, Ontario, K1J 8M5
Telephone: 613-741-4525 . . . . Fax: 613-741-9593

Copyright © 1996 the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

WELCOME | BOOK REVIEWS BY AUTHOR | BOOK REVIEWS BY TITLE
AUDIO/VIDEO/CD-ROM REVIEWS | VOLUME II INDEX