Thursday, October 27, 2011

In Progress

Every now and then, I'll blog about my "in progress" reads, rather than wait to give a full review (in the interest of keeping the blog up to date on a regular basis).







Missing on Superstition Mountain


If you need a boy-friendly mystery, pick up Missing on Superstition Mountain. The Barker boys have been warned time and time again to STAY AWAY from Superstition Mountain (too little, too late). What happens when they climb Superstition Mountain in pursuit of their runaway cat? Oh, not much....they just come across a small collection of skulls, that's all. Of course, they must investigate, which they do thanks to the help of a terrific girl character named Delilah. First in a series, this is a classic whodunit mixed with enough creepy elements to satisfy middle-grade readers.











Welcome to Your Child's Brain


Brain development is endlessly fascinating; it's one of my favorite non-fiction subjects. This information-packed but immensely readable guide to child/teen brain development is a fantastic journey into the awesome and mysterious workings of the developing brain. This includes the latest research into brain development, which has definitely changed in the years since I studied it in depth as a Family, Child, and Consumer Sciences student (most notably in terms of adolescent brain development). This is an exciting and amazing read; the human brain is a mighty instrument.

(I also recommend reading National Geographic's October cover story on the adolescent brain. Actually, I recommend the entire magazine; I've recently started to read NG again, and I love it. While you're at it, The New Yorker's article last week about Taylor Swift is also an intriguing read; many teen girls loooove Taylor Swift, so it's kinda sorta related. We have so many awesome magazines here at the library; I should blog about them more.)

2 comments:

Ms. Yingling said...

I'll take a look at this, but I really wish the cover were better. Are publishers cutting back on budgets and reverting to 80s type illustrations?

Jennifer Schultz said...

The cover is definitely lacking. Maybe the publishers are cutting back on covers-hope not! I just finished it, and I'm really looking forward to the next book.