April Read/Lydia

Title: A Single Shard

Author: Linda Sue Park

ISBN: 0-440-41851-8

Lydia's Read: 

I was very interested in this book “A Single Shard”. The motive of this story is an inlaid celadon pottery in Korea. It is called the “Thousand Crane Vase”. The vase is the finest example of inlaid celadon pottery. Its maker is unknown.

This story was set in a small village on the west coast of Korea, mid –to late 12^th century. Tree-ear and his old friend, Crane-man, lived under a bridge. They were homeless and had no relatives. Tree-ear was an orphan; a monk had brought him to the bridge when he was a toddler. Crane-man lived there for several years before Tree-ear came. He had a twisted calf and foot when he was born. He lived through life with a one leg like a crane. He shared the space under the bridge with Tree-ear, and also shared his reading of the world around them. His thought influenced Tree-ear’s. For example, “Stealing and begging make a man no better than a dog”

Their village had become an important place for ceramics by its location and soil. It was the easiest access to the northern part of the country, and the clay from the village pits contained the right amount of iron to produce the exquisite gray-green color of celadon.

Tree-ear admired potter Min and he often peered at Min working between the leaves of the tree for many months. One day he broke Min’s pottery accidentally, and he couldn't afford to pay for the damage. He had to work for 9 days for the potter to compensate the damage. After 9 days, Tree-ear asked potter Min to let him continue working without payment, and the potter allowed him. Tree-ear worked hard every day, chopping wood, digging clay and draining clay etc. He really wanted to learn how to make a pottery, but the potter was not nice to him and did not give any instruction. The potter thought he could only teach pottery to his son, but his son died a few years ago. Tree-ear was deeply disappointed but he always carefully watched potter’s working.

The Emissary Kim, who has the role to choose the potter for royal commission, came to the village. He saw many potteries in this village, and he found the finest celadon glaze in Min’s pottery. But the pottery was not inlay style. He wanted to see a new technique and asked Min to bring it to palace if Min produced an inlaid celadon. So Tree-ear volunteered to take Min’s pottery to the King’s Court. It was a long and dangerous journey. Tree-ear met two robbers on his way and they broke the pottery. Though the pottery was broken, Tree-ear continued his journey with a single shard which showed inlaid celadon work. Emissary Kim was impressed by a single shard and Tree-ear’s eagerness. He appointed potter Min to royal commission. When Tree-ear had returned to his village, he found out Crane-man died a few days ago due to the collapse of the rotten bridge. His heart was broken and he felt he was alone in the world. At the end of the story, the potter suggested to him to live in the potter’s house and to learn making pottery instead of his dead son.

This book doesn't say that Tree-ear made the remarkable vase. But I imagined that Tree-ear made the “Thousand Crane Vase”. Tree-ear hoped Crane-man would have two good legs like a flying crane on the vase in a life after death.

April Read\Patti 2

Title: CSI: The Case of the Plagued Play

Author: David Lewman, Published 2013

Patti Walker's Read: 

          This is a good book to read to work on English everyday vocabulary.

          The CSI /club consists of the seventh graders Hannah, Corey, and Ben in a Miss Hodges’ forensic science class.  They have in the past solved five mysteries at their school.

          Their friend Kelly wants them to find out who is sabotaging the school class play she is in that is having problems during their rehearsals of a play that was written by Theo, a student.

          The three CSI club members have several incidents to investigate and a lot of suspects.  The ending  and why the sabotage happened  is solved with a good result for all

          I think the vocabulary is good and good practice to reading without using a dictionary a lot.  The story is well written and holds ones interest.  The print size is easy to read.  I recommend it.  There are several books in the series.

April Read\Patti

Title: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat 

Author: Oscar Sacks

 published 1970

Patti's Read:

The book is made up of chapters of case studies of various neurologists.  Each story goes into detail of the problems in the brain that result in abnormal behaviors of varying types.

The book is of very small, dense type.  The case studies are varied.  I did relate to the studies on those of the intellectually impaired and autistic, as I taught those type of individuals for many years.  It is interesting that the mentally disabled do respond to music as I experienced.  Also, that the autistic students would have often areas of high ability that were unusual.

I did speed read the book as a lot of it was interesting, but not what I wanted to explore in depth.

April Read/2

Title: One Word That Will Change Your Life

Author(s): Gordon, Jon; Britton, Dan; Page, Jimmy

Call Number: 248.4 G663O 2014

Subjects: Commitment (Psychology); Christian Life; Motivation (Psychology); Self-Actualization

Number of Pages: 100

ISBN: 9781118809426

Book Description (from the front flap):

            What if one thing could improve your life in incredible ways? What if One Word could mean the difference between repeated failure and newfound success?

            In this beautifully illustrated, full-color revised edition, One Word That Will Change Your Life will inspire you to simplify your life and work by focusing on just One Word for the entire year. That’s right! One Word can create clarity, power, passion, and life-change.

            Each year, resolutions are rarely kept and goals are easily forgotten But One Word sticks. By living a single word that embodies the essence of your life at this moment, you’ll find renewed purpose and meaning throughout the year. Join thousands of people and hundreds of schools, businesses, churches, and sports teams who have found their One Word…and discover how to harness the transformational power of your One Word.

My Read:

            It’s a small yet powerful book. First of all, I like the color of red; it means positive, hope, and energy. Readers are inspired and reminded by the bright color throughout the book. It’s interesting to me that they choose the crimson color. Secondly, the phrase from page x in the Introduction chapter“…we have designed this book so that you can read it in just 49 minutes. In this case, less is best. Simple is powerful” piqued my curiosity. I wonder how and where the authors got the number “49.” Imagine that they have tested not only on themselves but also did experiments on others or did certain surveys to get the answer and number. It’s intriguing to me.

            I concur with the authors’ comment about “Simple is powerful.” As modern life and under the influence of high techs and inventions of various gadgets lead us to a life super charged and overwhelming; the need to have a simple and less stressful sounds a bliss and close to impossible. One Word life seems logical and practical. “One Word creates laserlike focus that lasts” –page 6. The reasons why New Year’s resolutions didn’t last long and became forgotten vary. One of them is too many goals and no action made us lose tracks and become aimless. Remember: Simple is powerful.

            The authors have the action plan for readers: page 85-89

Prepare your heart: Look in

1.      Unplug from the noise

2.      Ask a few essential questions: What do I need? What’s in my way? What needs to go?

Discover you word: Look up

            The One Word that makes sense to you is not good enough. The authors imply that the best word would come to you if you pray or you listen inwardly.

Live your word: Look out

            Keep your one word visible and have it in places you can read and see as frequently as possible. Share your One Word with your inner circle: family, friends, colleagues, etc

Spread the word

            What’s your One Word for this year?

           

April Read

Title: It’s Okay to Be the Boss: the Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming the Great Manager Your Employees Need

Author: Tulgan, Bruce

Call Number: 658.409 T917I 2007

Subjects: Executives; Leadership

Number of Pages: 196

ISBN: 9780061121364

Book Description (from front and back flaps):

            Managing people is harder and more high-pressure today than ever before. There’s no room for downtime, waste, or inefficiency. You have to do more with less. And employees have become high maintenance. Not only are they more likely to disagree openly and push back, but they also won’t work harder for vague promises of long-term rewards. They look to you-their immediate boss-to help them get what they need and want at work.

            How do you tackle this huge management challenge? If you are like most managers, you take a hands-off approach. You “empower” employees by leaving them alone, unless they really need you. After all, you don’t want to micromanage them and don’t have the time to hold every employee’s hand. Of course, problems always come up and often snowball into bigger problems. In fact, you probably spend too much of your time solving problems and falling behind on your work…which opens the door for even more problems!

            In it’s Okay to Be the Boss, Bruce Tulgan puts his finger on the biggest problem in corporate America-an undermanagement epidemic after managers all levels of the organization and in all industries-and offers another way. His clear, step-by-step guide to becoming the strong manager employees need challenges bosses everywhere to spell out expectation, tell employees exactly what to do and how to do it, monitor and measure performance constantly, and correct failure quickly and reward success even more quickly. Now that’s how you set employees up for success and help them earn what they need.

            Tulgan opens our eyes to the undisciplined workplace that is overwhelming managers and frustrating workers and invites bosses everywhere to accept the sacred responsibility of managing people. His message: It’s okay to be the boss. Be a great one!

My Read:

            Here is what I think after reading this book: It’s Not okay to be the boss if you don’t have guts and are afraid of taking challenges and making them into possibilities to grow not only your staff but also yourself. There are risks that you might have to trade in your soul and positive energy to do the job if you want to be a Great boss. If only you want to a great one.

            The deals the author has for the readers are: 1) get in the habit of managing every day, 2) learn to talk like a performance coach, 3) take it one person at a time, 4) make accountability a real process, 5) tell people what to do and how to do it, 6) track performance every step of the way, 7) solve small problems before they turn into big problems, and 8) do more for some people and less for others. Plenty of the concepts and ideas are common sense. Yet as a good friend told me “Common sense is not really common.” Things got interesting when you have a person’s background checked and listed. Things got more complicated if you have a group of people working under the same roof.

            The most helpful tip for me from the book comes from page 57. The author lists 6 questions about each employee for the manager-to-be readers. They are:

Who is this person at work?

Why do I need to manage this person?

What do I need to talk about with this person?

How should I talk with this person?

Where should I talk with this person?

When should I talk with this person?

            Other helpful tips are: 1) “Talk, talk, talk about the work. Work is what you have (the manager and the staff) in common; in fact, it’s the reason you have a relationship at all.” –page 46The author warns the manager-to-be to avoid pitfall being the Mr./Ms. Friend. 2) “When you diagnose a performance problem, start focusing intensely in your regular management conversations on spelling out concrete solutions”- page 128. 3) “It is never helpful to name a behavior if you are trying to get someone to change it. Instead, describe behavior”-page 129. 3) In the case of persistent performance problems, the real question is: “What demotivates a person?”-page 133

            The idea the author has “solve small problems before they turn into big problems” is pretty powerful and helpful. A puddle is made of and starts with a drop of rain. And if one doesn’t pay attention to and be aware of the puddle in the middle of the road the encounter with that puddle might become fatal.

            To become a manager is not too hard; one could always follow and maintain the status quo and undermanage the employees. To be the boss who is responsible and who cares about people is a challenge that one has to muster courage, acquire different people skills, and be ready to take risks to overcome obstacles and beat the odds.

            Are you ready and willing to take the risky ride? Be great? Ask more questions or just do it? I wonder…

           

March Read/6

Title: The Click Moment: Seizing the Opportunity in an Unpredictable World

Author: Johansson, Frans

Call Number: 650.1 J65C 2012

Subjects: Success in Business;  Success; Opportunism (Psychology)

Number of Pages: 246

ISBN: 9781591844938

Book Description (from the front & back flap):

            The Click Moment is about two very simple but highly provocative ideas. The first is that success is random-far more random than we would like to believe. The second is that there are a number of specific actions that we, as individuals and organizations, can take to capture this randomness and focus it in our favor.

            According to Johansson, strategy, planning, and careful analysis can no longer guarantee strong performance; today’s business environments are far too random and complicated. But when you dig deep into the actions of successful people and organizations, you’ll find one common theme. A turning point occurs-a major client signs on, a new competitor redefines the market, an unlikely idea surfaces- and they take advantage of that serendipity to change their fate. Consider how…

-Diane Von Furstenberg saw Julie Nixon Eisenhower on TV wearing a matching skirt and top, and the timeless, elegant wrapdress was born.

-Microsoft Windows was on the brink of being shut down until two individuals met unexpectedly at a party and altered the fate of the world’s dominant computer operating system.

-Starbucks sold high-end brewing equipment and coffee by the pound until Howard Schultz experienced his first latte in a café in Milan.

-Nike was stumped on how to invent a spikeless trainer when a legendary running coach poured latex on a waffle iron.

            Each of these individuals experiences a “click moment”-a rare point of opportunity that was completely unexpected. But they capitalized on their luck in ways that paid off significantly and altered their organizations’ strategies and the course of their lives.

Johansson uses stories of successful people and companies throughout history to illustrate the specific actions we cant take to create more click moments, place lots of high-potential bets, open ourselves up to chance encounters, and harness the complex forces of success that follow.

My Read:

            According to the author, the click moment comes from 1) randomness, 2) serendipity, and 3) luck. After I read the book, it is obvious to me that the click moment or I sometimes call it “WOW” composes of three factors: Heavenly Time, Earthly Advantage, and Human Harmony. In Chinese it reads: 天時 地利 人和. You and your mindset encounter something at the right moment, at the right place, and to the right person/people. It implies that one is able to connect the dots at the right way.

            One of the examples the author presents is the release of the Window 3.0. Two men met at a party held by Microsoft. One, Dave Weise, an engineer at Microsoft who owns a physics PhD and the other, Murray Sargent, a professor of optics at the University of Arizona who in his spare time had developed a program called an SST debugger. The conversation they had at the night they met each other started as “Windows…is a joke.” At the time Microsoft had technical difficult fixing the Windows operating system’s memory issue. They figured it out that if they could get Windows into protected mode then they could blow away the 640K RAM barrier. Instead of waiting for another day they took action right away. And the most explosive product Microsoft had ever produced was introduced (page107 –page 109). Two people met each other at the right place and at the right time. Click.

            Even though the author lists randomness as one of the 3 elements for click moment success and innovative creation are for those who work hard and are prepared. Without timely efforts and the conscientious mindset and attitude one wouldn’t have the opportunity to sense any openness for the click moment. “She broke all the rules, in a sense, because she didn’t consider them” (page 57) Here the statement refers to the author, Stephenie Meyer, of the Twilight series. This reminds me of a concept from another book about when everyone goes in one direction one should look at the opposite to discover opportunity. Serendipity comes when one looks at different directions or angles to find out new things, ideas, or openness for success.

            The author also states the role luck plays for the click moment. Sometimes one has to make purposeful bets to find luck and use passion as fuel in the process. “If you are driven by an intrinsic motivation such as passion, you have a better chance of producing creative work than if you are driven by external factors.” (page 169) This reminds me of the important role the passion plays in a person’s life, especially at the workplace. Passion a person owns drives a person to places no monetary currency could buy. Sense of achievement comes from the work of a person’s 1) hand (skills), head ( reasoning, problem solving, etc), and heart (passion and compassion).

            Click. Click. Click. But, are you ready?

March Read/Ruby

Title: Frozen: Anna's Icy Adventure

Author: Allen, Elise

Ruby's Read:

    Anna is the Princess of Arendelle, but she doesn't like this fancy title. For keeping the safety of Anna and her elder sister- Elsa, the king and queen don't allow them off the castle grounds. Anna doesn't like the rule at all, but she trusts her parents. One day a terrible shipwreck took the king and queen away, just two princesses were left.

    Years go by,  it's time for Elsa's coronation day, in just a few hours, she will take the oath and become Queen of Arendelle. Everyone is invited to witness the event, Anna pictures she will have the chance to meet new people and make friends, even falls in love with one handsome guy. Before the coronation, Anna runs into the courtyard, and she runs into a prince whose name is Hans from Southern Isles.

    The coronation is beautiful, Elsa smiles at and chats with Anna, Anna wishes it could be like this all the time, but Elsa tells her it couldn't be. Anna feels disappointed and walks away, she meets Hans again in the dancing hall, they dance, walk around the castle and talk for a while. Even though Hans and Anna just met, Anna believes it is true love, Hans asks Anna to marry him, and they want Elsa's blessing. Unfortunately, Elsa doesn't agree this marriage, she and Anna quarrel in front of the guests, all party guests see the ice shouts from Elsa's hand, everyone is scared. Elsa races out of the hall, and now ice is everywhere because of Elsa's magical power.

    Anna realizes why Elsa wears gloves all the time, and why Elsa is always so cold and distant. Anna thinks it's all her fault, she is going after Elsa, she will bring Elsa back and make everything back to normal. Anna tries to follow the same path Elsa took, but she can't sure, she finds a cabin and meets a man- Kristoff and his reindeer. Anna asks Kristoff to take her up the North Mountain for looking for Elsa.

    When they finally climb up to the North Mountain, Anna is impressed by the white and gorgeous view. At the same time there is a weird thing happened, a snowman shows bug he's alive and talks, he introduce himself is Olaf. Anna remembers she knows a snowman just like him, Elsa and she made when they were kids, Olaf leads them the way to Elsa. They find out an icy palace where Elsa stays now, Anna enters it and does her best to convince Elsa coming back home with her, but Elsa says she is fee now and refuses Anna's suggestion. Anna tries to persuade her sister again, Elsa is angry and hits Anna square in the chest, Anna doesn't dare to let Elsa know how much it hurts, Elsa waves her arms and then an unfriendly snowman appears, this creature chases them all the way to the edge of a cliff, the only escape from the monster is a two-hundred-foot leap straight down. They jump... and luckily land in a soft and cushy snowbank.

    Anna doesn't feel great and her hair has a long, thick section turns bright white, she also has a strange cold feeling in her body. Kristoff leads Anna to see his friends, he thinks they'll make everything okay. Kristoff's friends are trolls, there is a very old troll, he tells Anna that her life is in danger, there is ice in her heart, only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart, so Kristoff decides to sent Anna back to Hans.

    Hans is waiting for Anna, after he listened Anna's explanation, instead of kissing her, he tells Anna that he has no chance to be a king in his own kingdom, he needs to marry into the throne somewhere, that's why he wants to marry Anna, Anna is shocked but it's too late.

    Kristoff is coming back, he can't leave Anna behind, Anna sees Kristoff reaching the castle gate, she tries to get to him. Suddenly, Anna sees Hans raising his sword high above his head and moves closer to a girl on the ground - it is Elsa!! Anna summons every last bit of her strength and races to Elsa, She becomes an icy figure between Elsa and Hans.

    When Anna comes to, Elsa and her realize if love stopped Anna from freezing, maybe it will help their country,too. Elsa raises her hands to the sky, and sure enough, the snow and ice tant cobers the kingdom drifts back up to the sky. Summer is here again!

    After the guards take Hans away, Elsa and Anna gather the citizens of Arendelle and tell them about Elsa's gift, they are not afraid of anything anymore. Elsa and Anna know who they really are. Life will be different now.

March Read/Sherri 2

Title: Once We Were Brothers

Author: Balson, Ronald H.

Sherri’s Read:

            “Once We Were Brothers” by Ronald H. Balson is one of those books that gets you hooked from the beginning. Mr. Balson story telling keeps you wanting more even at the end. The main character Ben Soloman is the narrator but more importantly he’s the storyteller. He pulls in his audience with his memory of his experiences under Hitler’s rule.

            The book begins with Ben Soloman holding an empty Lugar to get Elliot Rosensweig to confess to being Otto Piatek, an ex-Nazi commander and executioner to many men, women, and children during the War.

The main story is told by Ben to his attorney Catherine Lockharl from whom was recommend to him by Adele Silver as her friend Liam Taggart suggested. Catherine spends most of her time listening to Ben’s story. Ben slowly tells her his story so as not to leave out any detail that would help his case. The story takes many twists and turns with all the characters only to end up in the United States where justice prevails.

March Read/Sherri

Title: The Outsiders

Author: Hinton, S.E.

Sherri’s Read:

            S.E. Hinton writes about a 1950’s gang of youngmen that were called “Greasers.” Their rivals were called the “Socs.” The “Greasers” wore blue jeans & T-shirts and greased their hair. The “Socs” were the wealthy spoiled gang. The main story is told by Ponyboy about his group of “Greasers” that was like family to him and his brothers since their parents were killed in a car wreck. Pony’s older brother Darry is left in charge but middle brother Sodapop is more nurturing to Pony.

            Pony & his best friend, Johnny, had to run away because Johnny killed a “Soc” that was trying to drown Ponyboy. The “Soc” that got killed was hurting Pony because they helped two of the “Socs” girlfriends home after the boyfriends left the girls stranded. Pony & Johnny got a friend Dallas to help them to escape. Dallas told them to hide out at an abandoned church. Dallas came to check on them and found the church was on fire and some school kids on a field trip were caught in the fire. Pony & Johnny went into the church to save the kids. The kids were saved but Johnny was killed.

The story has been read by many teenagers over the years as many identify with the book interactions amongst the teenagers and how they perceive the world.