Reading Dante's Inferno - Ms. Sefton's Nine Circles of Hell Project

Every year around this time, Ms. Sefton asks her Sophomore English students for a "creative representation" of Dante's Inferno. She's always thrilled with the results.

Isabella caused the biggest stir this year with her nine-layer cake, covered with interesting ingredients like coconut (some burnt), red vines, gummy worms, chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, spray frosting, sprinkles, and (hard-to-work-with) fondant. Satan was represented by lichee and licorice.

The cake took three big sheet pans, many hours of preparation, and a vivid imagination to complete.

Feast de résistance!

After everyone admired Isabella's work of art, it was plates all around for classmates, followed by helpings by other classes. By the end of the day, the masterpiece was gone.

Isabella's (modest) comment? "It was more fun than doing a drawing."

A couple of days later, Ms. Sefton gave me a tour of her classroom, with the other creative representations still out. She pointed to a hell quilt meticulously crafted by Andie, who cleverly used color to show the intensifying heat.

Color quilt with 3-D effect.

Ms. Sefton continued around the art-filled room and stopped at a piece created by Valentin, who graduated last year. "I cried when I first saw this." Ms. Sefton said softly.

Watercolor by Valentin

(Valentin is attending School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has his own artist Facebook page.)

Ms. Sefton pointed to a stuffed creature in the corner. "We've had to stitch him up a couple of times -- the students just love him!"

She was referring to a stuffed Cerberus designed and hand-sewn by Dominic, a couple of years ago. Dominic just happened to be in the area, so we cajoled him into having a photo taken with his three-headed creation.

Cerberus with its creator

  

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Ah yes, the imagination ... it's such a wonderful thing. And we are the joyful beneficiaries.

Congratulations to all of Ms. Sefton's students, for their fantastic "creative renditions" of Dante's Inferno throughout the years! 

(◕‿◕✿)

@mauilibrarian2 

I wonder what next year will bring ... 

Proof-Positive that My 7th Grade Advisees Love to Read

My advisees love to read!

I found this out last week -- it all happened so quickly!

As our advisory period was ending, I fired a series of quick-response questions to my advisees. Last question was (totally unplanned, I swear):

"What books do you absolutely love that you would recommend?"

Turned out, almost everyone recommended a book series -- an unexpected bonus! Proof-positive in my opinion that my advisees are excited about reading ... :)

Here's the list, enthusiastically shouted out to me in rapid-fire fashion: 

Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa 

The Lost Hero series by Rick Riordan 

Cahills vs. Vespers series by Gordon Korman, Jude Watson, Peter Lerangis, Linda Sue Park, and David Baldacci

The Tiger's Curse series by Colleen Houck 

Inheritance, the last book in the Eragon series by Christopher Paolini, due out November 8, 2011

Watch Christopher Paolini as he completes the final page of his series.

And the book?

Miss Peregine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

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Did I mention (this week) how much I love my job? 

(◕‿◕✿)
@mauilibrarian2  

Wanna Know What Our Seniors Read?

I'm always looking for good books for our students to read. (You: Tell me something I don't know, Ms. Lindsay...)

So when I discovered Mr. Hodara's Senior English website, with a discussion board revolving around what Seniors read over the summer, I was all eyes.

I loved reading the posts!

Mr. Hodara kindly gave me permission to share the summer reads that his students discussed.

(in no particular order)

1. Go Ask Alice, Anonymous
2. Water for Elephants, Gruen
3. *Shanghai Girls, See
4. The Lovely Bones, Sebold
5. *The Color Code, Hartman
6. Hunter Games, Collins
7. Mockingjay, Collins 
8. Catching Fire, Collins
9. *Eyes of the Emperor, Salisbury
10. Under the Blood Red Sun, Salisbury
11. Dreams From My Father, Obama
12. Travels with Charley, Steinbeck
13. Lock and Key, Dessen
14. That Summer, Dessen
15. Along for the Ride, Dessen
16. Gone With the Wind, Mitchell
17. Looking for Alaska, Green
18. The Path of the Assassin, Thor
19. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox, Colfer
20. Ender's Game, Card
21. *A Dance with Dragons, Martin
22. The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien
23. The Two Towers, Tolkien
24. *The Rogue Crew, Jacques
25. *The Evolution of Calpurina Tate, Kelly
26. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rowling
27. Into the Wild, Krakauer
28. *The Sicilian, Puzo
29. Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury
30. *At First Choice, Sparks
31. Shantaram, Roberts
32. *Again to Carthage, Parker
33. A Long Way Gone, Beah
34. *Pipe Dreams, Slater
35. Angela's Ashes, McCourt
36. *The Social Animal, Brooks
37. A Room With a View, Forester
38. Feed, Anderson
39. Battle Royale, Takami
40. Forever, Blume
41. Speak, Anderson
42. Siddhartha, Hesse
43. *Thin, Rich, Pretty, Harbison
44. The Glass Castle, Walls
45. The Warlock, Scott
46. A History of Pi, Martel
47. *Haunt Me Still, Carrell
48. *Maps of Bones, Rollins
49. Fallen Angels, Myers
50. Animal Farm, Orwell
51. Hatchet, Paulsen
52. *Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect, Rotella
53. Angels and Demons, Brown
54. *Seven Summits, Bass, et al.
55. Nine Stories, Salinger
56. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
57. Outliers, Gladwell
58. Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner
59. Brunelleschi's Dome, King
60. Ishmael, Quinn
61. *Flags of Our Fathers, Bradley
62. A Million Little Pieces, Frey
63. The Devil in the White City, Larson
64. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Larsson
65. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Larsson
66. *Procession of the Dead, Shan
67. *Crazy for the Storm, Ollestad
68. The Hobbit, Tolkien
69. On the Road, Kerouac
70. White Oleander, Fitch
71. *Ahab's Wife, Naslund
72. *Admission, Korelitz
73. *The China Study, Campbell
74. *Uncommon Criminals, Carter
75. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Shaffer and Barrows
76. The Diary of a Young Girl, Frank
77. *The Hawaiians (Version Often Untold)
78. The Help, Stockett
79. *Leviathan Wakes, Corey
80. The Naked Sun, Asimov

* = We don't already have these. Ordering ...

Our Seniors know I treasure these book reviews. Here's a blast from the past (remember Middle School Readers Advisory at lunch?), for our Seniors' enjoyment.

Review of The Guardians of Gahoole, 4:06 min.

MAHALO to Brendan, for allowing me to share this golden oldie!  His recommendations have helped a lot of our Middle School readers over the years. And there were other lunchtime book reviewer stars too: Laura, Kyla, Justine, Nick, Haley -- thanks very much!

(◕‿◕✿)
@mauilibrarian2