Agatha Christie was a Surfer! How Cool is That?

I think Mrs. Martelles and other And Then There Were None aficionados will love this little tidbit of information (or, she may already know).

➥Agatha Christie's surfing secret revealed 

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@mauilibrarian2

"Your Next" Series: Read, Film, Game, Present - A COOL Set of Sites!

Thanks to Richard Byrne for his suggestion of Your Next Read, which is a visual search engine for finding books. Here's a nice description and review of Your Next Read by AppAppeal.

The site will be a fantastic addition to our library's list of book-finding sites
Find a Book to Read ✧✧✧✧✧
I notice that Your Next Read co-founders Robert Boland and Marko Dukic also created three other sites using the same design:

Your Next Game: Video Game Recommendations
Your Next Present: Present Recommendations
Your Next Film: Film Recommendations

The series taps the expertise of its audience -- a social media feature we've come to expect. They all have a thumbs-up, thumbs-down method for reader input. Simple and effective -- I like it!

The sites are ad-free; the creators get a small percentage of any book, film, present, or game you purchase from Amazon. See their Support Us page for Books.

You can sign up, but you don't need to.

"Signing up allows us to store your preferences, remember your recommendations (so you can see what you've already recommended when you return) and hear about updates and improvements to the site."

I find this transparent business model clean, elegant and inobtrusive, and I think the "Your Next" series services will be extremely helpful for our students and teachers.

Can't wait to see how these sites develop!

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@mauilibrarian2

Try These Funny (and other Terrific) Books for Tween Girls, Sarah!

No, Sarah, I hadn't forgotten your request for "a list for 4-7th grade girls" in response to my blog post: These Books Will Make Teen Boys Laugh :D

Not sure if you meant any good books for girls that age, or books that would make girls laugh.

Here's a site that lists funny books for girls:

From worldcat.org "Funny Books for Girls" by Engelfried

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You can do a search on Story Snoops, a book suggestion site that I trust, to find books using various criteria. My search for funny books that have a girl as a main character, for ages 9-12, yielded these results:

The Franny K. Stein Mad Scientist series by Jim Benton
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume
The Effy Maloney series by Mary Hershey
Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath
The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang by Amy Ignatow
Forever Rose by Hilary McKay
Geek Chic: The Zoey Zone by Margie Palatini
Olivia Kidney by Ellen Potter
The Dork Diaries series by Rachel Renee Russell
I So Don't Do Mysteries by Barrie Summy

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Coincidentally, another Sarah who loves reading

The sites below list books that aren't necessarily noted for humor (although they may indeed be funny), but they are likely to be terrific:

Great Books for Girls - The Top Picks of over 150 teachers, librarians, and girls themselves

Hoagies' Hot Topics Reading List: Girls and Young Women

Adventure Books for Middle School Girls from LM_Net (informal school librarian network)

Books - Tween Girls - Parents and Summer Reading from (trusted) Good Housekeeping

Books for Girls from aBookandaHug.com. List is divided into four categories and searchable by reading level. aBookandaHug is a wonderful social reading and list-making site for children.

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And of course there are sites that list funny books for both boys and girls. Here are two I like:

Funny Books for Third Through Sixth Grade Students from Oakland Library
Funny Books for Kids « I'm Just Sayin

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There are many other sites, but these are the ones I recommend.

Hope this gets your 4-7th grade girl reader started, Sarah! (I think Selma might be interested in this list too)

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@mauilibrarian2