Book Review: Breakout

BREAKOUT by Kate Messner is a fast-paced story exploring issues of social justice and perspective.

When inmates from a local prison escape, Nora Tucker’s summer vacation is disrupted as her family, friends, and the entire community deals with the impact of the breakout. Of particular note is the author’s use of comics, poems, text messages, letters, and news stories to move the story forward. The book concludes with an author’s note and wonderful book list for young readers.

Librarians will find this book popular with students who enjoy books containing documents as part of the storyline. The story’s balance of suspense and social themes will broaden the appeal. The novel’s focus on multiple perspectives will appeal to teachers wishing to use this book for class discussions.

Published by Bloomsbury on June 5, 2018. ARC courtesy of the publisher.

Website Review: Whitehouse.gov

Feature the WHITEHOUSE website at http://www.whitehouse.gov as part of your President’s Day activities.

The Whitehouse website is organized into five major sections that are easy to access and use.

The Briefing Room section features timely information about the President’s activities and public statements. Think about ways that proclamations and executive orders could be integrated into informational reading activities related to language arts and social studies.

The Issues section examines key issues facing the nation and plans for addressing these challenges. Economy, education, energy and the environment, immigration, and health care are a few of the hot topics addressed. This page would be an excellent way to kick off information inquiry projects that make use of contemporary primary source documents.

The Administration section highlights the key people in the Obama-Biden administration. It also includes information about the Offices of the White House and current initiatives such as Let’s Move!

The Participate section encourages the public to participate in White House activities including Google+ Hangouts known as We the Geeks. Follow the Whitehouse on social media including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and others. This is an excellent activity to promote digital citizenship in your library.

The 1600 Penn section is a content-rich resource for learning about the US government, the Whitehouse, and the presidency. Of particular note is the excellent database of American Presidents at http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents.

To learn more, go to the Whitehouse website at http://www.whitehouse.gov/.