Website: Mood-O-Meter

TURNER’S APOTHECARY MOOD-O-METER is a web project from the Peabody Essex Museum.

This engaging interactive experience allows student to examine and analyze selected artwork by J.M.W. Turner. Thirty-seven works of this British painter are featured. Included in the project are unfinished works, experimental sketches, drawings, watercolors and prints.

Users navigate the website via a series of choices, spin a dial, turn a knob, and swipe to move an element. Students begin by rotating a dial to choose a journey, then select a color for your current mood. Next players are asked to choose a genre for light reading. Users continue by making a few more choices and the Mood-O-Meter displays a prescribed Turner artwork.

Librarians can use the website to analyze the temperaments that were used during Turner’s lifetime to describe moods, such as sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic, sublime, and joyful. Connect the website with psychology and art teachers.

To learn more, go to http://turner.pem.org

Website Review: TED-Ed Series

TED-ED Series are connected videos exploring educational topic across the curriculum.

The TED-Ed Series provides a quick way to locate nearly 50 educational video collections. For instance, Periodic Videos contains 118 videos focusing on topics relating to science and the periodic table. Users click on an element for a lesson and video. The series titled The Way We Think explores nearly 100 topics related to psychology, sociology, thinking, and learning. The Mysteries of Vernacular explores dozens of odd and interesting words.

Librarians will find this website to be an excellent way to seek out useful videos for the K-12 curriculum. Browse through the sets of videos and connect them with the communications, STEM, and social science curriculum.

To visit the website, go to https://ed.ted.com/series.

Book Review: Underwater

UNDERWATER by MARISA REICHARDT is a powerful story of tragedy, recovery, and reconnection with the world.

After a traumatic experience, Morgan is unable to leave her apartment. With the help of a new neighbor, a therapist, and her family, she begins to takes slow steps into the outside world. Along the way, she learns to forgive others and herself.

The author effectively peels away the layers of Morgan’s life-altering experience to reveal the tragic story behind her agoraphobia.

Librarians will find that readers enjoy the realistic, contemporary story with a hint of romance. This character-driven young adult novel draws attention to a variety of issues from PTSD to school shootings making it a timely choice for today’s teen audience.

To learn more about the author, go to http://www.marisareichardt.com/.

Published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan on January 12, 2016. ARC courtesy of the publisher.

Website Review: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

The AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION (AFSP) website provides resources to help youth and educators deal with suicide prevention and loss.

It’s National Suicide Prevention Week. The AFSP website provides a wealth of resources for educators working with youth. The resource is divided into sections.

The Understanding Suicide area provides quality information about suicide as a serious public health problem. The easy-to-read informational pages would be excellent resources for student projects as well as background information for educators. Topics include facts and figures, suicide warning signs, suicide risk factors, key research findings, engaging people with lived experience, and FAQs. Librarians will find these materials useful in displays along with books on the topic.

The Preventing Suicide section discusses suicide warning signs, finding help, treatment, and an interactive screening program. Specific educational materials and programs are aimed at teens and young adults.

The Coping with Suicide Loss area is specifically designed to help those who have lost loved ones to suicide.

The Research area is useful for those seeking more depth into the causes, treatments, and interventions associated with suicide and prevention.

The Advocacy and Public Policy section discusses ways that individuals and schools can get involved with becoming suicide prevention advocates.

For more information about National Suicide Prevention Week, go to http://www.afsp.org/…/in-t…/national-suicide-prevention-week. Consider using their sharable graphics at your school website or social media presence.

To visit the general website, go to http://www.afsp.org.