Are you always dropping your iPod? Does your phone seem a bit ugly? Protect and prettify tomorrow at Pierre Berton with our latest Get Crafty program! We’re going to be making iPod/phone cases out of felt. No crafting skills required and it’s all FREE! Give us a call at 905-653-READ (7323) to register and stop by tomorrow at 2pm!

What do Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Lightning Thief and Scott Pilgrim all have in common? Well, besides the fact that they’re all amazing reads, they’re all coming to the big screen! I can’t wait to see how well they translate onto the screen. Scott Pilgrim of course takes place in Toronto (and there are even some Toronto Public Library locations featured in the graphic novel!) so it should be fun to see places where I’ve actually been.

Here are when the movies are coming out so you can make sure you read the books before then!

 Lightning Thief – February 12, 2010

Diary of a Wimpy Kid – April 2, 2010

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – 2010 sometime

Do you have a fantastic teacher who goes above and beyond to engage learners?  There is still time to nominate your teacher for the Premier’s Awards for Teaching Excellence.   Instructions for how to nominate a teacher can be found here.

Last night, I went to see Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, and Rachel McAdams.

I’ll start off by telling you that I’m not great fan of mysteries, in any media. It’s just my personality. So why did I go see a film about the greatest literary detective? Honestly, because I find Robert Downey Jr to be an excellent actor, but also because I was intrigued with the idea of a Sherlock Holmes movie that was more action based.

I was definitely not disappointed. The film was fantastic. Loads of action (if that’s what you’re interested in), a great mystery, humour – this movie had it all. Great acting, awesome special effects … it was definitely worth seeing. So whether you’re a fan of mysteries and detectives or not, you should see this film!

This week at PBRL’s TRAC meeting, we talked about what we’ve been reading and watching in 2009. What was hot and what was… well, not.

TRAC liked realistic fiction this year, picking books like Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Book Thief by Markus Zusak. We also loved graphic novels and manga. Our faves? Bone by Jeff Smith, and the mangas Deathnote and Fullmetal Alchemist. Some of the books teachers forced TRAC to read this year were actually good! (Shocker!) Though some were too boring.

Here’s what PBRL’s TRAC is reading this year:

• Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
• Deathnote by Tsugumi Ohba ; art by Takeshi Obata.
• Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori
• Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

(click on the links to place holds!) We were not fans of Twilight and didn’t really like Streetcar Named Desire (too angsty), or To Kill A Mockingbird (too slow moving). Some people liked Lord of the Flies and some didn’t.

How about you guys? What did you read in 2009? Were you too busy with school to read?

Watch this space for TRAC’s favourite movies of 2009, coming next week!