Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

I was amazed I had to do an extended interlibrary loan to find this book, but pleased by the time it came in to find my own library already has the sequels. Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarianshad three generations of readers interested over Christmas vacation. My niece, her parents, and grandparents all were scrambling to finish the first novel before Grandma went back to Florida. By New Years, my niece was already working through the set I bought her for Christmas. I had preordered the last one released at the beginning of December to be sure it would be ready for Christmas.

My understanding is there are currently four books available.

Alcatraz Versus The Scrivener's Bones

Alcatraz Versus The Knights Of Crystallia

Alcatraz Versus The Shattered Lens


The rumor is Scholastic wants six books and the author only wants to write five. So readers who have finished the fourth are left waiting breathlessly while either the author finds another publisher or Scholastic gives in to angry readers who are demanding that the series be allowed to conclude. Scholastic is heavily dependent on loyal children reading their offerings so it is possible they could cave to pressure.

I am surprised more press has not been given to this series. I am not as current on children's literature as I was when I was in the classroom, but I still check around for good books for children. As a teacher, I was always looking for books that engaged kids. Series were a plus because when when a child finished one book, there was a desire to continue reading. This was a good thing. Sometimes it was hard to get them to break away and try new genres, but they were reading.

Another plus for this series is length. While many loved the doorstop quality of the Harry Potter novels, for challenged readers the length could be an obstacle. The Alcatraz novels are shorter making them more accessible and providing time for kids to read a variety of literature while still reading the whole series.

After polishing off my library copy, which is rather ironic if you have read the book, I have the second one on request. As I mentioned it is even available from my local library, which puts to test the author's theory that the librarians are suppressing the book as part of their evil plot to take over. You have to read the book to understand.

If you are looking for a fun fantasy series to check out for your classroom or your kids, Alcatraz might catch hold for you as it has in my family.

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Audio Books

I am a firm believer in reading aloud to kids. When I was a teacher I read both fiction and non-fiction books to my students. For students who were struggling readers, improving verbal reading comprehension skills and vocabulary often were ignored at the upper elementary level. Reading aloud did not prevent students from working on independent reading skills. Instead, it strengthened listening skills and gave them a chance to access material they might not have independently.

One long standing gift giving tradition has been buying books in combination with toys for presents for the kids in my family. I asked one relative for some book recommendations for his daughter. He credited me with buying, Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians on CD for his daughter. I have often lost track of which books I have bought for which kids. I come from a large family. My brothers and sisters now have kids and some even grandkids. Keeping track of which child has a certain book can be challenging. However, the CD was the key. I realized I rarely buy books on CD. Unless I know a parent is going to play them in the car, or the child will listen at home, the gift can be more of a burden than a help. If the parents request them, I will look. Normally however, I stick to print.

Sadly, this was the only book in the series that had been issued on CD. I bought the set that has been published to date in print for the child. It was a hit and by vacation's end, even Grandma had finished the first book before her flight back to Florida. It did get me rethinking the benefits of audio books.

Recently I started borrowing audio books from the library to listen to while exercising. I hate exercising and need distraction. I have tried music and TV, but they are not enough of a distraction to make me forget that I am torturing my body. After thinking about how excited the whole family got over listening to this book while traveling to and from school and errands, I got to wondering how distracted I might get while listening to a book and working out.

The first book I borrowed was Stephen King's The Colorado Kid from the library. I had been watching the TV series Haven that is loosely based on this book, but lacked the patience to wade through the book. My exercise times doubled as I found myself wanting to finish the disk. I am currently working on Salem's Lot . My exercise time is up to an hour and a half.

I have one of my favorite Agatha Christie novels and the book that started my interest in audio CD's on request from the library to keep my exercise routine going.

This could also be a great strategy to increase literacy time for families. Many spend a great deal of time in the car traveling. This time could be utilized to improve comprehension and listening skills by adding audio CD’s to the travel time. Libraries do carry a number of titles or these books can be great presents. Choose titles that make kids frustrated when the car stops. I had forgotten how useful audio books were during my MBTA commutes to work years ago. I would hate to turn off the story if I was at a good part when I arrived at work. It made me look forward to the trip home so I could return to the plot.

Choose stories for interest more than education. If you want to improve listening and comprehension skills, there are many good titles will keep kids coming back and improve those valuable skills. If they are bored, they will lose interest in the exercise.

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Liberty's Kids

I had parents video tape this series for me when I was teaching. I recently found a second hand copy of a book to pass on to a family member that is home schooling. While emailing her I decided to see if they had a website. Sure enough they do and I added it to the social studies section under American Revolution for future reference. However I will list it here as well in case you arrived her looking for it.

Liberty's Kids

Some have contacted me because I have not be updating this site frequently. In fact I have always intended this to be more of a resource site than an active blog. I generally just add the new resources to their categories. This allows me to find them easily and to share them with others who are looking for free resources. However, I also realize it is important to add a new entry once in a while.

If anyone is looking for specific resources please feel free to leave a comment. I am always happy to help.



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Have Fun Teaching

I have been busy with writing projects, my craft blog, and a new dog in the family and have not had much new information to create a new blog page. I continue updating the existing pages as I find new resources. I located a new to me resource site that I thought was worthy of blogging about after adding many of their resources links to the pages here. I decided I would write a blog notice since I have not seen them mentioned as frequently as some of the other sites teachers and homeschoolers use for free resources.

If you are looking for free worksheets, songs, videos, and flashcards, they are worth checking out.

Have Fun Teaching

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