What type of book do you like?

In "A Thomas Jefferson Education" Mr. DeMille quotes Daniel Taylor’s The Healing Power of Stories in which Mr. Taylor categorizes books in 4 different categories. They are 1) Bent; 2) Broken 3) Whole and 4) Healing As you are involved with your student, it helps to be able to determine which type of story you are reading. Each type has a different purpose and will influence how the book is understood. Following, you will find taken from Dr. DeMille's book the defination of the four types of stories. See if you can tell them apart next time you sit down with a good read. Bent stories are those that make evil good and encourage the vilest of reactions and emotions. Pornography is one example. Broken stories are those where evil is evil and good is good, but evil wins. Books like The Lord of the Flies or Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle are examples of Broken stories. Because Broken stories can be very disturbing, they can often serve to motivate people to get involved in fixing what is broken, changing the wrongs addressed in the books. Whole stories are those where good is good and evil is evil, and good wins in the end. Most classics and wholesome literature fall into this category. Little Women and Robin Hood are two examples of many. Healing stories are those which are either Broken or Whole where the reader is emotionally drawn in and changed significantly for the better by reading it. Charlotte’s Web could be considered a Healing story. As we read about what happens to Charlotte and Wilbur, we are saddened, and yet by the end of the story we’ve grown as we’ve seen their relationship and personalities grow. Can you tell which catergory your favorite book falls into? CCB

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

If you see your student come home with a turquoise blue book, be sure to ask them about it! "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" will open your mind and eyes in a curious and unique way. As I read the opening chapters of this unusual book, I understood thoughts and feelings that my student had been trying to share with me for several months. CCB

Jane Austin

When thinking of the classics, Jane Austin seems to be one of the first authors that come to mind. The following link will take you to a site that lists many of her works and speaks of her life. There are several titles of Miss Austin in the Paradigm Library. We would encourage you to visit the following link to discover with your student some of the works of this prolific author. Thanks for visiting! CCB Jane Austin

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

Have you ever wished that you could read some of the material that your students are required to read? Now you can! The following link takes you to Mark Twain's novel "My Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc". The text is there in its entirety. Surprise your students and begin a discussion with them regarding this Twain classic! Mr. Twain is well-known for his works "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer". However, of his work, Mr. Twain said of the "Personal Recollections" novel "I like Joan of Arc best of all my books; and it is the best; I know it perfectly well. And besides, it furnished me seven times the pleasure afforded me by any of the others; twelve years of preparation, and two years of writing. The others need no preparation and got none." CCB "Personal Recollections of Mark Twain"

Internet Public Library

We have discovered the greatest resource for parents and students! It is the Internet Public Library or IPL. We have added this link to our site so that you can get there quickly. It has the complete text of many of the books that the school is using. It also has research capabilities and reference helps. Please check out this great site! CCB

Brandon Mull

Paradigm High Library had the great opportunity of listening to Brandon Mull on Nov. 3, 2009. Mr. Mull is the author of the popular series "Fablehaven". His visit was arranged through the network of Ms. Hanson, one of the English teachers at Paradigm. The students met in the library in 2 sessions and enjoyed Mr. Mull's presentation. The following article was written by Matt Boren, from Paradigm High who attended the presentation. Author Time Paradigm is known for its unusual and exciting classes. Students have the option of taking Astronomy, Leadership, and a variety of other remarkable classes. Another characteristic class of Paradigm is Novel Writing, where young aspiring authors work on their books and help each other improve. Recently, the school arranged for none other than Brandon Mull, bestselling author of the Fablehaven fantasy series, to come and give professional advice to aspiring novelists. Mr. Mull gave advice about many different facets of writing a book. One of the pieces of advice he gave was to be a good observer. If you pay attention to your surroundings, you’ll better be able to describe it to someone, a useful skill in Novel Writing. Character development and plot/conflict also featured big in his presentation. With the advice of a bestselling author now in their mental databases, I’m sure Paradigm will produce many great and famous authors. Thank you for your time and wisdom, Mr. Mull! CCB