Louis L'Amour

One of the authors of our textbooks is Louis L'Amour. The students study from "The Lonesome Gods", "Sackett's Land", and "Bendigo Shafter". Mr. L'Amour is best known for his western stories. However, he has also studied about and written about other time periods. One such title "The Walking Drum" was on the #1 bestselling list. "The Walking Drum" is written during the period of about 1000AD. It is the story of a young man that is on a search for his father. He travels the known world and talks about his adventures and what he learns. It is really interesting because he "slips in" life lessons when you're not looking. There is a great link that has information about Mr. L'Amour and his life. You can find it at Louis L'Amour. CCB

Forest Born

Tiffany Carerrio, one of our students, just read "Forest Born" by Shannon Hale. I asked her to write a little bit about the story. This is what she said: "I read Forest Born by Shannon Hale and I like how it enchanted me with the girl named Rinna. Forest Born though she is, she feels like the trees have abandoned her. In this story she journeys with Razo and his love Dasha so she can find out what's wrong with her. When she meets Sis, Enna and Tusken, she finds an adventure that will change her for the rest of her life. But she also finds lying within her waiting to come again into the world and make itself known. A deep dark secret that involves her ability to speak and then get what she wants. In her quest to overcome her fear of speaking, she learned what we all have to learn: we all have a fear of doing something we want to do but if we don't let go sometimes, and sometimes hold back, our gift will leave and find another because we don't use it. If we don't control it and use it for good, then it will consume us and hurt us and others around us. When I think about the book, I can feel its words flow through me and change me again and again. What will you find in yourself if you read this book? What will inspire you to do good?" Thanks Tiffany! Enjoy. CCB

Internet Sites

Parents---one of the greatest challenges of the internet is teaching your children that just because it is written doesn't make it real or true. One of the most popular sites that school kids use in research is Wikipedia. This site has the potential of being changed by anyone that has an account. There isn't a lot of control over who changes what or how accurate the information is. Because it has such potential, it also has the potential to be a very unreliable source--especially for academic research. For that purpose, I have added 3 links to the blog to the left side that will take you to well-documented sources. PLEASE teach your kids to be picky in their trust of resources and to have them prove their information. Thanks to Mr Simmons here at school, I have found another awesome resource for full text articles.The Gutenberg Projectcan be found at the following link: The Gutenberg Project Mr. Simmons also taught me about the Internet History Source Book which also has complete articles. I enjoyed one written by Pasteur on the necessity of cleanliness in the surgical theater. It was neat to be able to go to the original source and to get a feeling for the individual. If you need original history documents, you can go to the following link: The Internet History Source Book Part of the vision here at Paradigm is to help parents help their children in their understanding of truth. In order to understand it, they must be able to get it from unpolluted sources. These links are an effort in helping you as we work together to give our children truth. Enjoy! CCB

Finishing Becca

Ok--so I finished reading "Finishing Becca" this week-end. I had looked forward to this for several days so it was nice to have a little while to complete it. I was really disappointed in the last half of the book. The first part of the book was spent in developing the chief antagonist--Peggy Shippen. The character development was well done. The relationship between Miss Shippen and Andre was fully developed but when it switched to Benedict Arnold, much was left out and/or left to the imagination. The saving grace was that through an extensive author's note, we learned that Peggy is credited with the actual turning of Benedict Arnold. How she went about that is given very little attention in the story. There were a lot of "how" questions that were unanswered as I came to the end of the story. The writing style and the "voice" of the story was enjoyable and it was easy to read but I probably wouldn't read it again. CCB

Classic Books

One of the hallmarks of Paradigm Library is that we are trying to direct the students to a deeper level of learning and studying. We do that through the use of "classical books". But what is the definition of classical? For me, there are 2 elements of classical. One is that it has stood the test of time--that it is relevant today as well as when it was written. The second is the question--would I read it again and again? For each of us, there are different definition of classic but those two elements have worked well for me. CCB

Hard to find books

Hello! I just have to tell you---I have found the most fabulous site for books! I have been looking for some older, out of print books and found what I was looking for at abebooks.com. I have been looking for titles by Irving Stone to add to the library and I found him! This particular author is one of my favorite. It was like finding a long lost friend. If you are looking for some harder to find titles, check out Abe Books. Moreover, the prices can't be beat! Have a great day! CCB

Ann Rinaldi

One of the books that we were able to obtain through the book fair is entitled "Finishing Becca". It is written by Ann Rinaldi. Ms. Rinaldi is well-known for her historical fiction--for being able to portray the era in an entertaining way. "Finishing Becca" is my first experience with Ms. Rinaldi but I find her novel to be engaging and promising. I am excited to be able to finish this appealing story. If you would like to know more about this talented author, the following link will take you to a biographical page. Ann Rinaldi

Pioneer Library

Parents, did you know that the state of Utah has created a site for your student that will open up a virtual library to you and your student. All you need to have to access this incredible site is a public library card. The site link is:Pioneer Library This site has every major news magazine, most major newspapers, including the Deseret News,and The Salt Lake Tribune. It has links that will open new cultures to your student. Perhaps most impressive is that everything is vetted--it can't be changed. And there are complete articles--not just teasers and headlines. If you want a reliable site, check this one out! CCB

Book fair

Thank you parents and students of Paradigm High School! Due to the hard work of our library staff, amazing parents and super students, our library has earned $1600.00 in books from our book fair last week! We are so excited! We also recognize that those results are because of your help and support. We are so very grateful for all the time that parents spent in monitoring the fair; in helping set up and take down; in making assignments; in serving breakfast; just everything. We have chosen not to list every parent individually because we would certainly leave someone out but please be assured that your help and support are invaluable! Now that we have our new books, we are busy covering the paperbacks with contact paper to help them last longer. If you would be interested in helping in that project, please feel free to call the school and ask for the library. The books would be taken home. You would have 2 weeks to get them covered and returned to school. It would also help you fulfill your volunteer hours. Considering that a large part of our library consists of paperback books, this will be a long term project and so we look forward to the help of our wonderful parents. Once again--thanks for all your amazing support! It is a privilege to associate with your students at Paradigm High School. CCB