Some really great sites to create a stellar presentation et al!

So, I'm waiting for Animoto to finish my booktalk preview I show when the kids are all coming in.
As I'm doing that, I started thinking about all the sites and apps I use or think about using when I begin creating my booktalk.  So here are some you may find just as amazing to use as I do.

Online image editors:

Thanks to creative online genius,the perfect image editor was born! PicMonkey allows users to upload and modify images from cropping to color to frames and so much more!  I use it when creating my book trailers to add depth and complexity to just another flat image.  And the extras are awesome!  Create/add zombie, vampire, and ghost features as well as themed backgrounds and textures.  This is a go-to must have website.  Currently, it has no app, but some things are better to manipulate online.

Need to find something out of the ordinary to use for your blog, presentation or to share?  Imagechef  may be the answer to your needs.  Creates anything from personalized notes to word mosaics to so much more.  And it's all free!  And this site has a companion app, so either way you can create and share.

 Video creators, web-based and app-based:
  Gotta love Animoto!  If you haven't used it in awhile, you're in for a nice surprise.  The reconfiguration now includes different video styles, awesome CC music, and instant social media sharing.  As always, you can include video and text into this.  Worth the price (but you can get an educator discount!)  No wonder this is a cornerstone of technology for education!  Animoto has an app but search in the iPhone section.  Currently there isn't one for the iPad.

If you want to try something new without the headache of learning a difficult platform like Adobe or Sony, make your way over to ProShow Web.  Their free account allows users to create a full-on video or trailer with a lot of the intuitive bells and whistles of other video programs.  The only caveat is the free version will only allow 15 photos, but text is unlimited.  I made a full trailer using Proshow with really excellent results! There's an app for that as well.

And the fun continues with those powerful little creatures called apps...
This is what I have in my photography folder on my iPad, and I use these for personal and educational use.  The sky's the limit on these!

Image Editing Tools
ColorBlast!Lite:  allows you to upload and create a beautifully modified picture that contains color within a black and white photo.  Post it on social media or email to yourself. It's addicting!

Instagram:  enough said.  Contains several filters to give your boring picture pizazz and pop!  When you create an account, you can also view it online but only if it's a public account.  Allows sharing and email.

Photofunia:  Take a pic and instantly make it into so many other items, including billboard signs, book pages, magazine covers, and so much more.  Also includes many filters you can use within categories. Save, email or share via social media.  This is SUPER fun!!  

Pho.to Lab:  does the same thing as Photofunia and is an excellent alternative.  Just have fun with this and the creativity and imagination will begin to flow.  

Snapseed:  The ultimate in photo editing on your iPad.  Contains many tools to edit and diversify your photo.  The best way to learn this is download and play with the image already provided.  You'll be hooked.  Hands down my favorite image editing app.

Pixlromatic: take an image, choose from the many options of filters, backgrounds and frames, and you've successfully modified it into something gorgeous!  

Video Apps
 Vine:  Got six seconds?  That's all you get with this nifty video app.  Video what's most important to you and Vine creates a collaged video worthy of sharing.  You can share or embed them as well as create your own account.  People are doing some pretty cool things with this app!

VidRhythm:  Okay, I don't use this when creating book trailers, but I had a blast creating one!  You pick the song and style, and follow the directions while recording.  The end result is, well...just see for yourself :)

Picture Collages 
Frametastic:  You decide what frames, theme and images to use, the app will put it together for you.  Simple as that.  

PicCollage: like frametastic, you can build a collage from your pics, Facebook, or camera.  Then put in some text, add stickers and your collage is done.  Even more than that, with creativity, you can make a quick infographic to send out and share.  

 
 

Getting a little deeper with digital curation

Tonight I'll be co-hosting a Twitterchat about digital curation and its implications on education today with fellow librarian, Sue Fitzgerald.  Since first hearing about digital curation a couple of weeks ago, I started truly researching the subject.  It's about sharing, collaboration, discussion, and PLN.  If you want to join me, it'll be tonight at 8:30 pm CST.  The hashtag is #nisdnov8.
(if you've never done a tweetchat, just search for this hashtag and keep refreshing it every 30 seconds or so to read what people have contributed to the topic.  If you want to tweet something to share, just say what you want but use the hashtag before or after your twitter)

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Simon & Schuster, 2012

Three weeks ago, on the day of her birthday, Taylor got the most horrible birthday present of all.  That was the day she found out her father had cancer.  Worse still, he had perhaps three months left.  So to make the most of it, the Edwards family will carve out their last summer together, not apart at different camps or working in the law firm.  This time, family comes first.

The last thing Taylor wanted was to pack up with her family and stay the summer in their lake house on the Poconos.  Her older brother Warren has only university classes on the brain, and her much younger sister Gelsey will be doing barre exercises and continuing to practice her ballet.  Besides not connecting with her siblings, there is something else that makes Taylor truly not want to go....something awful she did the last time she was there.


Summers at Lake Phoenix were not always so terrible.  Taylor remembers her best friend Lucy and all the conversations they shared, the sleepovers they had, and how she idolized her.  She also remembers Henry.  He was her first boyfriend, the guy she first held hands with, and the one who gave her that first kiss.  Now, she dreads facing them again and what will happen if they ever bump into each other. 

Once there, Taylor feels like she's stepped back in time.  The lake house was the same as it was five years ago - nothing has changed.  Even the town itself hasn't changed a lot.  The cafe is still there along with the PocoMart and the signs in front of everyone's home.  A few things have changed though, like new neighbors and the fact that Henry's house is now occupied by someone else.

As they get settled in to a new routine of summer living and her father's failing health, Taylor's memories flood back and soon she finds herself face-to-face with her first kiss and her used-to-be best friend.  And the summer begins of being lost then found...

Matson delivers again and an emotionally charged and beautifully written book.  She is able to combine the most basic emotions a person carries and interprets them through her characters, especially that of Taylor.  While other YA books may put parents in a secondary role, Matson brings them to the forefront as the catalyst in all of the character's lives.  Her allusions are striking as well and readers should be able to pick up on these while reading or through hindsight.  There is a word of caution with the book though.  Don't read this in public, at school, or near little children.  Why?  It's not because of content but....well, I dare anyone who hasn't read this not to cry when you do, and it won't be the quiet crying thing either.  It's the deep sobs and the tears that won't stop.  Really....And that is a sign of authentic writing by an author who can really touch a reader's hidden emotional side. Think Sparks' The Last Song or Green's Fault in Our Stars - Matson's book definitely has that pull.  Recommended (along with tissues and a caution to remove contact lenses!) 

Hot and Fresh! New book trailer for Fateful by Claudia Gray

It's been awhile since I made one of these, and although it took me longer to create this, it felt like an old blanket. Enjoy!

To watch and download this trailer from the NHS Library site
To watch/embed from Youtube
To watch/embed from Schooltube

 

Infographic: Make the most of your library

Smore.com is super new, super fun and super easy!  Here's one I created in about an hour :)

Two Paths Down the Dystopian Road - Safekeeping and Legend

Putnam, 2011

The year is 2130, and the Republic with its Elector Primo is now in control.  The citizens of the different parts of the new Los Angeles must fight against two fronts – the colonies trying to destroy the regime and the terrible sickness that decimates the poorer sectors of this new nation. 

June doesn’t know about this struggle.  She and her brother Matias live in a high rise, literally above all the chaos the Republic tries to hide.  She and Matias are some of the precious few to receive the vaccinations to ensure their health.  Although her parents died when she was little, Matias takes more than excellent care of her.  In fact, June is the only one to go through the Trial with a perfect score, leading her into the ranks of those loyal to the Republic.

Day lives a life of theft, deceit and invisibility.  Lurking in the shadows of the poor sectors, he sees the lack of food and healthcare take the population into despair.  The only way he knows how to alter the situation is to fight against the Republic and steal what should be shared with all citizens – the vaccinations needed against this new outbreak.  The Republic knows about him, but his elusiveness has created a shadow figure for them.  They know he’s there, but not what he looks like, where he lives, or how he manages to do the things he does.

June and Day’s lives will emerge one fateful night that will send them both on a quest for revenge…

Marie Lu writes an excellent dystopia novels that fans of this genre will fly through.  Her characters are colorful and jump out of the page, but it’s the future of the world as we knew it that permeates the reader’s emotional response.  Told in two voices, the reader gets to intimately know both sides of society as well as be privy to each character’s thoughts and personal lives.  If you have readers who clamor for more dystopia titles, hand them this one....

Fiewel and Friends, 2012

Radley remembers her parents dropping her off at the airport so she help with relief work for the children of Haiti.  It’s a passion of hers and has decidedly changed her life, but not as much as when she returns back to the United States.

Upon arrival, she knows something is wrong.  First of all her parents are nowhere to be found.  Secondly, the way the soldiers treat her after she lands is beyond the typical TSA thing most passengers coming back from overseas deal with.  There’s a sense of urgency, danger.  Radley returns to a different United States than when she left.   

The American’s People’s Party has taken over the country.  With the assassination of the President, the United States is left in turmoil with a renegade government trying to take control through force.  Radley realizes this right away.  Now there are curfews, bank accounts are drained, people are missing, and travel restrictions are tight.  There are also APPs everywhere, catching those that break the rules and beating them.  

All Radley wants is to go home and find her parents.  But her path leads to even more devastation, both emotional and physical.  Everyone is desperate, and personal survival above others is dominant.  Little food, roaming soldiers, broken homes.  Radley has heard Canada is a place of safekeeping, so that is where she begins her trek…and also where she encounters people and places that will change her life.

Karen Hesse is a beautiful writer and this is more than apparent in this YA dystopia novel.  Her words blend with the personal photographs she uses that are scattered throughout the book.  This book is also unique in its genre.  Hesse centers her book around the journey and how the main character changes emotionally through it from the people she meets and the places she stays.  While other dystopian books have a flair of action-packed situations with daring and fearless characters, Hesse’s book takes a gentle approach, looking more at the weakness of her character and how she becomes stronger.  It will take a different reader who can adjust to this change in genre to  enjoy this pictorial novel with a nearly poetic flair.   

Cool Book Display!

Collaboration can create amazing things.  You can share, contribute, throw out ideas and brainstorm.  There can be nothing better than working with colleagues that could be miles away or just down the road. 

So, when I was thinking of a display, this collaborative list of titles came into play.  There are at least six displays in the library and on the door, each book cover has been printed in color with "I FEEL LIKE" centered in the middle.  Did this to the coffee shop windows attached to the library as well :)

And a well-deserved kudos to my library assistant who helped me with this display and all the other ones as well :)

Fateful by Claudia Gray

HarperTeen, 2011

Tess knows she wants more out of life, but also knows there's a slim chance that will ever happen.  So she's  content for now with her position at Moorcliffe as an attendant to Irene, the only daughter of the wealthy Lisle family.  But one errand will open the door to another life, one more dark and sinister than Tess could have imagined.

Trying to get back to the manor as quickly as she can, Tess realizes something is following her, but the intervention of a handsome stranger creates a barrier that saves her.  When she turned around, she saw the feral eyes of a large black wolf, ready to hunt....

For days afterward, all Tess can think about is the handsome stranger who saved her life.  His cryptic warnings of danger cannot overcome the thoughts that lurk in Tess's mind.  But the drudgery of her job working for the terrible Lady Regina dispels those thoughts....until Tess realizes she'll be part of the Lisle family going to America.

Tess's excitement at the prospect of traveling by ship to America is full of promise, as well as the hope she can escape her servanthood and find herself in a new country.  The excitement grows even more when she also spots the handsome Alec, who saved her that fateful night.  But there is another sinister, dark man also watching her every move....

And so everyone prepares to board the Titanic one very fateful day. 

I picked this book up from a recommendation of a student, who loved this book.  So I set aside the analytical librarian book reviewer part of it and ready it like a teen girl.  Then I understood why she loved it so much. 
The characters Gray creates are vibrant, but more than that, the relationships, both troubling and romantic, draws the reader in.  What a genius idea of pairing supernatural beings like werewolves with a historic disaster like the Titanic.  It's a supernatural historical fiction plot I've never heard of. And that's what the hook is....The reader is left with the question of who survives and who dies.  Teens who enjoy supernatural romance will eat this book up and would be a nice addition among all the vampires, ghosts, angels and ghouls.

COMMON CORE PAIR: Iceberg Right Ahead!: the tragedy of the Titanic by Stephanie McPherson.  Minneapolis: 21st Century Books, 2012

What is Digital Curation and How Do I Use It?

Most of us have done it, but didn't know it.  Do you have a Pinterest account?  How about Diigo or Delicious?  Ever created a Livebinders or Scoop.it?  How about Flipboard for Facebook and Twitter?  If there's a site you've joined that allows you to store information "database style" then you have curated.  I'm beginning to see more potential in this newest virtual tool, not only to collect and arrange online data, but also using the search bar to find more information as well as interact with colleagues online and see what their curation is that I can benefit from.
Today I started Scooping and I'm loving it!  I have two that I'm curating right now.  (interestingly enough, two days ago I realized I already had an account, but never used it!)  I also created a Pearltrees account about 6 months ago, but now I think I understand the concept more....
And what created this spark?  Seeing these ScoopIt links on Twitter from colleagues, which prompted to me start playing and learning it.  I've definitely scooped me some curating love!

Simply Amazing:  libraries and All Things Related
http://www.scoop.it/t/simply-amazing-libraries-and-all-things-related
Book Trailers for 21st Century Readers
http://www.scoop.it/t/book-trailers-for-21st-century-readers


 Here are some links to information about curation and how it's used in education:

A Straightfoward Guide to using Pinterest in Education:
http://edudemic.com/2012/12/a-straightforward-guide-to-using-pinterest-in-education/

Educators Curate Content Leveraging Scoop.It:
http://www.curatecontent.com/curation-for-education/keep-your-content-fresh-with-scoop-it-3/

10 Free Curation Tools For Publishing Highly-Targeted Content:
http://blog.printrunner.com/2013/02/10-free-curation-tools-for-publishing-highly-targeted-content/

What is Content Curation?
http://joyce-valenza.wikispaces.com/Content+Curation

Darkwater by Catherine Fisher

Dial Books, 2012

Sarah lives in a squalid home in an equally squalid village.  She is her father's only hope and earns enough for the little they have by cleaning the one-room school, ruled by a tryannical mistress.  Over the village lays Darkwater Hall in all of its somber glory.  Once owned by the Trevelyan family, it now has a new owner, Lord Azrael. 

Sarah may be poor but she is proud.  A Trevelyan herself, she's heard stories of how the once powerful family lost everything, but that doesn't deter her from keeping her head up and her lineage alive.  But it kills her when she meets the new lord of Darkwater Hall for the first time.  He doesn't deserve it....it's not his.  When her situation goes into dire straits, she has nowhere else to turn to but the generous offer made by Lord Azrael to come work for him....

Fast forward over a hundred years ahead.  Tom knows his station in life but it still doesn't keep him from longing to be a part of the prestigious school that his mother works for as a maid.   His only friend is Simon, who isn't even real.  And one day, while coming home from the village, he meets a girl he's never seen before and a drifter who has a fascination for Tom. 

All Tom needs is a break...someone who'll offer him a chance.  When an accidental meeting takes place between Tom and the new chemistry teacher, the offer Tom has been waiting for happens.  All he needs to do is accept this gift from the new teacher, whose name is Azrael...

Catherine Fisher takes the long-told tale of Faust and recreates it into a unique spin that only she possesses.  Not only does Fisher write about parallel lives, but fashions into it magic, family secrets, and a world within a world contained in a precious glass vase.  Because of her signature storytelling, this is a book that will delight or confound the reader, but one that continues the tradition of Faust (1806) to The Devil and Daniel Webster(1937) to today.  The characters are descriptively protrayed and the darkness or naivete of a character's personality is highlighted by the scenery and words Fisher selects.  Even the font of the book denotes a certain antiquity that plays into the whole novel.  For those readers who enjoy magic, a touch of alchemical science, historical fiction, and a rich story fabric, this is one they'll enjoy. JH-HS. 



Paired fiction novels:

My Book of Life by Angel by Martine Leavitt

Farrar, Straus Giroux, 2012

Angel's life took a turn when her mother passed away.  Rebellion and anger set in and she would run away, even if it was just the mall.  Her father, still grieving, didn't know what to do with her...didn't know what to do with the family.  So Angel continued to run.
And she ran into the arms of Call...

He understood her like no one else.  He gave her attention and a shoulder to lean on.  He fed her, noticed her, played the gentleman for her.
And he gave her candy, the kind that'll hook you, sink you...

And now Angel's life is about survival.  What started as just a few favors for Call's friends turned into days on the street, eking out a living only to give all the money to Call.  Money for a place to crash, for a meal to eat,
For more candy...

But Angel is creating another turning point in her life.  She no longer wants the candy, although she craves it.  Her body aches and her mind isn't numb to her life, but she wants out, wants to feel,
Wants her family...

The only family she has now are the other girls and women on the streets in Vancouver - Serena, Nena, Connie.  But they are also deserting her, leaving her on the streets alone,
While their bodies are found, one by one....

But Call has other plans.  Not only for Angel, but for another girl he has found.  Angel knows the blackness in Call and has decided she won't allow him to create another victim.
Another child on the streets...

But can she?  Are Call and the candy he gives so readily that easy to turn away?  And will her family still want her back after all she's done?

Martine Leavitt has written a gritty novel-in-verse based on real events of missing and murdered women who worked Vancouver's downtown Eastside between 1983 and 1997.  The characters are fictional, but the reader will very much feel for Angel and the others.  Emotion runs high for both characters and readers as well.  While Angel is living the horror, the reader, like me, can't quite fathom how this horror can exist.  Not since Scott's Living Dead Girl has provocation crept into my reading like it did with Leavitt's book because of the developed emotional reaction the reader may feel. Leavitt has found a way for beauty and ugliness to exist together.  One from the free verse writing she does so well and the other through the life of a young teen girl within the pages.   Recommended for mature high school readers. 

Breathe by Sarah Crossen

Greenwillow, 2012.
It's dangerous to go outside.  The land is barren, the weather can be savage, and only those brave or wealthy enough even think about venturing into this vast wilderness.  But they stay close to the Pod.  If not, they face a cruel death...

The Pod.  A city encased with a protective shield.  But it contains something that you won't find outside...oxygen.  It comes at a cost, but it keeps the citizens alive.  A company called Breathe was the first to generate artificial oxygen to keep humanity alive when nature failed.  It keeps the Pod's oxygen at a minimally survivable level, but there are limitations.  No one can walk more than three mph (unless you have a tank).  Everyone has a certain allotment, and if you want more, the cost is high.  And like all cities, there exists a hierarchy.

Zone One is closest to the outside, where the Premiums live.  Quinn is a part of this society, but more than that, his father is the CEO of Breathe.  Quinn lives a life of privilege, and although he sports the Premium tattoo, he doesn't truly live the lifestyle.  He wants to be known for who he is and separate himself from his father's shadow.  It can be tough...

Zone Two is the second tier where the Auxiliaries live.  They work hard and do all they can to transcend their societal level and live more comfortably.  Bea understand this all too well.  Why?  Because her best friend is a Premium, and although Quinn doesn't know it, she's crossed the line between friendship and love...

Zone Three is the inner city, rife with poverty, stealing, and danger.  Alina has dedicated herself to stealing.  Anything she can find to help out the resistance is a challenge she's willing to take.  She knows the consequences, but she also knows some tricks about living in a world where oxygen is kept at a bare minimum.  Her training and stealth allows her to go beyond what Auxiliaries have and what Premiums believe is their right...

Their lives will meet and their survival is at stake.  Trust is tantamount, but will their prejudices keep them from aligning themselves and can they truly cross this boundary with each other? 

Crossan writes a dystopic novel not only about survival but also about political intrigue, rebellion, and human rights.  The subject in this book is new, and the reader gets to live vicariously in a completely different dystopian society uncommon in this genre.  Written in three distinct voices, Crossan allows the reader to see multiple points of view as well as in the minds of each character, making them all too real.  This is an excellent literary device, which potentially creates character bias and favoritism which is the reader's choice.  The rich characterization paired with a fast-paced plot make this another book to place in the hands of those craving more dystopia teen lit.  Recommended. 

Infographic: Fiction Meets Non-Fiction

Infographic can be viewed online at: https://magic.piktochart.com/output/3922de45-655d-48dc-844e-1ba2ba5da348#.URme2PI3tiw

Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

Hill and Wang, 2012 (a division of Farrar, Strauss & Giroux)

I have freely admitted that I do NOT like science or math.  I was always one of those people who excelled in literature and history, but numbers and letters make no sense to me.  If you told me that there was an amazing book about science I would love, I would have lied and said, "Sure!  Bring it on!" but the book would be stashed away, never to be read.  Until this book....

The atomic bomb and all of its terrible beauty is laid bare in this graphic novel from the first inception to the final aftermath.  It traces the A-bomb's lineage back to 1898 to the aftermath and its effects on the world.

Along the way, Fetter-Vorm also includes biographies of the many men and women who were part of the Manhattan Project from Einstein (who was first recruited to approach the President) to General Leslie Groves (who oversaw all of Los Alamos from beginning to end) to J. Robert Oppenheimer (the father of the inception of the bomb).  This historical part of the bomb was intriguing, stuff I love.  And then came the science part....

Electrons, neutrons, charged atoms.  Fission and fusion.  Atomic numbers and mass numbers.  Uranium, plutonium and isotopes.  While I read, my mind absorbed all of these facts, and they made sense! The reason behind this?  Fetter-Vorm uses analogies that made it more understandable, but more than that, it was the illustrations that made science (at least for me) really gel and stand out. I've sat through lectures about atomic numbers but all it took was two pages on this graphic novel for it to truly click.  That's the power of great writing and powerful images.

Then there's the politics.  Of course I've heard about the Manhattan Project, but I never fully realized how secretive it was (and I mean SUPER secretive) and how our political figures reacted and used this information, from Truman to Stalin and everyone in between, spies included.  The author showed the reader the first committee ever created for this project to the Potsdam Conference for the world leaders at the time.

But this story would never have truly unfolded if it weren't for the graphics.  They made everything come alive, from the fascination of U-92 vs. U-238 to the first detonation near Los Alamos, to the final, grisly destination at Hiroshima.  "A picture is worth a thousand words."  That saying aptly applies to this book and its subject.  This book is all about relationships, either at the atomic level or between men, and one that will fascinate as well as educate. Thank you Jonathan Fetter-Vorm!  This is history I've never really learned and am so thankful someone created a graphic novel for it. 
Highly recommended for 7-12 grade.




  Fiction Pair:  Streams of Babel and Fire Will Fall by Carol Plum-Ucci ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2213336.Streams_of_Babel )

TCEA 2013 Presentation: Less is More

I wish Google Docs had an embed button, but nope...they give you a link to share :)  So here's the presentation from TCEA.  Enjoy!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/159vB0m8kO8Ie-rqdoJeHex3eGyW6XPHqXffk5onlGZ8/edit?usp=sharing

Sorry about the link!  It should work now. 

Superbowl Commercial and the Library

Libraries are everywhere, even in the Superbowl 2013 commercials!  Did you see this one?

What Kind of Reader Are You?

I linked to another blog that has this great infographic! According to this chart, I'm a speed reader...what are you?

What Kind of Reader Are You?

Falling for You by Lisa Schroeder

Simon Pulse, 2013

"The road to happiness is paved with good deeds for others."  That's what Rae's grandmother used to tell her, and Rae understands the truth of this.  Her life though, is another road paved with pain, heartache, and secrets. 

Rae lives with her mother who doesn't pay her much attention, and her step-father Dean, who is a controlling, angry person.  Every day she comes home to this, and Rae only wishes she could live the happy teen life she sees in her friends.  And then along comes Nathan....

The first time he saw Rae, he knew she was the one.  Rae couldn't believe that this hot new guy at school would single her out, but he did, and their relationship begins to bloom.  It doesn't matter that he sometimes is forgetful.  It also doesn't matter if he gets first choice, regardless of what Rae thinks or says.  He's her first boyfriend, and Rae loves the feeling of someone else loving her back.  But then again, she also knows something isn't quite right about Nathan...

So, in a balance between light and dark, Rae continues to live her life.  The bright side of her life is that her poetry is published anonymously and she loves her job at the florist shop.  The dark side?  Her having to give her paychecks to Dean, who lost his job, and how obsessive Nathan is becoming.  She fears the dark. 

Rae's life couldn't get any worse.  But there is still hope in the world, which she sees through the anonymous person buying flowers for the hurt and hurting, the flourishing poetry in the school newspaper, her friends, and Leo...wonderful, caring Leo...  But the dark is always lingering, ready to capture her and make her stay.

Lisa Schroeder is best known for her novels-in-verse, and this book truly showcases her talent as a novelist.  Her poetry still has its own voice in this novel as well; her verse can be found scattered throughout the book.  Schroeder also creates an interesting timeline, starting with the present and going back six months.  The reader gets to be involved in Rae's life through her memories as she lays in a hospital bed hovering between that light and dark, which Schroeder offers to the readers through poems, relationships, and emotions.  All of these elements combine to make a great connective story with Rae at the hub.  Job well done!
Recommended.  
book trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00VFQKaaQUY