scholarly journals The Rithmatist by B. Sanderson

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsi McGillivray
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
International School ◽  
Harry Potter ◽  
School Librarian ◽  
Writing Style ◽  
Alternate History ◽  
The World ◽  
American Author ◽  
Grade 3

Sanderson, Brandon. The Rithmatist. Illus. Ben Sweeney. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2013. Print.What if the survival of humanity depended on the geometry skills of a few elite youths? But it does.Winner of the YALSA 2014 Teen’s Top Ten Award, this book asks readers to envisage an alternate history for Earth. The Asian nation of JunSeo has overtaken much of the globe, and technology relies on elaborate systems of springs and gears. Society relies on the skills of Rithmatists, who use geometric shapes and angles to wage war against a rogue force of chalklings – two-dimensional chalk drawings with a penchant for blood.All Joel has ever wanted to be is a Rithmatist, but he has not been chosen by the Master. In spite of this, he spends all his time exploring Rithmatic principles. Joel’s dreams are realized when the disgraced Professor Fitch begins to tutor him along with remedial Rithmatics student Molly. When the far-off war against chalklings in Nebrask becomes more real and Rithmatic students begin to be targeted close at home, Joel’s suspicions are fixated on the new Rithmatics professor, Nalizar.In the misdt of this fantasy novel, American author Brandon Sanderson has embedded a number of intriguing questions. What would the world be like if a power other than Great Britain had achieved world dominance? What does the idea of predestination mean for those who are not chosen? What if different technologies had taken hold?Although there are literary and symbolic elements that posit this story as a thriller, the author has included enough humor that it still maintains a playful and adventurous tone. A sense of anticipation is maintained throughout, as the principles of Rithmatics and the plot are gradually revealed. Though Sanderson’s writing style at times impedes the immersive quality of the story, the reader is kept deliciously in suspense until the end. Ben Sweeney’s illustrations at the end of every chapter masterfully enhance the reader’s understanding of Rithmatic principles.The first in a series, this book would appeal to readers who enjoy fantasy, such as the Harry Potter series or The Golden Compass.  It is recommended for children in grades 7-12 and is a good example of “hi-lo” fiction. The accessible language will engage reluctant readers. A reading and activity guide is included at the end of the book, suitable for discussion and exploration in a classroom setting.Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Kelsi McGillivrayKelsi McGillivray teaches grade 3 at an international school in Kathmandu, Nepal. She is currently working on her Masters of Education in teacher-librarianship and aspires to become the school librarian in the future. She enjoys reading, hiking, and adventures.

Evolving Infrastructure - Light and Transparent

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Stein
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
User Friendliness ◽  
The People ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
The World

<p>In very simple terms cities consist of infrastructure, operations, and people. All over the world more and more people are migrating to cities to find work and improve their living conditions. Consequently, for more and more people the built environment in our cities becomes their natural environment. The quality of the natural environment has a strong impact on the well-being of the people living in it, thus, we can improve the quality of life for an ever-growing number of people by improving the quality of buildings and structures. For years under public budget pressure, infrastructure has been designed focusing mainly on functional aspects, with occasionally abysmal results in terms of user friendliness. More recently this trend has reversed, and this paper shows some examples of large and small infrastructure projects in New York City where special emphasis has been put on creating a pleasant experience for commuters and other travelers. Engineers play an important role in this trend, as with their knowledge and creativity they are instrumental in supporting the municipality’s efforts to find affordable solutions for their projects.</p>

scholarly journals Six Months Later by N. Richards

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsi McGillivray
Keyword(s):  
International School ◽  
School Librarian ◽  
Study Group ◽  
Sat Scores ◽  
Realistic Fiction ◽  
Big Dreams ◽  
Circle Of Friends ◽  
Waking Up ◽  
Grade 3 ◽  
Authentic Voice

Richards, Natalie D. Six Months Later. Naperville, Ill: Sourcebooks Fire, 2013. Print.Sixteen-year-old Chloe goes to sleep in study group one May and wakes up six months later with everything she could have wanted: unbelievable SAT scores, popularity, and the boyfriend of her dreams. What she doesn't have is any memory about how she got there. As her memories return, the answers only become more clouded and more chilling. Set in current day southern USA, this story explores the ethics of consent and foreshadows the outcomes of living in a medicated society.Chloe has big dreams but only a small chance of reaching them. Her circle of friends is equally minuscule, but when that circle includes Maggie, it’s all she needs. Waking up to find that she has achieved everything she could have dreamed of rings hollow when she realizes it’s also been at the expense of their friendship. And why is she strangely repulsed by her godlike boyfriend, Blake, while just a glance from bad boy Adam Reed is enough to send her spinny? Chloe struggles to determine what has happened to her while the only person she feels she can trust isn't talking to her anymore. The battle becomes more desperate when Chloe begins to believe that her fate is inextricably linked with a former classmate who has disappeared.The story is written with an authentic voice, and realistically depicts the complicated relationships between Chloe, her parents, and her friends. Although the plot is somewhat predictable and at times leaves the reader questioning the characters’ motivations, it engages the reader through the anticipation of Chloe’s gradually-revealed memories. This psychological thriller is the debut work of author Natalie Richards and was a winner of the 2013 YALSA Teen’s Top Ten Award.This book would likely appeal most to young adults who enjoy contemporary realistic fiction, have an interest in psychology or enjoy suspenseful novels.Recommended: 3 out of 4 starsReviewer: Kelsi McGillivrayKelsi McGillivray teaches grade 3 at an international school in Kathmandu, Nepal. She is currently working on her Masters of Education in teacher-librarianship and aspires to become the school librarian in the future. She enjoys reading, hiking, and adventures.

I Shall Wear Midnight by T. Pratchett

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Keto
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
New York ◽  
Harry Potter ◽  
Writing Style ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Next Of Kin ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
To Come ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Monty Python

Pratchett, Terry. I Shall Wear Midnight. New York: Harper, 2010. Print. "I Shall Wear Midnight" opens with our female protagonist and witch, Tiffany Aching, now in her 4th book and grown up to nearly sixteen years old. We were introduced to Tiffany as a young 9-year-old in The Wee Free Men, and followed her in sequels A Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith. She is no longer a little girl, but now a young lady who is the sole witch in her hometown of Chalk. This story revolves around the fact that there is a formidable and evil force that is turning the townspeople against witches (who may be considered good or bad in these books, depending on how they use their magic). Also known as “the Cunning Man,” this wicked figure first attacks Tiffany as she is on her way to inform Roland, the son and next-of-kin of the Baron, of the Baron’s recent death. The Cunning Man is supposedly the spirit of a man once slighted by a witch whom he loved, and his angry soul is devoted to exacting his revenge on the witches of the world. In this novel, it is up to Tiffany to come to terms with the Cunning Man and defeat him in order to restore order to her hometown. This fantasy book also brings in important themes that older children will be interested in and can relate to, with somewhat mature themes of unrequited love. It is revealed that Roland had been a love interest to Tiffany, but is now engaged to be married. While she initially battles with this and is somewhat bitter with the prospect, ultimately she comes to terms with what is happening and convinces herself it wasn’t meant to be. Later in the book, she starts a relationship with a guard named Preston, which will hopefully be developed further in books to come. Pratchett uses charming wordplay and puns that makes the book an interesting read. Comic relief comes in way of the Nac Mac Feegles – mischievous little blue men who tend to follow Tiffany around and cause a ruckus, whom we first saw in The Wee Free Men. Originally intended to watch over her and make sure she’s safe, the Nac Mac Feegles have a way of getting into trouble by drinking and fighting; in this novel, they are accused of destroying a pub. These little men are quite rowdy and add to the ‘mature’ theme of the book, which help make it suitable for older children and pre-teens. Overall, this book is an interesting read – one part Harry Potter and one part Monty Python. For older children who are fans of fantasy, this book would be an excellent choice; an added bonus is that reading the previous three novels isn’t a prerequisite for understanding and enjoying this installment. Pratchett’s unique writing style helps develop the imagination of the reader, though it is a bit slow in the beginning. If the reader is patient and takes time to get into the plot, they will be rewarded in the end.Recommended: 3 out of 4 starsReviewer: Diana KetoDiana is originally from the Washington, D.C. area, where she worked for several years at a government library. She received her MLIS in 2009 and works at University of Alberta as a Public Services Librarian in the humanities and social sciences library.

[review of:] Dace Prauliņš. 2012. Latvian. An Essential Grammar

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 240-243
Author(s):  
Nicole Nau
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
The World ◽  
Scholarly Contribution

Dace Prauliņš, Latvian. An Essential Grammar. London & New York: Routledge, 2012. ɪsʙɴ 978-0-415-57692-5. Descriptive grammars of Modern Latvian written in English are still something of a rarity, and any such book will be warmly welcomed bylinguists as well as by the growing number of people learning Latvian all over the world. It is for the latter group that Dace Prauliņš wrote this book, and it would be unfair to review it as a scholarly contribution to the analysis of Latvian grammar.

Book Reviews

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-106
Author(s):  
Janet Klein ◽  
David Romano ◽  
Michael M. Gunter ◽  
Joost Jongerden ◽  
Atakan İnce ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Eastern Anatolia ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
National Movement ◽  
The World ◽  
Modern Turkey ◽  
Oxford University Press

Uğur Ümit Üngör, The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913-1950, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, 352 pp. (ISBN: 9780199603602).Mohammed M. A. Ahmed, Iraqi Kurds and Nation-Building. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, 294 pp., (ISBN: 978-1-137-03407-6), (paper). Ofra Bengio, The Kurds of Iraq: Building a State within a State. Boulder, CO and London, UK: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2012, xiv + 346 pp., (ISBN 978-1-58826-836-5), (hardcover). Cengiz Gunes, The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey, from Protest to Resistance, London: Routledge, 2012, 256 pp., (ISBN: 978-0-415—68047-9). Aygen, Gülşat, Kurmanjî Kurdish. Languages of the World/Materials 468, München: Lincom Europa, 2007, 92 pp., (ISBN: 9783895860706), (paper).Barzoo Eliassi, Contesting Kurdish Identities in Sweden: Quest for Belonging among Middle Eastern Youth, Oxford: New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, 234 pp. (ISBN: 9781137282071).

Universal Values and Muslim Democracy

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Anwar Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
World Today ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Universal Values ◽  
Human Desire ◽  
Dignified Life

This study deals with Universal Values and Muslim Democracy. This essay draws upon speeches that he gave at the New York Democ- racy Forum in December 2005 and the Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy in Istanbul in April 2006. The emergence of Muslim democracies is something significant and worthy of our attention. Yet with the clear exceptions of Indonesia and Turkey, the Muslim world today is a place where autocracies and dictatorships of various shades and degrees continue their parasitic hold on the people, gnawing away at their newfound freedoms. It concludes that the human desire to be free and to lead a dignified life is universal. So is the abhorrence of despotism and oppression. These are passions that motivate not only Muslims but people from all civilizations.

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