Welcome to FCI Ashland

Find out a bit about the prison where author Jack Gantos served his time. FCI Ashland

Marijuana use. How does it really affect you?

Image from the National Institute on Drug Abuse publication: "Drugs: Shatter the Myths"

Books that filled the hole for Gantos

•Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

•Peter Pan by James M. Barrie

•Artificial Paradises by Charles Baudelaire

•An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce

•This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski

•The Delicate Prey by Paul Bowles

•On the Yard by Malcolm Braly

•Naked Lunch by William S.Burroughs

•Papillon by Henri Charrière

•Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

•The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

•Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

•The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

•The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

•The Thief’s Journal by Jean Genet

•The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

•The Odyssey by Homer

•On the Road by Jack Kerouac

•One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

•Martin Eden by Jack London

•Billy Budd by Herman Melville

•Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James N. Hall

•The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

•Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

•Seven Long Times by Piri Thomas

•The Car Thief by Theodore Weesner

•The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

•A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

•Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe

•Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Boating & Sailing Lingo

Boating Basics Glossary of Terms

Boating Basics Online

Jib-part of a sail
Port-left side
Starboard-right side
Bow-front
Stern-back
Fore-toward the bow (front)
Aft-toward the stern (back)
Buoy-An anchored float used for marking a position on the water or a hazard
Hatch-An opening in a boat's deck fitted with a watertight cover
Screw-A boat's propeller.
Cleat-A fitting to which lines are made fast (tied).
Stanchion-upright or vertical
Gaff-part of the sailing rig
Boom-pole at the bottom of the sail
Dinghy-A small open boat
Mast-tall vertical pole to which the sails are attached
Galley-kitchen
Bowspirt-pole extending off the front of the boat for the sail.
Porthole-window
Rudder-A vertical plate or board for steering a boat
Trawler-type of boat
Sextant-navigational tool, like a compass, used to measure direction using the sky & stars.
Keel-centerline of the boat (underneath) running from front to back

Where in the world is...?

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Jack Gantos & Hole in My Life

Glogster

Meet Gary Soto: Author of The Afterlife

Visit the author's website!

Did you know there is a Gary Soto Literary Museum?

Gary Soto answers his readers' frequently asked questions.

April's Book Selection: The Afterlife by Gary Soto

IF you liked reading "One of Those Hideous Books...", you might enjoy these books about

Losing a parent

• Frannie in Pieces by Delia Ephron
  
• Bounce by Natasha Friend
• Scout by Christine Ford
  
• Walking on Glass by Alma Fullerton
• The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going
• How Ya Like Me Now by Brendan Halpin
• Buried by Robin Merrow McCready
• Freaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates
  
• The She by Carol Plum-Ucci
• Witch Dreams by Vivian Vande Velde
  
• You Are Not Alone: teens talk about life after the loss of a parent by Lynne Hughes (155.937 Hughes)
  

Authors who write novels-in-verse

• Ellen Hopkins (Crank, Glass, Burned, Impulse, Identical, Tricks)
  
• Lisa Schroeder (I Heart You, You Haunt Me; Far From You; Chasing Brooklyn)
• Virginia Euwer Wolff (Make Lemonade, True Believer, This Full House)
  

Novels-in-verse

• The Death of Jayson Porter by Jaime Adoff
• Jimi & Me by Jaime Adoff
  
• Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham
• All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg
• Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech
  
• Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
• Scout by Christine Ford
• Walking on Glass by Alma Fullerton
• Loose Threads by Lorie Ann Grover
  
• The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan
  
• Street Love by Walter Dean Myers
• Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell
• The Geography of Girlhood by Kirsten Smith
  
• Hard Hit by Ann Warren Turner
  
• Rubber Houses by Ellen Yeomans
• Reaching For Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
  

Moving

• Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
  
• Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn
• Not Like You by Deborah Davis
  
• The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going
  
• Takeoffs and Landings by Margaret Peterson Haddix
• Drawing the Ocean by Carolyn MacCullough
• Love, Meg by C. Leigh Purtill
• The Indigo Notebook by Laura Resau
  
• Out of the Blue by S.L. Rottman
  
• The Secret Hour (Midnighters #1) by Scott Westerfeld
  

Sonya Sones & "One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies"

Check out the author's website.

Learn more about the author, Sonya Sones, from the Books & Authors database.

Click here for more info about One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies.

Why does author Sonya Sones write her novels in poetry? Read this: Gaining Power Through Poetry: An Interview with Sonya Sones.

Here are the answers to other frequently asked questions about Sones and her novels.

Other books by Sonya Sones:

• Stop Pretending: what happened when my big sister went crazy
  
• What My Mother Doesn't Know
• What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know
  
  

New Book Club starting soon...

Pick up your FREE copy of the book from Mrs. Hancock in the Media Center, while supplies last. Start reading right away. Then meet with us on March 17 & 24 to discuss the book. If you take a book, you are making the commitment to read and attend book club.

This is your book club so don't miss out!

If you liked reading "The Rules of Survival", you might like....

Fiction

• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Looking for J.J. by Anne Cassidy
• Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
• Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
  
• This is What I Did by Anne Dee Ellis
• Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn
• Friction by E.R. Frank
• Becoming Chloe by Catherine Ryan Hyde
• The Day I Killed James by Catherine Ryan Hyde
  
• You Don't Know Me by David Klass
• Margaux with an X by Ron Koertge
• Boy Toy by Barry Lyga
• Sold by Patricia McCormick
• Prey by Lurlene McDaniel
• Hero by S.L. Rottman
• Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
• The Silent Room by Walter Sorrells
• Leftovers by Laura Wiess
• Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

Non-Fiction

• Three Little Word: A Memoir by Ashley Rhodes Courter
• A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer

Child Abuse in Wyoming

Check out this report on child abuse in Wyoming.

Did you know:

• In Wyoming, every citizen is responsible for reporting suspected child abuse or neglect. If you suspect, you must report. It is the job of Child Protective Services to sort out the details and confirm or rule out child abuse or neglect.
• Department of Family Services in Casper/Natrona County: 307-473-3900

Prevent Child Abuse Wyoming

• What is neglect?
• Neglect is the failure of a parent or caretaker to provide a child under age 18 with the basic needs of life such as food, clothing, shelter, medical care, educational opportunities, protection and supervision.
• The law in Wyoming requires every person, private citizen or professional, who has reason to believe that a child under age 18 has been abused to report the suspected abuse. Failure to do so is a crime. A person making a report in good faith is immune from both criminal and civil liability.

Information on Child Abuse & Child Maltreatment

According to the CDC, there are 4 main types of child abuse or maltreatment: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, & neglect.

• Children under the age of 4 are at greatest risk for severe injury and death from abuse.
• Contrary to popular belief, 56% of perpetrators of child maltreatment are women.
  
• The women, usually mothers, are typically younger than the abusive males, usually fathers.
• Abuse typically occurs in families with high stress levels: from drug/alcohol abuse, poverty, chronic health problems, and/or history of violence.
• In 2007, 1,760 children ages 0 to 17 died from abuse and neglect
• 76 percent or more deaths occurred among children younger than age 4
  

The Childhelp website also includes many alarming statistics concerning child abuse.

• Abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy.
• One third of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse.
• Children who experience child abuse & neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit violent crime.
• Children who have been sexually abused are 2.5 times more likely develop alcohol abuse.
• Children who have been sexually abused are 3.8 times more likely develop drug addiction.
• Nearly 2/3’s of the people in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused as children.
• Child abuse occurs at every socio-economic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.
• Ninety percent of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way; 68% are abused by family members.

Signs of Child Abuse, according to Childhelp

Physical Signs of Child Abuse
1. Unexplained burns, cuts, bruises, or welts in the shape of an object
2. Bite marks
3. Anti-social behavior
4. Problems in school
5. Fear of adults

Emotional Signs of Child Abuse
1. Apathy
2. Depression
3. Hostility or stress
4. Lack of concentration
5. Eating disorders

Sexual Signs of Child Abuse
1. Inappropriate interest or knowledge of sexual acts
2. Nightmares and bed wetting
3. Drastic changes in appetite
4. Overcompliance or excessive aggression
5. Fear of a particular person or family member

Signs of Neglect
1. Unsuitable clothing for weather
2. Dirty or unbathed
3. Extreme hunger
4. Apparent lack of supervision

Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin

The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin is the first book we are reading for Roosevelt Book Club.

Click here to go to the author's website.

Nancy Werlin based this book on a short story she wrote. Read it here.

In this article, Nancy Werlin talks about "What Makes a Good Thriller?" and why she decided to write this novel in the form of a letter.

To learn more about author Nancy Werlin, check out these interviews: Cynsations 1 & Cynsations 2.


Watch this video and learn about Nancy's new book, Impossible.

Spring Book Club

We will be starting book club with The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin. If you'd like to join, stop by the Media Center during SSR on Thursday, January 28. You'll receive your FREE copy of the book to start reading.

Book club officially starts on February 3. We will meet every Wednesday in Mrs. Ochs' room at 2:30 pm.

Remember if you take a book, you are making the commitment to read it, attend book club meetings, and participate. Happy reading!

COMING SOON: Spring 2010 Book Club