The 39 Clues have ended, but a new series has started. This is the second book in the Cahills vs. Vespers series. As with the other novels, different authors are tackling different books in this series. Jude Watson has written A King's Ransom (AR 6.0, Level 4.2).

The suspense continues, as Vesper One continues to hold the seven Cahills hostage. Vesper One's identity still remains safely hidden from the Cahill siblings, but for how long? As Greg Korman introduced in the first title, The Medusa Plot, Amy continues to worry about Dan's state of mind. Dan continues on his dark path (are we entering Star Wars territory here?) as he assembles the thing that he thinks will save the others.

Meanwhile, Atticus makes a reappearance with his brother, Jake, who turned over information about the Cahills to Interpol.  Will Atticus help his former friend, Dan? Will the Wyomings continue to impede Dan and Amy's progress? Who is AJT and what is AJT's connection to the Cahills? Read the book and find out!

The King Library staff donated many books today to support the children of adult learners in Partners in Reading (PAR). PAR trains volunteer tutors to help adults improve reading and writing. PAR is holding a book drive until January 20 so kids can start home libraries and families can read together. Some of the titles shown here will be given to kids in PAR's family literacy program Together We Read. If you would like to donate, please bring a new, unwrapped book to your branch library or to the King Library. Please mark it Partners in Reading book drive. Thank you for promoting lifelong learning.

While trying to think of something to blog about today, I wondered how people might happen upon these blogs we write.

Some people are not as computer-literate as others. They happen upon these informational articles by accident. They don’t realize they are searching the site when they enter those keywords and hit. Hey, they might not even know what a “keyword” is. If this sounds like you, Congratulations! You have found a blog!

To be thorough, I went to Merriam-Webster to get you a definition of a “blog.” To spare you any overload of techno babble, I’ll paraphrase their definition to simply “an online journal.” If you would like to learn to “blog” yourself, you can find books in the San José Public Library on how to “blog.” But even after limiting the results to “print material” in “English,” you’ll still get several pages of results, so I’ll list a few to start you off:

Blogging for Dummies

This book starts you off with blog basics, choosing software, deciding what to blog about, turning it into a business, getting followers. This is for people at a very basic level of computer knowledge. It’s very step-by-step.

Create Your Own Blog

This book is a little more jargon-y than the Dummies book, so if you’re new to all this you might feel a little lost. It provides more practical help on things like naming your blog and other “how to work it” issues. It starts out with a history of blogging and her list of the top ten worst domain names is astonishing.

Creative Blogging

This book is also a little more on the techie side, but it’s arranged in a very simple manner. This book seems to have more on the design and display of your blog, which is surprising since it has the most basic layout and design of the three I’ve listed here.

Late January marks the first anniversary of the death of noted author and social activist Howard Zinn. He was 87 when he died of a reported heart attack while swimming during some traveling with his daughter.

Dr. Zinn always looked to me to be the impish grandpa each child deserves. As a mentor, he appeared to live a full life, working on social issues important to him through his research, writing and activism.

As we enter yet again another U.S. Presidential election year, let’s take another look at Howard Zinn his legacy, and the revisionist history that he leaves us.

Perhaps the book he is most widely recognized for is A People’s History of the United States, first published in 1980 and now a commonly used text in high school history courses! According to the New York Times, this book had a first printing of just 4,000 copies and was no conventional historical account, concentrating instead on "what he saw as the genocidal depredations of Christopher Columbus, the blood lust of Theodore Roosevelt and the racial failings of Abraham Lincoln."

This seminal work spawned a sequel: The Twentieth Century: A People’s History as well as versions written for young people: A Young People’s History of the United States, Volume 1 and A Young People’s History of the United States, Volume 2.

Dr. Zinn, a contemporary of left-wing activist and MIT professor Noam Chomsky, “made an amazing contribution to American intellectual and moral culture,” according to Chomsky. “He’s changed the conscience of America in a highly constructive way. I really can’t think of anyone I can compare him to in this respect,” Professor Chomsky said in the Boston Globe online upon Dr. Zinn’s death.

A little bit about Howard Zinn, courtesy of the Boston Globe online: Born in New York City in 1922, he attended New York public schools and was working in the “Brooklyn Navy Yard when he joined the Army Air Corps where he worked as a bombardier in World War II, receiving the Air Medal and attaining the rank of second lieutenant. It was during this time that Zinn courted his soon-to-be wife through the mails before marrying in 1944. After the war, he worked a series of menial jobs before entering New York University on the GIP Bill, working nights in a warehouse loading trucks. He was awarded masters and doctoral degrees in history from Columbia University.

In 1956, Dr. Zinn joined the faculty at Atlanta’s Spelman College, becoming chairman of the history department. During this time he became active in the civil rights movement, serving on the executive committee of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and participating in numerous demonstrations.

In 1964, Dr. Zinn joined the staff at Boston University, becoming full professor in 1966 where the focus of his activism became the Vietnam war. He spoke at many rallies and teach-ins, drawing national attention when he and the Rev. Daniel Berrigan went to Hanoi in 1968 to receive three prisoners released by the North Vietnamese.

In 1988, Dr. Zinn took early retirement to concentrate on speaking and writing, including writing for the stage. On his last day at BU, he ended class 30 minutes early so he could join a picket line and urged the 500 students attending the lecture to come along. A hundred did so.

Dr. Zinn’s memoir, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train is available through your local library in both book and DVD formats.