The Drinkable Book

These Books Can Purify Contaminated Drinking Water

The Drinkable Book, the first-ever Manual that teaches safe water tips and serves as a tool to kill deadly waterborne diseases - providing the reader with an opportunity to create clean drinkable water on each page. The book can provide a user with clean water for up to 4 years.

In developing countries millions of people die every year from contaminated water. Scientists at 2 US universities, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Virginia, have developed the first book of it’s kind to attempt to eradicate these numbers, the Drinkable Book for the Water is Life campaign.

This book not only teaches the recipients the important ground rules regarding hygiene and sanitation, for eg. “See a doctor if you experience any of these symptoms of drinking unsafe water…”, printed in both English and the relevant local language of each country, but the book also comes in a water filter box.

Each page of the book are actually 2 separate water filters, which provides 60 days of safe drinking water. Simply slide a page into the filter slot and pour the water through it to purify the water.

The Drinkable Book can help reduce the bacteria in contaminated water by more than 99.9%, making it safe drinking water for millions of people in the developing world.
How very cool! 
source: Article excerpts from original by Niki King from carvecases.com

Conspiracy 365: January by Gabrielle Lord

On New Year's Eve, Australian teenager Cal is chased down the street by a staggering, sick man with a deadly warning that the recent death of Cal's father wasn't a strange illness, but murder. "They killed him. They will kill you too." He tells Cal that he must try to survive the next 365 days. Soon enough, strange events—a boating accident that appears to be sabotage, a break-in, and a mysterious call from a nurse who cared for Cal's dad—raise his suspicions even more. When he investigates a package his uncle Rafe has hidden away, he quickly gets drawn into a conspiracy involving his family, mysterious drawings, and violent kidnappers, and finds himself on the run from the police. Hurled into a life as a fugitive, the 15-year-old is isolated and alone. Hunted by the law and ruthless criminals, Cal must somehow uncover the truth about his father's mysterious death and a history-changing secret. Who can he turn to, who can he trust, when the whole world seems to want him dead? The clock is ticking. Any second could be his last. Readers should be warned that, true to the nature of the planned series, each book ends very much on a cliffhanger.

January is an excellent start to the series.  This quick moving, engaging action-mystery draws in the reader from the first page and keeps up the action and questions right to the last page.  I was immediately drawn to  Callum and his strong character.  Lord has deftly made the family someone the reader cares about and Callum someone to cheer for. Adding to the idea of our hero needing to survive 365 days, the book starts at page 185 and counts down to page 1, just as Callum begins to count down the days he still has to make it through.  As part of a 12 book series, this first volume thrusts its audience into the life of the young fugitive and leaves them wanting more.  I highly recommend this book for middle school and up.  It would be good for reluctant readers because of its quick action and thiller contents, but also because it is not a difficult read.  The continuing story would also encourage further reading to see how the story plays out.  Since the entire 12 parts are already out, no one will lose interest from having to wait for the next installment.

source: conspiracy365.org

The Heights book series

The Heights: high-interest, low-level readers that grab the attention of struggling readers with high-interest stories.  They focus on a Latino family that finds humor and hope in unusual circumstances.

Written at the lower reading levels, each book features simple text that moves the reader through the story quickly and efficiently. There is no strong language and the subjects are still appropriate for junior (grades 4-6) audiences as well as the intermediates (grades 6-8).

The use of simple sentence structures and short chapters still coveys suspense and tension in the story. I did grow weary of the number of sentences that began with the word "But".

"'But the teens knew something was wrong. Tate's tent was empty. They called his name. But there was no answer. They searched the area. Then one of the campers saw Tate's flashlight."

From Creature

I read Creature, Jump, and the book Ransom. They are quick, interesting reads that will not be intimidating to intermediates. I really like that the covers distinguish them from books for younger students. They lasted a whole 2 hours in the library's new book display before the last title was checked out. There is now a waiting list. It seems my students agree with the cover appeal.


Set 1
• Blizzard
• Camp
• Crash
• Dive
• Neptune
• River
• Sail
• Score
• Swamp
• Twister

Set 2
• Dam
• Heist
• Jump
• Tsunami
• Wild