Surrender, Dorothy: Reviews

$50 Barnes & Noble Gift Card Giveaway Winner

Happy Friday! Just before the end of the world, someone won a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card!

And the winner is ...

Commenter #14 -- congratulations to Angie! I'll be contacting her soon to get her address. Thanks to everyone for commenting.

 

Backyard Guide to the Birds of North America

My parents host entire flocks of finches every year in their backyard, where at least three feeders hang from the tree outside the glass door. Ma even smears peanut butter on the tree's bark in the winter for the squirrels. When we bought our current house, we finally had a tree in sight of the dinner table and promptly hung a feeder, which was joined later by two more and a homemade squirrel picnic table.

So I was pretty excited when I got an email asking if I wanted to review National Geographic's Backyard Guide to the Birds of North America by Jonathan Alderfer and Paul Hess.

There's an introduction describing which kinds of birds like which types of bird food and feeders and instructions for creating a nice bird habitat. We just guessed and waited to see what would come, and we seem to attract woodpeckers, bluejays, finches, doves, sparrows, cardinals, robins and the occasional blackbird or crow. And a ton of squirrels.

The rest of the book is an illustrated guide, pointing out the differences between similar species, describing their songs and patterns and showing on a map where they live. When my parents and sister were visiting, we used the guide to settle an argument over what kind of woodpecker was gorging itself outside. Yay for NatGeo.

While the web could probably tell you the same thing, the illustrations and guides all in one spot are pretty handy. If you're like me and trying to develop a physical library at home, this is a good book to include.

 

$50 Barnes & Noble Gift Card Giveaway

I recently attended a webinar put on by Barnes & Noble's NOOK Color team to learn about the new developments in NOOK Color World.

NOOK Color's going tablet, baby. They added app shopping, web surfing (Droid platform) and an email client. The term I heard over and over was "reader tablet" -- so clearly this product isn't being positioned as just a reader anymore.

Pros:

• For adults, the pros are obvious. E-readers are perfect for travel, and if you can access your email and surf the web from your NOOK Color, why bring the laptop? Also, interactive books.
• For kids, games! And also more interactivity within certain books, particularly picture books. With a new "read and play" function, there's an opportunity to add animation and activities to go along with the story. I've seen the animation in one of the books, and it makes sense, goes with the story, and has educational value.

Want to know what I mean by "interactivity"? Here are some examples of how stuff might be embedded in your books.

 

Cons:

• For both adults and kids -- distraction. Part of the reason I love reading as a leisure activity is because it's solace from my busy online life. This is a personality thing for me. I don't find the Internet relaxing. If I knew my email was on my reader one click away, I don't know that I would actually be able to relax and read. For kids -- will they read if the alternative is Angry Birds?

As I went looking for my daughter's NOOK Color, I found her reading a book on it. (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil D. Frankweiler). She was sad because I'd told her there would be apps, and she didn't see any that were kid-looking. So we went to the app store and bought a drawing pad app.

When I think of apps, I usually think of games, because I'm not really an app junkie. I always forget there are awesome apps like the one my dad has that shows the alignment of the stars at all times or this drawing pad thing. So the little angel and I spent the next 15 minutes waiting for the bus and drawing each other pictures.

All in all, I do think the improvements change the game for NOOK Color. I'd be interested to hear what an adult who uses a NOOK Color thinks of them, because in our family, the NOOK Color belongs to a seven-year-old and thus must be kept somewhat pristine with seven-year-old appropriate access to the world.

SO! Now for the fun stuff. I'm giving away a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card. Rules are same as always -- one comment equals one entry, enter as many times as you like. I'll use a randomizer to pick the winner after 5 PM Central (or whenever I remember to close comments on that night) on Thursday, May 19. Good luck!

Editor's Note: I got the same gift card for my time to attend the webinar, write this review and manage the giveaway.