New Year News!

The new Kids and Teen Winter & Spring 2009 flyers are here! Stop by the library to pick up your copy to see what's happening in the next few months (more Game Fests for teens, more Weekend Adventures for kids, and a couple of parent workshops).

Also, the library will be expanding weekend hours - Saturdays, 10-6 p.m., and Sundays, Noon-6 p.m. As always you can catch up on all things library 24/7 from our website.

What Not to Read When It's Snowing

Now that the snow has melted I can resume reading the Teen Book Club book for January. I had just started Peak by Roland Smith when the temperature decided to plummet and the days of snow and ice arrived. Somehow reading about a fourteen year old boy preparing to climb Everest (with plenty of descriptions of blizzards, ice walls, and cold air) had me shivering regardless of the inside temperature.

Other titles that are now safe to read...

Ice Drift by Theodore Taylor - two Inuit brothers caught on an ice floe while hunting fight for survival in the brutal elements.

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George - a young girl escaping an unwanted marriage finds herself stranded in the Alaskan wilderness.

Shackleton's Stowaway by Victoria McKernan - a fictionalized account of a young boy who finds himself part of the ill-fated real life Antarctic expedition on the ship Endurance and the nearly two year return journey over sea and ice.

Mock Awards

December and January are the nail-biting months of the librarian world. The big awards (Caldecott, Newbery and Printz) will be announced at the mid-winter meeting of the American Library Association. All of us have our favorites that we desperately hope will win. With hundreds/thousands of books to choose from, librarians around the country meet to discuss (um, argue about) a list of books that could potentially win.*

For even more fun, these are just three of the bigger awards given. There are also special awards for other categories, like best audio recordings (ask Miss Janet about her work with that committee), best informational book, and more.

I'm rooting for What the World Eats by Peter Menzel, Airman by Eoin Colfer, and We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson.

Do you or your kids have any favorites for the year?

_________________

*I worked my way through a list of Young Adult titles for a Mock Printz Workshop. Now, if I can just remember all the details when it's time to discuss the books!

Shining Wisdom

What is the meaning of Yoon? Is it cupcake or cat? Yoon is beautiful when written in Korean, but it just looks so blah with English letters. Never mind that Yoon really means "Shining Wisdom"; cupcake and cat are just so much prettier, at least that's what Yoon thinks. In the first book of three, My Name is Yoon, by Helen Recorvits, Yoon struggles with learning a new language and way of writing her name, living in a huge American house, and feeling like an outsider in her new school.

This is one of my favorite picture books, though it is definitely not your typical picture book. It is a poignant and realistic portrayal of a little girl's adjustment to living in a new country far from home. If you enjoy the first one, you can also check out Yoon and the Jade Bracelet and Yoon and the Christmas Mitten.

Super Haiku

Four Super Readers (grades 4-5 book clubbers) braved the icy, windy and generally icky conditions Tuesday afternoon for our December meeting. In addition to sharing our favorite stories we've read lately (Howl's Moving Castle, Animorphs: The Invasion, Twilight, and The Diamond of Darkhold), we worked on haiku book reviews. This is a fun way to condense a story to a single plot. For your enjoyment...

Twilight

two unlikely souls
finally meet each other
is it really love?

by Sophie, age 11

Untitled

mwa ha ha ha ha
i will eat your pea-sized brain
mwa ha ha ha ha

by Max, age 11

Howl's Moving Castle

a wizard named Howl
Blue demon named Calcefer
and a girl named Sofie

Ethan, age 10

New Bestsellers at TPL

Look for “hot” new titles in the Bestsellers’ collection of the Library on the first floor.

Are you anxious to read Janet Evanovich’s latest mystery, Jeffery Deaver’s newest forensic puzzler or Danielle Steel’s current romance?

Maybe you prefer nonfiction. Do you enjoy reading about the lives of the rich and famous?

You might check the Bestsellers’ shelves to see if John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman is available or maybe Ted Turner’s Call Me Ted is on the shelf.

You’ve heard all your friends talk about In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. A copy just might be available for checkout when you come in the Library.

The loan period for the Bestsellers is 14 days. The turnaround is quick, so be sure to check the Bestsellers’ collection each time you visit the Library.

Photo courtesy of Vimages.

Arg! Pirates are Delayed

Our pirate puppet show (schedule for today, Sunday December 14) is delayed due to the weather. But have no fear, the pirates will be setting sail next Sunday, December 21 at 1:30 p.m. Also, the pirate leader Jason Ropp will be one hand Saturday, December 20 at 1:30 for a puppet making workshop (limited to the first 30 children).

New Homeschooling Resources

We have many resources to help homeschooling families at the library. You can locate these in the Parents collection under the call # 371.042. Here are some new noteworthy titles that you'll want to peruse if you are planning your own homeschooling program, or already have an established program:

Homeschooler's Guide to Free Teaching Aids, 10th edition (2008-2009), published by Educators Progress Service. Contains over 1,000 free teaching aids to use in your homeschooling program, all arranged by subject.

Homeschooler's Guide to Free Videotapes, 10th edition (2008-2009), published by Educators Progress Service. Contains over 1,000 free videos and DVD's to use in your homeschooling program, all arranged by subject.

The Homeschooling Book of Lists by Michael Leppert and Mary Leppert, published by Jossey-Bass, 2008. Contains homeschooling models and methods, lesson plans, and many valuable resources that can be used in your program.

Homeschool Resource Guide for Oregon published by the Oregon Home Education Network, 2008. Contains legal information, resources, statewide groups, alternative education, resources for special needs students, and a list of contact information for approved testers.

Puppets and Pirates!

Nothing speaks to kids and kids-at-heart quite like a puppet show. Add in pirates, mermaids and high seas adventure and you've got a sure-fire winner for the whole family! Join us this Sunday, Dec. 14th, at 1:30pm for Dragon Theater Puppets presentation of The Pirate and His Pet. Afterwards, stop into the children's department at the library and check out some of our puppets to take home with you. That's right, our puppets can be checked out for three weeks, just like the books! Imaginative play with puppets is fun, and helps kids become better readers. And check out this website for some simple ideas on how to make your own puppets (and puppet stage!) at home:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Puppetry_for_Children

2008 Holiday Shopping Guide

I'm sure many of you are out there busy with your holiday shopping. Books make great gifts because they keep on giving children the opportunity to explore new worlds. Today, School Library Journal announced "Books Make the Best Presents: School Library Journal's Holiday Gift Guide". The books include picture books for preschoolers, books for elementary school students, and books for tough-to-please teens. Check out the list at: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6617203.html
And of course, if you don't want to go out and buy books, always remember you can stop by the library and any of the librarians can help you locate one of these great books!

International Children's Digital Library

The Internet has produced yet another wonderful for families to spend quality time together. The International Children's Digital Library (http://www.icdlbooks.org/) is a collection of thousands of children's books written in a variety of languages. Images of the books are digitally scanned and stored in the web site's archives, which you can browse or search. Once you select a book to read, you can choose from two different viewing formats. The website is set up to be kid friendly, and hosts lots of old or rare titles that you may never see anywhere else. Click on the globe to browse books by their country of origin!

Balderdash, Jibber Jabber, and Nonsense

Daphna and Dex, almost 13-year-old twins, are looking forward to their very important birthday. But their dad has just returned from a book scouting expedition, and he seems a bit distracted. They're not even sure he will remember the birthday that he has always talked about as being so important. Upon his return, Daphna takes her dad to her new favorite place: a huge labyrinth of a bookstore. He takes with him a mysterious book that he discovered on his expedition, and they meet a very old, mysterious man at the bookstore. This man seems to have some special powers over her dad, and seems to really want this book. Daphna is not sure why, as it just looks to be a book with a bunch of nonsense words to her. Daphna, Dex, and their dad wind up in a heap of trouble, all because of this weird book of nonsense. Will they be able to celebrate their 13th birthday as they always thought they would? Will they be able to escape with their lives and sanity? Will they discover the meaning behind the book?

If you and/or your kids are fans of the Harry Potter, Golden Compass or Molly Moon series', you will really enjoy The Book of Nonsense. It is the first of what will be a series of 5 books by local author, David Michael Slater.

Definitely Not Good News

Okay, that title is my attempt at Lemony Snicket-y humor. "Why?" you ask. Because Lemony Snicket himself is a guest blogger on Amazon's book blog Omnivoracious.


It seems the norm now for authors to have blogs, which is a great way to see what they have in the works, their writing process, and the things that they notice and are inspired by.


A couple I like to check on...Mo Willems (plenty of doodles), Esme Raji Codell (great picture book recommendations!), Jane Yolen (not a traditional blog, but check out the journal section). What author blogs or websites do you like? Who do you wish had a blog (I vote for Cynthia Rylant!)?