Super Tuesday with Neon Man

International juggler and comedian Henrik Bothe will conjure up an enthusiastic audience with a performance that is pure magic.  He'll walk on ladders, juggle with no hands, escape from a straitjacket and blow your mind with a glowing finale that floats, flies, and mesmerizes!!!  Join us Tuesday December 13, 7-8 p.m. in the Community Room.  Bring the whole family for a night of fun!!!

Wilma Tenderfoot

Wilma Tenderfoot: The Case of the Frozen Hearts, by Emma Kennedy, is the first in a new mystery series. Wilma is an orphan who has been bitten by the detecting bug. She doesn't know where she came from, and she thinks that maybe if she can become a famous detective, she can learn to "deduct" her origins.

The biggest jewel ever found has been stolen, and its discoverer and his aunt with stinky feet are murdered. Cause of death: frozen hearts. Theodore P. Goodman, the most famous detective from Cooper Island, is on the case. Wilma, along with her beagle Pickle, really wants to be on the case.

Will Theodore P. Goodman accept Wilma as his apprentice? Can anybody discover how a heart can be frozen? Will the valuable Katzin Stone ever be recovered?

This is a fun little mystery that kids will love. Characters are bigger than life, the characters' antics are silly, and the plot keeps the reader guessing. I recommend the book for 3rd grade and up.

Meet The Collection Mondays: Young Adult Non-Fiction

Welcome to the world of Young Adult non-fiction!

To find your next favorite Young Adult non-fiction book, you first get to go on a treasure hunt through the adult non-fiction stacks. Shelved among adult materials, you can find excellent teen-oriented reads on many subjects.

DNA: Do you like your science with a lot of pictures? The Stuff of Life is a graphic non-fiction guide to genetics and DNA. Usually an overwhelmingly complicated subject to delve into, The Stuff of Life almost makes genetics seem simple.

DIY: Get inspired to sew your own plush dolls with Plush You, profiling artists who make everything from socktopusses (octopus sock monkeys) to felt eggs and bacon. Or crochet your own pepperoni pizza scarf following step-by-step instructions in Twinkie Chan’s Crochet Goodies for Fashion Foodies.

SPY: Perhaps you’ve always imagined having a life as an undercover operative. The Real Spy’s Guide to Becoming a Spy will prepare you for your ultimate career.

In addition to these gems, you will also find many other materials to support the educational, recreational, developmental, and informational needs of young adults from 6th through 12th grade. Whether you are writing a school paper, looking for some fashion tips, or interested in finding more information about your favorite skateboarder, the Young Adult non-fiction collection has something to offer. Come visit at the Young Adult reference desk, and we will help you navigate the non-fiction stacks to find the materials that best suit your needs.

15th Annual Mitten Tree Kick-Off

Saturday, December 3
1:30-2:30 p.m., Puett Room
All Ages
Join us for some unique, frosty art activities for children of all ages. Make colorful ice cube art, create special snowflakes with water colors and crayons and more!

Bring new scarves, hats and gloves throughout December and help decorate the Mitten Tree. The Good Neighbor Center will give them to homeless families in Washington County.

Generously sponsored by Friends of the Tigard Library.

Can You See What I See?

The I Spy picture books are quite popular at the library.  Do you or your child ever wonder how all of the photographs in the books came to be? Scholastic Books goes behind the scenes into the author/photographer Walter Wick's studio to see how he created his latest book, Toyland Express.  Take a look at this 3-minute video link.  http://bcove.me/zz7aijps You'll be amazed!!!

Meet the Collection Mondays: Juvenile Magazines

Our collection of 30+ magazines for children and parents, housed together to the right of the Alphabet Chair in the Juvenile Fiction area, includes titles to support the recreational, developmental, and informational needs of children 0-11 years of age and their parents/caregivers. One of our selections, American Girl, has been the most popular magazine in the whole library for the past several years! Other great titles include Discovery Kids, Babybug, and Sports Illustrated for Kids. Magazines for parents and teachers include Familyfun, Working Mother, and Book Links. Current issues are displayed in protective covers and don't circulate until the next month’s issue is received and processed.  Back issues of the current and previous years circulate for three weeks, just like books. Mosey back to the corner marked "Periodicals" and check out some magazines today!

OBOB: Oregon Battle of the Books

Many children this year are gearing up to participate in the Oregon Battle of the Books, also known as OBOB (pronounced as "Oh-Bob").  If you are unfamiliar with OBOB, this is a statewide program for reading motiation and comprehension sponsored by the Oregon Association of School Libraries in conjunction with a Library Services and Technology Act grant.  The goals of the program are to encourage reading for enjoyment, broaden reading interests, and increase reading comprehension, and promote cooperative learning.

There are three divisions of the program, Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8 and Grades 9-12.  The library carries multiple copies of each of the books on the division lists.  We do have a display in the juvenile fiction area of titles that are available.  Holds can be placed on titles that are checked out to other patrons. The last day to register your school is November 30th.  Each team must have a sponsor from their school library or other school staff.  For more information about the program and for a list of books for each division, visit http://oboblsta.pbworks.com/.

Mega Craft Workshop

Going stir crazy after a long Thanksgiving weekend with relatives and need a little downtime before the holidays start to get even crazier? Join us this Saturday, November 26 between 1:30 and 4 in the Community Room for the Mega Craft Workshop. This is an all ages event. Adults and children will create holiday cards, fused glass art, Huichol yarn paintings, stained glass paper art, beadwork, bookmarks, and much, much more. Feel free to drop in any time; you don't have to be there at the very beginning.

Picture Books: Awesome for All Ages

Hey, did you know that this November is the first annual Picture Book Month? Check out the official website for essays from famous authors, illustrators and educators about why picture books are so important.

This very cool celebration was set up in response to the ever-rising tide of digital media and things like this New York Times article about the sliding sales of picture books in favor of chapter books for younger and younger kids. I love all kinds of books, but it makes me sad that bigger kids might be missing out on the creative, artistic, collaborative and rich experience of reading picture books and making the words and illustrations work together.

Here at TPL, we always have lots of our favorite picture books up on display in the Children's Room. With school out all Thanksgiving Week, we'll be including some titles that are especially great for older kids in our regular display, from authors like Deborah Hopkinson, Patricia Polacco and Jon Scieszka. Two authors in particular, David Wiesner and Arthur Geisert, create books that are mostly wordless but have very complex stories, concepts and illustrations. Drop in and check out a pile of picture books, and be sure to ask the librarian at the Children's Desk for recommendations!

Meet the Collection Mondays: Juvenile Audiobooks

As a huge fan of audiobooks, I love telling our patrons about all the wonderful titles we have at the library.  I am pleased to tell you about our Juvenile Audiobook collection which consists of Fiction Books on CD, Non-Fiction Books on CD, Fiction Book Kits with CD's and Non-Fiction Book Kits with CD's. The book with CD's kits are also referred to as "kits". We no longer carry cassettes as CD's have become more popular.

Kits: Our kits are mainly geared towards Preschool children through second grade.  The collection is mainly comprised of picture book and early reader read-alongs. The collection also includes non-fiction titles, such as books that help children learn a foreign language. It also contains publications such as Wee Sing that includes a CD with an accompanying music booklet.  A majority of all these titles have a track or separate CD with page-turn signals, making it easy for children to listen to the book on their own and to know when to turn the page without adult assistance.  Children who listen to a read-along kit are receiving the same benefit as though they are listening to a parent or another adult read them a book, as they are still picking up and learning new vocabulary and other early literacy skills.  Kits are a valuable resource for pre-readers because it helps them develop early literacy skills such as print awareness. We have numerous kits that contain wonderful sound effects.  I highly recommend Hondo and Fabian, The Librarian from the Black Lagoon, and Dooby Dooby Moo.  For elementary school ages, try The Composer is Dead, and Jazz.

Books on CD: For all of the books on CD, every effort is made to

make sure there is a print edition of that title located somewhere in the overall children’s collection. This is helpful when a child would like to read along with the print book.  This option is especially important to children who struggle with reading as it will  help aid and assist them in their reading comprehension and is an excellent way to extend the story beyond their imagination as many audiobook narrators use a wide range of expressions and characterizations to make the plot more realistic than what's just printed in the book.  A good narrator can really bring a book to life.  As I've listened to probably 80% of the titles in our audiobook collection and have served three years on a national audiobook award committee (going on four), I can assure you that a good match between the narrator and the text makes all the difference in the world for a phenomenal audiobook experience.  To the novice listener, this may be hard to justify, so here are some great fiction examples to try: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and The Alvin Ho Collection: Books 1 & 2.  And for an exceptional non-fiction audiobook experience, try We are the Ship, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! (with a full cast) and Marley: A Dog Like No Other.

Why should children listen to audiobooks?
Some may think that listening to a book on CD is a way to cheat on reading the print book. However, this is not the case, as they provide many benefits for children such as:

• Improving listening and comprehension skills
• Increasing vocabulary
• Learning the proper pronunciation of words
• Learning to "see" a story by using imagination instead of illustrations
• Getting motivated to read more by an author they've been introduced to through an audiobook
• Engaging a child's interest in a way that a parent reading aloud may not
• Supplements print book reading
• Another way to experience literature besides through printed books
• Providing an enjoyable family activity to share literature together

For more detailed information on the benefits of listening to audiobooks, read this article from Reading Rockets: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/64/. 

I also encourage you to come to the library and check out an audiobook today!