19th Annual Mitten Tree

Throughout the month of December, the Mitten Tree will be up in the Puett Room and ready to be decorated with donations of new scarves, hats, and mittens. 

For the past 18 years, library patrons have kept hands and hearts warm by donating over 3,608 items to the Good Neighbor Center in Tigard!  Items donated will be distributed to people experiencing homelessness in Washington County.

 Let’s give our neighbors the gift of warmth this season!
The Mitten Tree is generously provided by Friends of the Tigard Public Library.

Amber's Favorite Seek and Find Picture Books

To celebrate the end of Picture Book Month, I wanted to share some of my favorite picture books that have a seek-and-find element to them. You've probably seen the I Spy books. But have you seen In the Town, All Year 'Round? For every season, there are characters to spot and story lines to follow. Turning the pages brings you through each part of town, from the country to the town center. You can watch the kindergarten building being constructed, the pond at the park ice over for skating, and friendly relationships forming over time.

When I was a kid, there was nothing more absorbing than a thorough read of Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-a-Zoo. Nobody knows environmental print better than Mercer Mayer, who inserts biplanes creating "brush your teeth" skywriting and flashy signs advertising one way tours the edge of nowhere at every brushstroke.

And if lovely artwork is what you need to make it through another search for a hidden object, check out Britta Teckentrup's spotting books. They are packed with cute animals and soft, rich colors. Happy hunting!

MEGA CRAFTS!

 Bring the entire family to the Library Community Room Sunday, November 29 from 2-4 p.m. for some serious all ages crafting fun!  Make useful, beautiful and gift-worthy projects for family and friends.

Generously sponsored by Friends of the Tigard Library

 

 

Oregon State v. Oregon

On Friday November 27th, the Beavers will try to avenge last year's loss to the Ducks in this year's 119th Civil War rivalry in Eugene.  Can't make it down to watch the game at Autzen Stadium?  Join us for a big-screen showing of the game, starting with kick-off at 12:30 p.m. in the Burgess Community Room.

Kari's Favorite Picture Books!

Slugs by David Greenberg was an all-time childhood favorite of mine. It is a perfect mix of delightfully gross and disgustingly hilarious. In rhyming verse, Greenberg imagines more and more creative and horrible things people can do to the slimy slug while Victoria Chess's illustrations make you want to laugh and cringe at the same time. My favorite part of the book however, comes when the slugs take their revenge!

The basis for the 2007 film Meet the Robinsons, A Day With WilburRobinson by William Joyce was another childhood favorite of mine. A search for Wilbur's grandfather's false teeth leads the reader through the strange and fantastical world of the Robinson family. What I really enjoyed about the book as a young reader was that most of the action and humor took place in the illustrations. For example, the text merely mentions Cousin Pete walking the cats, but the accompanying illustration enlightens careful readers to the fact that the cats in question are in fact tigers. These delightful and often humorous details kept me coming back to re-read the story again and again to look for details I might have missed! 

What's the title of that book again?

Oh yeah. It's How Lunchbox Jones Saved Me From Robots, Traitors, and Missy the Cruel, by Jennifer Brown. I may not always correctly remember the title of this book, but the story itself is very memorable!

Luke is depressed and angry because his big brother, Rob, is abandoning him to become a Marine (hence the "traitor" part of the title). He doesn't really want to do anything other than play Alien Onslaught with his online friend, Randy.

Luke's Life Skills teacher, Mr. Perry, specifically seeks him out to join the Forest Shade Middle School robotics team (hence the "robots" part of the title). Considering Forest Shade is the losingest middle school in history, Luke doesn't think the team has a chance at winning, and plus, he would much rather slaughter aliens with Randy. But he doesn't have much choice when Mr. Perry ropes his dad into his plans to recruit Luke.

So Luke joins the robotics team, and to his horror learns that the scariest guy in school, Lunchbox Jones (hence the "Lunchbox Jones" part of the title) is part of the team, and so is the meanest girl, Missy the Cruel (hence the "Missy the Cruel" part of the title).

Does Luke dare to team up with these two and the other ragtag team of kids? Will this ragtag team indeed be able to build a robot to the point that it could possibly stand up in competition? And what makes Lunchbox Jones so scary, anyway?

November LEGO® Construction Zone

Sunday November 22nd will be our next LEGO® Construction Zone.  Come build your own LEGO creations with other builders.  We'll supply all the building blocks.  You bring your creativity!  We'll build 1:30-3:00 p.m. in the Puett Room and kids ages 5 and up are welcome to attend.

International Games Day

On Saturday November 21st, more than 1,000 libraries around the world will celebrate the 8th annual International Games Day @ Your Library.  So bring the whole gang to play it up with board games, card games, and more, 1:30-3:00 p.m. in the Puett Room.  The whole family is invited to come have fun!

My Favorite Picture Books

Remember this book? We librarians tend to avoid recommending books that are tied into other media, but this was a favorite when I was a kid and it still holds up today. When Grover notices the title, he becomes profoundly anxious about the monster at the end and proceeds to devise strategies that will prevent the reader from moving forward in the book. The reader turns a page, and Grover nails the next page down. When, in spite of Grover's efforts, the reader easily turns that page, Grover builds a brick wall. When the next page is turned, Grover asks the reader, "Did you know that your are very strong?" Grover's anxiety and antics intensify as each page is turned, until finally the big reveal at the end of the book.

This is the first book I can remember reading that spoke directly to me, that prompted me to interact with the characters. Now I read it to my kids and, just as with Hervé Tulet's Press Here, they are delighted with it's interactive elements. And I get to act melodramatic while I'm reading it, so, win-win.

Graeme Base's Animalia is another favorite for it's interactive elements. In fact, all of Base's books contain some sort of visual mystery to solve or hidden pictures. Animalia is an alphabet book with pages packed with items and creatures that suit each letter. This is a great one to build vocabulary long after the alphabet is learned, and it's super for kids who can't get enough I Spy and Where's Waldo books. The illustrations are stunning, the text is poetic, and the allusions are clever. You Whovians out there may be sharp enough to spot a little "easter egg" hidden on the dragon page above.

If, like me, you love books that share secrets with attentive readers, you may also enjoy the works of Jan Brett and Janell Cannon. Both authors garnish the pages of their beautifully illustrated books with tiny pictures depicting behind-the-scenes story lines. Awesome.

Becoming Nicole

Wayne Maines was a man's man who was raised in a rural community with conservative, moral values. His wife, Kelly, came from a similar background. After multiple miscarriages, the opportunity to adopt fell into their laps. And when they found out they were having twins, they couldn't have been happier.

Wayne dreamed of the day when his identical twin sons, Jonas and Wyatt, would be old enough to experience the male bonding that goes along with hunting and fishing. Jonas seemed right on track to help him fulfill this dream. But from the age of 2, Wyatt began to show signs that the dream may never come true. As the years passed, it became apparent that Wyatt was not like most boys. Though Kelly followed Wyatt's lead and supported him every step of the way, Wayne just could not bring himself to terms with the idea that one of his sons may actually be his daughter. Until he realized that he really had no choice.

Through bullying, discrimination, court orders, lawsuits, counseling, medical interventions and family growth, Wyatt became Nicole, the girl she had always been.

In my opinion, the one weakness of the book is the way the author refers to Nicole as being "born a boy." She never was a boy. She was assigned male at birth but was always a girl. Becoming Nicole, by Amy Ellis Nutt, is a look at the transformation of a family, and in a way, a community and even a country. It also is a great source of information regarding the science of being transgender and the way the American culture and other cultures view transgender people.