November is Picture Book Month!

November is Picture Book Month! Picture Book Month is an international literacy initiative that celebrates the print picture book during the month of November each year. To celebrate, please stop by the children's room at the library and check out our display of recommended picture books from the Youth Services Staff.  So take a peek and see what your favorite librarian's favorite picture books are!  Please feel free to grab any of the books from the display, check them out, and read them to your youngster!  Share the love of a picture book today!

It's Banned Books Week!

Banned Books Week 2016 is September 25 to October 1

The Banned Book Week Coalition is a national alliance of diverse organizations joined by a commitment to increase awareness of the annual celebration of the freedom to read.  This Coalition seeks to engage communities and inspire participation in Banned Books Week through education, advocacy, and the creation of programming about book censorship.  Hundreds of books are removed or challenged in schools and libraries across the U.S. each year.  The American Library Association estimates that 70-80% of challenges are never reported.  Join the library this week as we celebrate our 1st Amendment Rights by checking out a book from one of our Banned Books Week displays, located in the Children's Room, the Young Adult Room, and adult titles located near the Adult Reference Desk.  To discover books that have been banned across the country, check out this list of Frequently Challenged Books from the American Library Association.

November is Picture Book Month

Picture Book Month is an international literacy initiative that celebrates the print picture book during the month of November.  In this digital age where people are predicting the coming death of print books, picture books (the print kind) need love. And the world needs picture books. There’s nothing like the physical page turn of a beautifully crafted picture book. 

Stop by the Children's Room at the library during the month and take a look at our display of Librarian's favorite Picture Books.  All of the books on display are available for check out.  Also take a peek at our cube display case outside of the Puett Room.

HAPPY BATMAN DAY!

DC Comics recognizes today, Saturday September 26, 2015 as Batman Day!  Stop by the children's room on the first floor of the library to pick up some Batman goodies like bags, buttons, masks, and bookmarks.  Plus we've got coloring and activity sheets available to take home along with books available to check out too!  Giveaways are available while they last.  Happy Batman Day!

Is it a maze or is it a labyrinth?

If you haven't been to the library in a while, you're in for a treat. The display cube is featuring mazes and labyrinths. Do you know the difference between a maze and a labyrinth? It's been said that you enter a maze to lose yourself; you enter a labyrinth to find yourself.

Staff Picks Are Coming to a Library Near You!

A great thing about working at the Tigard Public Library is working with a staff full of readers. Coworkers are always sharing interesting titles with each other.  Now, we want to share them with you!  Beginning today, Wednesday, December 10, find out what books have enthralled, entertained and energized library staff.  Look for the staff picks displays in the Children’s Room and on the second floor near the top of the stairs. The selections are as diverse as the staff!  Read a staff pick today!

Dig Into Creepy Crawly Reading Fun!

Does your youngster want to have some creepy crawly reading fun?  Stop by the library this week and check out our display of books that have to do with worms, bugs, underground critters, dirt, and gardening!  All of these books are available for check out.  PLUS, we'll have related coloring and activity sheets available while supplies last!

Arbor Month Tree Matching Game

Have you ever considered what kind of trees you might find in a picture book? Check out our Arbor Month displays! There’s one in the glass cube by the Puett Room and one on the top of the shelf as you enter the Children's Room.

Play our Arbor Month Tree Matching game and test your knowledge. The contest starts today!

Look for the entry form in the Children’s Room.

You could win a prize!

16th Annual Mitten Tree

December 1-31

in the Puett Room

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 15 years, library patrons have kept hands and hearts warm by donating over 2800 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 provided by the Friends of the Tigard Public Library

Titanic: 100 Years Later

Most of you may already know that April 15th was the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic.  In honor of this historic event, why not stop by the library and reflect upon this moment in time through one of our displays of Titanic books and reproduced memorabilia?  Adult books and materials are on display in the library lobby and children's and teen books are on display in the children's room in the cube display located next to the Puett Room.  There is also another display on the 2nd floor next to the adult reference desk that highlights new adult titles, which also includes a bibliography of these new books.

Here's some of my favorite Titanic books for youth:
Titanic Sinks! by Barry Denenberg (for ages 8 & up)
This recently published book (2011) presents the true story of the building and launching of the Titanic and offers a "you are there" feeling when the steamship struck an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage.

Inside the Titanic (A Giant Cutaway Book) by Ken Marschall (for ages 6 & up)

Cut-away illustrations feature stories of real-life children who sailed aboard the Titanic on the night of its disaster in the North Atlantic.  I could look at the illustrations of this book for hours, as it's so enthralling to study each room displayed on the ship.

Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady, R.M.S. Titanic, 1912  by Ellen Emerson White (ages 8 & up)
From the Dear America Series, Margaret Ann describes in her diary how she leaves her lonely life in a London orphanage to become a companion to a wealthy American woman, sails on the Titanic, and experiences its sinking.  This is a wonderful historical fiction read for chapter book readers that has enough simplicity without being too overly detailed.

And on my reading list: The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf (for ages 12 & up)

Told through multiple voices, this recreated fictionalized accound of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic as it is observed by millionaire John Jacob Astor, a beautiful young Lebanese refugee finding first love, "Unsinkable" Molly Brown, Captain E.J. Smith, and others including the iceberg itself.   

Here's some of my favorite Titanic books for adult readers:
The Last Dinner on the Titanic by Rick Archbold

This offers an on-board tour with fascinating descriptions and anecdotes, archival photographs and memorabilia, and a host of evocative period paintings and illustrations, complete with directions for hosting a Titanic-themed dinner.

Lost Liners by Robert D. Ballard
This coffetable style book contains a great number of illustrations and paintings.  It's worth taking a browse through.

And on my reading list: The Dressmaker: A Novel by Kate Alcott

A historical fiction book about a spirited young dressmaker who survives the sinking of the Titanic only to find herself embroiled in the tumultuous aftermath of the tragedy.