Run Wild with Puppets!

                     

Let your imagination RUN WILD with a puppet from the Library!
 

Come on in and see our new and exciting assortment of puppets available for check-out! 

What research says about puppet play:

• Loving interactions with people and exploring objects are as necessary to a child's brain development as food is.
• Sensory experiences and social interactions build brain connections for future learning.
• Multi-sensory, playful, and interactive experiences linked with language and books create profound memory connections in the brain.
• Playing is just plain fun!

Our puppet collection is quite durable and will last through many exciting imaginary adventures. If your puppet does get messy, please bring it back to the library with a 

note.  We’ll take it from there.  Please do not put your puppet in the washing machine or dryer. They Can’t swim.  Thanks!

The puppet collection is generously sponsored by Friends ofthe Tigard Public Library. 

Apps for Young Children

The Fred Rogers Center, who's mission is "to advance the fields of early learning and children’s media by acting as a catalyst for communication, collaboration, and creative change" has published this post regarding selecting apps for young children.  It stresses the point that parents, teachers, and media creators are responsible for making sure the apps children play with are optimal for their development.  And after perusing the Fred Rogers Center Blog some more, there are other posts of note that cover ebooks, digital media and other topics regarding early childhood learning and development.  I highly recommend taking a look at their blog today!

New BOB Books are Here!

We just got a new batch of BOB Books for your beginning reader! The new series is called "My First BOB Books". Two titles from the series are "Alphabet" and "Pre-Reading Skills".
The Alphabet set contains two to three letters in each book where children can learn to relate sounds with letters. The Pre-Reading Skills set contains basic literacy concepts in engaging, read-aloud stories. Each set contains 12 books and a parent guide.

Food, Wonderful Food!

Tis the season for cooking...and baking....and candy making. Cooking as a family can be a lot of fun. It's also a great literacy skill. Not only do you have to read what to do, but you also need to understand how the numbers work with the recipe. We have lots of cookbooks for kids in our Juvenile Non Fiction section, J 641.5, with recipes from around the country and the world.

Cook It Together by Annabel Karmel. Yummy recipes with great pictures showing most of the steps.

Emeril's There's a Chef in My World by Emeril Lagasse. For a family looking for a culinary adventure, you could try some of the recipes from this book.

Ratatouille What's Cooking? A Cookbook for Kids. Everyone's favorite cooking rat presents some tasty French treats. Happy cooking!

Why adults should start learning from kids.

I recently came across this video of incredible child author Adora Svitak speaking about how childhood optimism, innovation and creativity is our key to a successful future. In her talk, Spitak illustrates that kids thrive in a collaborative environment, and that adults should aspire to trust them and be receptive to their ideas. Check out the video and Svitak's Blog.

New Read-Along Kits!

We just got a whole bunch of new kits here at the library. If you are unfamiliar with a kit, it is a book that contains a read-along CD. These books are perfect for children who are learning to read and for non-reader's alike since they expose children to new vocabulary and provide for an entertaining literary experience. These experiences can include: listening to multiple readers, sound effects, and background music, which all provide a fun and entertaining story. Some great new kits include:

Crazy Hair Day by Barney Saltzberg. Actor Zach Braff narrates as Stanley, who is so excited about crazy hair day at school, discovers he got the date wrong.

Duck on a Bike by David Shannon. Narrator Walter Mayes provides readers with a wealth of different barnyard animals as duck rides a bike all over the farm.

March On!: The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World by Christine King Farris. Listeners will be transported back in time to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic march on Washington during the Civil Rights movement.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems. Playful and perfectly timed music interacts with a determined pigeon who wants to drive a bus, narrated by well loved authors, Mo Willems and Jon Scieszka. A 2004 Caldecott Honor Book and a 2010 Notable Children's Recording.

Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems. Performed by Mo, his daughter Trixie, and wife Cheryl, who all make a great family team showing warmth and love. A 2008 Caldecott Honor Book and a 2010 Notable Children's Recording.

Babies need books too!

I was just catching up on my blog reading, and this post on Book Moot reminded me of one of the most important pieces of furniture in an infant's room: book shelves! Baby showers are a great opportunity to help a loved one start a library for their little one(s), and board books are the way to go. Board books often have just the right high-contrast pictures and minimal, rhythmic text to support very early literacy, and their thick, sturdy pages are perfect for the gooey fingers of little people who are just beginning to develop fine motor skills. So, give your babies books! And make sure they are on a low shelf, a crate, or even a basket for easy access once independent mobility ensues.

Celebrate Banned Books Week

Thanks to Omnivoracious for the link! See our displays and booklists for more information.

Reading as a Family

Want to encourage your child's reading comprehension, start a family discussion, and have a good time? Read together! This is a great activity for families with children of different ages, preschoolers to gradeschoolers. For starters, choose a picture book with a some hefty text. Fairytales and folktales work especially well (398s!).

Ask questions, like what's the story about? Was there a major idea (greed, dreaming, courage)? What do you think about the character's choices? Remember, this is a family discussion, so parents should be answering right along! This is a great way to talk about "big" ideas in a comfortable and encouraging environment.

Some picture book ideas...

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst (fairness)

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe (greed)

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka (perspective).

Connecting with Authors

Tuesday night, the library enjoyed a visit from acclaimed children's author Deborah Hopkinson. Hopkinson's book Apples to Oregon is the children's selection for the statewide Oregon Reads program, in celebration of Oregon's 150th birthday.

Hopkinson is also featured on the super Reading Rockets website, "a national multimedia project offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help" (from their website).

My favorite part of the site is their collection of interviews with children's authors and illustrators, like Avi, Mary Pope Osborne, Eric Carle, David Shannon and Rosemary Wells to list a few. They chat about their work, their lives, and other fun tidbits. The interviews are cut into short, easy to download snippets just right for young listeners.

What are "Punk Rock Pigeons?" You'll have to find out yourself during Mo Willems interview!

Guilty Pleasures?: Your Children's Books

If you are promoting a literacy-friendly home, then you almost certainly have shared books with your children, whether reading aloud or borrowing books from your offspring, whose enthusiasm for reading material can be infectious. Maybe you've discovered your own passion for "their" books. I will never grow tired of reading Dr. Seuss, L.M. Montgomery, The Little Prince, and Harry Potter. Reading what your kids read is a great way to understand their interests, sense of humor, and tastes. Through shared books you can find common ground and fabulous fodder for dinner table discussion.

Perhaps your teen has lent you his or her (most likely her) treasured copy of Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. You liked it didn't you? It's OK, you can tell us. We liked it too. Anyway, you may of heard that the Twilight movie, filmed just a few miles away in St. Helens, is coming to a theater near you on November 21st. Here at the library, we've joined forces with Adult Services to create an opportunity for you to get a little gothic with your teen. On December 5 from 7-9 p.m. in the Community Room there will be a Vamp Camp for teens and adults. Watch a classic vampire movie, contribute to a gothic art gallery, enjoy crafts and snacks, and get horror make-up instruction from a professional make-up artist. See you there!