Author Lecture - Chris Van Allsburg

This past Saturday, I had the honor of introducing Chris Van Allsburg at the my library's central branch.  I'm a HUGE CVA fan, so I was incredibly excited to meet Mr. Van Allsburg (and slightly terrified that I was going to spaz out and scare the tuna salad out of him).  Thankfully, I did not scare him and it was a great lecture regarding his career and inspirations.  Here are some pictures from the day:

Here I am introducing Chris Van Allsburg in our auditorium.  The thought in my head right now:  "Don't mess up.  Don't mess up.  Don't mess up."

Chris Van Allsburg takes the stage. 

Mr. Van Allsburg's fascination with topiaries at the time was the catalyst for the creation of The Garden of Abdul Gasazi.

The juxtaposition of wild animals in a suburban home amused the author and provided inspiration for Jumanji.

Originally created for Cricket magazine, this image inspired the book, The Wreck of the Zephyr.

Hunting through flea market stalls caused The Mysteries of Harris Burdick to become a reality.

Mr. Van Allsburg created maquettes of each stage seen in The Z was Zapped. The only artistic license taken was the addition of the lightning bolts hitting the letter Z.

Bad Day at Riverbend was the result of a coloring book owned by Van Allsburgh's daughter. A picture of a radically-colored Tigerlily from Peter Pan inspired the story.

Queen of the Falls is Mr. Van Allsburg's first nonfiction book.  This is the first biography on Annie Edson Taylor written for children. 

Mr. Van Allsburg discussed his new book, The Misadventures of Sweetie Pie.  This is his first book illustrated with watercolors. 

The signing line was long, but it was worth the wait! 

Here is a link to the podcast of his lecture.  It's worth listening to! 

ALSC Blog Post

Hello all,

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted.  I've been house-hunting (found one!) and working on my committee work for ALSC.  Speaking of, I was fortunate enough to have been featured on the ALSC Blog again.  Check out our post on our branch's Science Fair Fridays:

http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2014/10/science-fair-fridays/

Book Review: Patron Review!

I had another patron reviewed book come back to the library!  This book was so loved that the patron returned it directly to me, raved about the book and made sure I read the review.  Here's a copy of it:



Patron's book review



The review reads, "Wonderful twist on having imaginary friends! Beautiful illustrations - kudos to the author!"

Here is a picture of the book:

Beekle by Dan Santat

The story is creative and the illustrations (pencil, crayon, watercolor, and computer manipulation) are beautiful.  Personally, I think the story is a tad too long for a storytime, but for 6-8 year olds, it's a solid choice for lap reading. 

I never had an imaginary friend, but for children who do, this book will be a winner!

Blast from the Past: Prince Amilec

I stumbled across an old blog of mine that I started years ago.  (It was quickly abandoned; hopefully I'll have learned my lesson!)  In the blog, I reviewed a short story that I had forgotten about.  Rereading the review reminded me of how much I loved the story.  Here's a copy of my original post.  I may repost some other entries later.  Do you recognize the info about the Cinderellas below?  That eventually became a blog post for my library system!  (And we now have two Indian variations of Cinderella.  Thank you to that (since retired) book selector for her hard work!)

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Prince Amilec

Last night I reread parts of my copy of The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales (ed. Alison Lurie) because I had a craving for one of the stories in there. The story was Prince Amilec by Tanith Lee, a British author who seems to span various genres. The story follows a young prince as he attempts to court a rude and cruel princess. To win her hand in marriage, the prince must perform various impossible tasks, which he can only do with the help of a witch. The witch in the story is very attractive and kind, and as a result of her help, he eventually realizes that he wants to marry the witch and not the princess. All seems to be happy though as the rude princess eventually sets out to see the world and falls in love with an equally obnoxious prince. To win his hand, she needs to seek out a wizard in a situation that mirrors that of our hero, Prince Amilec.

I loved the flow of this story and the dialog that occurs between Amilec and the witch. The story itself would make a great picture book; I wonder why no one has ever approached Ms. Lee into doing it or if she has refused offers in the past. Whatever the case may be, it's a wonderful story. I would give it a full 5 out of 5 stars.

In library news, I finished creating a new sign to highlight the Cinderella books in the Folktales collection. Granted, we really don't need one, but I found some great clip art princesses from Microsoft that I've been dying to use. Also, the one good thing I'll say about Vista is that you can now edit clip art, so I was able to customize some of the princesses. On the sign, I had Cinderella characters from Ireland (Trembling from Fair, Brown & Trembling), China (Yeh-Shen from Yeh-Shen: The Chinese Cinderella), Mexico (Little Gold Star from Little Gold Star), Africa (Nyasha from Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters), Russia (Vasilisa from Vasilisa the Beautiful), and India (Cinduri from The Enchanted Anklet).

In doing this, I found out that the library currently does not have any copies of an Indian variant of Cinderella. They probably used to, but the copies may have been weeded out or stolen as the years have gone by. Luckily, I was able to get our amazing Children's Selector on it, and I'm positive she'll be able to locate something soon. Yay productive work day!

Bulletin Board - Picture Book Word Maps

A patron recently turned me on to Wordle. The website lets you created "Word Maps" from text.  With a word map, the more frequently a word appears in a text, the larger it will be.  I was captivated!  

Because of that, the monthly bulletin board at our branch is a word map challenge.  I've taken the text from 13 beloved picture books and created word maps.  Can you figure out what these classic picture books are?

I had a young boy request this book EVERY storytime for at least 9 months.  How could I not include it?

 

Click here to see the book!

 

This is one of my favorite books!  I've always longed to do it in a storytime without getting my tongue completely twisted. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

Fun Fact:  I really dislike this book. A LOT.  I think Max should not have gotten his dinner (or he should have apologized first for his behavior).  But it's a classic, so I included it. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

I can't read this book without tearing up.  The death of a grandparent can be tough and I think it's beautifully handled here. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

I love this version of this story.  Another fun fact:  The author used to be a librarian with my library system. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

This book is a modern classic and a great example of photography mixed with illustrations.  Both sequels were just as good, which can be tough to pull off.   

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

This is another title I really dislike.  I'm surprised by that because I love the author's books of poetry. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

Another great storytime book.  I love the message and the songs.  After storytime I frequently hear kids singing this on their way back to their preschools. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

Growing up, this was one of my favorite series because of the detailed watercolor illustrations. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

I love reading this to second graders through fourth graders.  The humor is so dry and incredibly funny. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

The collage work in this book is mind blowing.  I love this author/illustrator for his urban, city-based images. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

This book is iconic.  I visited the author's museum a few years ago and it was a great experience! 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

I've had preschool teachers tell me that kids imitate me doing this story.  Apparently I do a memorable troll.  (Thank you?)

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

ALSC Blog post

I made the ALSC blog!  I'm very excited to be featured.  Here is a link:

ALSC Blog Post

Book Review: The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp

Kathy Appelt's True Blue Scouts

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp follows twelve individuals (some human, some animals, one mythical), all of whom live or are connected to the Sugar Man Swamp, on the far end of the Bayou Tourterelle in Texas. Two of the main characters, Bingo and J’miah, are raccoons who work as Information Scouts keeping the swamp safe. They’re tasked with waking the mythical Sugar Man (a cousin of the Yeti and Sasquatch) and alerting him to any dangers that may affect the swamp. When a strange rumbling begins, the scouts have found their first real mission. The other main character is Chap, a 12 year old boy who must become “the man” of the house now that his beloved grandfather has died. Chap and the swamp are both in trouble: Chap and his mother may lose their house and their pie-making business to the greedy Sonny Boy Beaucoup and Jaeger Stitch, who have plans to bulldoze the swamp and turn it into an alligator wrestling stadium. Appelt’s writing is laugh-out-loud humorous and has a folksy quality that is pleasant and welcoming. And although it’s a fun read, the flow of the story meanders slightly and the resolution seems to occur before it really begins. Readers may not mind this, however, as the characters and their adventures are so engaging. This is a good read with a light ecological focus. A strong choice for readers, 9-12.

We Made the News

My branch was recently featured in a news article by our local NPR affiliate, WHYY.  Here is a link to the article:

Northwest Free Library tour shows innovations as well as needs     

Work Blog Post: Princess Picture Books

Some of my book reviews have made their way to our blog at the library!  Check out a link here:

http://libwww.freelibrary.org/blog/index.cfm?postid=2030

Book Review: Strange Fruit (volume 1): Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History

My supervisor brought me back a copy of Strange Fruit from BEA this year and I was pleasantly surprised by the gift.  I have been trying to make a concerted effort to read more graphic novels this year.  They're not the section that I naturally gravitate towards, so when it comes to book talking titles, I think the kids can see the nervous flop sweat that I develop. 

Strange Fruit by Joel Christian Gill

Strange Fruit was good; there were nine stories in the book which ranged from the better known (Henry "Box" Brown and Bass Reeves) to the obscure (Richard Potter and Marshall "Major" Taylor).  The stories were colorful and seemed well researched.  The artwork was very cartoon-like but was not a distraction from the overall theme of each story.  The hand-lettering of the speech bubbles was hard for me to read, but became easier as I became more familiar with Mr. Gill's penmanship. 

I think this book serves as a good starting point for 'tweens and teens who are interested in African American History.  The bibliography in back is extensive and is broken down by each person.  Books are intermixed with websites, but the hand-lettering becomes problematic again as lines seem to blur together.  Mr. Gill's unusually drawn "E's" (Three parallel lines without a connecting bar) do not help the situation. 

July Bulletin Board: Book Recommendations

I've taken a few days off while I recovered from the ALA conference this year.  I'll post a bit about that as soon as I finish gathering my thoughts (and pictures!).  As always, it was a great conference!  I'm so glad I'm becoming more involved with the organization.

For summer reading this year, our Library System is playing Bingo.  So far, I'm loving it!  The bingo cards are fun and are set up with enough flexibility that all readers can play.

Both sets of cards (one for pre-K and one for school age) have a space for a librarian's book recommendation.  Since we have a lot of activities planned at my branch, I can't always be on the main floor.  As such, our July Bulletin Board is a list of books that are worth a read.  (At least I think they are!)

Here's a picture of the board:

Our July Board! 

Here are pictures of the recommendations.

A great book for storytimes

I love the illustrations by Diana Cain Bluthenthal

I love this easy reader.  I recommend it frequently.

Oh Pete, you glorious, glorious cat. 

I would love to see Isadora's artwork in person. 

I love reading this title during school visits.

These mysteries were a hit in our after school storytime! 

This series is really popular at my branch.

So far, this is the best new book I've read this year.

I love this series!  I wish more kids would check it out.

I'll be reviewing this on the blog soon.

I love the flow of this story. 

I didn't think I would like this series, but I did! 

The illustrations really enhance this story. 

I've created a simple mini handout that will allow people to add their own recommendations to the board.  I've quartered a piece paper in Word and have spots for people to list their name, age, the title of the book, and a few lines about why they loved it.  It's very similar to the cards I put in the back of the children's fiction.  I can't wait to see the bulletin board by the end of the month! 

Preschool Programming: Green

Even though it's warm and sunny, I frequently have a lot of parents who are looking for a fun and education activity on a rainy day.  

Seeger's Green is a great book for vocabulary building


I like to suggest pairing Laura Vaccaro Seeger's Green with some free paint swatches from a home improvement store.  

Seeger's book is filled with large, beautifully images that show different shades of green. Some are simple:

Laser-cut holes (the Luna moth) hint at colors on the next page.

Some are complex:

"Faded" is a great two syllable word.
What else do we see that's faded?

And some are zany:

What animal is this?  Are Zebras white and green?  Where have we seen zebras before?
So many great conversations are started on this page!

 

Get some free green paint swatches from your local home improvement store and have your kids or library group compare the colors. Which greens match the colors in the book? Which greens are bright? Which greens are dark? It's a fun activity that builds language and observational skills for Preschoolers!

Book Review: Patron Review!

An hour into my work day, our new library assistant showed me this:

A patron book review!

When I started at my branch last July, I wanted to put a "patron review" card in the back of each book. The cards are really simple; four patrons spaces are provided and once a person has finished the book, they're given the chance to write a few thoughts about the book.  The bottom of each card advertises our branch's Facebook page.  We print the cards on old fliers, unwanted print jobs, etc.  it's a great way to recycle used paper.  

The twitter name (blacked out for privacy concerns) caught my eye.  I think it's really cool that besides reviewing the book, the person listed their twitter name.  Hopefully another patron will message them and they can share some book suggestions!  

If you can't read the writing, the review reads, "This is a story that the young and young-at-heart can enjoy.  Beyond totally awesome."  

I'll post more of these as I find them!  

Preschool Programming: Shredded Paper

One of my goals for this past year has been creating better programs for my visiting preschools.  To that end, I've tried to include more literacy-enhancing programs and some STEAM-based projects.  

I was initially inspired by the children's librarian at my sister branch.  She has a lot of homeschoolers that visit and she's incredibly adept at creating interesting and fun programs.  When I initially approached her with ideas for programs, she shared this SLJ article with me:  Read, Play, Grow!:  Enhancing Early Literacy at Brooklyn Public Library.  Wow.  What a FANTASTIC article!  

I initially tried the un-sandbox program which combines uses shredded paper instead of sand:

Yay cheap programming ideas!

For my program, I borrowed a tote bin from our circulation desk.  The bins are used to ship books between branches.  I filled that up with shredded paper from our office.  (Libraries shred A LOT of paper.)  I decided to read some zoo-themed books:

My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall

 

If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss (editing out the  racist line. I changed the verse from "to the mountains of Zomba-ma-Tant / With helpers who all / wear their eyes at a slant" to say "to the mountains of Zomba-ma-Tan / With helpers who never walked but ran."  More on that in a later post.)

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild  By Peter Brown

Because I was reading Zoo-themed stories, I grabbed some pencil topper animals prizes that were left over from a past summer reading game and buried them in the paper.  After we read the stories, I opened the bin and let the kids explore.  While they were playing in the paper, we talked about:

• What the paper feels like:  Is it hard or soft?  Is it warm?  Is it cold?.
• What it reminds them of:  As they were playing with it, we talked about snow, sand, dirt -- all different things to play in.
• What colors they saw:  Some colored sheets were shredded throughout the month and were mixed in.
• What animals they found:  Noises they make, their proper names (It’s not a horse, it’s a zebra!), what colors they were.  

As you can see, my little friends were not shy about playing in the paper. 

As the animals were pulled out of the bin, the teacher and I reburied them. At the end of the visit, each child was allowed to take home one animal.  After the visit, I vacuumed up the paper on the floor (a bit, but not excessive amounts), dumped the shredded paper into the recycling bin, and returned the tote bin to the circulation desk. 

We learned that a horse with stripes is really a Zebra!

When I do this program again, I'm going to drop the animal theme.  The SLJ article suggested as much, but I didn't heed the advice.  Instead, I'm going to try to pair the activity with some snow-themed books.  The shredded paper (with the flashes of color mixed in) really reminded me of Keats' The Snowy Day.  I might mix in some rain books as well.  

We found a moose!

One of my little friends DID NOT want to put her hands into the shredded paper.  I think she was afraid that something alive was in there.  Obviously we didn't force her.  We did try to include her in the conversations we had and I gave her one piece of paper to touch.  After seeing her classmates playing in the paper for about 5 minutes, she eventually joined in.  Sometimes we all have to do things at our own speed.  

During their next visit, I was given this:

Homemade Thank You cards are awesome!

I love this card so much!  All thank yous are appreciated, but it takes a lot to beat a patriotic thank you.