Library Mermaid

Story Poems good for Readers' Theatre

2011-12-09T07:40:00.001-08:00

The Oxford Book of Story Poems by Michael Harrison

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A thoughtfully compiled book of story poems, many of which will not be immediately familiar but are worth knowing. The illustrations add just the right note, a blend of black and white sketches and colorful spreads. Opening with the brief Fairy Story by Stevie Smith proving that a story poem need not be long to be effective. I think a good deal of these would be very effectively transformed into readers' theatre for performance.

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Library Window Painting

2011-10-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

The Summer Reading Program was on "the Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!" theme - a forest scene, jungle, ocean, and pastorial. Then they were covered with paper cut-outs of animals, one per each book read. It is a testament to the great reading of the kids that by mid-August, the windows and these painted images were entirely hidden under little paper squares. Good Reading, everyone!

I heart Daniel Handler

2011-09-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

Catching up on a stack of New York Times book reviews, I open DH's review of a batch of new kid at school books under the heading of Settling In. (August 21).
His opening lines make me remember why I think he is just the hoot of all time - "Will you be my friend? With the possible exception of "Does this look infected?," there is no more off-putting question."
Plus he uses the word "alas" all the time, a word I am quite fond of...I think it would be lovely if he dedicated himself to rewriting all the tedious manuals in the world so learning how to operate my new camera or how to assemble an Ikea bookshelf that seems to be missing screws had a certain lightness of wit to the work. Alas, I fear he will not be doing this any time soon.

Books that should be movies

2011-08-26T08:29:00.001-07:00

Why The True Meaning of Smekday isn't a movie by now is beyond me. Great adventure and characters and imagination and wit. The main character is the kind of girl that girls need to see more of in movies - brave and strong (even when terrified) smart and true. A novel by Adam Rex I have been recommending to kids ever since it came out.
And Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle - years ago the then young Winona Ryder would have been perfect for it. Everyone who reads this becomes another fan of this underground cult classic. Made into a play, it still deserves major Hollywood or Indie treatment.
And then of course, Fledgling by Octavia Butler. You want action? We got action? You want kick ass? We got kick ass. And pathos, drama, humanity.
Moviemakers - where are you?

Brief round-up and a monkey and friends

2011-07-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

The library summer windows have been up since mid-June and I still haven't gotten around to uploading them; summer does come in swinging. Well, here is at least one of our animal themed windows (now merrily covered with paper animals, one per each book read, from our eager summer readers. Here's an oldish but nice interview with a librarian and writer, Barbara Ann Porte (yes, I know, I am just fileboxing here for my own selfish pleasures),
a good blog to know for rockin' music for the young set...argh, dog chewing his biscuit on the bed, OFF! and Off to sleep as well. (terrible round-up and have scads more to share...another time when it is not past the midnight hour).

a whiff of old books, a hush, a pensive air...

2011-06-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it seems that the aim of modernity is to flush the romance out of life. the library, with its Daedalian labyrinth, mysteroius hush, and faintly ominous aroma of knowledge, has been replaced by the computer's cheap glow, pesky chirp, and data spillage.

- P.J. O'Rourke

A Palooza, you say?

2011-06-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

Lithgow Party Paloozas!: 52 Unexpected Ways to Make a Birthday, Holiday, or Any Day a Celebration for Kids by John Lithgow

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sea poems on a Monday Morning

2011-06-20T07:49:00.001-07:00

The Mermaid and Other Sea Poems by Sophie Windham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very nice collection of sea-themed poetry. Old favorites like Kipling's Seal Lullaby and Ogden Nash's the Eel (a childhood favorite) sit side by side with ones less familiar - My Other Granny by Ted Hughes, and Grim and Gloomy by James Reeves. The art by Sophie Windham (who compiled this collection) has a charming, somewhat British-y (as she is), storybook appeal.

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Sea dreams

2011-06-20T07:33:00.001-07:00

A House by the Sea by Joanne Ryder

Obviously this library mermaid loves the sea - and as a person who has written quite a lot of odes to dream houses by the sea - I can firmly state that this one is just terrific. With great imagination (an Octopus nanny, a playdate with seals)and rollicking rhymes and somewhere in there seems to be a poetic nod to the great beach poem by e e cummings - this is a perfect summer treat to offer up to sandy-toed (or dreaming of) little ones. The art is by one of my favorites, Melissa Sweet, who has a way with seaside dreams.

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Imaginary Menagerie

2011-06-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

Imaginary Menagerie: A Book of Curious Creatures by Julie Larios

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Exploring magical creatures from mermaids to phoenix with brilliant illustrations (remind me of illuminated manuscripts), this book is good fun. I can easily see teachers using it as a jumpstart for poety workshops - the poetry is accessible and yet evocative, full of warnings and wonder - from Trolls "Troll arms will grab you and put you in a pot - in with the turnips and the dung and the spuds, in with the beetles and thistles from the ditch...". A full page glossary in the back rounds it all out.

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Greed is good

2011-06-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

When you are at the library.

My favorite question - "how many books can I take out?" and the answer here is: "As many as you want."

And the eyes light up. The eyes of a true reader discovering treasure, unbounded, bountiful.

It isn't good to be greedy, yes, but that rule goes out the window at the library. Here greed is good. I want you to carry out a stack of books, surround yourself with them, and read to your heart's content.

One of my favorite patrons is a mother who brings a rolling suitcase with her, empties out her returns, and sends her children to gather up new treasures to bring home.

And while you're at it - take all my display books because I put them up there for you to be tempted by new offerings and old favorites. Read! (Hmmm...rhymes with greed, just sayin').

Excellent book on bullying

2011-03-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

Just Kidding by Trudy Ludwig

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really liked this one - it breaks away from the pack of bullying books which almost invariably have the bully be some kid who was just lonely and they all become friends...for children who are bullied, those kind of books are never helpful and make them feel even more isolated.

This book is spot on for sharing when a child is being picked on - and having the bully say "just kidding" is so on the mark - the frequent way bullying really picks away at children because it is not considered a dangerous situation, just words, just kidding around, and meanwhile the bullied child starts to feel their world get smaller and sadder and they feel they have few places to turn. Having had special needs children who were bullied on all levels - from the "just kidding" to the all out attack, I am especially pleased to find this book. I will be ordering it pronto for my library. note - there is a helpful foreward by Stan Davis, a bullying prevention consultant.

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parity and the poster boy

2010-12-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

He used half the tape and a mess of staples, the boy trying to put together a poster for a class project. His posterboard is a squashed box pummelled to an unruly flatness and over it he has taped sheets and sheets of old flyers from our scrap paper box, taped together in the haphazard way only a ten year old boy can manage.
I can only imagine the remarks of the other children when he hands in his poster board project. This is not the first of its kind. I have mooched old box parts from our custodians for similar fixes.
Teachers - do you know not every parent will run out to the local stationary store and buy posterboard? Or the trifold posters - they cost up to twelve bucks or more of big foamy board pieces to display a few sheets of paper about a project. Not green at all either.
Schools - when you ask children for these outside of school purchases, when you assemble your ginormous school needs list in September, when you insist any child provide something besides himself at the school, you are setting some members of the community up for failure. Poor children cannot buy posterboards, fancy notebooks, special calculators and the like.
The little girl telling me sadly last year that the reason she was at the library and not at school was there was a class trip and her mother couldn't afford it - and she was too embarrassed to go to school and be placed in a different classroom (for those who didn't go).
Forget the big fundraisers for three day trips to some amusement park or the pricey D.J. you hire for a dance or whatever else...raise the money for the trips to museums etc. but only hold the trips if EVERYONE CAN GO. Kids do not need fancy notebooks in different colors to learn. They need a pencil, some paper, and a good teacher. Stop assigning mandatory computer homework to those who don't have internet access. Are you aware many of them cannot make it to the library as their parents both work long long hours?
I will never forget the kindergarten teacher who remarked to me at the end of the year that it was sad to see the kids who didn't get the milk and cookies at snack watch the others. I was sending in the requested 75 cents or so a week for milk and cookies snack. I looked at her - do you mean there are children who have no snack and have to watch the others snack? Well, yes, she said. Mind you, this was the end of the school year - and why hadn't she told us this in September? She thought we knew. Every mom in that school I knew did NOT know and we would have gladly taken turns baking cookies, paying for milk and juice for EVERYONE, not just a select few. In all the fuss raised about schools and the need for change that is going about lately - address the disparity between the have and have-nots. If one child gets something, EVERY CHILD GETS SOMETHING. We are all in this global family together, we better start acting like it.

Kudos to the great kid at the library..

2010-12-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

After helping him get some books on tying knots - for practice, he told me, so he could get his boy scout badge, he thanked me and added "you're a really good librarian and you have nice hair."

Who's Reading?

2010-11-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

An owl inviting booklovers to post the name of their favorite or recently read books has been a modest success. Half of the little owls have been carried home after being colored in, but I think it has been a nice autumn-y visual in the library.

a weekend round-up

2010-10-29T20:09:00.001-07:00

My favorites are choking up AOL - so here are a few things of interest - homeschoolers might find this site useful, I just love everything about this wonderful site and blog - and gimme some of those popcorn balls please! Want cuteness? Check out her (first attempt at, sigh) felting creations...really some people are annoyingly talented (scroll a post or two down). Speaking of talented - this blog seems to collect them - need craft ideas? Look no further. (Okay, look further, one of the beauties of the 'net is all the creative people just SHARING. Big wow.)
Did I ever share this fun Beethoven site?
I have listed this in other places (I think on other blog) but I love it so - the note "I will not start fires", I mean, really...so interesting. Unfortunately all I have found is old gum stuck in the pages of picturebooks but I'm full of hope.

Eva Ibbotson

2010-10-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

An interesting NYTimes obit on the writer Eva Ibbotson - I like her late publishing start and her magically inclined books as well as the adventurous ones, residing on our library shelves.

The Versatile Blogger award

2010-10-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

Quite thrilled to log on and see this lovely award from Emeraldfire's Bookmark. Thank you!

The criteria for accepting The Versatile Blogger Award are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic.
4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award

Seven things about me:

1. I love the ocean but hate swimming in it.
2. A cup of tea is more calming to me than meditation ever could be.
3. Monkeys weird me out. Real ones, not toys.
4. I spend a lot of time over at my other blog, Sun pours down like honey, and keep meaning to do more with this blog.
5. I like owls and one lives in our backyard.
6. I believe that God is alive and magic is afoot (thank you, Buffy St.M).
7. I'm proud to be half Scottish.

My chosen blogs are:
1. Scenes from the Moth House
2. Mouse
3. Wild Somerset Child
4. heaven and earth
5. Three Beautiful Things
6. la porte rouge
7. Cat musings
8. noble pig
9. cold antler farm
10. Allotment 2 kitchen
11. Vivien Swift the France blog
12. seven spoons
13. the heart of papercuts
14. vintage chica
15. Stuck in Customs

I will link to everyone tomorrow as it's well past bedtime now - merci!

Snook Alone

2010-09-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

Snook Alone by Marilyn Nelson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Snook, abandoned inadvertantly, reminded me of Tom Hanks' character in Cast Away, only sadder and sweeter since Snook doesn't understand where his friend went or why. The details of the island and the creatures of the sand and sea and the lovely language are matched by the art by Timothy Basil Ering who certainly knows the poignancy in the curved back of a dog, head hung low.

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Eddie's Garden review

2010-09-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

Eddie's Garden and How to Make Things Grow by Sarah Garland

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An appealing and realistic story of a mother, boy and baby sister planning and putting together a back yard garden and reaping their harvest, warm and humorous family moments, especially some sibling silliness...tips for growing a similar garden yourself are in the back. The art is well-matched.

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A beautiful offering on love and loss

2010-09-10T13:28:00.000-07:00

Tulip and Lupin Forever by Mireille Levert

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

She had me at "dog bee". This is a story about love and loss and an unusual one, not your typical dog and owner but a watering fairy named Tulip and her dog bee honeymaker named Lupin. When Lupin dies, Tulip is terribly sad. The story is spot on about the long lingering sadness of the loss of someone beloved and about the slow and careful bloom of recovery. If you have an artist/poet friend or family member (or someone with the soul of an artist and poet) who has lost a pet, this might be the perfect offering. The entire time I was reading and loving it even though misty-eyed thinking about our beloved Moky), I was thinking how my daughter will find this a perfect expression about her relationship with Moky and her new one with young TuckerBoo. I do, however, wish some of these books came with a little sticker from the publisher, however, as I know there will be parents tucked in next to their wee one reading happily and then - oh my - the realization you are in the middle of a very sad book in the armload you grabbed on the run from the library. Clever librarian I am, I will put it aside in my special issues shelf - the ones parents appreciate (so they tell me) so they don't have to slog through a bunch of picturebooks to locate the ones on grief and loss and other difficulties of being human.

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Psalm 23

2010-09-10T12:46:00.001-07:00

Psalm Twenty-Three by Tim Ladwig

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

the two other women at my job saw this, sighed with that deep wow what a great book pleasure, and announced who was receiving this for a Christmas present. A mother, a brother. I think this might be the book I want to donate in honor of my mother that I like to do every year on her birthday. I love how it expresses the grace in everyday life (something I am apt to forget if not reminded) and I love how it shows the loving grandparents raising the children. A story brought to life via the wonderful illustrations all wrapped around the God-hearted words of the 23rd Psalm.

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Arm of the Sea Puppet Theatre

2010-07-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

Performing on the Green at the NRPL's summer reading kick-off a few weeks ago.

Housecleaning encore

2010-06-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

A 2010 summer reading list, Aok teacher's calendar site, About.com's link to public libraries (fun reading ROAR, NYC's newsletter and calendar), Pediatrician's importance of reading to toddlers article, Columbia's Go Ask Alice info site, Carol Hurst which I think I must have as a sidebar, somewhere? iEmily.com health of all kinds questions and info for girls...,Medline great bereavement site with links for families and children, Family Education book lists broken down by age, Great extensive list and links of kid's magazines, extensive hispanic/Latino list of books and what else, more lists.

Some housecleaning

2010-06-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

Going through my "faves" to clear up stuff, half of which I think I have had since library school and am loathe to just delete - so let me toss it all, over time, here Lyre's links to good links, the kids on the web many links, extensive links to authors site here, the zero to three page for child development, Over at Infoplease, list of best-selling hc children's books of all time up to year 2000, The Five Owls site, Enchanted Learning's pond site printouts (why do I have this? Well, we are near two large ponds we call lakes so..., Authors among us - librarians who are authors page, About.com's picture book directory, and I have run out of steam for now...

Harry Potter musings

2010-05-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

I like this book a great deal...under Landmark books, what she writes about J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books is spot-on for me: "I am deeply grateful to J.K. Rowling ...I feel immensely lucky that they (children) all got to participate in the birth of a landmark...as I looked around that night (a midnight book store party for HP books)...I saw many parents with their eyes shining with tears, just as mine were. We were all feeling the awesome power of a book bringing us together. The brilliance of HP, in addition to many other things, was that it was the story of a young boy who had already experienced a huge amount of loss in his life, but by going to a magical place, Hogwarts, he was able to recapture magic, and therefore childhood. The upside-down common sense of that, that you have to grow up in order to recover childhood, was sheer genius. In addition...this author recognizes the innate wisdom of children, their sense of justice, and themes that are not easy to grapple with...the books were a balm for a post 9/11 world."

It goes on and I certainly am not being timely with my HP posting, but I, too was so grateful my older children were able to have Harry Potter in their childhood...that kind of getting lost in another world wonderful - as well as introducing so many children to the power of reading...

Amelia Island Mermaid

2010-05-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

I can find mermaids anywhere!

Round up

2010-05-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

Why do children like the macabre and scary? I can almost picture the sweet Damien-like face of the tot "wolf going to eat the baby, mommy...". Elizabeth Kennedy has this nifty click-on calendar over on About.com....
No big-fisted angry parents in YA lit (the most terrifying adults seem to be inside children's books like the guy living in the shack in Appelt's The Underneath...)
Raising a Reader Tips never unwelcome to my filebox (which essentially is this blog since I am a horror at updating it for actual timely readers).
And I just get a kick out of this barebones assorted fingerplays blog...someone who is even more - oh hell, it's my filebox and deal with it - than I am....
head on over to Sun pours down for a cool photo.

In memory of Moky

2010-04-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

I have loved this book by one of my favorite author/illustrators, Alice Provensen (the Maple Hill Farm books - A Year at Maple Hill Farm and the animal friends of MHF remain family favorites).
Murphy the dog in this book, is funny and lovely and feisty and always in trouble - much like our beloved dog, Moky, who recently and unexpectedly died. There is only one Murphy. There was only one Moky.

The helican

2010-04-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

which is the punchline to a silly poem my Dad liked. Still half in Florida, half here. Will be updating soon and posting more Florida photos here and over on Sun pours down like honey blog.

Honoring a wonderful writer

2010-03-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

A wonderful article here about the fine writer, Sid Fleishman. Besides his wonderful, The Whipping Boy, here is a link to his website which lists all his works of literature.

another lovely Stella offering

2010-03-12T08:06:00.000-08:00

Was so pleased that this latest Stella was coming out - such a fan of this redhead - and even more pleased when I read it, such a wonderfully sympathetic of the world through the eyes of a toddler - capturing the magic of snow that covers the whole world and talking trees and thinking you are a turtle or a bird or a dog. Great stuff.

From the Filebox

2010-02-10T18:35:00.000-08:00

Some oldies and some new ones perhaps: fingerplays.
find the words to songs you might want to sing at Storytimes. This Indiana library has some excellent book lists (click on this for a cumulative stories book list and more). India Parenting has the words to some nursery rhymes (if like me you came to this librarian scene knowing the lyrics to more Grateful Dead and Rolling Stones songs than nursery rhymes...). The Niehs has the lyrics and sometimes music (although some is rather alarming organ music) to a ton of songs you might find handy. This preschool site has some good program ideas, the Youth Online club has a long list of resources useful in library programs. This age Zero to Three guide has a list of resources (ie. childhood trauma) from the gov't that you might find useful to recommend... that's it for this week. Enjoy the snow if you've got it.

Adore this

2010-02-08T13:04:00.000-08:00

A truly lovely book - the art is fantastic and matches the book so well, quirky and inventively and gentle. I love how it strolls through history and I love the relationship between the man and Clara.
My Travels with Clara by Mary Tavener Holmes, Illustrated by Jon Cannell, published by the J. Paul Getty Museum in California (www.getty.edu).

Springing ahead of the Winter cold

2010-02-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

Some photos of the library windows painted for our First Grade Reading program kick-off - some of the school visits down already, the kids rising to the challenge of reading a lot of books over the remaining winter weeks. Hopefully looking at the butterfly flowers will keep us warm in the library as February and March do their gusty blustery chilly snowy best.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T21:32:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone! I know we will all have the most wonderful year yet.

Morning view

2009-12-15T21:43:00.000-08:00

You'd almost think it was a summer sky, so blue.

Another Library visit

2009-12-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

We had meant to visit the last time we were up, so this time it was a must-see. Branford, Ct is fortunate enough to have two libraries - this one, in the center of town is like a museum and art gallery and architectural stunner with books thrown in for good measure. Well worth a visit.

more images from library visit

2009-12-03T21:08:00.000-08:00

Gorgeous Library

2009-12-03T21:04:00.000-08:00

Recent visit to a truly beautiful library, the James Blackstone Memorial Library in Branford, Ct.

A terrific new voice and a mermaid (of course)

2009-09-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

Mermaids even in toy and candy shops - that's how we roll. Just finished
Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur - absolutely wonderful - wrenching and deeply sad at times but also marvelous for how Aubrey's voice is so true and to capture a tween's voice like that is no small accomplishment. There isn't a false note in this book.

The Mystic and Noank Library...

2009-09-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

It was closed, of course, Labor day weekend and on a Sunday no less. But we (the librarian to be husband and his librarian wife) wandered the grounds, peeked in the windows, and fantasized about what fun it would be to work there. We can dream, can't we?

Visiting the Eric Carle Museum in Massachusetts

2009-08-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

even the bathroom wall tiles are art! and Happy Birthday, 40 years, to that very Hungry Caterpillar.

The road rises...

2009-08-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

an excuse to post a nice photo of my youngest son - but in line with recent house discussions about snarky librarians and burn-out librarians and what kind of librarians do we want to be (the word "helpful" was in there) and what a funny profession it is - book lovers, generally private sorts, out on the front line pushing books, pushing libraries, getting flack and attitude but also grace moments and the feeling at times that what you are doing counts for something...not all toast crusts, that.

embedded success!

2009-07-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

First attempt to post a video via embed button - ez peasy. Thanks Blogger and thanks to found source - the always readable Fuse #8 Production.

2009-07-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

Bits and Pieces

2009-07-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

Heaven knows I don't want people to be cutting up books but in this case, exception made (somebody should do something cool with all the weeded books out there). Just love this. Sort of want them in every room. Sculptures? Toys? Just to play with randomly? I want. Really.
Vintage book plates? What a super idea. Big-eyed Mermaid art. Remember those velvet paintings of years back?
I do hope we are only cutting up really drecky crappy cannot be salvaged and should be weeded books for these fun things.
Simple to make (or so says the narrator) bats that seem to have teddy bearish faces.
Very into the woods mythical art for click on fun. I like this earthworm art story. especially like the Crazy A alphabet art here. I have mentioned my love for Melissa Sweet's art somewhere, yes?
Mermaids hang this art in the merbaby rooms.
These book art creations hang in secret rooms in the deep of the woods.
Enough? It's one minute past midnight so I would say, yes, for now, enough.

A Sea Change

2009-07-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

Cahier d'etudiante. Can I still spell in French?

A redo for the LM blog...I need a resource for myself in the way of one stop shopping...so here I go...

Cheetahfabulous and a Great Artist

2009-06-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

It was Cheetah Fabulous at the NRPL book festival. Deborah Gregory charmed everyone with her creative wares as well as wowing everyone with her Cheetah Fabulousness (Little girls "Are you really the author?"). At the table next to her, the illustrator, R. Gregory Christie was available to sign books (snagged this one for my library). An incredible talent and a really nice guy to boot. We already have a number of his books in the library but not this one which I was really pleased to get. He has also illustrated a new series by Nikki Grimes that looks terrific. A real pleasure to meet both of these talented people.

Library windows

2009-06-20T17:27:00.003-07:00

The windows are painted and ready for the kids to come and Be Creative as is our theme (us and the rest of NY State and half the country). Just in time for our book festival today and tomorrow - I met the fabulous woman behind The Cheetah Girls series and a super talented artist - more on them tomorrow when I can do them justice. For now, just grooving on the beautiful (home) silence. That rockin' to the festival Library was NOISY!

Hey! Wake up - we're back!

2009-06-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

We being The Bear, Charlotte, and myself. Such good stuff out there, who can stay away? All three of these books knocked me out - the poetry by children in Salting the Ocean and Come and Play are stand-outs for reading and for teaching, the photos in the latter are from the Magnum Photos collection and are fantastic.

Hip Hop Speaks to Children includes a cd recording of many of the poets - hearing Langston Hughes and Eloise Greenfield , Nikki Giovanni and Gwendolyn Brooks is amazing. Perfect for teaching a class of poetry, for reading, for listening, - this would make a great gift, too, even for grown-up librarians (just sayin').

Still the bear dozes

2009-02-12T21:14:00.001-08:00

But go to Anderbo.com for the poetry of Susan Moorhead - the bear is also a fan of that Sun pours down like honey blog...

neither fish nor fowl

2008-11-28T20:10:00.000-08:00

Not quite sure what to make of this blog - I have been so sporadic with my posts here and never quite found the footing for it.

So, for now, hibernation.

Come visit at Sun pours down like honey.

Maybe come spring, we'll wake the bear.

Mother Goose's Little Treasures review

2008-11-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

I hadn't heard of a number of these short and delicious rhymes, all rich with rhythm and nonsense and cha cha hurdy gurdy fun. Children with their serious schools and no child left behind testing and cell-phone ears need to get their sillies in fast and quick while they're young. Rosemary Wells' illustrations compliment the telling of nursery rhymes with perfection - fantasy rooted in commonplace, serious farmer roosters and bunnies and chickens on the phone and Handy Spandy pipers in striped hats all seem possible in her warm and colorful world. Note to grown-ups alarmed that the rhymes make no sense...add an "n" and that's the deal, squeal.

Friends of the Library

2008-11-09T16:46:00.000-08:00

I went to the Friends of the Library booksale on Saturday - as usual a great haul! Not shown - a hardcover Kate DiCamillo book (looks new, one dollar), a coffee table sized collection of the works of a cartoonist someone in my family likes (4 bucks!), and an assortment of really great children's nonfiction all currently hidden away in my closet as they will appear under our Christmas tree. In this time of frugality, check into what your friend's group at the library is doing. I also purchased a series of prints (25 Cents each) that would look great framed. Our Friends group raises money for our children's programming among other things - such a win win deal to support them and get great stuff to boot!

Random round-up

2008-11-04T19:52:00.000-08:00

I probably enjoy the internet more for random items more than anything else. I love that people post their hobbies, their passions, their quirky interests. Since I am guilty of the same with this and my other blog, clearly I feel the kindred spirit love for this history, and for an earful of celtic music from way back when which I found on this website which has a ton of celtic info of potential interest.
Love these fabulous notebooks on Etsy. When taking an archival class, we all cringed at the idea of the "altered" book since there is the probably quite realistic fear of wonderful (and valuable) books being led to slaughter. However, these are the sort I find at booksales that are charming and need a home and no doubt welcome being transformed into useful and quite fabulous items. She has some extremely cute things that may be turning up in people's Christmas giftbags so I should probably shut-up now. I'll end with a perverse pleasure, the art of Banksy, since I am in a mood and have been all day, and sort of just love the graffiti'd Thomas.

The Library of Doom series

2008-10-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

Could not love this more, so much fun. A new graphic novel series for the younger set by Michael Dahl.

The books have a dark intense look sure to thrill kids with a yen for fearsome adventure but of course what charms me is the series hero being the mysterious "Librarian" and of course, everything book related. Sweet! Who wouldn't be crazy for a series where one of the books is called Escape from Pop-Up Prison? This stuff is as wonderful as my Nancy Pearl doll. Other reviews? My fourth grader says that the "Librarian" is cool but that I am not even though I am a librarian. So harsh. Little does he know what lurks in my closet....Bwwaaahaaahahahaha! Yeah, maybe he's right. But this series is way cool.

Well done!

2008-10-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

Always happy for good news about librarians, I am especially pleased to add this bit of news
about my bff Joan's rockin' cousin, Dawn, who is doing the library world proud. Kudos Dawn! And a shout out, of course, to the greatly missed influence, Frances.

Discovery of the day

2008-10-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

Googled a nursery rhyme for Scarecrows and I came upon this which was a big hit at storytime - I didn't have the cd music for it, so we just sang it with movements and threw in fun scary faces at the end to chase off those wily blackbirds (Jack and Jill on the hill, of course).
I hadn't realized that so many nursery rhymes and songs and felt board activities and the lot were available on Youtube - what a great resource! Especially for those songs in a lot of the nursery rhyme books that just list the tune as "traditional". I was raised on Mitch Miller, Montovani, the Ray Coniff singers and hymns so "traditional" means very little to me unless they are singing this. Like those old aerobics class I took way back when and the instructor would shout out "cha cha" and "rumba" and people would run me over doing these mysterious movements. Where do people learn to rumba anyway? Well, now I know :)

Charlotte Rabbit

2008-10-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

Lagomorphs on the brain lately. And CR is my colleague during Nursery Rhyme Times...

The Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, Vt

2008-10-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

Last but hardly least of the library visits of the summer - the children's room - where I chatted with a very fun librarian. They have a lot going on, lots of well thought out, creative activities including a brilliant one where children brought in their toys for a toys-only sleepover - the enterprising librarians photographed the stuffed animals and dolls enjoying a pizza supper, games and checkers, and other such library mayhem, and the delighted kids were able to view the photos on the library website (although I'm sure the toys filled them in as well). http://www.kellogghubbard.org/cl.html A great library in a great city - Montpelier, besides being the capital of fair Vermont, is also the home of Bear Pond Books, one of my favorite bookstores, just a whistle down from the Coffee Corner Diner which is home to the world's best chocolate chip pancakes (oh, yes) and corned beef hash my husband swoons over.

Just in time for Halloween

2008-10-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

I came across this terrific craft book that includes quite a number of great ideas for Halloween - from face paint, to flickering spooky flashlights, to

cool masks from paper plates - all easy to make (and cheap, too). The book is by DK (Dorling Kindersley to the uninitiated) who are known for their great photographs in their books - and these do not disappoint - I think I might even be able to master the knitting instructions (and I am usually all thumbs).

A lot of crafts for other holidays as well as many things children could make for gifts or just for fun. Also a lot of items librarians and teachers could use for craft time :)

Have fun making cool stuff.

If Lord Franklin was a'stampin'

2008-10-07T22:07:00.000-07:00

Stayed up late the other night with some music from Kate Rusby playing while I noodled around with these fun stamps called A B Seas Stamps. I got mine in Burlington, Vt, but you can apparently get yours at the Cricket magazine website - I think it's http://www.cricketmag.com/ but if unsure just click on the image and it will come up (as I swiped the image from their site). Anyhoo - free advert since you cannot find better mags for kids than from the Cricket people (Spider, etc.) which I would say even if I hadn't stolen their photo.

Be a Rebel! Read a banned book!

2008-09-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

Read a book from the list of books objected to by people I find objectionable (can I ban them?) during banned books week, September 29 to October 6.

Several variety of lists are available at the ALA website but I suggest buying a book - yes, I always think libraries are swell places to get books, but here is a link to purchasing children's books that have been banned - in this case I think we should show the authors some love for refusing to be limited by narrow minds. http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/R35VVPN7OSI8N

And I enclose this illustration and quote- the borders are the redesign of A Wrinkle in Time (proudly on the banned books list along with The Bible, Alice in Wonderland, and other books guaranteed to ruin minds). I love her for starting that great book with that great line - she had wonderful humor in that brilliant mind of hers.

View out of a library window in Warren, Vermont

2008-09-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

Library visits

2008-09-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

Nearly every summer we have gone up to Vermont for a few days and every time we take a ride over to Warren, a small but appealing artsy town with an even smaller (but appealing) library that overlooks a beautiful graveyard with very old headstones. The library is moving from this, the present location, to a larger building in town, and I will miss the above view out the windows - a clear invitation for stories to start their weave if I ever saw one.

Running Bear Books, good, huh?

2008-09-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

Driving in Vermont this summer and a black bear runs across the wooded road into the thick greenery.
We were thrilled beyond words.
Of course, in the weeks to come I had worked out my winning the lottery plan which is to move to Vermont and open a bookstore called Running Bear Books.
Yup.
But until I win the lottery, I will be content to watch children cuddle up to our big library bear who sits in our reading area, deeply contented as they read "smasher trucks" books to themselves (making up the words, of course, as they can't read yet - but you don't have to read to enjoy a good truck book). And I will enjoy bear books such as the charming Old Bear by the insanely talented Kevin Henkes. When the bear dreams of napping in a giant pink crocus, I was so very happy, and remembered the bear running and I wondered if he will sleep this winter with dreams of flowers and blueberries and icy winter nights studded with stars. I hope he will.

One mo' time

2008-09-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

I would be remiss if I didn't include a quote for the challenge from one of my favorite books. Tom, beloved brother of the narrator, Frances, has died and there is his funeral: " And it was cold, I remember that, the low November sunlight glittering on the wet headstones. There was the sound of traffic from the road, the rumble of the presses in the nearby Creda factory.

It was Harry who saw him first. He grabbed my sleeve but said nothing. I looked... and there was Tom. He had his hands in his pockets, his jacket collar up. His hair was as uncombed, as wild as ever. And he was leaning against a tree."

Not an easy book, perhaps, but a rewarding one.

The image of the jacket borrowed from the following website worth noting - love reading 4 kids, a UK site, very interesting. Here's their info about Allan Ahlberg: http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/author/964/Allan_Ahlberg.html

England has always had so many fantastic children's book authors and illustrators. I have fantasies of going there and filling up giant steamer trunks full of children's books someday (possibly why the husband hasn't seemed so eager to make the trip). Fortunately so many of their books cross the pond and get published here as well. (I was thrilled beyond reason when Ginger Bear by Mini Grey, which was pub'd in the UK as Biscuit Bear, came to our USA bookshelves).

In memory of Rontu

2008-09-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

For the last of the quote challenge, I give you the opening to Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell.

"I remember the day the Aleut ship came to our island. At first it seemed like a small shell afloat on the sea. Then it grew larger and was a gull with folded wings. At last in the rising sun it became what it really was - a red ship with two red sails."

http://www.scholastic.com/kids/homework/pdfs/Island_of_pt1.pdf interesting background information on both the author (who did not start writing books for children until in his sixties) and how he came to write this book.

Pirate Quote

2008-09-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

"Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."

-Mark Twain

in my advil/vicodin dentalwork haze, I nearly forgot it is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Last year, I donned Pirate duds and bling and asked all the kids "Arrrrrrrrrrr ya readin'?" in my best pirate voice. This year I am home moaning "Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..." But hey, it's still Pirate, right?

(And as the most fabulous Captain Jack Sparrow asks: "Why is the rum always gone?")

The ultimate revenge?

2008-09-17T17:29:00.000-07:00

" Once on a dark winter's day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted and the shop windows blazed with gas as they do at night, an odd-looking little girl sat in a cab with her father and was driven rather slowly through the big thoroughfares."
So begins the story of A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett - and the preferred version for me illustrated (as pictured) by Ethel Franklin Betts. I took this book out of the library as a child so often that the librarian finally refused to let me take it out any longer telling me I had to choose another book. So was the ultimate revenge finding a wonderful copy of this in a used book store for five bucks years ago or becoming a children's librarian myself? (This is where my older children would roll their eyes and just say that is too geeky to be a revenge of any sort!).
Thanks to the listed blog below for the photo - only one that came up googled and my camera is not yet sympathetic to the new computer or I'd take a photo myself.

What Became of Susan?

2008-09-16T19:06:00.001-07:00

So starts Chapter One of Time at the Top by Edward Ormondroyd, a recommended book by my boss (as she just purchased the 4oth year anniversary edition for the children's room) - and I am enchanted to note it starts off with a Susan - we Susans are so often overlooked in literature. So for my ongoing week of quotes put forth by The Hidden Side of the Leaf blog at deweymonster.com, I offer these opening lines:

"One Wednesday in March, late in the afternoon, Susan Shaw vanished from the Ward Street apartment house in which she lived with her father.
The last person to see her was Mrs. Clutchett, a lady of uncertain age but reliable habits, who was employed as a cleaning woman by various residents of the building, and also by Mr. Shaw as a cook."

I just adore the "uncertain age but reliable habits" line.

...and he grew up to be a librarian

2008-09-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

"Edmund was a boy. The people who did not like him said that he was the most tiresome boy that ever lived, but his grandmother and his other friends said that he had an inquiring mind. And his granny often added that he was the best of boys. But she was very kind and very old."

from Kind Little Edmund or the Caves and the Cockatrice by E. Nesbit in her The Complete Book of Dragons for the quote a day challenge (my theme: children's books grabbed at random)

Rainy weather reviews

2008-09-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

The Dangerous Alphabet is obviously not for the regular ABC youngster set. I see this more as a poetry book with some delicious macabre rhymes: "E's for the evil that lures and entices; F is for fear and its many devices;". Teachers looking for a Halloween writing activity might want to consider picking this one up and having their students spin an unusual alphabet. Extra credit if they notice something is a bit off kilter in the alphabet line up. Likewise, the equally amusing Creature Carnival is a poetry collection built around the title's concept - another fun Halloweeny project could be inspired (write your own Monster Mansion or the like) and the inspired art is again by the talented Gris Grimly.

Shining review of the moment

2008-09-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

The irrepressible blue squid is back
and this time he's packing a paintbrush.
Clever and perfectly on note, this book
is a charmer.
I am a big fan of writer/illustrator
Kevin Sherry who seems to be
channeling Picasso as a toddler
when he creates his squidlicious books.

from "Boats" by Alberto Blanco

2008-09-07T19:31:00.000-07:00

Un poema es un barco de papel
hecho con tus propias palabras:
toda tu vida cabe en el hueco
que dejan suis pliegues,
e sus colores.

A poem is a paper boat
made of your own words:
everything in your life fits
in the spaces formed by its folds
and its colors.

From the fantastic book: The Tree Is Older Than You Are, poems from Mexico selected by (the wonderful) Naomi Shihab Nye. Hopefully this book finds its way onto every library shelf.

Library Travels: Vergennes, Vermont

2008-08-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

Library Mermaid went landlubber and visited the Public Library in Vergennes, Vt. A beautiful glass dome ceiling, a nice old building that manages to feel old and historic and yet airy and open. Upstairs they were holding a used book sale - the son grabbed some paperbacks - and we stumbled across their historic room - we were charmed by the stuffed birds and artifacts and the way it was just something we lucked across. Serendipity.

Poetry Friday: William Jay Smith

2008-08-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

There was a Young Lady named Rose
Who was constantly blowing her nose;
Because of this failing
They sent her off whaling
So the whalers could say: "Thar she blows!"

from Around My Room, a collection of his children's poems.

How to create a reader

2008-08-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

First and foremost - let children see that reading is not just important to you but a pleasure. Let them catch you dipping into a book. Let them see piles of books on your bedside table, a paperback in a purse or a briefcase or beach bag. If you understand there is magic in books, they will want to discover that magic themselves.

Try leaving books from the library, a seemingly random selection, on a table in your home and see if there are any takers. Get a joke book out and write out some jokes and stick them on the fridge. Include a book as a gift for at birthdays and holidays. Take out cookbooks from the library and have your child read the recipe to you. Read to them at night if they have trouble reading themselves...let them pick a book that interests them and take turn reading the paragraphs. Get them a magazine subscription, start a book club for them and their friends, let them pick out things to read you might not adore graphic novels, Captain Underpants books, (after all they aren't telling you not to cruise through People magazine - if adults don't have to read War and Peace level literature everytime they pick up reading materials, why should kids?). Give them a build-your own-home-library allowance and let them hang out in bookstores and libraries. And hang out in those libraries and bookstores with them. You'll meet the nicest people in those places :)

Couldn't resist

2008-08-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cv2INuu9eo

Happy weekend.

8/8/08...and a few links of interest

2008-08-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

I continue to marvel at the amount of stuff people seem to include in their blogs on a daily basis...so much detail, so many links, so many updates and extensive reviews. Librarian Mermaid is busy thinking about napping and why Advil is not really working for me so much anymore.

Storytelling site: http://www.storybug.net/links.htm lots of good storytelling links as well as the storybug site.

the Scranton library in Madison, Ct has a wonderful picture books site that can be subscibed to: http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/bookletter/showfab.html?sid=6645&qlname=NLGC

and five owls most excellent book reviews and more...http://www.fiveowls.com/about.html, and a promise to read the blogger instructions and great info sent by Nan about how to put in links properly without all this mess of computerspeak...once I am back from the land of the son's virus spreading throughout the house ...

Oh, behave!

2008-08-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

When I first started doing programs, I was amazed at some of the behavior I witnessed. Not the kids, mind you, but the adults. Talking among themselves loudly, cell phone chats (my fave - the Dad on the floor saying loudly into his cell "no, I'm not busy, just hanging out with the kid at the library" as he is inches away from where I am attempting to enchant the wee ones. ). Then there is the mother who likes to read a separate book (loudly!) to a younger sibling (maybe she thinks we are harmonizing), the ones who choose the library for free to be you and me time for the kids so Parent or Nanny can have some downtime... including this one nanny (who I haven't seen in a while, hoorah) who used to sit in a front row and fall asleep even during the noisiest of songs. What's a girl to do? I preface my programs with a couple of brief and cheerily announced guidelines (this being suggested a couple of years ago by an older librarian and boyhowdy, it works). In Family Storytime by Rob Reid, he also notes the difference in behavior that opening remarks can make. Weird but true. The one he puts forth in his (very useful) book is a bit too formal to me but can easily be adapted to your personality and needs. "Children, put on your best listening skills. That means sit still and be quiet unless I ask you to talk or move around. Parents, feel free to take any children who are restless or noisy out to the hallway until they are ready to rejoin us. I appreciate your cooperation and consideration for the other audience members and myself. Thank you."
Of course, everyone still will misbehave, but you will feel better and in more control. And people will glare at the misbehavers more fiercely which is all the better as you and your puppet carry on stalwartly.

A dog of a program

2008-07-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

A great start with Harry by the Sea by Gene Zion (I heart Harry, the white dog with black spots). Then a new one, Not Afraid of Dogs by Susanna Pitzer, a nice tail (arf!) about Daniel, a brave boy who isn't "afraid" of dogs, he just doesn't like them (and Bandit, the little dog who changes his mind). I Love Dogs, a very simple book by Barney Saltzberg that is always a surprisingly big hit, and last, the based-on-a-real- story (which makes it even more special) The Stray Dog by Marc Simont. Max, a dog puppet who barks on cue joined us. A version of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes I found online awhile ago and altered that goes: Paws, muzzles, ears and tails...fur and fleas and barks and wails, paws muzzles...etc. Was most effective with the puppet helping and kids liked waggling their tails. Also Bingo (thank you Sharon, Lois and Bram cd) and a cute fingerplay, five little puppies (see website: http://www.geocities.com/mystorytime/dogs.htm ) good dog books list on their site as well. ) And please remember: Leave no dogs in cars even with windows down in the summer, it's hotter for them than you, they don't sweat (lots of water for your pups, too!)

a (sort of) green themed Story time for a hot day

2008-07-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

What's for lunch? by John Schindel (okay, no green but a good kick-off story)
Hi, Harry! by Martin Waddell also a hit especially as one of the kids stood next to me with our turtle rhyme and puppet after : "Little turtle in your shell, slowly you do go.
Slowly creeping, slowly crawling
Slow is nice you know!"
Then the book Elizabeth Bird over at Fuse #8 enthuses over (couldn't believe we own it)
The Noisy Counting Book by Susan Schade. Ms. Bird is right, lots of fun (saying Ga-Dunk! is always fun).
Green as a Bean by the wonderful Karla Kuskin invited "what would you be?" responses. Hilda's Restful Chair by Iris Schweitzer - which had watermelon in it which was why I chose it to go with our watermelon craft. We sang the watermelon song : (to tune of "Are You sleeping?") that I found on the web this morning (have kids echo each sentence) "Watermelon, on the vine, sweet and red and juicy, please be mine. Watermelon, how it drips, up and down your elbow, spit the pits." A good time had by all.

Summer delays and a post for thought

2008-07-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Nothing like starting up a new blog midsummer and then going on vacation jaunts here and there...not condusive for posts.
However, here is an interesting bit of library biz to think about:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080719/ap_on_re_us/library_privacy;_ylt=AkuwYkOtW75Nw_xpfSpRAkZH2ocA

and clearly I need to figure out how to just link the post to a word like "here" as I have seen on other blogs...well, I'll look into it and figure it out but not while I am still on vacation :)

In lieu of a basket...

2008-07-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

or a file, or a drawer, or several draws, many baskets, many files. Yup, that's how all my library stuff is laid out - and not just at home but in two separate libraries as well.
So welcome to my brand new blog. Here's where I will try to pull it all together - book lists, reviews, program ideas, links to crafts, anything I find I can use in my work as a children's librarian.
A note: this is not a "kidslit" blog, although I have put links to some of the finest ones on my blogroll - I couldn't possibly match the energy and detail of those blogs! And this may be vague and on again, off again, and bursts of enthusiasm, and then stretches of not a lot...a bit like yours truly operates, especially when writing which I am supposedly doing (my other gig).
But I wander - if anything strikes your fancy, please, borrow any idea you might find of use. If you borrow from a review or something "written", please note the source (moi!). The most helpful thing I have found in library work is the generosity of other librarians. I will try to pay it forward.
Cheers.