Rockin' Reader

Have you noticed nice, new rocking chairs next to a barrel in the back of Children's Place? Thanks to Cracker Barrel's Rockin' Reader program, two double rocking chairs and a barrel bookshelf with brand new copies of classic books was given to the Twinsburg Public Library for being chosen a partner in the program. Rockin' Reader is a national literacy initiative developed by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store that builds caring and literacy in the community by offering to patrons a place for volunteers to read to children.

Summer Reading Club : Be Creative @ Your Library

The summer reading program is kicking off on Sunday, May 31 from 2-4 pm. Sign up for the summer reading club, meet Curious George, jump on inflatables from Party Animals, and have your face painted.



Children from birth to 5 years old can join our Listening Club and students in grades K-4 can participate in the Reading Club. There is also a Tween and Teen club for students in grades 5-12.



Members in the Listening Club will have a turn to spin the prize wheel for every ten books they read or listen to. After 50 books the child will receive an art palate to hang in Children's Place and a raffle ticket.



Members in the Reading Club can keep track of either number of books read (50 pages counts as one book) or they may keep track of reading time and record every 60 minutes spent reading. For every 10 books read child will recieve a sticker and a spin of the prize wheel. After 50 books they will also recieve an art palate to hang in Children's Place and a raffle ticket. The top reader will have their name inscribed on a plaque for our "Readers Wall of Fame"



The summer reading club runs from May 31- August 7.


Don't forget to check out our many fun and creative programs running during the summer. Our programs will be focusing on creative activities from gardening to pottery. Stop by the Children's Place for a list of upcoming programs and times.

Llama Llama Misses Mama

By Anna Dewdney

Fans of the Llama books, Llama Llama Red Pajama and Llama Llama Mad at Mama will be happy to learn that there is a new story about little Llama. In this new story, Llama is going off to kindergarten for the first time and is unsure about being away from Mama for a whole day. The other animal children in the classroom work to involve Llama in all of their activities. By the end Llama is having lots of fun and of course Mama does come back to take Llama home.

Trainstop

By Barbara Lehman

Lehman is well known for her wordless books that encourage readers to use their imaginations to enter parallel or unusual worlds that collide with each other. This newest title is about a girl who is gazing out the windows of the train she is riding. The train makes a stop and as she is looking out the window she sees tiny people near the train. She exits the train and at the beckoning of the miniature people helps to save a tiny pilot who has become stuck in a tree. The girl reboards the train and wonders if the whole experience is a dream. But at the end she finds something that makes her believe it really happened.

Yay! It's spring and new books are popping up all over

Despite what the snowy weather is trying to tell us spring is here, so here are a few fun new spring books to check out...

Wee Little Lamb by Lauren Thompson

A shy new baby lamb meets all sorts of other animals but only wants to stay near its mama. Finally the little lamb meets the perfect friend and the two play together, but make sure to stay near their mamas.

Butterfly, Butterfly A Book of Colors by Petr Horacek

A little girl discovers a beautiful butterfly fluttering around her garden one day. But the next day she can't find the butterfly anywhere. The girl looks everywhere and finds all sorts of other colorful bugs but not the butterfly. When she finally lays down to rest and looks up at the sky she sees her butterfly flying by. The last page is a beautiful pop-up butterfly.

2009 Caldecott Winner and Honors

This year's Caldecott Winner is the book The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson with illustrations by Beth Krommes.

Serene illustrations accompany this gentle rhyming book about getting ready for bed. The text is builds on itself begining with the key to the house and then goes on to name other bedtime objects, such as the bed, a book, and a light. Even theough the illustrations are mostly black the touches of yellow throughout add warmth to the pictures. This would be a wonderful, calming story to share at bedtime.


The Caldecott Honor books for this year are:



How I Learned Geography written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz

Shulevitz shares a story from his own life about a time his father brought home a map and hung it on the wall. The young Uri looked at remote places on this map and was transported to wonderful exotic places in his immagination. These imaginary trips helped him get through difficult times during WWII.


A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever written and illustrated by Marla Frazee

Two boys spend one week in the summer together doing the things they love, they are supposed to be spending a lot of time outside but wind up playing video games mostly. In the end they do find a creative way to play outside.

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by by Jen Bryant with illustrations by Melissa Sweet

Beautiful collage illustrations help tell about the life of poet William Carlos Williams in this biography written in a poetic lryical style.

Fall Leaves

Before winter arrives (even though it is snowing today it's still technically fall), here is a fun leaf craft to try at home...

Supplies Needed:

• Green construction paper leaf (tracing a real leaf works great)
  
• Yarn
  
• Tissue paper in fall colors
  
• glue sticks
• glitter or glitter glue (optional)
  

Steps to Making the craft:

1. Punch a hole in the top of the leaf, string the yarn through, and knot it
   
2. Child glues tissue paper to leaf so it looks like a colorful fall leaf (feel free to do both sides)
3. If desired add glitter to the leaf to for a little extra sparkle!
   

Before making the leaf craft take a walk with your child and look at all the fun fall colors. Notice how some leaves stay green longer than others. Ask your child to tell you what colors he or she sees. Collect some leaves to take back home. These can be used to trace different shaped leaves onto the construction paper and also as inspiration for ways to mix the tissue paper colors together to create a multi-colored fall leaf. Share a fall book with your child. There's a fun one you can read right here on "Booking for a Look" in the previous post!

Pictures soon to follow...

Check out a book--Online!

Have you heard of Lookybook.com? It's a great website where you can look at the entire content of children's books on your computer. It's so much fun and we wanted to share one with you. So since Fall is underway here's a fun fall book to enjoy:

Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber. Two children play in the colorful leaves they find in this rhyming text. Readers will also learn how to identify the various types of leaves that fall from the trees.

Just click on the cover below to read the full text of the book on your screen.

If you want to see the book in a larger window click on the little eyes in the upper right corner, you will be redirected to the Looky Book website.

Watch for more featured Looky Books in the future...

Celebrate Twins Day with a New Book!

One of our favorite authors for children, Andrew Clements, has written a great new story...all about twins!

Simon & Schuster

Although it's a drag to be constantly mistaken for each other, in truth, during those first days at a new school, there's nothing better than having a twin brother there with you. But on day one of sixth grade, Ray stays home sick, and Jay is on his own. No big deal. It's a pretty nice school, good kids, too. But Jay quickly discovers a major mistake: No one seems to know a thing about his brother. Ray's not on the attendance lists, doesn't have a locker, doesn't even have a student folder. Jay almost tells the school -- almost -- but then decides that this lost information could be very...useful. And fun.
As Ray and Jay exploit a clerical oversight, they each find new views on friendship, honesty, what it means to be a twin -- and what it means to be yourself. Entertaining, thought-provoking, and true-to-life, this clever novel is classic Andrew Clements times two: twins!

More 50 Fabulous Books

Everyone knows dogs are supposed to bark.

But what do you do with a dog that just sits there?

Or worse, makes other animal sounds? Bark George

is about a dog that acts so strange he is sent to the vet

to determine what's wrong.

Where the Wild Things Are is the classic

Caldecott about a boy who has quite an imagination

and explores a place with all things imaginable.

Fifty Fabulous Books

We are now into our second week of Go for the Gold... READ! and we already have over 1,000 listeners and readers signed up in our four different reading clubs. This is definitely shaping up to be a summer of breaking records!


Two more books that are on our Fifty Fabulous Books list are sure to bring back memories for parents reading to their young ones.


Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
is about a little girl mouse that has
the most unusual name that she
absolutely adores. But when she starts
school, she becomes weary about just how special her name is.




Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham
is a classic rhyming story about
all the crazy where's and how's
one can eat green eggs and ham.

Fifty Fabulous Books to Read this Summer

Welcome back to Booking for a Look! We took a little vacation from our blog as we prepared for Summer Reading Club at Twinsburg Public Library.

This summer our special Listening Club members are reading fifty fabulous books that we selected. We will be featuring two of these books each week throughout the summer.

This week we are featuring How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight by Jane Yolen and I Stink by Jim and Kate McMullen.

How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight

If bedtime is a battle at your house, here's a book to help you and your child. Yolen's silly rhyming text pairs perfectly with Teague's funny illustrations of dinosaurs. Children will be able to relate to the behaviors of the dinosaurs in the story, and laugh at the ridiculous ways some of them react.









I Stink!

A garbage truck makes its rounds, consuming everything from apple cores to leftover ziti with zucchini. This story will delight young readers, and is guaranteed to make you say "Ewww"!

Buzz on Books #30

As we reach the 30th Buzz on Books and the 50 posted blog, now is a perfect time to take a break from the book of the week. But for the last book, why not a book about winter, which we experienced so much of this past week. The Twelve Days of Winter by Deborah Lee Rose has the pattern of another book of hers titled The Twelve Days of Kindergarten. From twelve treats for tasting down to one bird feeder in a snowy tree, the book has very cute, detailed pictures with children having fun the whole way through. Perhaps reading this will put a smile on your face until spring arrives. Come on in to the Children's Place at the Twinsburg Public Library for this and many other books about seasons and more!

Buzz on Books #29

This week's Buzz on Books pick is a board book. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this term, board books are very simple books for toddlers. These books are made of cardboard as opposed to paper pages, due to how toddlers may treat them, including putting them in their mouths. The book I chose is titled Rainbow Trucks by Priddy Books. This is a lift-the-flap board book that when opened looks like a rainbow. Each page is a different color, and has a different type of truck on each page. From garbage trucks to fire trucks, this book is perfect for your little one. This book is a few years old but the Children's Place *just* received a brand new copy this evening and it is ready for circulation. Come on in soon to take a look at this and other new board books, located in the Toddler Room at the Twinsburg Public Library.

Buzz on Books #28

This Buzz on Books is all about Clifford, that big, friendly red dog! Today the Children's Place is having a Clifford Party, with books, crafts, cupcakes, paws, and Clifford himself! Norman Bridwell's books are as popular today as they were when they were first published in 1962. There are not only dozens of books about Clifford, but the hit PBS show Clifford and video games. If you weren't able to sign up for our Clifford program, Clifford will be making a special repeat appearance tomorrow, Sunday, February 10th. Hope to see everyone there!

Buzz on Books #27

Having a happy, smiling child is one of the best things for a parent. But the question is, how can I make the child happy? In a recently new book by Scott Menchin, Taking a Bath with the Dog and Other Things that Make Me Happy asks the question 'what makes you happy?' After asking several people and creatures, the little girls decides what makes her happy. And boy, does she have a list. The final activity that she lists in the book is taking a bath with her dog. Perhaps some of these favorite activities also are favorite's of children you know.

The second book for this week is also a new one, titled How Do You Make a Baby Smile? by Philemon Sturges. This rhyming text describes how silly things animals do can make a baby smile. From making one smile like Papa Crocodile to making a baby laugh by twisting your neck like Papa Giraffe, this books has ways to make your baby coo all through the day.

These books and great others can be found on the New Books shelf in the Children's Place of the Twinsburg Public Library!

Buzz on Books #26

Do you enjoy learning random things just for fun? Would you like your child to use their free time doing something educational, such as reading, yet that is fun? Helanie Becker's book Like a Pro teaches children 101 random things. From learning how to accept your oscar to roasting the perfect marshmallow. From finding the big dipper to writing a thank you note, this book is full of ideas. It will take quite some time for your child to become bored with this cute and creative book. Come on in to the Children's Place at the Twinsburg Public Library today to check it out!

Buzz on Books #25

As our month of celebrating food here at the Twinsburg Public Library is now a little more than half over and our Key Ingredients exhibit remains for just another week, I thought Booking for a Look should contribute as well. Shelved with many, many cookbooks for children is a book titled Incredible KidEdibles by Beth Brigham. There are over 120 creative concoctions that children will enjoy making and eating. There are healthy snacks such as celery, peanut butter, pretzels, and chow mein noodles that can be put together to make a butterfly. There are also sweet treats and holiday snacks as well. Make sure you have an appetite for reading and eating and come on in to the Children's Place at the Twinsburg Public Library!

Buzz on Books #24

Every child loves spending quality time with their grandparents. But do you remember your first time spending the night? Mary Ann Hoberman's I'm Going to Grandma's is a rhyming story of a little girl who spends both a day and night with her grandparents. The day is a blast but from bathtime to bedtime the little girl worries about spending the night. But when Grandma tells her the story of her great-great Grandma and a quilt that was made, the girl calms down and dreams about making a quilt of her own. With beautiful illustrations and sweet text, this book is one of my favorite picture books.

Buzz on Books #23

Now that we are all back to our regular schedules in 2008 (although Twinsburg lost power early this morning and school was cancelled), now is the perfect time to post the next Buzz on Books. Thinking back to New Years Day, I chose a book that matched with the millions of snowflakes that fell to the ground and piled up high. Millions of Snowflakes by Mary McKenna Siddals begins with one little snowflake and decribes the emotions and senses that the little child feels and sees when she is out in the snow. The text is very short with simple words, perfect for a child who is learning to read to practice with. Reading this book may help you to appreciate this weather... at least until it gets colder and snows again!

Buzz on Books # 22

Before closing for Christmas, I decided to write a quick blog on this week's picks. All about animals, the first book is Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Farm by Joy Cowley. The story is in rhyme about farm animals that hate having to be put in the big tub and washed. Finally the animals decide to leave for the city to get away from all of the scrubbing bubbles. But being out on their own isn't what they thought it would be, and they soon wish they were all back on Mrs. Wishy-Washy's farm.

The second book is perfect for helping a child learn his or her ABCs. Cha Cha Chimps by Julia Durango is also in ryhme as 10 little chimps sneak out to go dancing, but one by one they all leave the group as they dance with other animals. With cute illustrations and a quick-read text, both of these books will bring a smile to your child's face.