2008 - The Year in Review

2008 was a busy year in Children's Services! Here are some highlights:


In January 2008 musicians from the Fort Wayne Philharmonic performed pieces from Beethoven Lives Upstairs in the Jeffrey R. Krull Gallery.


In February 2008, the winners of the Your Reading Pet Photo Contest were announced.


In March 2008 over 300 children & adults attended the Homeschool Sneak Preview.


In April 2008 the kids in the Early Reader Roundup group practiced their emotions with Mo Willem's Elephant & Piggie characters.


In May 2008 Time 2 Chime, the homeschool handchime choir, finished off their year of practice with a live performance.


In June 2008, Fritz the GermanFest dog stopped by Children's Services to sign up for the Catch the Reading Bug Summer Reading Program.


In July 2008 kids had the opportunity to meet a ballet dancer from the Fort Wayne Ballet as part of a special SmartStart Preschool Storytime.


In August 2008 kids displayed their good sportsmanship and concentration skills at the Children's Services Chess Tournament.


In September 2008 things got very fancy at the Fancy Nancy Tea Party.


In October 2008 the Art Out of the Box kids painted two cars on the Library Plaza.



In November 2008 hundreds of children and grown ups enjoyed performances by Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players.

On December 31, 2008 we prepared for another wonderful year!

Please remember: The Main Library and all branches of the ACPL will close at 5pm today & will be closed all day tomorrow. Please visit early to pick up your books and other materials. The Main Library will re-open on Friday, January 2nd at 9am. Branch libraries will re-open at 10am.

A Year of Blogging!

2008 has been a year of blogging for the ACPL Children's Services Department! Here are some fun statistics from the ACPL Kids Blog:

• We posted 375 times this year - that is more than a post a day.
• The most frequently visited post was viewed 335 times.
• The second most frequently visited post was viewed 329 times.
• Our least popular post was viewed 1 time.
  
• The most popular "A Child's Book Review" post was viewed 103 times.
• The blog was visited over 13,500 times this year.
• Most blog visitors were from Indiana - over 6,000.
• The state that sent the least number of visitors (4) was Wyoming.
• The blog was viewed by people in 100 countries.
• Canada sent almost 400 visitors, Macedonia and Cyprus just sent one visitor each.
• The blog was read in a total of 47 languages including Swedish, Afrikaans, Hebrew, Chinese and Bulgarian.

2009 will bring plenty more blog posts! We'll see you here.

Play with Spot online!

What preschooler doesn't love the the Spot books by Eric Hill? Now you can read Spot books, play Spot games, and color with Spot online. Click on "Fun with Spot" to start playing.

Click here to find out which Spot books are available at the library. We have over 100 Spot books, videos, and board books. We even have some in Vietnamese, German, Spanish, and other languages!

Early Learning Center Mailbox

What a colorful butterfly!

The Early Learning Center is a 2,200 square foot room just for preschoolers and their grown ups to enjoy together. The activities in the room are designed to help children learn the skills that they will need in order to learn to read.

Visit the Early Learning Center:
Monday through Thursday 9am to 8pm
Friday & Saturday 9am to 6pm
Sunday 12pm to 5pm

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Take a wild guess!

Can you guess how much snow (total) we will have in December?
All throughout December we have been collecting guesses to answer the question "How much snow (total) do you think we'll have in Fort Wayne by the end of December?" Visit Children's Services at the Main Library to drop in your guess and to check out the updated totals.


The closest or correct guesses will go into a drawing and three lucky winners will receive a magnetic storybook kit!

Contest ends at 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 30th,2008

Kwanzaa Begins!

Kwanzaa begins today and lasts for seven days.

My First Kwanzaa by Karen Katz is a nice introduction to the holiday for very young children. For older children, check out Paper Crafts for Kwanzaa by Randel McGee. This title is full of creative projects to make in celebration of Kwanzaa.

Happy Kwanzaa!

Happy Christmas!

Today is Christmas Day & the ACPL is closed. The Main Library will re-open tomorrow at 9am and branch libraries will re-open tomorrow at 10am.

There have been a lot of fun Christmas books published this year, such as David Pelham's Here Comes Santa, which is a pop up book! Remember, the Library receives new books almost every day, you are sure to find something that you will enjoy on our new book shelves.

Happy Christmas!

ACPL is Closed Today

The ACPL is closed today and tomorrow. We will re-open at 9am on Friday, December 26th. You can still enjoy a wide variety of ACPL services on our website. Check these out:

• Downloadable Audiobooks - download entire audiobooks to your computer or MP3 Player for free.
• E-Resources - enjoy access to full text magazine & newspaper databases, genealogy databases, business information, art resources and more.
• Children's Services Booklists - search for titles on hot topics for kids or just find some fun books here.
• Mock Election Blogs - read what people are saying about some of the best children's books of 2008.
• Booktalk - search for books by your favorite authors, read reviews, find books that were mentioned on television or public radio and more.
• Great Sites for Kids - find a list of websites for kids on a variety of topics.

ACPL Mock Award Reading Lists - Available Now!

If you love children's books, please join us in person in January or on the blogs right now to discuss the best of the best published in 2008.

• ACPL Mock Newbery Award - for the most distinguished work of children's literature. Find the final list here. Comment on your favorites here.

• ACPL Mock Caldecott Award - for the most distinguished American picture book for children. Find the final list here. Comment on your favorites here.

• ACPL Mock Sibert Award - for the best informational book for children. Find the final list here. Comment on your favorites here.

• ACPL Mock Geisel Award - for the best beginning reader. Find the final list here. Comment on your favorites here.
  

Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah began last night at sundown and will last for eight nights.

Check out one of the wonderful new books about Hanukkah available at the library. The Hanukkah Mice by Steven Kroll is the delightful story of a mouse family celebrating the holiday.

Happy Hanukkah!

Winter Begins!

It is time to say goodbye to fall and hello to three months of winter! Enjoy all of the wonderful winter activities that you can, because winter won't last long.

Check out Harriet Ziefert's new picture book Snow Party to find out what snow people do to celebrate the shortest day of the year.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Artie and Julie by Chih-Yuan Chen

If you enjoyed the picture book Guji Guji, you will LOVE Artie and Julie.

This wonderfully fun book begins with two separate stories on split pages. One is the story of a lion being trained to hunt rabbits and the other is the story of a rabbit being trained to outsmart lions. Soon the two stories join together on one big page and the adventures of Artie (the lion) and Julie (the rabbit) begin.

Don't miss this new offering from Chih-Yuan Chen.

Congratulations, Helen Frost!

EXCITING NEWS about local author Helen Frost whose book, Diamond Willow, is on the final reading list for this year's ACPL Mock Newbery.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux has just announced that author Helen Frost has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship for her work on The Braid. This literature fellowship recognizes writers of poetry, encouraging the production of new work by affording these writers the time and means to write.

You can see the entire list of 2009 Literary Fellowships (Poetry) here.

Congratulations, Helen! (Thanks to SLJ's Fuse #8 for the info!)

Art Out of the Box: Indiana Painters

Surrender by Whisper

On Friday, December 12th the Art Out of the Box kids met to learn about Indiana Painters and to create a painting inspired by an Indiana artist. To see the rest of the paintings click here.

Computer Room Hours

During the Winter Break, when many elementary schools are not in session, the Children's Services Computer Room hours will be as follows:

Monday through Thursday 11am to 7pm
Friday & Saturday 11am to 6pm
Sunday 12pm to 5pm

These hours will be in effect from Monday, December 22nd through Saturday January 3rd. On Sunday, January 4th, we will return to our regular hours.

Las posadas

Today begins 'las posadas' (the inns), a nine day Christmas celebration that originated in Mexico.

To learn more about this celebration, check out Uno, Dos, Tres, Posada! by Virginia Kroll. We have many titles in Children's Services about celebrations around the world. Stop by today to check them out!

Snow Globes Galore!

Stop in to Children's Services to check out our most recent display!

Our very own Children's Librarian, Heather Acerro, who has been collecting snowglobes from around the world for over 10 years, has brought her collection to the library for everyone to enjoy!


This collection will be on display through December and the beginning of January.

A Child's Book Review: Fish and Frog

Robert, age 4, says of the Brand New Readers collection Fish and Frog
by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Valeria Petrone:

"I like all four of the books. 'Fish Makes Faces' always makes us chuckle."

Submit your child's book review to me via email and you may see it in a future "A Child's Book Review" blog post.

Entertainment Software Rating Board

Are you planning to purchase a computer game or video game soon? You might like to check it out at the library first. Or click here to visit the Entertainment Software Rating Board website. When you do a search for the game, you will find a rating and the reasons for the rating, as well as a list of the platforms for which the game is available. There is a lot of additional good information there for gamers and their families.

Art Out of the Box: Recycled Art

On Friday, November 14th, the Art Out of the Box homeschool group met to learn about artists in Indiana who make recycled art. Then the group turned library trash into wonderful treasure. The drum set shown above is made of broken computer components, VHS tapes & a broken software case! It is pretty amazing what you can do with the things that are thrown away! To see the rest of the recycled art creations click here.

Happy Birthday Indiana!

Today the state of Indiana is 192 years old! Happy Birthday Indiana!

Celebrate the day by learning something new about this great state. ACPL has a lot of interesting books about Indiana, including H is for Hoosier: an Indiana alphabet by Cynthia Furlong Reynolds.

Hurray for the Hoosier state!

Letter J Play Day!

Start off Letter J Play Day at the Jungle Animals Smartstart Preschool Storytime at 10:30 am. Plan to stay to play with the letter 'J' in the Early Learning Center. There will be many new & fun activities for you to enjoy.

Letter J Play Day activities will be available from 9 am to 8pm today in the Early Learning Center.

Playaways have arrived!

So what IS a Playaway? A Playaway is an audio book smaller than a deck of cards. You don't need an MP3 player, a tape deck or a CD player; you just need to put in a battery and plug in headphones!

The Children's Services department has a small collection available now, but more titles will be arriving soon. Click here to see which titles are now available.

Early Learning Center Mailbox

Thank you for the lovely drawing Grace! We'll see you the next time you visit the Early Learning Center.

The Poetry Contest Draws to a Close

The 26st annual Poetry Contest sponsored by the Children's Services and the Young Adults' Services departments of the ACPL drew to a close yesterday morning with an award ceremony in the Main Library theater.

Kids in Kindergarten through high school read their winning poems and received a trophy for their creative writing efforts. The theater was filled with proud parents, grandparents, family, friends and teachers as kids read their winning poems. Here's the 1st place winning entry in the Kindergarten division by Josh from Emmanuel-St. Michael:

The Recycling Bin

Crawling up the recycling bin,A spider looks in.
And what does he see?Treasures collected by me!

Thanks go to the nearly 900 children and young adults who entered this year's contest and to the Friends of the Library whose financial support makes programs like this possible.

Special thanks to all the teachers, parents, and other adults who offer continued positive support to the writing efforts of young people!

Go Green! Poetry Contest Awards Ceremony

This year, the Allen County Public Library Poetry Contest for children and young adults attracted 878 entries representing poets from over 50 schools. Private schools, public schools, parochial schools, and home schools were all represented among the winners as kids wrote poems on the theme of "Go Green!"

Tomorrow we will celebrate these young poets in our community at a special Awards Ceremony. You are invited to help celebrate their creative writing efforts and hear the winning poets read their poems at 11:00 in the theater of the Main Library.

We hope you will join us!

Fancy Nancy Tea Party at Grabill Branch Library!

The "posh" place to be this Saturday, December 6th is Grabill Branch Library, where all your fantastic friends will be together having a glamorous time!
In addition to tea, your hostess will provide games, crafts, and stories.

Dress-up are encouraged!



Don't miss the fun!
What: Fancy Nancy Tea Party
When: Saturday, December 6th, 10:30-11:30a.m.
Where: Grabill Branch Library

Children's Poet Laureate: Mary Ann Hoberman

Mary Ann Hoberman has been named the second Children's Poet Laureate. Her job for the next two years will be to instill a love of poetry in children, something that she has been working on for her entire career.

For more information about the Children's Poet Laureate position, click here. Check out some of Hoberman's wonderful books here.

Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems

The new Elephant & Piggie book has arrived at the ACPL! Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems is here. Hurray!

If you like early readers, check out the ACPL Mock Geisel blog to see a list of the best new early readers of the year. If you have read any of the books that you see there, be sure to leave a comment, we would love to have your opinion on the titles.

Fort Wayne Philharmonic Trading Cards

Beginning today you can start your collection of Fort Wayne Philharmonic Trading Cards!

We’ll give you a pack of five cards the first week, and then two additional new cards each of the following five weeks, as you complete online games and activities.

Enjoy the six weeks of activities and then plan to attend a special concert featuring members of the orchestra in the art gallery at Main Library at 2 p.m., Sunday, January 11, 2009. You can ask the musicians to sign their trading cards AND you can enter your name in a drawing for a family pack of tickets to a special Philharmonic concert !

To get started click here. Collect all fifteen cards and trade with your friends!