Today Show Interview with the Caldecott and Newbery Winners

Traditionally, the Today Show interviews the new Caldecott and Newbery winners. Here are Neil Gaiman, the Newbery Award winning author of The Graveyard Book and Beth Krommes, the Caldecott Award winning illustrator of The House in the Night in their interview with Al Roker.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This interview originally aired on Tuesday, January 27, 2009, the day after the awards were announced at the ALA midwinter meeting in Denver.

Class Visits

Yesterday morning we had 180 kids in our department! The kids were here with their classes to hear stories, to go on tours, to receive computer instruction and to conduct research. It is not too late to schedule YOUR class visit to the Library! Your visit can be tailored to meet the needs of your students.

We are available for tours on Wednesday afternoons or all day on Thursday. We are currently scheduling for March, April & May. If you would like to schedule your visit, please give us a call at 421-1220.

A Favorite: The Cow That Went OINK

The Cow That Went OINK is an excellent read-aloud book for children of all ages. In this funny story, Bernard Most explores what would happen if I cow didn't know how to say 'Moo'.

My favorite part of the book is when the animals laugh, such as the duck laughing, "Quack-ha" and the sheep laughing, "Baa-ha". How do you think a rooster would laugh? Or a frog? Check out The Cow That Went OINK and laugh along with a variety of animals.

Reading Rocks! Goes Undercover

On Friday, January 16, the Reading Rocks! Homeschool Book Club for 3rd - 5th Graders met to discuss The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse by Bruce Hale, the first title in the Chet Gecko Mystery series. After a great discussion, we made our own detective disguises.

Join us for our next Fabulous Fridays Book Club on February 6th from 2-3pm, when our titles for discussion will be...
Early Reader Roundup (Grades K-2): Good Night, Good Knight, by Shelley Moore Thomas
Reading Rocks! (Grades 3-5): Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan

2008 Aesop Award

The Aesop Award is given annually by the American Folklore Society for excellence in children's folklore.

2008 Aesop Prize:

Ain't Nothing But a Man: My quest to find the real John Henry, by Scott Reynolds Nelson with Marc Aronson

2008 Aesop Accolades:

Dance in a Buffalo Skull, told by Zitkala-Ša. Illustrated by S. D. Nelson.

The Adventures of Molly Whuppie and Other Appalachian Folktales, by Anne Shelby. Illustrated by Paula McArdle.

2009 American Library Association Awards

John Newbery Medal:
"The Graveyard Book" written by Neil Gaiman

Newbery Honor Books:
"The Underneath" written by Kathi Appelt
“The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom” written by Margarita Engle
"Savvy" written by Ingrid Law
"After Tupac & D Foster" written by Jacqueline Woodson

Randolph Caldecott Medal:
"The House in the Night" written by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes

Caldecott Honor Books:
"A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever" by Marla Frazee
"How I Learned Geography" by Uri Shulevitz
"A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams" by Melissa Sweet

Sibert Medal:
“We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball,” by author and illustrator Kadir Nelson

Sibert Honor Books:
“Bodies from the Ice: Melting Glaciers and Rediscovery of The Past,” written by James M. Deem
“What to Do About Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy!” written by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award:
"Are You Ready to Play Outside?" by Mo Willems

Geisel Honor Books:
"Chicken Said "Cluck!' " by Judyann Ackerman Grant, illustrated by Sue Truesdell
"One Boy" by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
"Stinky" by Eleanor Davis
"Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator" by Sarah C. Campbell

Coretta Scott King Author Award:
“We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro League Baseball,” written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books:
“The Blacker the Berry” by Joyce Carol Thomas, illustrated by Floyd Cooper
“Keeping the Night Watch” by Hope Anita Smith, illustrated by E.B. Lewis
“Becoming Billie Holiday” by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award:
“The Blacker the Berry,” illustrated by Floyd Cooper, written by Joyce Carol Thomas

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Books:
“We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball” written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
“Before John Was a Jazz Giant” by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Sean Qualls
“The Moon Over Star” by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

Pura Belpré Author Award:
“The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom” by Margarita Engle

Pura Belpré Author Honor Books:
“Just in Case” written by Yuyi Morales
“Reaching Out” written by Francisco Jiménez
“The Storyteller’s Candle / La velita de los cuentos,” written by Lucía González

Pure Belpré Illustrator Award:
“Just in Case” illustrated by Yuyi Morales

Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Books:
“Papá and Me” illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez, written by Arthur Dorros
“The Storyteller’s Candle / La velita de los cuentos” illustrated by Lulu Delacre, written by Lucía González
“What Can You Do with a Rebozo?” illustrated by Amy Córdova, written by Carmen Tafolla

Andrew Carnegie Medal:
Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly of Weston Woods Studios, producers of “March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World,”

Odyssey Award:
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” written/narrated by Sherman Alexie

Odyssey Honor Audiobooks:
“Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady,” written by L.A. Meyer, narrated by Katherine Kellgren
“Elijah of Buxton,” written by Christopher Paul Curtis, narrated by Mirron Willis
“I’m Dirty!” written by Kate & Jim McMullan, narrated by Steve Buscemi
“Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale,” written and narrated by Carmen Agra Deedy
“Nation,” written by Terry Pratchett, narrated by Stephen Briggs

2009 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecturer:
Kathleen T. Horning, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC)

Mildred L. Batchelder Award:
“Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit” originally published in Japanese, written by Nahoko Uehashi, translated by Cathy Hirano, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu

Batchelder Honor Books:
“Garmann’s Summer,” originally published in Norwegian, written by Stian Hole, translated by Don Bartlett
“Tiger Moon,” originally published in German, written by Antonia Michaelis, translated by Anthea Bell

Get Moving!

Tired of sitting around in the house on these COLD winter days? Here are some fun titles to get you and your children a-movin' and a-shakin'!

Sock Monkeys Do the Monkey Monkey
by William B. Winburn









Bearobics: A Hip-Hop Counting Story
by Vic Parker










Or, check out some children's music CDs...Jim Gill and Greg and Steve are popular children's musicians who sing fun action songs.

The REAL Winners of the 2009 ALSC Awards

On Monday morning, January 26, at a press conference during the ALA Conference in Denver, the REAL ALSC award winners and honor books will be announced. But how can you find out what these winners are?

Here are several options:

• Tune in to the Early Show on Tuesday morning which traditionally interviews the winners.
• Call the Children's Services department - 260.421.1220 - at our Library after noon.
• Check this blog.
• Or you can hear the results LIVE via the Internet or Twitter. Here are the details from an ALA press release:

Join thousands as ALA, ALSC and YALSA unveil the best of the best in children’s and young adult literature and media.

The American Library Association (ALA) will provide a free live Webcast of its national announcement of the top books and media for children and young adults on January 26 at 7:45 a.m. MT. The award announcements are made as part of the ALA Midwinter Meeting, which will bring together more than 10,000 librarians, publishers, authors, and guests in Denver from January 23 to 28.

Unikron, a streaming content provider, will host the ALA Youth Media Awards Webcast. Online visitors will be able to view the live Webcast the morning of the announcements by going to the Unikron Web site.

ALA will instantly announce winners of the 2009 Youth Media Awards using the micro-blogging service Twitter. For the first time ever, members can follow the Youth Media Awards via Twitter and receive live updates on award winners as they are announced during the ceremony. Users of Twitter can read and follow posts–referred to as ‘tweets’–instantly, either through ALA’s Twitter page, RSS, SMS Text Messaging (if enabled), or social networking sites such as Facebook, with the Twitter add-on.

The ALA Island in Second Life will also broadcast an encore presentation of the Youth Media Awards Webcast. Visitors can take advantage of in-world viewing later in the day on the ALA Island at the Main Stage.

For ALA Midwinter Meeting participants, the press conference will be held in the Colorado Convention Center in the Four Seasons Ballroom. Doors will open at 7:30 a.m. MT.

The press release announcing all of the winners will be posted in the Youth Media Awards Press Kit at http://www.ala.org/yma prior to 10:30 a.m. MT.

Questions? Contact the ALSC office at alsc@ala.org.

Winter Fun Storytime

Calling all babies and toddlers! Visit the library this morning for your very own storytime. We'll be reading and singing about winter fun.

Every Friday:
Babies and Books (0-18 months) @ 10 AM
Toddler Time (18 to 36 months) @ 10:30 AM & 11 AM

See you at the ACPL!

A Child's Book Review: Sounder

12-year-old Carrie says of Sounder, by William Howard Armstrong:

"I loved it! I couldn't stop reading it, even though I cried a little. I'd like to have a dog like Sounder."

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.

Early Learning Center Mailbox

Hmmm....what is she thinking?

Be sure to stop by the Early Learning Center today to explore, play and create with your preschooler.

The Early Learning Center hours are:

Monday through Thursday 9am to 8pm
Friday & Saturday 9am to 6pm
Sunday 12pm to 5pm

See you at the ACPL!

Kids Books Online

This compilation of websites featuring free electronic books was in the December 2008 issue of School Library Journal. To read the entire article by Anna Adam and Helen Mowers click here.

• Project Gutenberg
• Children's Books Online
• Big Universe
• TumbleBooks
• Lookybook

These are great sites to visit to read books online and you can even create books of your own at Big Universe. Check it out!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today is Marin Luther King Jr. Day!
Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most respected and influential leaders of the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s. King inspired many Americans to stand up for fairness and equality among citizens, no matter the color of their skin. Today the memory of Martin Luther King and his passion for what he believed lives on across our nation.

Want to learn more about Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement? Check out some books like these!

ACPL Kids' Mock Newbery 2009 Results!

ACPL Kids' Mock Newbery 2009 Winner:
Savvy by Indrid Law

To see the honor books visit the ACPL Mock Newbery blog.

ACPL Mock Newbery & Mock Sibert 2009 Results!

ACPL Mock Newbery 2009 Winner:
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

To see the honor book visit the ACPL Mock Newbery blog.

ACPL Mock Sibert 2009 Winner:
Ain't Nothing But a Man: My quest to find the real John Henry by Scott Reynolds Nelson with Marc Aronson

To see the honor books visit the ACPL Mock Sibert blog.

Lois Ehlert to be Honored with Award

According to the Catholic Library Association website, children's author & illustrator Lois Ehlert has been selected to receive the Catholic Library Association’s 2009 Regina Medal, recognizing her lifetime contribution to quality literature for children. She has already received several awards for her art and for her children’s books, including a Caldecott Honor award for Color Zoo. She is also the illustrator of many other books including two of my favorites: Crocodile Smile by Sarah Weeks, and A Pair of Socks by Stuart J. Murphy.

Retirement Party for Condra Ridley

Join us today at the Main Library to say a fond farewell to Chief Condra Ridley.

Condra has worked with the Allen County Public Library for 27 years in a variety of positions including Branch Manager, Children's Specialist and storyteller extraordinaire, and has most recently been working here in the Children's Services department. We will miss her and the enthusiasm and positive attitude she carries with her every day.

Join us between 2:00 and 4:00 pm today in Meeting Room A-B-C at the Main Library to share some time with Condra and to thank her for her many years of service.

Make Your Own Pop-Ups!

Looking for something fun to do this winter? Try making your own pop-up cards, or even a pop-up story book with these tips from world-famous pop-up book artist Robert Sabuda:

RobertSabuda.com: Simple Pop-Ups You Can Make

For inspiration, visit us at the Library and take a peek at some of the books on our Pop-Up Books Booklist.

Letter E Play Day!

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

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

Fitness for Kids

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, which for the first time includes guidelines for kids. Did you know that children and adolescents should participate in 60 minutes or more of physical activity DAILY? So be sure to run, jump, skip and play today!

Early Learning Center Mailbox

What an interesting drawing! Thank you for sharing it with us.

Bring your child to the Early Learning Center today and drop us a line!

ACPL Mock Caldecott & Mock Geisel 2009 Results!

2009 ACPL Mock Caldecott Winner:
Wabi Sabi, illustrated by Ed Young, written by Mark Reibstein

2009 ACPL Mock Caldecott Honor Books:
Jumpy Jack and Googily, illustrated by Sophie Blackall, written by Meg Rosoff
In a Blue Room, illustrated by Tricia Tusa, written by Jim Averbeck


2009 ACPL Mock Geisel Winner:
I Love My New Toy! written and illustrated by Mo Willems.

2009 ACPL Mock Geisel Honor Book:
Hooray for Fly Guy! written and illustrated by Tedd Arnold

For more information about these programs or to join in the discussion, visit our blogs: ACPL Mock Caldecott & ACPL Mock Geisel.

Free Children's Concert Sunday

Join us at 2 p.m. in the art gallery across from Children's Services at the Main Library Sunday (January 11) for a special concert featuring the Meadowlark String Quartet. All ages are welcome.

Parents, bring your cameras -- "Tchaikovsky" will be at ACPL and willing to pose with your kids!

Also, you will have a chance to win a family pack of tickets to the Fort Wayne Philharmonic's family concert, Tchaikovsky Discovers America, the following Sunday (January 18) at IPFW.

Fort Wayne Philharmonic Trading Cards are still available -- click here for details and see you Sunday afternoon!

Stitchin' and Pullin': A Gee's Bend Quilt

Stitchin' and Pullin': a Gee's Bend Quilt by Patricia McKissack with illustrations by Cozbi A. Cabrera is not to be missed. History and art are intricately stitched together by the author & illustrator to create this lovely picture of the Gee's Bend community. Don't skip the introduction or the author's note!

Homework Help to the Rescue!

Are you working on a school report? Do you need information from an online source? Or, do you just want to read about some interesting stuff?

Take a look at our Homework Help page!

Divided into subjects -- Art & Music, Language Arts, Math, Reference, Science, and Social Studies -- you'll be able to find plenty of good, solid information on a variety of different topics!

Need more information? Feel free to give us a call -- 421-1220 -- or drop by Children's Services. We can't do your homework for you, but we can help you find what you need to get your homework done.

Go Green Poetry Contest Award Ceremony on TV

If you live in Allen County, you can watch the winning "Go Green" 2008 Poetry Contest poets read their poetry and receive their awards throughout the month of January. Access Fort Wayne videotaped the Awards Ceremony which was held in December and will be airing the program on the following dates and times:

6:00 pm January 8 on Access 1
10:00 am January 9 on Access 1
2:00 pm January 10 on Access 1
8:00 pm January 12 on Access 2
Noon January 13 on Access 2
10:00 am January 17 on Access 2
11:00 pm January 19 on Access 1
3:00 pm January 20 on Access 1
8:00 pm January 23 on Access 2
8:00 pm January 29 on Access 2

Access 1 is Comcast 55 and Verizon FIOS 25.

Access 2 is Comcast 57 and Verizon FIOS 27.

Enjoy!

A Child's Book Review: Confessions from the Principal's Chair

Maria, age 10, says of Confessions from the Principal's Chair, by Anna Myers:

"This book was pretty good. It talks about stuff that I understood, just about being a kid."

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.

Congratulations, Lee Bennett Hopkins!

The National Council of Teachers of English has announced that Lee Bennett Hopkins has been awarded the 2009 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children.

Mr. Hopkins is the author of a wide variety of books including:

• Been to Yesterdays: Poems of a Life
• Hand in Hand: An American History Through Poetry
• Good Books, Good Times
• Marvelous Math
  
• Hanukkah Lights
  
• and many more

Congratulations, Mr. Hopkins!

Computer Room Hours

Today we will return to our regular computer room schedule:

Sunday 12pm to 5pm
Monday through Thursday 1pm to 9pm
Friday and Saturday 1pm to 6pm

When you visit the computer room, be sure to play the ACPL musical web challenge. Or visit one of the "tight sites" listed on our webpage:

	Links for Young Children
	Links for Children 5-8
	Links for Children 8-11
	Create Your Own Cartoon!
	Cartoon Network Games
	Dav Pilkey's Website
	Disney Games
	Everything Girl
	Nickelodeon Games
	PBS Kids

Time 2 Chime Live

On Tuesday, December 16, an audience of over 100 people enjoyed a concert given by Time 2 Chime, the library's homeschool handchime choir. Both beginning and advanced groups (pictured below) performed several songs and did a magnificent job. Way to go chimers!

Click here to see more pictures of the concert on the library's flickr site.

Cybils Shortlists

The finalists for the Cybils (Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards) have been announced!

To see the shortlist titles, click on the genre links below:

Early Readers
Fantasy & Science Fiction
Fiction Picture Books
Graphic Novels
Middle Grade Fiction
Non-Fiction MG/YA
Non-Fiction Picture Books
Poetry
Young Adult Fiction

Mary Voors was a member of the middle grade fiction panel, you can read more about her experience with this incredible project here. As a judge for the early reader category, I am looking forward to meeting with my fellow bloggers to discuss the five amazing shortlist titles. What fun!

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of the new year, which is a perfect time to sit down and decide what you would like to do this year. Make a list of:

• Books that you would like to read
• Animals that you would like to learn about
  
• Science experiments that you would like to try
• People that you would like to know more about
• Places that you would like to visit
  

Bring your lists to the Main Library tomorrow at 9am or to a Branch Library at 10am and we will be happy to help you get started on your new year's list! Remember that all branches of the ACPL are closed today, we'll see you tomorrow.

Happy New Year!