Snow! Snow! and More Snow!

Folks here in northern Indiana are gearing up for yet another round of snowfall -- what do you do to prepare for snow days? I suggest you add a visit to the library to your list of destinations as you travel today to stock up on your supplies. Check out a cookbook and try a new recipe...or a craft book to learn a new skill or brush up on an old one...or a book of games to play together... or all of the above!

The possibilities are endless...

Happy Anniversary 900 Library Plaza!

Today is the fourth anniversary of the Grand Opening of the beautiful new library at 900 Library Plaza! Happy Anniversary to all of us!

It has been a wonderful four years of fun here. Take some time to review the ACPL Kids Blog to see where we have been and what we have been doing. Another fun place visit is the ACPL's Flickr account.

Check out some of these photos from the past four years which highlight some of the awesome spaces here at the library:

Art Cars on the Plaza
2008 Poetry Contest Awards Ceremony in the Theater
Day of the Dead 2007 in Children's Services
Homeschoolers Sneak Preview in the Great Hall
Time 2 Chime Live in the Jeffrey R. Krull Gallery
EcoKids Club (featuring live worms) in the Program Room

Please visit the library soon to see what we are up to now!

No Storytimes at Main Library this Week

Children's Services librarians are continuing the Storytellers on the Move program this week, delivering books and telling stories to area preschools and daycares, so there will be no storytimes held at the Main Library this week. However, you can still attend storytimes at one of our branch libraries -- click here for a calendar of times and locations!

National No Name-Calling Week

In honor of National No Name-Calling Week, which runs from January 24th - 28th this year, I'd like to point out some of the resources available to help teach and prevent bullying.

Many picture books and stories address the topic of bullying. Alley Oops, by Janice Levy, explores the painful effects of name-calling from the bully's perspective -- and shows how some problems can be resolved.




For older children and teens, there are books such as Bullying and Me, Schoolyard Stories. In this book, kids and adults from diverse backgrounds tell about their experiences being taunted and bullied.






There are many, many more resources available, for both kids and adults -- see the Personal Violence Booklist for more books, websites, and other materials.

New Padded Railing in the ELC!

Yesterday, we were excited to have Sammy from Sew On and Sew Forth come to the Library to put a beautiful padded vinyl covering on the railing by the dramatic play area in the Early Learning Center.

It was hard work, but Sammy did a GREAT job!

And now YOU have a great new piece to play on and with.

I wonder if you can balance a dinosaur on the padded railing?

Storytellers on the Move!

From January 17th to January 27th ACPL librarians will be visiting area daycares and preschools to deliver book collections and provide storytime programs. If you know a daycare or preschool that could benefit from this awesome service, please call the Children's Services department to sign up. Our next delivery will be in late April.

There will be no storytimes at the library during the Storytellers on the Move program.

Have you heard any good books lately?

Check out the Playaway collection in Children's Services to find some great listens. We have an extensive collection of Playaways to choose from.

A Playaway is an audio book that comes with its own small player - you just provide the triple A battery and plug in your favorite headphones. It is a fun way to listen to books!

Storybook Theater Photos

Oh, what a great time we had at Smart Start Storytime this week!
Leslie Hormann from the Fort Wayne Youtheatre joined us to present
Storybook Theater.

FotoViewr - Create your 3D photo gallery

Leslie shared the following stories with us:

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
• The Mitten
• Tammy the Turtle and the Leprechaun
• The Adventures of Isabel
  

Career Info for Kids

The American Library Association publishes a Great Websites for Kids page -- and their featured website this month is...

What Do You Like?
published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Kids can click on activities they enjoy, like Music & Arts or Helping People or Managing Money, and they are directed to career options for those interests, as well as specifics -- what is that job like? how do you prepare? what does it pay?

This site could be a great conversation starter -- it's never too early to start talking with your children about their interests and life goals.

It's Letter T Playday!!

Tickle ten toes!

Tame that tiger!

How many letter T words can YOU think of?



Come visit us at the downtown library today for some Letter T fun in the Early Learning Center!

Special Storytime Guests!

Please join us tomorrow for a special storytime with the Fort Wayne Youtheatre!

9:30am storytime for groups (please register by calling 421-1220)

10:30am storytime for families

After storytime, be sure to visit the Early Learning Center, where we will be celebrating Letter T Day!

It's Book Award Day! -- Part 2

It's all so exciting -- the waiting has ended!!! This morning, winners of the 2011 Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, and many other book and media awards were announced at the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting in San Diego.

Below is a list of some of the winners. For a complete list, visit the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards press release.

John Newbery Medal:
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Newbery Honors:
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Randolph Caldecott Medal
A Sick Day for Amos McGee, illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Philip C. Stead

Caldecott Honors:
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Laban Carrick Hill
Interrupting Chicken, written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein

Coretta Scott King Author Award
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Coretta Scott King Author Honors:
Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers
Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Laban Carrick Hill

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor:
Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix, illustrated by Javaka Steptoe, written by Gary Golio

Robert F. Sibert Medal
Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot by Sy Montgomery

Sibert Honor Books:
Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring by Jan Greenberg & Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Brian Floca
Lafayette and the American Revolution by Russell Freedman

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Tony Fucile

Geisel Honor Books:
Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! by Grace Lin
We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems


What do YOU think of the winning titles? Were any of your favorites chosen?

Congratulations to the winning authors and illustrators!

It's Book Award Day!

We held the ACPL Kids Mock Caldecott Award Program Sunday at the Main Library and chose Knuffle Bunny Free, written and illustrated by Mo Willems, and City Dog, Country Frog, by Mo Willems, illustrated by Jon J. Muth, as our co-winners. Fifty-seven people took part. The REAL Caldecott Award will be presented Monday -- it can be awarded to only one book, and the American Library Association committee has only 15 members doing the choosing. Find the results here in future postings, or tune in for the live broadcast online at 10:30 a.m., Monday, January 10 -- follow the links found here: http://tinyurl.com/b9crfe .

Have You Read a Tumblebook Yet?

If not, you'll want to check out this new source of children's books -- available wherever you can access the Internet!



You can...

• read or listen to a story with your child, like One Duck Stuck, by Phyllis Root and Jane Chapman
• play games, like this virtual jigsaw puzzle
• download an e-book or audio book to your PC or Mac computer, Android phone or tablet
• read or listen to children's books in world languages, such as Spanish or French

Check it out -- it's free! It's easy! It's fun!

The REAL winners of the Youth Media Awards!

Do you want to be among the first to find out the winners of the Newbery, Caldecott, Geisel, Sibert & Coretta Scott King Awards?

You can watch a live webcast which begins at 7:45AM PST (that means, 10:45am YOUR TIME) or you can wait for the press release. For more information about the award announcements click here.

The Many Different Ways to Tell Rapunzel

Folk tales are one of my favorite things to read. I love the diversity of stories across cultures and I enjoy finding new stories with familiar twists and familiar stories with new twists. On the Children's Services booklist page we have several lists of folk tale variants.

While Paul O. Zelinsky's retelling of Rapunzel might be my favorite, there are many more on the variant list that are worth looking at. Read Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel by Patricia Storace to appreciate a new setting, or try The Canary Prince by Eric Jon Nones for a Turinese version of the princess locked in the tower tale.

The Gingerbread Man is not just a cookie. He can be a tortilla, a matzo ball, or cornbread. If you are in the mood for a classic, straight retelling, try Paul Galdone's The Gingerbread Boy.

We also have booklists or variants for Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Rumpelstiltskin, and Three Little Pigs. Speaking of folktale variants, if you have a sense of humor, please do yourself a favor and read The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka. I won't go into how wonderful it is here, because I already went into how wonderful it is here.

Ruining Good Things

The new book Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen caught my eye today as I was passing by the new book shelves because I am ALWAYS looking for ways to ruin good things.

I was hooked when I read this in the introduction:
"Here now for the first time, are ten sure ways to destroy the Imagination of Your Child...I am sure that a judicious application of even three or four of these methods will suffice to kill the imagination of an Einstein, a Beethoven, a Dante, or a Michelango." (from p.xiii)

Mind you, I haven't read the whole book, but what I have read, strangely enough, reminds me of Lemony Snicket and makes me want to put everything else aside so that I can give it my full attention. I imagine the message here will be similar to that found in Susan Linn's The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World which is a great parenting read.

Mock Caldecott Elections

Don't forget -- we have two Mock Caldecott programs coming up this weekend. You won't want to miss this opportunity to see, learn and talk about some of the best picture books published in 2010.

Saturday, January 8, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.: Mock Caldecott for Adults
Sunday, January 9: 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.: Mock Caldecott for Kids

Did I mention that Indiana librarians will earn 4 LEUs and teachers will earn 4 professional development points? Registration is required; click on the links above to register.