African Journey Opens Today!

The new African Journey exhibit at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo opens today!

Before you visit the zoo to meet the lions, zebras, hyenas, vultures and giraffes, stop by the library to pick up some non-fiction books about these animals. Read books to discover why zebras have stripes, what a group of hyenas is called, what vultures like to have for dinner and more!

Honk, Honk, Goose!

Have you ever wondered about the families of Canada Geese that you see all over Fort Wayne? Honk, Honk, Goose! is a wonderful new book by April Pulley Sayre all about these interesting birds. In this book you can see the geese meet, build a nest, lay eggs and start a family. Check it out!

Birds for Spring

Kevin Henkes is a fantastic illustrator. He won the Caldecott Award for illustration in 2005 for Kitten's First Full Moon. But he wrote the words in his latest picture book and the illustrations were created by Laura Dronzek. She did a great job. The color and movement found in her pictures are the perfect accompaniment to Mr. Henkes' story of a girl who admires birds from her window and discovers something that she has in common with them. Check out this book, look out your window, and draw a picture of the birds that you see.

Paws to Read

Join us every Thursday night from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. for Paws to Read, a program that allows children to practice reading to trained therapy dogs.

Children can read their favorite dog story if they would like, but the dogs are happy to listen to any stories - even stories about cats.

One of my favorite dog books is Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Check it out!

Fabulous Fridays Homeschool Book Club: Danny and the Dinosaur

While gathering information for the Fabulous Fridays Homeschool Book Club on Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff, I found some great dinosaur information. Here are a few of the highlights:

Websites:

• Visit the Carnegie Museum to watch scientists dismantle and re-build Apatasaurus louisae
  
• Visit the Field Museum to explore the "What Lived with Sue?" interactive dig
• Visit the American Museum of Natural History to take a virtual tour of the Hall of Dinosaurs
  

Books:

• Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs! by Kathleen V. Kudlinski
• Prehistoric Actual Size by Steve Jenkins
• Dinosaur Tracks by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

The Kudlinski book was fascinating to me because most of what I know about dinosaurs I learned in the 3rd grade and the thinking has sure changed since then!

Fun Nature Website!

Check out eNature.com for lots of information about wildlife.

Tonight I read about

• what happens to birds in a hurricane
• how to identify what animals are in the area by their scat
• how much scientists don't know about dragonfly migration

and

• what plants, animals, and birds might be living in my backyard

Check it out! (And then come to the Library for more books on these subjects!)

We'll miss Caleb

Paws to Read is a special program offered every Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Main Library and at various times throughout the month at some of our branches. Research shows that children enjoy improving their reading skills by practicing reading to animals. With this program, kids are invited to read a story to a book-loving dog. Trained therapy dogs are here every week with their handlers -- and they want to listen to you read!

Caleb, one of our weekly Paws to Read dogs, has died after a long illness. We love our Paws to Read dogs. We loved Caleb. Caleb, we'll miss you.

Barr Street Market: Leave Tracks with Indiana Animals

Stop by the ACPL Children's Services booth at the Barr Street Market today between 9am and 1pm to make a crayon rubbing of Indiana animal tracks. We'll be at the Barr Street Market every Saturday through September. See you there!

Mark's Ark

Snakes and turtles and chinchillas...oh my!

Don't miss out on this wild animal adventure as Mark's Ark visits the Main library theater on Thursday, June 26 at 2:00 PM.

If you've ever wanted to hold a tree frog or pet a hedgehog (ouch!), this is your chance.