Meet Abe Lincoln's Friend!

As a celebration of Lincoln’s 200th birthday, storyteller Doyne Carson will present a special storytelling program called “Meet Abe Lincoln’s Friend.”

In this program, students will meet Abigail Gollaher, one of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood friends, who tells them the story of the childhood adventures of young Abe Lincoln.

Seats for the 6:30p.m. performance on Wednesday, February 25th are still available.

Curriculum connections include United States Indiana history, history, and social studies. This program is designed for students fourth grade and up.

Please register by calling 421-1220

Click here to see our Abraham Lincoln booklist!

Dental Health Month

Celebrate Dental Health Month by attending the Children's Dental Health Fair at the Main Library on Saturday, February 21st from 1 to 3pm. The fair will be presented in the Globe Room by Isaac Knapp Dental Hygienists' Association and will feature games, prizes, dental health and nutritional information and brushing and flossing instruction.

You can also celebrate by checking out a book about dentists or dental health. Check out The Dentist From the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler.

Reading Rainbow Young Writers & Illustrators Contestng

It is time for the Reading Rainbow Young Writers & Illustrators Contest! This contest is for students in K to 3rd grades. To enter, simply write and illustrate a story, pick up an entry form at the library (or print one out from your computer), and return your entry to the Main Library by March 13, 2009. For the complete rules, visit the PBS website.

Remnant Trust at IPFW

Don't miss the Remnant Trust at IPFW, now through April 2009! The Remnant Trust is a collection of manuscripts and early editions of works. Included are Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, the Magna Charta, the Emancipation Proclamation, Frederick Douglass' Life of Frederick Douglass, and Plato's Plato, His Apology of Socrates to name only a few of the 50 items available to see, to read and, quite unbelievably, to touch.

The exhibit is in the Helmke Library on the IPFW campus. It is open to the public:
Tuesday 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Wednesday 1pm to 3pm
Friday 9am to 1pm
Saturday 9am to 12pm

To arrange a class visit or to borrow a document for classroom use, contact the Helmke Library Services Desk at 481-6512. There are many interesting programs for adults too.

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.

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.

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.

Embroidery Fun!

It's not too late to join the fun!

Join the Fort Wayne Area Chapter of the Embroiders' Guild of America on Thursday evenings from 6:30pm to 7:30pm in November and December.

Contact Sarah Litzer to sign up!

Location: Orientation Room at the Allen County Public Library

Dates: Thursdays - November 20 & December 4, 11,18

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!

A Favorite Food Book

Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban is a classic picture book about delicious bread and jam. Frances doesn't like to eat eggs, she doesn't like to eat breaded veal, she only likes to eat bread and jam. What happens when her parents decide to give her bread and jam at every meal? Read this picture book with a child to find out!

This story is available in early reader format as well, find it here.

Eco Kids Club: The Water Cycle

On Monday, October 13th, Matt Jones from the Allen County Partnership for Water Quality shared a wealth of amazing information about water with the homeschool kids and parents in the Eco Kids Club. The photo above shows the kids out in the Great Hall getting ready to put together a water time line. We all learned a lot from this informative presentation.

If you are concerned about the environment, join the Eco Kids Club now! Just come to the next meeting on Monday, November 10th at 2 p.m. to learn about Trees, Beautiful Trees with a speaker from Trees Indiana.

Or if you can't make it to the program, check out some of the books on our Environmental Issues Booklist to learn what YOU can do to make a difference!

Art Out of the Box: Printmaking

Art Out of the Box: Printmaking took place on Friday, October 10th. We had the wonderful opportunity to meet local artist Kay Gregg and hear her speak about screen printing. We then talked about several other printing methods, discussed art works and practiced a few techniques. The kids each made a styrofoam print and a sponge print. Check out more photos of their amazing work here.

True Green Kids: 100 Ways to Save the Planet

I just saw this brand new book and had to tell someone about it!

True Green Kids, by Kim McKay and Jenny Bonnin, has tons of easy things anyone can do to help save the environment -- at home, at school, on vacation -- anywhere! And it also provides plenty of resources, so you can keep learning about this important issue.

For even more books and resources for kids about the environment, take a look at our Recycling and Environmental Issues Booklist.

Art Out of the Box: Art Cars II

On Friday afternoon, the Art Out of the Box kids met to talk about Printmaking, but since it was such a beautiful day we took a few minutes to finish up the Art Car portion of our program out on Library Plaza. To see more photos of the cars & the kids at work, click here. To see the miniature cars that the kids painted in September, click here. If you would like to see the car that the kids painted in 2007, click here.

Check back in a few days to see the photos from the Printmaking portion of Friday's program.

Cool Stuff Exploded: Get Inside Modern Technology

What is better than cool stuff? Cool stuff exploded, of course! Cool Stuff Exploded: Get inside modern technology by Chris Woodford is overflowing with amazing 3-D computer generated images of, well, cool stuff! Included is an animated CD-ROM featuring some of the images.

Have you ever wondered what is inside of your microwave? Check out pages 110 & 111. What about a watch? The watch on pages 144 to 149 is made of 140 tiny pieces!

Don't miss this book!

Project Reads

Project Reads starts tomorrow! This program is for children in 1st through 3rd grade who need a little help with reading. Participants meet every Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. for an hour of reading practice and games with a volunteer tutor. Pick up an application at the Library. For more information check out the Allen County Educational Partnership website.

Student Success Magazines

This year the Indiana Department of Education has started a new publication for students. On Track: Your Guide to Success is a mini-magazine for students in grades K to 5. Check out the link to your grade here. The magazines include information on the ISTEP tests, "What You Need to Know in ___ Grade", ideas for planning for the future, a quiz, 10 tips for parents and more!

Magic Tree House Fun!

Curriculum Connections for Tree House Travelers K to 4 written by Jane Berner, Sabrina Minser, and Helen Burkart Presser from Canterbury School, introduces four unit studies based on the Magic Tree House series.

This book is full of fun activities, booklists, craft projects and printable sheets. Explore dinosaurs, medieval times, ancient egypt and pirates with these well-developed unit studies.

Inkless Tales

Inkless Tales is a GREAT website for kids and grown-ups. Find stories (to read and listen to), poems, games, book reviews, crafts, projects, music and more!

I like this site because it encourages kids to not only read and learn, but to create. Check it out.