A Child's Book Review: Howdi Do

Howdi Do by Woody Guthrie was reviewed by 1-year-old Ada:

Good. How-do.

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.

Cat Tales

Join us for Smart Start Preschool Storytime today at 10:30 a.m. to listen to a few Cat Tales. If you can't make it today, you can always pick up some cat books the next time you visit. Check out Drat That Fat Cat! by Pat Thomson, Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes, A Kitten Tale by Eric Rohmann or If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff.

If you like to sing about cats, check out "Three Little Kittens" on Wee Sing Nursery Rhymes and Lullabies by Pamela Beall, "I Bought Me a Cat" on 100 Sing-Along-Songs for Kids, V. 2 or Classic Animal Songs.

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.

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.

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.

Alphabet Books

Looking for some good alphabet books to share with your child or classroom? Check out our recently updated Alphabet booklist. Not only do we have a great & varied list of alphabet books, we also have a list of books that will help children learn the alphabet. If you prefer non-print alphabet resources, try this list or check out our list of alphabet websites.

If you don't care to look through a list of books, you can always fill out a custom collection form and librarians will pull alphabet books to meet your needs.

All We Need Is Love...and The Beatles

All Together Now: Beatles stuff for kids of all ages is a CD & book set celebrating the fab four. The songs on the CD are respectably covered and some even include children singing backup vocals, which adds a fun, child-friendly feel. The Bangles make a fantastic guest appearance to cover "Good Day Sunshine".

The book includes poems & child-like illustrations inspired by the songs on the CD, plus Beatle facts to give new fans background information.

My mother filled our house with the scratchy sound of The Beatles on LP and as a second generation fan, I welcome this effort to connect yet another generation with a wonderful sound. Check it out!

Jim Gill Family Room Concert

Almost 300 people attended the Jim Gill concert on Monday night! It was a jumping, dancing, clapping, singing good time! If you missed it, you can still enjoy Jim's music - check out a CD today. Or dance along with this great video.

Let's Make Music

Let's Make Music this morning at 10:30 a.m. during Smart Start Preschool Storytime. We'll read and sing our way through some great picture books like Punk Farm by Jarrett Krosoczka, Do Your Ears Hang Low? by Caroline Church, and There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star by Charise Harper.

We'll sing and dance with musicians like Jim Gill, Hap Palmer and Raffi.

Music is a fun and entertaining way to teach kids important skills and information. During storytime today, we'll talk about the early literacy skill phonological awareness, which is the ability to hear the smaller sounds in words. Singing songs is an awesome way to practice phonological awareness with preschoolers.

If you are a teacher looking for ways to bring music into the classroom, check out our music across the curriculum booklist. Music is not just for preschoolers!

Ballet Dreams Storytime

This morning's Ballet Dreams storytime was so much fun! We read Angelina Ballerina by Katharine Holabird, Over in the Meadow at the Big Ballet by Lisa Shulman, and Ballerina! by Peter Sis. We danced the entire List of Dances with Jim Gill and we Put Our Hands Up in the Air with Hap Palmer. After the stories and songs, Lucia Rogers from The Fort Wayne Ballet taught us the five ballet positions, showed us jumps, leaps and arabesques. She also answered all of our questions about ballet and then she posed for photos with us. See the rest of the ballet-tastic photos here!

Overdrive Audio Books - Download a good read now!

Have you heard about Overdrive Audio Books? With your ACPL library card and Internet access you can download audiobooks to your computer or mp3 player. I just downloaded A Cricket in Times Square by George Selden to my mp3 player so that I can listen to it on my daily walk. Click on the "kids" tab to see all of the children's books that are available. Here are a few:

• Spongebob Squarepants Chapter Books 1 to 8
  
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle


• Disney Fairies Collection #1


• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine


• The Bunnicula Collection Books 1 to 3 by Deborah and James Howe


• Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems


• The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
  

This service is FREE with your library card. Check it out today!

Babies and Toddlers: Growing Up!

Tomorrow morning at Babies and Books and Toddler Time we will be reading about growing up!

If you can't make it to the storytime, but want to explore the topic of "Growing Up" with your baby or todder you can read the book When Poppy and Max Grow Up by Lindsey Gardiner and listen to the song "I Wonder If I'm Growing" on the CD Singable Songs for the Very Young by Raffi.

Babies and Books: Friday mornings at 9:15 a.m. (through April)
Toddler Time: Friday mornings at 10 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. (through April)

Please note that starting in May the times for Babies and Books and Toddler Time will change. Call Children's Services for details @ 421-1220.