Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Independent Kids

There are a couple of books in our new nonfiction section that would help older kids who want to be more independent. I liked A Smart Girl's Guide to Staying Home Alone, published by the American Girl publishers. The book is full of great tips for staying safe, comfortable, and constructive, and it includes activities and quizzes that make it fun for kids to look through. It has everything, even no-bake snack recipes and fun activity ideas!

I also liked A Kid's Guide to Earning Money by Tamra Orr. It covers the pros and cons of all kinds of work that kids can do, from mowing a neighbor's lawn to setting up their own business to working for another person or company. It also includes information on things like labor laws, taxes, etc. Great for curious and enterprising kids.




Monday, June 15, 2009

See Stuffed Animals...

...on our brand new Flickr site!

I posted the pictures from the Stuffed Animal Overnight Party this past weekend on a new Flickr site, which you can view here. They had a great time sleeping over in the library on Saturday night.
Here they are, listening to a story.
They all got along very nicely with one another and were very good listeners.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Manga Musings

I'm hearing a lot about manga lately. It seems that this national trend is really catching on here. Kids are talking about One Piece, Azumanga Daioh, Hibiki's Magic, Naruto, Death Note, and some other ones I can't think of right now.

For those of you that don't know, manga is a kind of Japanese graphic novel that reads back to front and from top right to top left on a page. It takes some getting used to. For the most part, I think the translations are really well done (on the ones I've read, anyway), and I can see why kids would like the One Piece story (it's about pirates... what's not to love? :P )

Anyway, we don't have any of these series in Allerton Library right now, for three reasons: 1) Cost, 2) Space restrictions, and 3) Lack of demand. Since #3 is no longer the case, I'm wondering now if maybe I could find the money and the space for at least one series. The question is, which one?



I need help, everybody. Please, let me know what kind of manga you want, or what kind your kids/friends/whoever reads.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Read-A-Thons Start Tomorrow!

Come to the library tomorrow for our first Thursday morning read-a-thon! When kids read in the library between 10 and 12, they can earn double minutes. Older kids can read upstairs independently, and younger ones can listen to me read downstairs in the story room. No registration required, but of course you have to be signed up for the summer reading program in order to log reading minutes. Please let me know if you have questions!

Also, I decided to take down the poll and add an Astronomy Picture of the Day. Enjoy! :D