ALA Award Lists

ALA (the American Library Association) came out with its annual award lists on Monday. These include the Newbery medal, the Caldecott medal, and the Printz award. I have not yet read any of the winners (which are Dead End in Norvelt, A Ball for Daisy, and Where Things Come Back, respectively) but I have read a few of the honor titles such as The Scorpio Races (see, I told you my opinion was the minority one!), Grandpa Green, Me...Jane, and Inside Out & Back Again. So I'll have to get busy reading this new batch of winners. If you're interested in seeing the winners in other areas such as the Geisel award or the Coretta Scott King award, you can start here.

Have you read any of the winner or honor books? What did you think?

Support School Libraries!

I subscribe to the blog Tiny Tips for Library Fun. Not only is it useful for my day-to-day work, but it also helps me stay current with developments in the library world. Marge, the librarian who writes Tiny Tips, has recently posted about a petition on the White House website that supports school libraries. Her post includes a report from Library Research Service News that shows the value of school libraries and school librarians that you can read to get yourself familiar with the topic. In short though, having a school library plus a full time, certified school librarian running it improves children's test scores. School librarians also do incredibly useful work in teaching kids digital literacy skills and critical thinking skills, which are vital to have in today's wired world.

I really hope you'll support this important cause by signing the petition and spreading the word! School libraries are so important, and every voice counts.

Books and Crafts

We are selling some of our children's books! They are only 25 cents apiece, but free to teachers and other educators. At Allerton Library, we don't have a lot of space, so for every new book we buy, we have to get rid of one. Please take advantage of this great opportunity - many of the books are in great condition and I'd really like to see them go to good homes!

We're going to have a Craft Explosion here at Allerton Library on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 11 a.m. Kids can do crafts from past programs or make their own crafty creations. Please register if you're interested. We also have a Boredom Busters treasure box out at the library filled with cool ideas indoor crafts and activities for kids, since it's sometimes too cold to play outside.

Also: the Newbery award will be announced in less than two weeks! Check here on Monday, Jan. 23 to see what this year's winner is.

Websites to Try

I ran across an interesting site called Great Websites for Kids. It's run by the American Library Association and it features a different website every week, plus it has links to all sorts of educational and kid-friendly websites. You can sort the websites according to popularity (among other things) and one that pops up near the top is Great Group Games. There's also one called Cool Science for Curious Kids. Try it with our new "Here Comes Science" CD!

Looking for a science project idea? Try Steve Spangler Science. You can also get science-based toys and just plain old fun ideas to try at home on a rainy day.

Kids who are animal fans could try looking at The Encyclopedia of Life. It's a neat-looking website with a simple search right at the top, so kids who are looking for something in particular can get right to where they need to go. Some kids (younger ones especially) might not like this website's emphasis on Latin genus and species names, though.

Try 'em! Let me know what you think.