More New Picture Books

Different things can make picture books appealing. Sometimes, like with Norbert Landa's offering The Great Monster Hunt, there are some really fun sound effects. Not only that, but The Great Monster Hunt also has that "piling-on" element that amplifies the action with each passing page, like in the classic folk tale The Old Woman and Her Pig. I'm looking forward to reading The Great Monster Hunt to a group of preschoolers.

Sometimes a picture book's great strength is in the illustrations. I love the artwork in Mo Willems's Knuffle Bunny books, and I laughed out loud several times while examining the newest and last in the series, Knuffle Bunny Free. He does a great job with facial expressions, while managing to keep the overall drawing from becoming too detailed or complicated.

I have read two touching picture books recently as well, both centering on a mother's love for her child. One is Jamie Lee Curtis's new book, My Mommy Hung the Moon. In Curtis's book, a child provides the narration, telling the reader all about the amazing things her mommy can do. If you are a fan of Curtis's other books, you will like this one too. I also read one called You Are the Best Medicine, which is designed to help mothers explain to their children what to expect when the mother is battling cancer. The book's tone is infinitely reassuring, and children facing this difficulty will benefit from it.

Library Use Controversy

I'm not sure if everyone has heard, but starting in November, the Champaign Public Library will no longer allow people with Mahomet or Tolono library cards to borrow any of Champaign's items. People with Mahomet or Tolono cards will have to go to the Champaign library and purchase a special $200 card if they wish to borrow items from Champaign, either in person or through the Lincoln Trail delivery system.

The Champaign library has created a news post about this, which can be viewed here. The reason for the policy change, they say, is "[it] will help us preserve access to library materials for our taxpayers, while allowing Tolono and Mahomet card holders the option to use our library if they help to fund it." The reasoning for focusing exclusively on Mahomet and Tolono is "[w]e focused on the communities that are the heaviest users of our library, compared to their home libraries.... Last fiscal year, for every 10 items Mahomet card holders borrowed from their home library, they borrowed close to 8 at Champaign (86,050 Champaign items). For every 10 items Tolono card holders borrowed at home, they borrowed 17 from us (167,259 Champaign items)."

There are some great articles available to read at the News-Gazette website about this. You can see the first article here, with follow-up articles here, here, and here. I found it especially interesting to read the comments that readers posted after each article.

In the last article, it says that the director of the Illinois State Library has asked the Champaign library to "'rescind this policy immediately'" and that it violates the state mandate "'to encourage the improvement of free public libraries and to encourage cooperation among all types of libraries in promoting the sharing of library resources.'"

What does everyone think about this policy change? You can comment here, or create an account at the News-Gazette site and comment there.

Monticello Celebration

I hope everyone will be able to come out and see us at the Monticello Celebration this Saturday from 10-4 on the square! We will have a booth in the kids' section where kids can decorate cardboard crowns. Everyone is welcome and the activity will be free--no tickets required!

For more info on the Celebration, click here.

By the way, I read Mockingjay and really liked it! I can't wait to see what Suzanne Collins comes up with next.

I requested a copy of Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard recently because I was curious about the series. It's really become very popular recently and I'm wondering what all the fuss is about. Has anyone read it who can tell me about it?

World Book Online

Kids are probably starting to really get into the swing of things at school, so because of all that new homework I'd like to introduce a new online information resource we're now offering at the library: World Book Online for Public Libraries. There are actually four different sites that make up this resource: World Book Online for Kids (for lower grades), World Book Online Info Finder (for middle grades), and World Book Online Reference Center (for upper grades). There is also a Spanish language version available.

In addition to encyclopedia articles, the sites include educational games for kids, printable and customizable timelines, state report information, research guides that include trusted Web sites, videos, pictures, sound clips, and (attention homeschooling parents!) teacher resources such as lesson plans.

To log on to World Book, go to our website (click here) and click Online Resources. Then click on World Book and use your Allerton Library card number to log in.

My All Time Favorite Picture Books

As I start preparing for my monthly storytime visits to Kairos and Monticello Christian Academy again, I have been looking forward to introducing some of my favorite picture books to new batches of kids. I like to start out with some books that are really short and sweet, like Clip Clop by Nicola Smee, or Bark, George! by Jules Feiffer. Bark, George is one of my all-time favorites though, because I can always get some good laughs from the kids when I'm reading it. I absolutely LOVE reading anything that makes me laugh, and it's such a joy to me to share that with an audience.

I also love reading anything by Margaret Read MacDonald, but especially Little Rooster's Diamond Button, Mabela the Clever, and The Squeaky Door. I usually have to wait until later in the school year to read them though, because they are quite a bit more wordy than Clip Clop or Bark, George!

Another favorite author of mine is Keiko Kasza. She wrote The Wolf's Chicken Stew, The Mightiest, Don't Laugh, Joe! and The Dog Who Cried Wolf, plus several other good ones. She is so good at twists and surprise endings, and her illustrations are wonderful and expressive.


I have already devoted an entire blog post to Amy Krouse Rosenthal, so I won't go into much detail here, but she is always worth a look or three.

Happy reading!