Summer Reading Brainstorming

I just attended (and did a little presentation for) a summer reading brainstorming session with other area children's librarians. It was a bunch of fun! The theme for Illinois summer reading programs is set every year by the iRead team at the Illinois Library Association. The year, the theme will be A Midsummer Knight's Read, and the committee chair, Kathi Kresol, came to our brainstorming session. She did some "wizard potions" which were really science experiments like making slime or volcano foam (using things like vinegar, baking soda, cornstarch, etc.). She also let us make edible wands (pretzel sticks with frosting and star sprinkles! yum!). We also talked about things like jousting with pool noodles, princess parties, medieval food and games, archery, and dragons. I am totally ready to start planning this summer's programs! Let me know if you have ideas/input, too.

Newbery Disappointed

I recently finished reading this year's Newbery award winner, Moon Over Manifest. I thought the language used in the story was beautiful, and the story itself was sweet and heartfelt. However. There's one huge problem with the plot, which is: ALMOST NOTHING HAPPENS! During the Great Depression, three girls mill around a small town looking for a spy and learning about the town's past. That's it.

I can think of several grown-ups who would really enjoy this story, because of course it has strong points as I've stated above. And I can see why the adults on the Newbery committee liked it. But unfortunately, I can think of very few actual children who would enjoy reading this book. This is disappointing to me.

Who else has read it? What did you think?

New Award Lists!

The 2012 nominee lists for the Rebecca Caudill, Bluestem, and Monarch awards are up! You can download them from here, here, and here respectively. I was really pleased to see that we had 14 of the 20 Rebecca Caudill nominees already here at the library, and I've already read 7 of them. So far, my favorite was Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan, closely followed by Jon Scieszka's Knucklehead.

The Bluestem list looks really good, too. A couple of this year's Bluestem books are also Rebecca Caudill nominees, which is interesting. So if you read Extra Credit by Andrew Clements or Knucklehead, you're ahead of the game. I was also really pleased to noticed that a graphic novel made it onto the Bluestem list: The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook by Eleanor Davis. I'm looking forward to reading that one!

And the Monarch selections are charming as always. I really liked Jim Aylesworth's version of The Mitten, and Jackie Urbanovic's story Duck at the Door. I think kids will really have fun going through these lists. Let me know what you all think of the selections!

Chocolate Party!

Join us for a Chocolate Party this Saturday at 2:30 for kids of all ages! We will play games with Hershey Kisses like Chocolate Guess, Chocolate Toss, Chocolate Drop, and Chocolate Bingo. Books will be given away as prizes in Bingo, and everyone will leave with some Hershey's Kisses. Please sign up if you are interested and I'll see you Saturday!