Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr
Quirky Book Lists
Ramadan is observed during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, based on the cycles of the moon. When a religious leader sees the first sliver of a crescent moon, the beginning of Ramadan is proclaimed. Individuals reflect on their spiritual growth, make sacrifices, and feel a sense of unity in knowing that Muslims around [...]
Books about Baking Up Family Time
Two for the Show
Jackie: We decided to honor the nation’s newfound love of baking with a column on picture books focused on baking. We still don’t have libraries (a great benefit of this confinement is the reminder of how special and necessary are libraries in our lives) so we are limited to books we can find read aloud [...]
Mile Marker
Writing Road Trip
“Assumptions” cause misunderstandings in life, but they can be a handy tool for writers.
Lights, Camera, Action:
Launching Virtual Storytime
The Lamppost
Although COVID-19 has been difficult, libraries continue their core mission to provide access to resources and services by improving and increasing their digital services. Storytime is a key service the public library provides to support early literacy, family engagement, and helping children find the joy of reading. Face-to-face interaction helps to improve the connection with [...]
Compassion and Empathy in Peace-making
Peace-ology
One of the activities I do with young people is called speed dating. It’s an empathy building exercise because, I have found, we actually have to practice talking to each other and really listening.
Forgotten Treasures:
Scholastic Book Club Editions
Big Green Pocketbook
The only “real” books we had in our house was a small selection of adult novels from the Doubleday Book Club. Mid-century titles such as Panther’s Moon, Lost Horizon, and Wake of the Red Witch piqued my eight-year-old interest until I opened them, dismayed by the tiny print and lackluster dialog. I had a shelf [...]
Storytime in the Time of Coronavirus
Red Reading Boots
I’ve had the great joy these last few weeks of pulling together "distanced" storytimes for a few families who could use a half hour of sitting on the couch and letting someone else entertain and interact with the kids. This has been a stretch for me. Though I’m grateful for all of the apps and [...]
Anita Dualeh and Her Reading Team
April 2020
Raising Star Readers
In this addition to Raising Star Readers, we check in again on Anita Dualeh and her Reading Team. Along with many of us, they’re using books as a distraction and a consolation while living with the massive changes brought about by the threat of COVID-19. Here’s how Anita describes this shared moment of history-in-the-making: In [...]
Fried Rice and Ohana
Cookology
Imagine a cluster of smiling keikis, (kids), sitting around a calabash filled with mouth-watering Hawaii local-style fried rice. Sharing delicious food from a calabash serving bowl is a Hawaii tradition. As it does everywhere around the world, not just in Hawaii, eating meals together creates common bonds for everyone, children and adults alike, solidifying the [...]
Quirky Book Lists: Time
Quirky Book Lists
Margaret Wise Brown once wrote that children wondered about “mysterious clock time.” I certainly did as a child. I simply could not learn to tell time. This was back in the dark ages of analog clocks that seemed to hold secrets others could decipher but eluded me. I could have used any of the books [...]
Just Spring
Two for the Show
Phyllis: e.e. cummings said it best when he described the world as mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful. Snow melts and runs babbling away, days lengthen, green sprouts of skunk cabbage and rhubarb poke out. This month we are looking at muddy, squishy, rainy, wet stories in honor of spring. Mud by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Lauren [...]
Constance Van Hoven and Her Reading Team
March 2020
Raising Star Readers
In this addition to Raising Star Readers, we check in again on a Reading Team that morphs each time we meet them (depending on who’s willing to sit still long enough!). This time around, Connie (Gigi to her grandchildren), is celebrating a reading milestone that will resonate with every book lover. Here’s how Connie describes [...]
Dogs and Cats, Part 1
Caldecott Lines of Connection
It is almost guaranteed that children will respond favorably to animal stories, especially stories with dogs and cats. Two-thirds of American households own dogs or cats. Nineteenth century British illustrator Randolph Caldecott seemed to understand the natural affinity between children and animals. Before science documented the importance of pets in children’s lives, he included animals [...]
Deb Andries and Her Reading Team
April 2019
Raising Star Readers
We’re especially delighted to celebrate with Deb Andries (a.k.a. Grammy) this month as she launches her newest Reading Team. Here’s how Deb describes the experience: My heart has always felt this “explosion of love” when we’ve welcomed a grandchild into our family. I vividly remember when our grandson Parker, now 14, was born, and the [...]
Playing Your Troubles Away
Knock Knock
“Fantasy and feeling lie deeper than words… and both demand a more profound, more biological expression, the primitive expression of music.” (Maurice Sendak in "The Shape of Music") Tied up in knots—nots—er—words? Are sentences slithering past you and paragraphs parachuting from your brain? If so, maybe it's time to step away from the writing task, [...]
Ferris Wheels
Quirky Book Lists
These are books about Mr. Ferris or his Ferris wheel, which debuted at the 1893 World Colombian Exposition. Grand in scale, rising up into the sky, the Ferris wheel is a focal point wherever it appears.
Lesa Cline-Ransome
Skinny Dip
Author Lesa Cline-Ransome is known for her picture book biographies of poets, anti-slavery crusaders, musicians, athletes, and mathematicians. Her novel Finding Langston received a Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award and a Coretta Scott King Author Honor. We impatiently waited for the companion novel, Leaving Lymon, which was published in early 2020. Lesa is a wonderful [...]
The Mozart Season
Fresh Looklogy
Fresh Lookology features books published several years ago that are too good to languish on the shelf. At the end of softball season and the beginning of summer, 12-year-old Allegra Leah Shapiro learns that she has been selected as a finalist in the Ernest Bloch Young Musicians’ Competition. She is the youngest finalist, something she [...]
Cynthia Grady
Self on the Shelf
In the beginning, before I found myself within the pages of a book identifying with this character or that one, I listened to my grandmother read aloud from My Book House while surrounded by my eight siblings. The giant, multi-volume anthology contains poetry from Mother Goose to Shakespeare, selections from the Song of Solomon to [...]