Thursday, April 30, 2015

National Children's Book Week

National Children’s Book Week is coming up, starting on May 4th!  Here at the Ely Public Library, we are able to celebrate our favorite children’s books at our weekly story times, but here are some of my personal favorites we have not read together yet:

You Are A Lion! And Other Fun Yoga Poses by Taeeun Yoo is a great way to get kids moving.   The author holds an MFA, so her vibrant illustrations are clear to follow.  You and your child will have a blast slithering and stretching together!

We just added Coming Home by Greg Ruth to our collection.  In this story, we meet a little boy who is finally at the airport ready to welcome his favorite soldier home.  The anticipation builds throughout the book; everyone else is reuniting with their loved ones, now when is it his turn?  This book made me tear up the first time I read it; this sweet book is a great read together for any child.

After trying out some of our wordless books, check out The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak.  This book may only have words, but it is far from boring!  When I read this book out loud, it had me say ridiculous things such as “my head is made of blueberry pizza” -- which I promise is not true!  This silly book is a great choice for a child who likes to be in charge and hear their caregiver say funny things!

One of my favorite books from childhood is The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson.  In this classic, we meet a gentle bull named Ferdinand who would rather smell flowers under the cork tree than participate in the bull fights.  What does it take to make Ferdinand fierce?  This is a fun book to revisit with parents and grandparents who could have grown up loving Ferdinand as well!

If you would like any other suggestions for books, please let me or another librarian know!

Madeline Jarvis

Youth Services Librarian

Monday, April 27, 2015

Morse Code Day

Happy Morse Code Day!

Samuel Morse (1791-1872) developed a code of dots and dashes to represent the letters of the English alphabet.  This code could then be used to transmit messages through the telegraph.  It was the first means for long-distance communication. 


My Morse Code message to you is:  .-. . .- -.. .-.-.-
                                                                                                                Read.
~Sarah

Friday, April 24, 2015

Teach Your Children to Save Day

Today has three interesting celebrations.   
1) Pig in a Blanket Day 
2) Teach Your Children to Save Day 
 3) Hairball Awareness Day

I am sure there are more, depending upon your selected web source.   Since it is Smart Money Week (April 18-25), I thought it would be good to highlight #2 - Teach Your Children to Save Day.
 This day was set up as a way to help encourage kids to develop good savings habits, at an early age, to hopefully instill this as a lifelong skill.   This day was established by the American Bankers Association.

Check with your kids.  Ask them what they know.  Teach them.  The more they hear this important lesson, the better prepared they will be in the long run.

While you are at it, enjoy some pigs in a blanket for supper and watch out for those hairballs....
~Sarah

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

This was a very interesting read.  Not something I would normally pick up because it is a bit sci-fi, but it is also a Young Adult dystopian type novel, so I had to give it a go.  I'm glad I did.  This is a very fast read and the story moves along quickly.  

How did I discover this book?  I was told it was a good book by a teen patron so I thought I should read it.  When patrons recommend books to me, I read them.  I never ask what the book is about, I never read the covers.  I just check it out and read it.  

What can I tell you about the book without giving it away?  Well, perhaps I can borrow from the inside flap I didn't read prior.  "ALERT: Humanity has been upgraded.  You are now obsolete." 

That's all I'm saying.  Read it and stop in and discuss it with me!

~Sarah

Stop by the library on Saturday, April 25th at 9:00 am for a special Earth Day program.  We will be walking along the bike trail and State Street picking up garbage and helping keep our piece of Earth healthy.  Supplies and lunch will be provided.  For more information, please call the library at 848-7616.  Thank you!


Thursday, April 16, 2015

We are loved!
Thank you to the patron who brought us flowers
 for National Library Week!

Happy National Library Week!
Our story time today was all about libraries! 
 At the end, the children made and decorated their own books!


Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Great news!  
We have been awarded a scale-up STEM program for Pint Size Science from the Governor's STEM Advisory Council! This program is designed for preschool-Kindergarten and provides a platform for young children to explore science in a highly-engaging, interactive, and safe manner. This program will be available after training this fall for the lead teacher - Sarah. If you have any questions on how we can do outreach and provide this program in your preschool or school, please contact Sarah at 848-7616.  For more information, you can visit http://.se.iowastem.org.


Spring themed Traveling Tales today.  We talked about the four seasons while focusing on spring.  We discussed signs we see that indicate it is spring and we did some fun poetry with math!  I was amazed that several 4 year olds were able to group the items and could then count by 2's and 5's!  Way to go kids!