Fall is my favourite season. I love that indescribable smell of a crisp autumn day, fall fairs, and pumpkin-spice everything. Unfortunately, the weather has not been cooperating and I am still (impatiently) waiting for the trees to reveal their full glory. To help get into the fall spirit, I thought I would highlight my favourite new fall picture book - In the Middle of Fall by Kevin Henkes. It is picture book perfection and a stunning tribute to the season. Enjoy!
Hi everyone! My name is Christy, I am a librarian, and I LOVE children’s books. I am extremely excited to be joining this blog and getting the opportunity to share my love of books, reading, and libraries with all of you.
I am also excited for Laura as she begins her new adventure - she is going to be amazing in her new position! Saying goodbye will be tough, even though it's a happy one. This got me thinking about all of the wonderful picture books that address the various ways we can experience goodbye - good and bad, happy and sad. Here are a few of my favourites: I love picture books. I am a real, grown up adult, but I absolutely love the storytelling, art, and life lessons that make up great picture books. I really love writing about picture books and have used this wee blog to share some of my favourites over the past few years. It has always been my happy place. Fitting a few sentences about a great new picture book in between scheduling, performance appraisals, meetings, and all of the other things that library managers have to do has given me a great deal of pleasure; but, alas, all good things come to end. I am off to a new adventure in a different library, and I think it is going to be even harder to fit in some picture book time.
The good news is another librarian who also loves books for children and teens will be found here and she will share some of her favourites with you. I leave you with a few of the forthcoming picture books that I have been looking forward to, which I would have written about, and which you should put on hold now! Happy reading Kitchener! Laura TD Summer Reading Club Kids (ages 0 – 12) can register today or any day this summer! Thanks to TD Summer Reading Club we have lots of great things to share with club members, including notebooks, bookmarks, and stickers. Kids can spend the summer filling with the notebooks with books they read and fun memories. The TD Summer Reading Club website (www.tdsummerreadingclub.ca) offers lots of kid-friendly, interactive content. It is a great place for kids and parents to visit for activities, reading suggestions, and free ebooks. Join the KPL Kidders at one of our kick-off parties: Monday, July 3 @ 2:30 pm – Central Library Tuesday, July 4 @ 2:30 pm – Forest Heights Community Library Wednesday, July 5 @ 11:00 am – Grand River Stanley Park Community Library Wednesday, July 5 @ 2:30 pm – Pioneer Park Community Library Thursday, July 6 @ 2:30 pm – Country Hills Community Library KPL Kidder events are all free, and no registration is required! We have programs planned for children and teens throughout the summer, including special guests, playing with technology, exploring Canada, and generally having FUN. For more information you can check out our online Calendar of Events, In Touch, or these handy weekly guides:
If you have any questions, please contact Laura Reed, Manager of Children's & Teen Services ([email protected]).
Good news for fans of Elephant & Piggie! This new series of easy readers by Jan Thomas is full of a similar kind of humour and good fun. The first two titles have just been released and they are very entertaining. They feature four friends - a duck, a donkey, a dog, and a sheep. In There's a Pest in the Garden they are joined by a voracious groundhog, who eats its way through the friends’ garden. What is Chasing Duck?, includes a wild, hairy creature with big teeth, who, spoiler-alert, is chasing duck. These are short and peppy, and will attract those reluctant young readers. Watch for more titles to come!
Saturday, June 17 is National Get Your Summer Read On Day. Let’s celebrate! Let’s celebrate summer and reading and books and the library. At the Central Library we will have a special sneak peek at the TD Summer Reading Club, and a one day only early bird registration so you can get a head start on a summer full of fun. The first 50 kids to sign up will receive a special prize! Regular registration, at all locations, begins on June 29. It will be a fun day with lots going on, including author visits and Erick Traplin! Check out the details below...
For more information, check out In Touch or contact Laura Reed ([email protected]).
Thus far, 2017 has been a great year in cat themed picture books. There has been a steady stream of new cats - black cats, white cats, big cats, feisty cats, cats that just don't care. We have them all! Here are a few of the stand outs… Big Cat, Little Cat by Elisha Cooper Okay, this one feels like it was written for me. I adopted a very feisty white kitten, Popcorn, who grew into a very feisty white cat. He clearly needed a friend, so enter Wolf, a laid back black kitten. Like the cats in this story, Pops showed Wolfie the ropes, and taught him everything he needed to know about being a cat. This is a simple picture book about feline friendships, and the ups and downs of being their family. Stack the Cats by Susie Ghahremani I love this book! The colour! The design! The cheerful, sometimes incredulous cats! The simple text is full of mischief and education. “One cat sleeps. Two cats play. Three cats? Stack!” As it continues, we get a simple and effective math lesson, for example, “six cats prefer two stacks of three cats.” The moral: there is more than one way to stack a cat. The Catawampus Cat by Jason Carter Eaton; illustrated by Gus Gordon Catawampus cat wanders into town on a Tuesday. He walks a little askew. As people notice him, they tilt their heads to take a look. The tilt leads to magic. They see things they have missed, accidentally create art, and get a new outlook on life. I particularly appreciate this passage: “when town librarian, Miss Reade, saw the catawampus cat, she pulled the wrong book off the shelf. And then quit her job and set out on an adventure!” In a rut? Just look at things in a new way. Thanks catawampus cat. A fun read aloud! A Cat Named Swan by Holly Hobbie Poor cat finds himself suddenly alone. He is a homeless kitten, trying to survive on the streets. Fortunately, he is found, taken to a shelter, and adopted by a family. He goes from scruffy to sleek, hungry to full, lonely to loved. They name him Swan, and his new home and family make him very happy. This is lovely story of cat finding his furr-ever home. Lola Gets a Cat by Anna McQuinn; illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw Lola, of Lola Plants a Garden and Lola Loves Stories fame, is a cat lover. She loves cats, and she wants one of her very own. Mom, of course, tries to dissuade her, telling her they are a lot of work, but eventually she gives in. Lola gets to adopt a cat. This is a great choice for any young children who are about to get a feline sibling. Lots of tips are included. Triangle by Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen Triangle lives in a triangle world. He decides to make a trip to play a sneaky trick on Square. It works. He tricks Square, in Square’s square world. Then Square gets his own back, in a solidly ambiguous ending. Barnett and Klassen (Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, 2014) are back with another quietly clever and beautiful picture book. The first of a trio of shape themed books from the pair. Ages 3 - 7 Mr. Postmouse Takes a Trip by Marianne Dubuc I loved Mr. Postmouse’s Rounds, so I was happy to see that Mr. Postmouse and his family are back. This time they’re travelling the world, vacationing, but of course Mr. Postmouse also delivers the odd package. Fans of Richard Scarry will find lots to love here. The illustrations can pored over and savored, there are lots of cheeky things going on, and insights into lots of different homes and places. Ages 3 - 7 Be Quiet! by Ryan T. Higgins Rupert the Mouse presents Be Quiet! He envisions a beautiful, wordless book. It will be a work of art. The illustrations will tell the story. No words needed. There is just one big problem, Rupert and his friends can’t stop talking. The more they try to be quiet, the worse it gets, making for a funny picture and a great read aloud. Pair this with Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett, for a roaring good time. Ages 4 - 8 One Minute by Somin Ahn How do you explain time to a child? This simple picture tackles that question by explaining what one minute means by using things a child will understand. “In one minute you can hug your dog… say hi to your neighbor…or plant seeds.” Ahn deftly shows that a minute can be short or long, nothing at all or extremely important. Ages 3 - 5 We are sharpening our pencils, stocking up on craft supplies, charging the iPads, and trying to get lots of rest so we are ready for a fun-filled week during March Break. Lots and lots of free programs are planned for children and teens. There is definitely something for everyone, from babytime to Teen Video Competition workshops, daily movies to traditional Irish storytelling. Check out the quick reference guide below for a complete list of programs happening at all Kitchener libraries. For more information drop by and pick up a copy of In Touch or read it online and register for programs at kpl.org.
Every year, when February comes around, and we are preparing a special display for Black History Month to highlight great children’s books which honor the black experience; one book always comes to my mind first. Brown Angels: an album of pictures and verse by Walter Dean Myers is a book I pull off the shelf every so often when I am browsing the poetry section. I love to just flip through it. As the Horn Book (1993) review stated: “Myers's collection of antique photographs of African-American children from the turn of the century, sharply reproduced in black and white or sepia, inspired eleven evocative poems that affirm the African-American experience in a lyrical, tender, and sometimes humorous voice. A beautiful, unique album.” My favourite poem in the collection is Love That Boy, which I have probably read aloud to all of my staff, and more than a few customers. It is the poem which inspired the beautiful free verse novel, Love The Dog by Sharon Creech. So, in honour of Black History Month, please read Love That Boy, and share it far and wide... Love That Boy
Love that boy, like a rabbit loves to run. I said I love that boy, like a rabbit loves to run. Love to call him in the morning, love to call him, 'Hey there, son!' He walk like his Grandpa, Grins like his Uncle Ben. I said he walk like his Grandpa, And grins like his Uncle Ben. Grins when he's happy, When he sad, he grins again. His mama like to hold him, Like to feed him cherry pie. I said his mama like to hold him. Like to feed him that cherry pie. She can have him now, I'll get him by and by. He got long roads to walk down Before the setting sun. I said he got a long, long road to walk down Before the setting sun. He'll be a long stride walker, And a good man before he done. Walter Dean Myers (1937 – 2014) Visit any Kitchener Public Library location for more suggestions of great books to celebrate the month. |
Children's & Teen Services StaffSharing information for parents, caregivers and educators. Archives
September 2017
Categories
All
|