Thursday's Topic: Summer Reading update

   I finally posted the pictures from my Summer Reading bulletin board. I think it came out pretty well. One addition for the bulletin board for later in July, is to post a "luggage" that has the child's name. This will be for any child who stops in with a book log in the end of July and talks about one book.

   I was inspired today to write about Summer Reading after reading some of Abby the Librarian's great posts on her blog about the topic. In fact, I am going to link this message to her board.

   I am using this post to explain how we run summer reading in our library. I find it so interesting that each library does it in their own way. First of all, we had our "official" kickoff on June 9th. This was the first official day of signups. I am saying its the first official day because we had several classes who came in for library visits sign up for summer reading. We had an "unofficial kickoff" on the following Monday. This is when we had our big kickoff event. We were fortunate to have presenter, Emily Ellison come to our library. She did a terrific interactive music program. The kids were singing, dancing and playing instruments. Fun was had by all!

  The events will begin the week of July 5th. The first week we only have our Chess and board game programs and Creative Writing. The second week we start our crafts and Girl Scout Creative Arts program. We also start our storytime. For the storytime, we have 2 sessions. It is either one or the other session. We created two to accomodate the large number of attendees during the summer. In fact for most of our programs, we are starting a waiting list. I am wondering how to work the waiting list. I was wondering if anyone else had some sort of rule or policy for this. I have some ideas but not sure which one to do.

  The crafts and activities will relate to our theme of "One World, Many Stories". I like the idea of an international type theme, because as another poster said, I love traveling. Most of the craft programs will have a story or word game or other related type of activity. The Girl Scout program is a program sponsored by the Girl Scouts but is not limited to Girl Scouts or inspiring Girl Scouts. It is for boys and girls. There are four different creative arts activities. These include: theater, poetry, drawing and writing. We also have our volunteer chess instructor, who is back and is very good and is doing a Chess workshop with the kids.

  Here's hoping summer reading goes well. I will add more updates on programs and attendance and more later.

Wednesday's Topic: I'm so Happy

I'm so happy there are NO layoffs in my library!!! All jobs are saved and we can focus on Summer Reading and programs for the upcoming year. We are so fortunate to have the city council who supported us and many other people across Queens!

Summer Reading Bulletin Board...

Coming soon!!! As soon as I get a hold of the camera again!

Tuesday's Topic: Book Talk, Latest Warriors book by Erin Hunter

Sign of the Moon by Erin Hunter

Book #4 Omen of the Stars

   This is the latest entry in the Warriors Omen of the Stars series. Overall this book was enjoyable and a quick read. This story focuses on impending doom relating to the warriors from the Dark Forest and the journey of Jayfeather, Dovepaw, Lionblaze, Cinderpelt and Sandstorm to the Tribe of Rushing Water and the three chosen ones mission with the tribe. This book was notable for several reasons. First of all, we get to learn more about the ancient cats. Secondly, we get to know more about the Tribe of Rushing Water. Several interesting events happen in this book and possibly could lead to more interesting events in later books. As to not spoil the book for readers, basically these events relate to characters in previous books.  It was enjoyable see more character development regarding Dovepaw and Ivypaw (you’ll learn their warrior names in this book). Several relationships appear to begin in this story and make you wonder if they will lead to love. Overall, I highly recommend this book to fans of this beloved series.

Monday's Topic: Book Buddies

  I decided to coordinate with the book talk Tuesday schedule to swap Monday and Tuesday topics, so Monday topics are now programming topics.

   This week I decided to talk about Book Buddies. This is a successful program I started at my library about 5 years ago. I thought of the idea when my mentor had mentioned she did this program at her library and it went very well. This is a great program for many reasons. First, its a great way for children to practice reading. Secondly, it is really easy to do once you get the volunteers in place; basically you are just monitoring the program. Third, its a program that is for both children and teens and teens can receive volunteer credit for doing it.

 The first year I had gotten volunteers by recruiting teens from the library. Since it was the first year, I only had a few volunteers. The second year, I was very lucky to have a local school contact me and tell me they would like to do community service through the library. Instant volunteers! I was very happy. We have been working with them until the library has been renovated. We lost touch but we may get back in touch for the fall.

 The children love to pick out their own books and have fun with their "buddies". I try to keep them with the same person if possible, but sometimes switch it up so every volunteer has a chance to read.

Wednesday's topic: School/Library Partnerships

I know many of you are either public children's librarians or a school library media specialists who works with the public libraries. What are your experiences with working with schools or libraries? Do you have a go to person to talk to regarding school or library issues? Have you felt working with the schools or libraries has helped your school library or public library services?

Here is my experience. I am a public children's librarian. It seems really difficult to get into the schools, unless you find that just right person. One school I was very lucky because the principal was very supportive of the libraries and I was able to get in easily. Sadly that person retired. Hopefully this new person will be supportive. I found the school that had the school librarian made it easier to get support from the school because she was obviously supportive of the libraries and was a good go between person. One school I got to get connected to the school because I got to know some parents from the library who convinced the teachers to do a class visit. Then I got to know the teachers myself and will likely now come back on their own now that they know me. One school is very difficult to get into, to get classes to visit or have school visits or get information to the teachers. They do not have a school librarian, so its difficult to find someone to talk to. I haven't been able to get in touch with the principal because she doesn't get back to me. There is one nice teacher who comes and I told some parents and that teacher about this, but for some reason, nothing has come of it. I kind of given up on that school.

Anyhow I'm curious to hear your experiences about this. Thank you.

Monday/Tuesday's Topic: Book Talk-Alvin Ho Duo

Recently I had the opportunity to read the two Alvin Ho books by Lenore Look. This is a charming and humorous series for children in grades 2-3. Lenore's portrayal of a fearful and shy Chinese-American second grader, Alvin is terrific! Alvin is like any other 2nd grade boy. He loves gross things, superheroes, magic and baseball, except he has a lot of phobias. Through the support of his father and later of his newfound friend, he starts to learn to overcome some of the phobias.

The first book focuses on Alvin's experiences on navigating 2nd grade. He's scared of teachers, other kids (especially girls) and talking in class. Lenore Look uses humor and family relationships to explain Alvin's situations. Without any spoilers, look for the funny episodes that Alvin encounters in school. I also appreciate Lenore Look's thoughtful portrayal of children who may be considered different, like Alvin and Flea.

The second book focuses on Alvin's adventures camping. Alvin's father thinks its time to introduce Alvin to the joys of camping. But Alvin sees the camping experience as a host to a myriad of dangers and disasters. He's afraid of the animals, the weather and getting hurt. Through the support of his family,  Alvin learns to overcome some of his fears. There are also some humorous episodes in here in Alvin's camping adventures that readers will enjoy. This book has many of the same qualities of the first book, however I enjoyed the first one better.