SRG Craft idea!

Officially known as Marble Painting, I'll be marketing this as "Spiderweb Painting" or "Bug Splatter Painting" this summer. The end result is reminiscent of Jackson Pollock. Or, as I thought, bugs on a windshield. To play up the bug theme, name your colors Bug Gut Green, Mosquito Red, Luna Moth Brown, Bug-zappin' Blue, Bumble Bee Gold, and so on.

You will need:
marbles
poster or tempera paint
paper - white or multicolor
container - your container must be larger than your paper. An old casserole dish, a deep-sided cookie sheet, a shoe box, or a storage tote are all possible containers.
shallow cups (cut the tops off of styrofoam cups or use an old muffin tin!)

Put a couple tablespoons' worth of paint into the cups. Drop a few marbles in each color. The more marbles per color, the more of that color you'll get in your painting. Lay the paper into the bottom of box. Place marbles from one color into the container and roll around by moving the box from side to side etc. Remove that color and continue with the other colors.

Alternatively, you can put generous drips of paint along the perimeter of the box, drop in a handful of marbles, and then rock and roll.

Once the paint has dried, kids will have a masterpiece that's ready for framing!

(Thanks for Allison at FAL - I stopped by there one day and she was doing this craft with the kids!)

Video Game Gives a Tip O' the Hat to Libraries

Pokemon teaches kids to respect libraries.
Originally uploaded by Klara Kim

Booktalk: Unfortunate Children Who Find Weird Stuff In Their Walls!

I'm pretty comfortable doing storytimes at this point, but finding themes and formats to engage older elementary and early middle schoolers can be tough for me. UCWFWSITW (as I shall henceforth abbreviate this booktalk) is my fallback, as it's been a show-stealer every time and the kids always check out a chunk of the books I display. It's a great twist on smart kidlit because it marries realistic fiction themes to fantastical settings.

Booktalk/Read-Aloud: Unfortunate Children Who Find Weird Stuff Living In Their Walls! (or, Extraordinary Worlds in Ordinary Places)

Age group: 4th-6th grade (reasonably mature 3rd graders can also handle it)

Background/Introduction: Everyone knows that ordinary-looking wardrobes are connected to magical lands, and unassuming train platforms can lead to adventure in other worlds. But what else is hidden in the everyday objects around you? The books I'm going to tell you about today all feature quirky characters who fall on hard times - usually orphans or outcasts - and end up living in strange houses that lead to other worlds. You'd be amazed what you can find in your walls, for instance. Haven't you always wondered if that scratching you hear at night is a mouse... or a boggart?! (Here I usually make a scritching sound on a book or a table for the mouse, then startle them with the boggart bit. Unless they're 5th and 6th graders; then I cop to a certain amount of sarcasm.)

Display/Booktalk: I set up a table with selections from the following series. I spend maybe 30 seconds on each series, describing the plot briefly and leaving them with a "dangling carrot." (Here plot summaries are included, courtesy of Novelist, for my colleagues.)

• Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black - This popular series features siblings who move into an eerie old house and find a field guide that reveals their home is infested with creatures - some of whom are out for evil. It was recently made into a movie so it is a natural connection point with kids. Five books in the series, plus numerous spinoffs, including an eye-grabbingly illustrated "field guide."
  
• Green Knowe Chronicles by L.M. Boston - Tolly comes to live with his great-grandmother in an ancient house and becomes friends with three children who lived there in the seventeenth century. As the series progresses, they find various magical artifacts in the house. Six volumes in this series.
  
• Pure Dead Magic series by Debi Gliori - When their father is kidnapped and danger looms, the Strega-Borgia children, their mysterious new nanny, and a giant tarantula use magic and trips through the Internet to bring peace to their Scottish castle. Six books of Lemony Snicket-esque insanity.
  
• Ulysses Moore series by Pierdomenico Baccalario - After moving from London to an old mansion on the English coast, eleven-year-old twins discover that their new home has twisting tunnels, strange artifacts from around the world, and a mysterious, locked door. This series currently has four volumes.
  
• Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins - A boy sets off to rescue his baby sister from the Underland, inhabited by rats, spiders and cockroaches, which is under his New York City apartment via an air duct. Five books in this series so far.
  
• Orphan stories by Barbara Brooks Wallace - Though not exactly a series, these books (Ghosts in the Gallery, Peppermints in the Parlor, etc.) are parodies of the "orphans in strange houses stumbling upon creepy creatures and ghosts" genre.
  
• The House with a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs - A boy goes to live with his magician uncle in a mansion that has a clock hidden in the walls which is ticking off the minutes until doomsday. Bellairs has written many other books of this type.
  

I also throw the following on the table because their style or content relates them somewhat (mostly I just want every kid to have the opportunity to check something out!):

• 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
• Horns and Wrinkles by Joseph Helgerson and Nicoletta Ceccoli
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
  
• Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket
• The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop
  
• The Game of Sunken Places by M.T. Anderson

Read-aloud: After I zip through the booktalks, I read aloud a fantastic picture book for older kids, Neil Gaiman's Wolves in the Walls. This book is like a graphic novel in picture book format, with really interesting collage-style illustrations by Gaiman's usual collaborator Dave McKean. Since the book is funny as well as creepy, it sucks the kids right in. Even the most stubborn pouters end up joining in on the great refrain, "If the wolves come out of the walls... it's all over!" I sometimes crinkle tissue paper in my hand to imitate the rustling sound of the wolves.

For older classes, I sometimes forgo Wolves in the Walls in favor of reading aloud from Neil Gaiman's Coraline, about a girl who finds a mysterious door in her house that crosses into another dimension, where she meets evil versions of her mom and dad. This book is genuinely spooky - gives me shivers every time. I got an ARC of the graphic novel version of Coraline at ALA Midwinter and passed it around last time I did this booktalk; after I was done, the boys huddled around it for almost 15 minutes, pointing out the grossest illustrations. Now that's success!

Additional uses: If you didn't want to do this as a booktalk/read-aloud, it works just as well as a display. You could use a slogan like, "What's in YOUR walls?" and make a working paper doorway with a creepy creature hiding behind it.

Feisty Bear and The Little Connies

West Oak Lane had a wonderful time kicking off our Family Storyhour program last month. Feisty Bear from The Little Connies came out and shared interactive and fun stories about sharing and caring.


A shot of the action. Here, Connie Bear called on the assistance of one of the parents.

Feisty Bear showed up on time for the event and brought along her own little sound system and a CD for the program. She was great with the kids and was able to keep the room under control--which is no easy feat when dealing with a room of 1-10 year olds! Feisty Bear also left a copy of The Little Connies cd, which is full of toe-tapping, sing-along songs.

Two things I try to do with every program, whether it's something I put on myself or something presented by an outside performer: snacks and displays. Snacks as part of a program can be easily explained--EVERYONE loves snacks!


I went a little crazy and made up individual baggies of pretzels and candy. This was, however, a special night! Cookies and juice normally suffice--as long as everyone keeps the food in the meeting room...

Displays for programs can be a lot of fun. For this particular program, since it was a family storytime, I focused on picturebooks that are popular both in my branch as well as in general.


Here's another crowd shot, but check out the 35+ books on display!!!

If you're looking for a fun, interactive, and affordable library program, I definitely recommend The Little Connies!!!

A Few Suggested Titles For a 3rd Grade Boy Interested in African American Fiction

If you look in the FLP online catalog (the website/public one) and type in African American Fiction you’ll get a large list, but not too large that you can’t pick a few children’s titles out. PS: The last one on this list may be too old, content-wise, for the patron in question (a Third Grade boy).

My Father’s Dragon. Ruth Stiles Gannett.
A volume that's sure to be treasured for years to come, this 50th anniversary edition of a children's classic contains the three tales of "My Father's Dragon: Elmer and the Dragon, The Dragons of Blueland", and the title story.

Rescue on the Outer Banks. Candace Ransom
Sam Deal and his horse, Ginger, help an African-American lifesaving crew rescue shipwreck victims off the coast of North Carolina in 1896.

Junebug. Alice Mead.
An inquisitive young boy who lives with his mother and younger sister in a rough housing project in New Haven, Connecticut, approaches his tenth birthday with a mixture of anticipation and worry.


Hot City. Barbara Joose.
Mimi and her little brother Joe escape from home and the city's summer heat to read and dream about princesses and dinosaurs in the cool,…

Scorpions. Walter Dean Myers.
Reluctantly taking on the leadership of the Harlem gang, the Scorpions, Jamal finds that his enemies treat him with respect when he …

(sorry: no cover images on this one...kind of in a rush today. I'll come back and fill in later.)

Story-Hour oops

I thought I'd share something funny that happened to me today that illustrates how experience is helpful, since I have no idea what I'm doing yet and if I were more seasoned then this little oops wouldn't have happened. I've been doing a Pre-K storytime at one of my local elementary schools, and at the teacher's request I've been using books that relate to their theme of the week. I went to do one today, and I brought my three books, and when I got there the teacher told me that she'd just read one of them to the kids yesterday. So I smiled and laughed and tried to read the other two slowly.

What I should have done, I realize now, is had either an extra book along just in case or just something little memorized to take up a bit of time in the case of the unexpected happening. I'm probably not the only one that this has happened to, so if anybody has other anecdotes or tips for avoiding this kind of situation, do share.

Reader's Advisory

Readers' Advisory – Use this label for RA strategies and particular recommendations, as well as book talks. For example, “Here are books I have recommended to kids who want more wizards and magic now that Harry Potter is done,” or "I had a great RA experience when book talking to a small group of 4th graders today!"

After-school

After-school – Use this label for after-school programming, ideas, and resources, including LEAP activities. This label might often be used in tandem with other labels (resources, websites, etc.).

SRG - Summer Reading Game

SRG (Summer Reading Game) – Use this label for posts relating to programming, outreach, prizes, ideas, or questions related to the Summer Reading Game. Example: “Here are some suggestions for making your SRG school visits easy and fun…” If you're suggesting a website for activities or a resource for additional prizes, please use a second label as appropriate.

Children's Programming

Children's Programming - Use this label for all non-storyhour programs. This includes book clubs, outside performers, chess clubs, and any programming that is librarian-generated.