Happy Thanksgiving!( Plus a small gift to my readers).

Hi boys and girls. I know it's  one week early but just felt like wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and keep reading!

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And now a small gift to my readers....

By Halloween, everyone is getting ready for the holidays that we tend to ignore fall and Thanksgiving ( which is maybe why there are very few Thanksgiving movies. TV has seemed to do a better job of Turkey Day, such as A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, The Bob Newhart Show, and Friends.)For me, the ultimate Turkey Day episode (and the  one everyone talks about) is the 1978 WKRP episode, "Turkeys Away". On this episode, radio manager Mr. Carlson decides to a big Thanksgiving promotion... by dropping live turkeys from a helicopter. The result is not pretty. Here is a clip from this classic episode, enjoy!

Rest in Peace, Barbara Park.

I was browsing our  library Facebook page to see if there was anything about Sunday's storm ( I just had some tree branches down) and saw that Barbara Park, author of the Junie B Jones series, passed away over the weekend at age 66. ( Please see this link for her obit).

I actually got into the series about 6 yrs ago when I started work here at the library ( this and Magic Tree House were constantly being asked about.) For those not familiar with who or what Junie B Jones is, it is a chapter book series for ages 8 and up, focusing on a 5-year old (  later 6-years-old in books 18-28) girl named Junie B Jones and her many adventures at home and school. Her first  book, Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly School Bus, was published in 1992 and focused on the first  day of kindergarten. Over 28 books, Jones has dealt with a new baby sibling, cut her own hair, graduated kindergarten and entered first grade ( with glasses.)  Her last book, Turkeys We have Loved and Eaten ( and Other Thankful Stuff) came out last year, and takes places doing a Thanksgiving classroom decorating contest. ( And it is the one Jones book I have not read, may have to wait till December.) Kids loved and laughed at the antics of  the spunky, Ramona-like girl with catch phases  like "Wowie wow wow!" and " The "B" stands for Beatrice. Except, I don't like Beatrice.". Parents....not so much (in fact, she's number 71 on American Library Association's Top 100 Banned Books 2000-2009 due to her bratty attitude and poor grammar. I didn't have a problem. In fact, I really enjoyed Junie B Jones is Party Animal, Junie B Jones is A Beauty Shop Guy, and Jingle Bells, Batman Smells (PS So Does May).)

We have most of the Jones books on display, in the same area as Magic Tree House ( which, coincidentally, also came out in 1992 and is by the same publisher, Stepping Stones/Random House). Park also picture books and other chapter books including(check library catalog to see if and where the book(s) is)-

• Kid in the Red Jacket
• Mick Hart was Here
•  Skinnybones

Junie also has a website at http://juniebjones.com/

 Rest in Peace, Barbara Park.

Storytime for 2 and 3 yr olds: Thanksgiving with a Twist

Today we  celebrated Thanksgiving one week early ( also, we did a little bit of  Hanukkah because this year the first full day falls on Thanksgiving and this is one and only time this is happening in this lifetime.Don't ask, all has to do with the Jewish calender slowly becoming slower than ours.) Our small group of 4 kids and 4 parents got to hear three stories ( Thanksgiving is Here by Diane Goode, My Very First Look at Sizes by Christiane Gunzi, and Happy Sparkling Hanukkah by Elizabeth Spurr.) We also did a little bell  ringing and made a turkey handprint.

Here are some of the songs we did for today-

Over the River
Over the river and thru the woods,
to Grandmother's house we go.
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,
thru the white and drifting snow, oh.

Over the river and thru the woods,
o how the wind does blow.
It stings the nose and bites the toes
as over the ground we go.

Five Little Turkeys added 11-3-98 Original Author Unknown

Five little turkeys by the barn door,
One waddled off, then there were four.
Four little turkeys out under the tree,
One waddled off, then there were three.
Three little turkeys with nothing to do.
One waddled off, then there were two.
Two little turkeys in the noonday sun,
One waddled off, then there was one.
One little turkey - better run away!
Soon will come Thanksgiving Day.

If You're Thankful added 11-7-98 Original Author Unknown

Sung to: "If You're Happy & You Know It"

If you're thankful and you know it clap your hands
If you're thankful and you know it clap your hands
If you're thankful and you know it
Then your face will surely show it
If you're thankful and you know it clap your hands!

( add what actions you want, like stomping, hugging, gobbling, etc) 


Our next two story times for 2 and 3 yr olds are Monday, December 2 and 16 at 10 am. We're going to be getting into the holiday spirit.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays. See you soon!

Happy Holiday 2013 Programs

Here are our last programs of 2013 that will happening next month in the Children's Dept at the Central Library. Please visit Library Events for information and register.

Story Time for 2 and 3 yr olds- Monday, Dec. 2 and 16 at 10 am- Audience: 2 and 3 year olds and caregivers.

Mother Goose on the Loose-Tuesday, Dec. 3  and 17 at 10 am-Audience: Infants Birth to
23 months and caregiver (s).




Board Game Fun-Wednesday, December 4 at 6:30 pm-Audience: Grades 2-6

 Lego Club- Monday, Dec 17 at 4 pm- Audience: Grades 2-6

Story Time for 4 and 5 yr olds- Tuesday,  Dec 10  at 10 am - Audience: 4 and 5 year olds.

Gaming Night- Wednesday, Dec 18 at 6 pm- Audience: 12 to 17 years old.


Kids Art Club- Thursday, December 19 at 4pm-Audience: Grades 2-6


Also:

The Happy Holidays Story Hour- Thursday, December 5 at 4 pm- Audience: K-5

Tis the Season Family Movie Time- Saturday at Noon- Audience: All age in Meeting Room A ( No dark or red colered drinks. Children under the age of 7 must be accompanied by an adult 18 yrs or older.)

Stuffed Animal Story Time and Sleeoover!- Wednesday, December 11 at 4 pm-

Children, K-5, and a special stuffed animal are invited to enjoy stories and activities together at LCPL! After story time, the children can leave their stuffed animal at the library for a sleepover. Participants will receive a special photograph of their animal's overnight adventure when they pick them up the next day.

Stay tuned for our January-February programs of 2014!

Happy Holidays! See You soon!  

Bookworm List:Pass the Sweet Potato Latkes, Thanksgivukkah coming!

This month, as you shop for your turkey and all the trimmings of Thanksgiving, you might all see pumpkin driedels and menurkeys. Say hello to Thanksgivukkah!

This year (and this year only) the first night of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, falls on... Thanksgiving (okay, it's starts sundown on Thanksgiving Eve, but the first full day is on Thanksgiving. Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday celebrated for eight days and nights. It starts on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev, which coincides with late November-late December on the secular calendar. This holiday commemorates the re-dedication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks in 165 B.C.E.)  Yes, this year, we'll be seeing turkey-shaped menorahs ( created by a nine-yr old in New York), recipes for pumpkin challah bread and other Jewish/Thankgiving food and a giant driedel in the Macy's Thanksgiving parade ( which I'm find very interesting, I might be working into my 2 and 3 yr old story time just this once. I'm not even Jewish!)

 According to a lot of articles on the web ( including Wikepedia), this is only the second time to ever happen ( the first time was 1888, but it may have happen way before Thanksgiving was declared a federal holiday by President Lincoln in 1863.) The next time this will happen ... might be a long, long time ( possibly the year 79811). Why? Well, the Hebrew calender and the Gregorian calender do not always calculate the same way ( and I'm not going to try to explain here, so have fun looking up yourself.)

Here are some websites to help you get in the  Thanksgivukkah spirit ( even if you're Jewish or not):

Thanksgivukkah- The Offical site of all things turkey and Yiddish, including how the two holidays were combined to create Thanksgivukkah.

Thanksgivukkah: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Holiday-A Pinterest board of recipes, images, and all Thanksgivukkah.  

Menurky-Learn the story of a how a nine-yr old New York boy , with the help of Kickstarter, created this blue turkey-menorah ( which you can also buy from this site)

Thankgivukkah-David Paskin- Cute song created by a Boston Rabbi ( also a page of lyrics).

And here are some Hanukkah books to check out-

The Hanukkah Hop  by Erica Silverman

Happy Sparkling Hanukkah by Elizabeth Spurr

All the Lights in the Night by Arthur Levine

On Hanukkah  by Cathy Goldberg

 Happy Thankgivukkah!!

Storytime for 2 and 3 yr olds: Artful Reading

For  today's storytime , I got some inspiration from a posting from the Kids at Cedar Lake Children's Blog and decided to have a day of art, shapes, music and motion. The kids heard Windblown by Edouard Manceau and Artful Reading  by Bob Raczka  and learned about shapes through My First Look at Shapes. We also had some fun with scarves and made some Windblown-inspired artwork (visit  http://www.owlkidsbooks.com/Portals/0/docs/windblown-activity.pdf to get the shapes to make your own artwork.)

Here are some of the songs we did today

Pretty Leaves are Falling Down added 9-9-98 Original Author Unknown

Sung to: "London Bridge"

Pretty leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down.
Pretty leaves are falling down, all around the town.
(wiggle fingers)
Let's rake them up in a pile, in a pile, in a pile.
Let's rake them up in a pile, all around the town.
(make raking motions)
Let's all jump in and have some fun,
have some fun, have some fun.
Let's all jump in and have some fun, all around the town.
(jump into circle)



Ten Little Fingers added 9-1-01 Original Author Unknown
(Hold up ten fingers. Suit actions to words.)
I have ten little fingers,
And they all belong to me.
I can make them do things,
Would you like to see?
I can shut them up tight,
Or open them wide.
I can put them together,
Or make them all hide.
I can make them jump high,
I can make them jump low.
I can fold them up quietly,
And hold them just so.


Our next couple of story times are:
Monday, November 18
Monday, December 2
Monday December 16.

All are at 10 am in the Children's Programing Room.

See You Soon

Happy Halloween

 Have a safe( hopefully nice) and Happy Halloween! Keep Reading!
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Have you heard about the Neighborhoods?

Everyday, patrons ask us " Where I can find stories about animals?" or " Where are your Bob the Builder books?" and we librarians have to go on a bit of a scavenger hunt to find the book ( unless it is by the same author, then it's a little less of a search).

Well to lessen this search a bit, we now have the Neighborhoods. What are the Neighborhoods? They are a unique collection of books that are ready and easily labeled for patrons to check out.Currently, the Merrillville and Griffith Branch of the Lake County Public Library system are the only places where you can find the them.  There are six Neighborhoods, each color-coded according to what they are ( and listed as such on our catalog.) They are:

Celebrations-Holidays, Birthdays, and Special Events
Transportation-Cars, Trains, and things that go
Concepts-Numbers, ABC's, colors, and other learning concept
Songs and Rhymes-Song and Rhyme books
Nature-Animals, weather, and all things nature
Popular-Princesses, Bob the Builder, and many more ( little different from our first popular character shelf of Thomas the Train, fairies, Sesame Street, Pooh, Spongebob, Dora and Diego)

In postings to come, we take a closer look at  what each Neighborhood is, along with a list of recommended titles.
So the next time you want a book on ABC's or 123's, come to the Neighborhoods. Located in the Children's Department, between the Easy Readers and picture books.

Welcome to the Neighborhoods!   

Book Review: How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow-Wendall Minor

Every fall, folks grow very big pumpkins to win big blue ribbons at the fair. But how big could your pumpkin grow? Big enough to use as a boat? Or tall like a lighthouse on the beach? Perhaps big enough to hide behind the Capitol building of D.C? Use your imagination and think BIG.

I love Wendall Minor's books ( especially Pumpkin Heads). I love the use of orange to emphasize the pumpkins and the many synonyms for big ( like " immense" and "jumbo.) I also love all the landmarks featured to show off the "monster" pumpkins ( and the description of each landmark at the end.) A perfect book to use during the fall season.

How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow? by Wendall Minor
Age Range: All Ages
***** ( 5 Stars)

For information on Wendall Minor, visit his website.

Storytime for 2 and 3 yr olds- It's Halloween Fun!

Today we celebrated Halloween one week early ( and we had a big crowd today. So big some didn't get a chance to make name tags and I had to "sweep" the book to make sure everyone saw the pictures.) We heard three stories ( Click Clack Boo: A Tricky Treat by Doreen Cronin, Ten Orange Pumpkins by Stephen Savage, and We're Going to Find the Witch's House by Mr. Krieb). We also got some treats, one more visit from the Five Little Pumpkins ( they have one more stop tomorrow for the 4 and 5 yr Costume Parade and Storytime at 10 am, costumes and treats optional, NO PEANUTS PLEASE!), and made a cow jumping over the Halloween Pumpkin with orange glitter glue.

Here are some of the songs we did today-

Pumpkin, Pumpkin added 7-29-98 Original Author Unknown
Pumpkin, Pumpkin sitting on a wall,
Pumpkin, Pumpkin tip and fall,
Pumpkin, Pumpkin Rolling down the street
Pumpkin, Pumpkin Trick or treat


Five Little Pumpkins
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said " Oh my, it's getting late!"
The second one said "There are witches in the air".*
And the third one said " We don't care."
The fourth one said " Let's run, run, run."
And the fifth one said " It's Halloween fun"
Then Woooooo went the wind, and out went the lights.
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

* In case one feels the use of "witch" is going to be a problem, I have changed it to " There's a chill in the air".




 The next Storytime for 2 and 3 yr olds will be  Monday,November 4 and  Monday, November 18, both at 10 am. 

Happy Halloween!!