Act freakin' NOW

Because the fabulous Steph is giving away a copy of Catching Fire. YESTHAT'SRIGHT.

Her awesomeness knows no bounds. (I hope I win!)

Book Review: Dork Diaries

Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renee Russell. (Grades 5+)

When she starts the eighth grade at snooty prep school Westchester Country Day, Nikki Maxwell is determined to live up to her star potential. She'll hide the fact that her dad is the school's exterminator (hence her scholarship). She'll get a fabulous cell phone and be best friends with queen bee Mackenzie, thereby guaranteeing her place in the CCP (Cute, Cool, & Popular) group at school.

Um... things don't work out the way she'd planned. Instead of an iPhone, Nikki's mom buys her a diary. Sigh.

I was like, OH. NO. SHE. DIDN'T!

My mom had given me two things: a DIARY and irrefutable evidence she IS, in fact, CLINICALLY BRAIN DEAD!!

Absolutely no one writes their most intimate feelings and deep, dark secrets in a diary anymore! WHY?!

Because just one or two people knowing all your BIZ could completely ruin your reputation.

You're supposed to post this kind of juicy stuff online in your BLOG so MILLIONS can read it!!! (pg 8*)

And Nikki's misadventures continue from there.

I was definitely chuckling along as I read and I think this'll be a great hit with girls who can't get enough Wimpy Kid. Nikki accompanies her diary entries with manga cartoons that she draws. While maybe not quite as amusing as Jeff Kinney's stick figures, the illustrations definitely add to the text (as does the typeface, which looks like handwriting).

Check out more reviews of Dork Diaries at Becky's Book Reviews, The Reading Zone, and The Picnic Basket (reviews are in the comments).

If you have as many fans of Greg Heffley as I have at my library, you'll definitely want to get this one!

Oh, and can I just say that along with the ARC, Rachel sent a cute little purse with lots of girly little items including my new favorite (and my cat's favorite) fluffy pink pen? I only mention this because it was such an effective tool... every time I'd pull out that pen to make a note, I'd remember "Oh yes! Must read Dork Diaries!" Publicists take note: we all use pens a lot. :)

Reading rocks indeed!

I visited Cake Wrecks, one of my favorite blogs, this morning and found, to my surprise and delight, a post all about book-inspired cakes!

Mmmmmmm. Do check it out. On that note, I'm going to go in search of breakfast. :)

Around the interwebs

Color me jealous of everyone who's gallivanting around BEA right now. Not getting my act together in time + starting new job (so no vacation time yet) = no BEA for me this year. Next year, I will be there for sure.

For those of us left at home this weekend, here are some great sites/posts to check out:

I can't imagine that anyone hasn't seen Betsy's Top 100 Picture Books, but do check it out if you've missed it. She ran a poll, collecting readers' top ten picture books of all time, and she's written great, detailed posts about each of the top 100.

Y'all remember that I loved Linda Ashman's Come to the Castle, right? Well, The Children's Book Review is giving away a copy, but you have to act fast and enter by June 1 (Monday!).

Editorial Anonymous has been discussing the Coretta Scott King Award, something which people seem to be divided on. Check out what she says in The CSK is Dead (Long Live the CSK) and then read CSK: Redux. Very interesting points are brought up in the comments of both posts. I'm not quite sure where I stand on the issue, so I guess all I will say is that librarians do love their book awards.

There have been several posts around the Kidlitosphere about the Emily Strange/Nate the Great lawsuit, but I loved Liz's. The whole situation is very bizarre.

Thanks to Sarah for letting me know that The Vampire Diaries is going to be a TV show!!!! I loved that series when I was in middle school (high school? I have no idea) and I'll definitely put that one on my DVR and give it a whirl. I need to get the new volume that was recently published. *eyes teetering TBR pile* Hrmm.

SPEAKING OF TV SHOWS, DID YOU WATCH GLEE?! In case you missed the preview episode, you can watch Glee online all summer long. It fills my heart with joy and I can't believe we have to wait until fall to see more. Good on you, Fox!

In completely unrelated happenings, if you're writing a grant you might be interested in this Grant-Writing Tips on the ALSC blog. As competition for funding gets more and more competitive, we can use all the advice we can get!

Maybe you've had that experience of recommending your favorite YA book to a layman and getting that "Oh, that's YA... No, thanks..." response. Well, Kelly's got 5 Ways You Can Convert YA Scoffers.

And last, but not least, Susan's got a post up on Booklights about diverse board books, which is something I'm always interested in. If you're looking to add some diversity to your board book collection, check out that great list and the suggestions in the comments.

On that note, I'm out. Tomorrow's our Summer Reading Club kick-off and I have about a million things to do today. Hope everyone at BEA is having a great time and collecting lots of great ARCs. Please leave some ARCs for me to collect at ALA kthx. ;)

What do you want to know? (In which Abby is a total copycat.)

Sarah of The Reading Zone recently asked her readers what questions they had for her about her reading & writing workshops in her classroom. She got a ton of great questions from other teachers (and a random one from me) and I think it's a great idea. So I'm stealing it.

What questions do you have for me? What are you wondering about public libraries? Programming? Library school? Etc.?

Post your questions in the comments and I'll be happy to answer them.

And as a side note, thanks for all the input on the What Librarians Want You to Know... posts! I'm working on a couple more posts for that series that'll be up soon.

Help Me Help You: Library Logistics

This post concludes my series, Help Me Help You: What Librarians Wish Patrons Knew About the Library. Make sure you check out Part 1: Research and Reference and Part 2: Storytime. And here we go with

Part 3: Library Logistics

The library is not totally silent. Yes, we want you to do your homework here. Yes, many libraries have quiet areas or silent reading rooms. But what you've got to understand is that the group of chatting teens or giggling three-year-olds have just as much right to be at the library as you do. The library is for everyone and it's no longer always a silent space. If you're looking for a quiet place, I can probably recommend some places that tend to be quieter, but I will defend the teens' right to use the library, too.

If you reach a voicemail when you call, we will get back to you! But we can't get back to you if you don't leave a message. It's helpful if you leave a phone number and say it slowly and clearly. Along the same lines, if you IM and don't get a response, don't give up! The person checking the IM might be on the public service desk and helping another patron. Please be patient or if you can't wait, please call.

We appreciate when you cancel your holds for items you no longer need. We know that you want the new stuff and sometimes you (like me!) just can't wait. If you get the book from a different source, please cancel your hold. Many libraries order additional copies based on how many holds are on the item. And if you've got a book on hold that you don't intend to pick up, it's just sitting on the shelf when it could be in someone's hands.

It's okay if you are unable to come to a program you signed up for. Just please let us know! We understand that things come up, plans change, and you might be unable to make it. What you should understand is that there might be a waiting list for the program and/or we might base our prep and materials on how many people are registered. If you let us know that you can't make it, we can let someone else take your space. They will appreciate it and we will, too!

We want you to follow us into the stacks when we're showing you where something is. Our job is to show you where things are, not to fetch them for you. (Of course, if there is some reason you can't follow us into the stacks most librarians I know would be more than happy to help you out and pull things for you.) You never know what you might find on your venture into the stacks - maybe something on a nearby shelf that is an even better fit for your needs!

Librarians, this is the end of my Help Me Help You feature. This was going to be the end, but I'm working on Part 4: What Librarians Wish Teachers Knew About the Library. What should be on it? And please keep in mind that this is meant to actually be helpful, not as a venting of frustrations. What should teachers know about the library in order to use it to their full advantage? How can they help us help them? I've already got some suggestions from previous comments, but give me your input and I'll get Part 4 up early next week.

Librarians, what have I missed in my Help Me Help You posts? I've gotten lots of great additions in the comments so far, but what else?

Parents, teachers, readers, teens, kids, what would you like librarians to know about patrons? What are your questions for librarians? Maybe there will be a Part 5: What Patrons Wish Librarians Knew...

ETA (June 11): Do check out Part 4: Teacher Edition and Part 5: Wrapping it Up!

Help Me Help You: Storytime

Thanks for joining me for the second part of Help Me Help You: What Librarians Wish Patrons Knew About the Library.
Part 2 is all about storytime!

It's okay to leave storytime if your child is Just Not Into It. In fact, in most cases we prefer that. I try and make an announcement at the beginning of every storytime that if your child is distracted or becomes a distraction to others, please take them out for a little break. We do expect a certain degree of chaos, but if your child is running circles around the story room, they're not getting anything out of the program and they're just distracting everyone else in the room. We won't be offended if you leave and it's okay to get up from your spot and fetch your child. Come back in later or try tomorrow. Every child (every person!) has good days and bad days. Some days they're Just Not Into It. And that's okay.

It's also okay to leave if you are the only one there (it's also okay to stay if you want to). I wrote a post last year about what to do when there's one child at storytime. We're happy to go ahead and do a storytime for one child, but if you don't feel comfortable with it or if your child isn't that into it, we won't be offended if you don't want to stay. We know that you made the effort to come to the library for storytime, but we also don't want to do anything that makes your child uncomfortable and being the only kid in a room with two or three adults might be intimidating for some children. Feel free to stay, but also feel free to leave.

The library is not your babysitter. As a children's librarian, I like working with and interacting with kids. We try to make the library a safe and comfortable place, but it is still a public place. Would you leave your child unattended at the mall? Then don't leave them unattended at the library. To expand on this, I would say that the library is certainly a place for individual reading or for your child to play a computer game by himself, but there is also much for caregiver and child to do together at the library. If you're checking your email while your kid is playing by themselves at the train table, you might be missing some of the best things the library has to offer! Read a book together, play a game together, attend a program together. Which leads me to my next point:

Storytime is not time for you to have a conversation with your adult friend. While we strive to make the library a place for people to gather and socialize, storytime is not the time for this. It's time to spend with your child listening to books, singing songs, and develop those early literacy skills. By all means, after storytime is over, get together with your friends and catch up. We try to make our storytimes entertaining and educational. Your child will get much more from storytime if you're there participating with her and talking to her about the stories later.

Librarians, what would you add? What do you want patrons to know about storytimes?

Check out Part 1: Research and Reference and look for Part 3: Library Logistics coming tomorrow!

ETA (June 11): And do check out Part 4: Teacher Edition and Part 5: Wrapping it Up!

Elephant and Piggie Party!

We all love Elephant and Piggie at my library and we've taken them on many an outreach visit with a lot of success. What better way to celebrate than to throw an Elephant and Piggie Party?! We made this a drop-in program for kids in grades K-2, but due to an extremely rainy afternoon we only have a handful of kids in that age range show up. We opened up the program to all ages and asked that preschoolers come with a parent and that went fine.

My coworker N and I started the program by reading some of our favorite Elephant and Piggie books. My favorites for reading aloud are I Will Surprise My Friend, I am Invited to a Party, and There is a Bird on Your Head! We read I am Invited to a Party together (she was Piggie, I was Elephant). I had wanted to try acting it out with costume props, but the planning gods were not with us on that one. Maybe next time.

Since our program was only 30 minutes long, we just did one craft after reading: bird nest hats to go along with There is a Bird on Your Head!

What you'll need:

- Paper bowls
- Brown paper bags or brown paper
- Yarn or string
- Glue
- Scissors
- Crayons

Before the program, I poked holes near the bottom of the bowls and threaded yarn through so it could be tied to keep the hat on their heads. I also put masking tape over the holes to hold the yarn in place and to make sure no glue leaked through the holes and into their hair if they put the hats on right away.

You can prep as much or as little as you want. Since we had such a limited amount of time, I shredded a brown paper bag beforehand, but you could have the kids do this if you had more time. Have the kids color the sides of the bowl brown and glue on pieces of the paper bag. Depending on how much time you have, you can glue paper to just the rim of the bowl or you can glue it on the inside as well. When the kids are wearing the hats they won't be able to see inside, so you might want to concentrate on how it looks from the side (up to you!).

I used a picture of Pigeon from The Pigeon Wants a Puppy. I photocopied the cover and then cut out the pigeon (I didn't include the legs since he'll be sitting in the nest). I had the kids color their pigeon, cut him out, and glue/tape him to the side of the bowl so that he's looking out of their nest.

Voila! Bird nest hats! And ohhh they were super cute. :)

After kids were done with the craft, they were invited to try to find the cardboard cut-out of the Pigeon that we had hidden somewhere in our department. If they found the pigeon, they could come to the reference desk and collect a sticker (we ordered these Pigeon reading stickers from ALA for a previous event).

Since we made the program so short, we only did one activity but if you wanted to expand it, here are a few ideas:

- Make party invitations (I am Invited to a Party)
- Getting-Dressed-For-the-Party Relay Race (I am Invited to a Party)
- Egg Relay Race or Egg Toss (There is a Bird on Your Head)
- Backwards ball throwing contest (Watch Me Throw the Ball)
- Have kids vote on their favorite Elephant and Piggie Book
- Create paper bag puppets of elephants and pigs

There are lots of activities available in this Elephant and Piggie Party Kit (link opens a PDF). Print out word searches and coloring sheets for the kids to take home or for them to work on while they're waiting for the party to start.

The newest Elephant and Piggie book comes out June 9 (Elephants Cannot Dance) and it looks like there's another one slated for October (Pigs Make Me Sneeze), so there are plenty of upcoming occasions to celebrate Elephant and Piggie. Yeah, like we need a reason!

Help Me Help You: What Librarians Wish Patrons Knew About the Library

Help Me Help You: What Librarian Wish Patrons Knew About the Library

I got the idea for this post after a rather frustrating reference transaction right before closing time one evening. We simply didn't have enough time to find as much information as we could have if this patron had come in, say, half an hour before closing instead of two minutes before closing (and of course they needed the information for the next day). So that got me thinking about other things that I wish patrons knew about the library. Once I started writing, I came up with much more than would fit into one post, so consider this part 1. You might also be interested in the Seattle Books Examiner piece that ran last November: Top 20 Things Librarians in Public Libraries Wish Patrons Knew or Did.

And without further ado, help me help you...

Part 1: Research and Reference

Ask us questions! What do you think we're sitting at the desk for? Because it's more comfortable than our couch at home? Whether you're looking for materials for homework, a suggestion for a good book to read, or just where the bathrooms are, we're at that desk to answer your questions. We might look like we're busy on the computer or doing work, but a good librarian's first priority at the reference desk is to talk to you and answer your questions. We're happy to answer any questions you have, but we're also happy to show you how to find the answers to your questions on your own. Ask us how to search the catalog or how to use the databases and the next time you come, you may not have to ask us anything! (Although you can always come by to say hello. :)

You'll get better results if we have time to research, think, and discuss your needs. I completely understand that sometimes the assignment is due tomorrow (or yesterday) and it's 8:55 and you just need the book!! (It happens more than you would probably guess.) But if you have a reference question or need resources for your paper or are looking for a book for a book report or books to read to your child's class, give yourself and the librarians plenty of time to figure out exactly what you need. Feel free to call ahead or send an email and let us know that you're coming - we may be able to pull some books for you to look at when you get here. If we have plenty of time to think about your request and confer with colleagues, we might be able to explore resources that don't immediately come to mind.

Bring your child in to do the research for his project. Not only will we be able to make sure he's getting what he needs for his report, he will start to learn the process of finding the materials he needs for homework. Librarians are happy to show your child how to use the library catalog, databases, and print resources. This is stuff he's going to need to know (in middle school, high school, college...) and the more practice he has with finding resources and asking librarians for help, the better he'll be!

We might access some information via the internet, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is a website! I get it all the time - a child needs information for a report and the moment I turn to Biography Resource Center or World Book Online, she balks, saying "We're not allowed to use websites!" We access databases through the internet. Contained within these databases are newspaper articles, magazine articles, encyclopedias, and reference material. These items are different than a website on the internet. Plus, websites can be valuable sources of information as well. Ask a librarian which websites are reputable and we'll be happy to help you evaluate internet information.

If your child is doing a project for his class, chances are there are 20 other kids doing the same project. We really appreciate it when you don't take all the books on a certain subject. By all means, take what you need. Also be aware that we can help you find non-book information on the internet or using our databases. But if the entire class is doing a project about the moon and the first person to come in takes every moon book on the shelf (or every moon book on a second-grade level), we have nothing to offer the rest of the kids in the class. Please be courteous when deciding how many books you need to take for a project.

Librarian readers, what would you add to this list? What should our patrons know about doing research in the library?

I'll be continuing this series with Part 2: Storytime and Part 3: Library Logistics, so stay tuned!

ETA (June 11): And do check out Part 4: Teacher Edition and Part 5: Wrapping it Up!

Reading Around the World for Early Elementary

Here's the second part of my Reading Around the World series.

Reading Around the World - for Elementary Students

Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World by Selby B. Beeler. Collecting tooth traditions from around the world, this book will be a hit with any who are waiting for a visit from the Tooth Fairy.

Play with Us: 100 Games from Around the World by Oriol Ripoll. This book presents over 100 pages, both indoor and outdoor, played by kids in different countries all over the world.

My Librarian is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World by Margriet Ruurs. Not everyone has a library nearby and this book shows how children all over the world receive library service. Some get books delivered by camel, others by boat, still others by van. How do you get your books?

How Much?: Visiting Markets Around the World by Ted Lewin. From New Jersey to Egypt to Thailand, this book explores different markets all around the world.

A Life Like Mine and A School Like Mine by DK Publishing. These books are filled with bright photos and lots of information about kids and schools around the world. See how different children play, work, and go to school in many different countries.

World Team by Tim Vyner. In this book, kids are engaging in a pastime that's common in many countries - soccer. Although the kids are growing up in many different places, they all have a dream to play in the World Cup.

Wonderful Houses Around the World by Yoshio Komatsu. Take a peek inside different kinds of houses all over the globe.

People by Peter Spier. This picture book has intricate pictures that kids will love poring over. Spier talks about the many different kinds of people all over the world - how we are all different and how we are all the same.

These are just a select few of the many wonderful books that celebrate kids and people all around the world. What are your favorites?

Check out the first installment of the list - Reading Around the World for Preschoolers.

And happy Non-Fiction Monday! Tricia's got the round-up at The Miss Rumphius Effect!