Be Creative @ Your Library

July 1st kicks off the 2009 New Jersey Summer Reading Program Be Creative @ Your Library. Children ages 0 through Grade 5, are invited to participate in fun programs this summer! Stop by the Library’s Youth Services Department to register. We will have a wide variety of programs for different age groups. Visit our online events calendar for complete event details, including story times, book clubs, crafts, movie events and much more!

Website Wednesday: Virtual Vacations

It's summer time and for many kids that means packing up for summer vacation. But there's more than one way to see the world! You can also explore new places through the internet. Take a look at these websites and learn about different cultures.

Afro-America Kid's Zone
Explore Africa through the Kids Zone area from the Afro American Newspaper website.

Amazon Interactive
Explore the the Ecuadorian Amazon through online games and activities.

Brooklyn Expedition: Latin America
Learn about modern Latin American Culture through this collaborative project of the Brooklyn Public Library, the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Children's Museum.

National Geographic Kids
Travel the world through National Geographic’s site for young readers.

Want more? The American Library Association's list of great "Cultures of the World" websites for kids can be found here.

Raising a Reader: Part II

Earlier we posted a list of our favorite books for the very young. We like these books because they have photos of babies, clear pictures of familiar items, rhythm and repetition, and animal sounds -- All things that babies like and respond to. So as promised, here is the rest of our book list for babies:

P HOB
White on Black
by Tana Hoban

P ISA
Peekaboo Morning
by Rachel Isadora

P KAT
Where Is Baby’s Belly Button?
by Karen Katz

P LAD
Peek-A-Who?
by Nina Laden

P MAR
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
by Bill Martin

P MEY
Everywhere Babies
by Susan Meyers

P MIL
Baby Faces
by Margaret Miller

P MUR
I Kissed the Baby
by Mary Murphy

P O’CO
The Baby Goes Beep
by Rebecca O’Connell

P RAT
Good Night Gorilla
by Peggy Rathman

P SHA
It Looked Like Spilt Milk
by Charles Shaw

P WAD
Owl Babies
by Martin Wadell

P WAR
Cookie’s Week
by Cindy Ward

P WIL
I Went Walking
by Sue Williams

Website Wednesday: Jitterbug

If you're in the mood for some great tunes for kids, look no further than Jitterbug. Jitterbug is a website started by two music-loving dads of preschoolers interested in exposing their kids to good music while avoiding mass music and video websites. You can watch videos, search by artist, or listen to the online streaming "radio." This site is the place to go if you are looking for independent music for kids that will keep both kids and adults toe-tapping happy.

Website Wednesday: Maurice Sendak

Happy Birthday Maurice Sendak! The famous author and illustrator was born June 10, 1928 in Brooklyn, New York to a Polish-Jewish immigrant family. He has, over the years, created many children's classics. Where the Wild Things Are is probably the most famous of Sendak’s picture books. It won 1964 Caldecott Medal and is a favorite read-aloud for both children and parents. Here are a few websites for anyone interested in learning more about Maurice Sendak:

PBS American Masters: Maurice Sendak
Part of PBS's American Masters series, this site provides a biography of Sendak as well as a career timeline and interviews.

PBS Booklights
Susan Kusel, a Blogger from PBS's Booklights, takes a closer look at Where the Wild Things Are.

Kidsread.com
Another Sendak biography.

The Rosenbach Museum and Library Maurice Sendak Gallery
Hear Maurice Sendak read from his book Brundibar, and see highlights from the Sendak gallery.

And check out the trailer for the Where the Wild Things Are movie, out this October:

2009 Summer Reading Promotion

The 2009 Horn Book - Boston Globe Book Awards

The 2009 Horn Book - Boston Globe Book award winners have been announced. The winners are:

Fiction and Poetry: Nation by Terry Pratchett
*Nonfiction: The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary by Candace Fleming
Picture Book: Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Polly Dunbar

More info is available here.

*And take a look at that Nonfiction winner. It just happens to be the same book as our Cherry Picks Director's Pick!

Website Wednesday: Comics

This Website Wednesday we have some great links for kids who can't get enough of comics and cartoon art. If you know someone who goes straight to the graphic novel section at the library, you'll want to make sure they check these out!

Cartoon Library and Museum
This is the website for this library and museum that houses "more than 400,000 original works of cartoon art." Features a description of major collections, a cartoon image database, digital albums , digital exhibits, and related material.

Cartoonster
Cartoonster features a collection of fun and interactive tutorials, which teach children and young people how to create their own cartoons and animations.

Calvin and Hobbes
View Calvin and Hobbes comics at gocomics.com.

Garfield
The official Garfield website.

Hippoworks
Join Peep the Bird, his best friend Simon the Hippo, Suzanne the Crystal Goddess, and the rest of the Hippoworks gang, for animated cartoons, coloring, rhyming fun, and more.

Peanuts
The official Peanuts website.

Good Books For Boys

One of the requests we hear all the time at the library is: Do you have any book recommendations for boys in grades 3-5? Well we have a lot of great suggestions! So, each month we'll post reviews of books that 3-5th grade boys might find fun to read. Here's a few to start with:

The Giggler Treatment by Roddy Doyle

In this funny, very silly, and very gross story author Roddy Doyle proposes that dog poo—a word he deeply enjoys using and describing—lays around for the punishment of adults who are unkind to kids.

The Boy Who Saved Baseball by John Ritter

The fate of a small California town rests on the outcome of one baseball game, and Tom Gallagher hopes to lead his team to victory with the secrets of the now disgraced player, Dante Del Gato.

My Weird School by Dan Gutman

A.J. hates school, but he could never say it’s boring. If you're looking for a hilarious series full of crazy teachers and silly stunts, the My Weird School series may be for you. You'll find yourself wishing that you went to A.J's weird school too!


Ricky Ricotta by Dav Pilkey

Ricky Ricotta and his Mighty Robot face a new adventure in each book of this illustrated series. Packed with action and a quick read, this a series reluctant readers might especially enjoy.



Can you recommend a good book for boys? Leave us a comment and let us know all about it!