Today is National Gaming Day

The Takoma Park Library is participating in National Gaming Day today from 1-4. Please join us for board games, cards, chess, puzzles, and of course, we will set up the wii for sports. Also, today is Crafternoon, so in addition to games, we will be making turkey crafts for the bulletin board in the children's room. We have fun for all ages this afternoon and we hope to see you there!

40 years of Fun and Learning!

40 years later and children are still asking "will you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?" Today is the 40th birthday of the popular children's educational show. Designed to teach children beginning social and academic concepts, the show has flourished and reached many people over the past four decades. A delight for children and a blessing for teachers, librarians, and parents who recognized it as an important learning tool, I'm sure many of us can say the show played a role in our early years. I know I have many fond memories watching the show on the CBC when I was a preschooler. My favorite characters were the Count and Bert. Who were yours?

Also, just so you know, different volumes of Elmo's World, a popular spinoff show featuring arguably the most popular Sesame Street character, are available on DVD at Takoma Park Library. We also have films featuring other characters. Check the shelf, ask a librarian, or browse the catalog to find a film, book, or CD to celebrate this milestone birthday for a great children's program.

Special Events This Week at Takoma Park

Sorry for the lag in posting. I have been on vacation. I'm happy to announce some wonderful special events this week at Takoma Park Neighborhood Library. Our regular Wednesday morning story time will have a special theme this week. As part of the Kids Euro Festival, which is a celebration of European art and culture by EU embassies and local partners, the Takoma Park Library will dedicate their Pre-K story time to celebrating the country of Finland. I am almost 100% Finnish so when I was told of this opportunity to partake in this festival I jumped at the chance. Please join me tomorrow morning for Finnish stories, folktales, a felt craft, and traditional Finnish pulla bread, or Nisu, for a snack. The program will start at 10:30 am tomorrow.

Another great special event this month is History Night at the library. I recently received a grant to properly store and exhibit the Takoma History File, a small archival vertical file of clippings, photos, articles, and other ephemera. I will discuss the work I did as part of this grant project and highlight the collection. Please join me as I open the Takoma History File Exhibit and introduce the newly indexed collection. History Night is Thursday, October 22 and the program will begin at 7:00 pm. This project was made possible by a grant from the DC Humanities Council which is affiliated with the DC State Historic Preservation Office.

Spook City USA

Just in time for the season, the library has been receiving some new shipments of spooky books for the month of October and Halloween. One precious book takes the idea of the old woman who swallowed a fly and turns it into a monster who eats many strange and squiggly treats, one more bizarre than the next. We have a lot of great Fall and Halloween books on display above the mantle so please come in and check them out today!

NEW ARRIVALS

Haunted Party - by Iza Trapani

There Was And Old Monster - by Rebecca, Adrian, & Ed Emberley

Hush, Baby Ghostling - by Andrea Beaty

And Then Comes Halloween - by Tom Brenner

This Week at Takoma Park Library

We have a busy week this week at Takoma Park Library, not to mention an exciting one. Our adult book club debuts on Thursday and we also have our regular programming. This week is the last week to sign up for the Silver Screen book club (September Session).

Also, please note, we are getting new books in adult and children's so please stop by to see the new book shelves today.

Monday September 14

Program: Resume Workshop

Time: 10:30-11:30 am

Age: Adults

Description: Join Adult Librarian Jeanne Lauber for a career building workshop which will show you how to master the art of resume creation. This is an essential skill for adults of all ages.

Wednesday September 16

Program: Preschool Story Time - Feelings Theme

Time: 10:30 am

Age: 3-5

Description: Join us in the children's room for stories, rhymes, songs, and activities.

Program: Art in the Afternoon

Time: 3:30 pm

Age: 6+

Description: Take part in art discussion using the "Picturing America" series and join in the drawing contest after school.

Thursday September 17

Program: Teen Games

Time: 4:00 pm

Age: 12-17

Description: Teens are welcomed to come play games, from WII to board games to Playstation.

Program: Book Club

Time: 7:00 pm

Age: Adults

Description: This is the intial meeting of the adult book club. Come and join us to discuss the scope and format of this new book group. We will also brainstorm title selections.

Celebrate Roald Dahl!

For all of you fans of silly and fun children's fiction, come in and celebrate Roald Dahl month. September is dedicated to the amazing and imaginative storyteller. He was born on September 13th so it is only fitting for that day to be known as Roald Dahl day.

To celebrate this special author, the Takoma Park library is doing a few things. Our first installment of the Silver Screen Book Club is featuring a book by Dahl. We will be doing a book discussion and a film screening relating to Dahl's book about a boy and a magic peach. There is still time to sign up. The film screening and book talk will take place on Tuesday, September 22 at 6:00 pm. Popcorn and drinks will be provided. Come into the library or call the children's room (202) 576-7486 for more details.

For Roald Dahl day on September 13th, I've set up a display over the mantle in the children's room featuring all things Dahl. Come and check out your favorite title for some rainy day reading this weekend. If you are interested in finding out more about Roald Dahl and his work please check out his website at http://www.roalddahl.com/.

New Arrivals! Books in Spanish for Children

We received a new shipment of children’s books in Spanish today. We have a few new board book titles, picture books, and nonfiction books in Spanish. These titles will be a great addition to our bilingual section. Please come in to check them out today! When my Spanish skills get a little better we will have a bilingual story time. I promise!

New Board Books
El pequeno Edu no se aburre nunca by Linne Bie
Que’ esconde el pequeno Edu by Linne Bie
El pequeno Edu va al pediatra by Linne Bie
Juana y los Colores by Ana Maria Gil
Juana y los Posiciones by Ana Maria Gil
Juana y los Tamanos by Ana Maria Gil

New Picture Books
Pomelo es Feliz by Ramona Badescu
Garbancito by Olalla Gonzalez
La Mejor Familia del Mundo by Susana Lopez
El Rino Realmenta Rudo by Jeanne Willis

New Nonfiction Books
I do India by Prodeepta Das
Oh, los Colores by Jorge Lujan
P de Piramides by Lali Sandiumenge

This Week at Takoma Park

Fall is finally starting to show itself, even if just a smidge! This pleases me immensely, as I am quite fond of Fall weather (not to mention Fall fashion.) I hope the changing season finds you in good spirits as well. We have a few upcoming events this week at the library, including our weekly Pre-K story time for 3-5 year olds as well as the new Teen Gaming Club. Our story time this week will focus on shapes and colors. I have a great flannel board planned as well as some interesting concept books. Our Young Adult Librarian, Miss Heather, has some great ideas for game night.

Also, dont' forget about our new book clubs for adults and children. The first informational session of the Adult Book Group will take place on Thursday the 17th. Additionally, it is not too late to sign up for the Silver Screen Book Club. We are reading a fantastic book by Roald Dahl. Our book group will meet on the 22nd and is designed for children 9-14. We will discuss the book to be immediately followed by a film screening. We hope to see you at a library event soon!

September 2, 2009
Program: Preschool Story Time - Color and Shape Theme
Time: 10:30 am
Ages: 3-5
Description: Join us in the children's room for stories, songs, rhymes, and more!

Program: Art in the Afternoon
Time: 3:30 pm
Ages: 6+
Description: Join us for art discussion using artwork from the "Picturing America" series to be followed by art techniques and an art contest.


September 4, 2009
Program: Teen Game Night
Time: 4:00 pm
Ages: 12-17
Description: Play games, sing, dance, draw. Be your loud silly selves!

This Week at Takoma Park Library

Here is our weekly events calendar at the Takoma Park Library. We hope to see you stop in this week!

Tuesday, August 18th
Event: PJ Story Time
Time: 7:00 pm
Ages: 0-6 with and adult
Description: Snuggle up with stories, songs and snacks. Feel free to wear your pjs and bring your stuffed animal or lovey.

Wednesday, August 19th
Event: Preschool Story Time - Back to School Theme
Time: 10:30 am
Ages: 3-5
Description: Join us in the children’s room for stories, songs, rhymes, and more.

Event: Art in the Afternoon
Time: 3:30 pm
Ages: 6+
Description: We discuss art from the picturing America Series, practice art techniques, drawing, and sketching. After each session we have library staff and customers vote for their favorite masterpiece of the afternoon.

Saturday, August 22
Event: Crafternoon
Time: 3:30 pm
Ages: 6+
Description: Join us in making simple story inspired, seasonal, or fun/funky crafts.

Scary As You Like It

I just wanted to share the news that I am collaborating with another coworker on a different type of blog. Nick Hirsch, from Watha T. Daniel Library, started a blog dedicated to fun and freaky books that walk on the dark side. I will be co-authoring the blog with him, and perhaps others in the future.

Spooky Books For Strange Children is dedicated to all things strange. It is for "the strange at heart, children and adults, who share a love of books bizarre, scary, terrifying, odd and, well, spooky!" We will post reviews for children and teens in different genres, with our main focus being on horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. It is our intention to create a blog that looks at scary and odd books from picture books, to easy readers, to chapter books and everything in between. We will compile subject and age-specific reading lists, post book reviews, and we look forward to discussion.

Go check it out today and start following our posts. Stay Scary!

This Week at Takoma Park!

Registration for summer reading is now closed, but that doesn't mean there is no reason to come into the library! Those who already enrolled can still read and earn prizes throughout August. For those who didn't enroll, feel free to come in and enjoy some of our weekly programming, check out some books, or surf the Internet.

This week, we have a few upcoming programs:

Wednesday August 5th
Program: Preschool Story Time - Elephant theme!
Time: 10:30
Ages: 3-5
Description: Join us in the Children's Room for stories, songs, rhymes, and more!

Program: Art in the Afternoon
Time: 3:30
Ages: 6+
Description: Join us for art techniques, art book exploration, art discussion, drawing, and sketching. This program now features a new piece from the "Picturing America" series each week. After each session staff and customers vote for their favorite artistic masterpiece.

Thursday August 7th
Program: Daniel Barash - Puppeteer
Time: 1:30
Ages: 4-8
Description: Learn the art of shadow puppetry & watch a puppet show.

Saturday August 8th
Program: Be Creative Saturday
Time: 2:00
Ages: 6-12
Description: Join me for an afternoon of amazing arts and crafts. This week we will be making bird masks. We'll look at birds in picture books and nature books to get inspired, and then we will create our own feathered-friend personas through the art of mask making. Let's get glued and feathered!

Book Spotlight: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

What happens if you give a mouse a cookie? We found out tonight at the Takoma Park Library. If you don't know what happens, you may want to consult the book. "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Joffe Numeroff is a funny book that shows the snowball effect if you give a hungry traveler mouse a snack. The young boy has a lot to deal with when it comes to his guest, but young readers and listeners will take delight in the mouse's antics. We have a copy available for checkout at the library. There are also mutliple copies system wide so feel free to place a hold with your library card and pin number at http://www.dclibrary.org/. If you have questions on how to place a hold, please call the information desk at (202) 576-7764 or the children's desk at (202) 576-7486.

PJ Story Time Tonight: Other Great Events this Week

Just a reminder that PJ story time is tonight at 7 pm. Children ages 0-6 (with an adult) are encouraged to attend to enjoy stories, songs, coloring, and snacks. Feel free to bring your stuffed animal or lovey and enjoy the story time! We hope to see you tonight.

There are also some other great events taking place this week. Summer reading registration closes at the end of this month, so if you haven't enrolled and want to win prizes, please come in to one of our events and sign up for summer reading this week!

Tonight, July 21

Program: PJ Story Time

Age: 0-6

Time: 7:00

Description: Snuggle up with stories, songs & snacks. Feel free to wear your pjs & slippers and bring your stuffed animal or lovey.

Wednesday, July 22

Program: Kathy McMillan - Children's Story Teller

Age: all ages

Time: 10:30

Description: explore American Sign Language through music and stories.

Program: Art in the Afternoon

Age: 6+

Time: 3:30

Description: Join us for art techniques, art book exploration, drawing, and sketching. Each participant has a chance to win a small prize bag if their artwork is voted the 'favorite' of the afternoon session by staff, customers, and other participants.

Saturday, July 25

Program: Crafternoon

Age: 8 and up or below 8 with an adult

Time: 2:00

Description: Come in and make a simple story-inspired or seasonal craft. There will aslo be drawing paper for those who would rather sketch and color.

Upcoming Events: This Week at Takoma Park

We have a busy week this week at Takoma Park Neighborhood Library. Summer reading programs are in full swing, not to mention we are still offering our Wednesday Preschool Story Time. In addition to special and regular programming we are delighted to offer a new program that will take place on Wednesday afternoons. I will be hosting "Art in the Afternoon" every Wednesday for the rest of this month. I will demonstrate art techniques, highlight our art book collection, and let participants free style sketch, draw, and/or paint for each afternoon session. At the end of the afternoon, staff and customers will vote for their favorite piece of art and the winner will receive a prize bag. Each participant will get a free prize from the summer reading prize box as well. We hope to see you at one, or more, of our many great programs this week.

Tuesday July 14th

Program: Lyn Dancing

Time: 6:30

Ages: Teens

Wednesday July 15th

Program: Preschool Story Time

Time: 10:30

Ages: 3-5 year olds

Description: Join us in the Children's Room for stories, songs, rhymes and more!

Wednesday July 15th

Program: Art in the Afternoon

Time: 3:30

Ages: 6+

Description: Join us for art techniques, drawing, art book exploration, and sketching. One artist will be voted the top winner for that day and they will receive a small prize bag.

Thursday July 16th

Program: Fast Freddy the Clown

Time: 1:30

Ages: All Ages

Description: Join us as we host Fast Freddy the Clown and his comedic and artistic magic.

Saturday July 18th

Program: Expressin' Out Teens

Time: 2:00

Ages: Teens

Description: Join YA Librarian Heather Petsche while she hosts a project runway contest. Bring in a t-shirt which you can then learn how to reshape and style into a whole new look.

Be Creative Saturday This Afternoon

Just a reminder that we will have a Be Creative event in the children's room this afternoon. One of my colleauges from another branch had his crafters make craft stick puppets. They turned out quite precious so I thought, why not? We have piles of jumbo craft sticks downstairs in the art supplies cupboard and this is a perfect way to use them. If you don't want to make a popsicle stick puppet, you are welcome to do some drawing or writing. I will have some art books pulled for your enjoyment! See you today at 2:00 in the children's room!

Summer Reading Continues!

The 4th of July is over, but there is still plenty of time to rock out at the Takoma Park Library. Children and teens are able to sign up for the summer reading program until the end of July. The summer reading programs "Be Creative @ Your Library" for children and "Express Yourself" for teens have some great performers and special events coming up in July and August. If you match the reading goal of six books you can earn some fun incentive prizes and also get your name entered in the raffle for the big award at the end of the summer.

Small prizes for children include inflatable guitars (which my lovely niece Amelie is showing off in the photo), sports balls, stuffed animals, light up pens, puppets, and many other things. Small prizes for teens include glitter lamps, light up pens, MP3 players, flash drives, and art sets. These cool trinkets and prizes could be yours and all you have to do is read! So whether you're into Very Hungry Caterpillars, Lions, Witches, and Wardrobes, or teenage vampires, you can earn some fun awards. Stop by the library today to sign up!

Also, for those interested, here are some upcoming events at the library this week:

Tuesday July 7th at 1:30: Janice the Griot - Storyteller for children

Wednesday July 8th at 10:30: Preschool Story Time for children 3-5

Friday July 10th: Young Adult program at 1:30

Saturay July 11th: Be Creative Saturday at 2:00 for children 8+ or younger with an adult

Preschool Story Time Tomorrow!

Just a reminder that we will be hosting our neighborhood Preschool Story Time tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. This regular story time session is intended for children ages 3-5 and includes stories, fingerplays, poems, songs, flannel boards and MORE stories! We will have a sand and surf beach theme tomorrow! We hope to see you there.

Silver Screen Book Club coming this Fall

This Fall I will be starting a Silver Screen Book Club for children and teens ages 10-14. There is a huge assortment of wonderful books that have been made into films and we will explore some of those. This will be a very enriching experience, noting differences between the way a story is told in the two formats and also seeing the benefits of each type of media.

This program will start in late September but right now we are looking for suggestions. If you have a favorite book that was turned into a film and it is appropriate for this age group (reading level wise and content wise) please let us know. I will be reading books and screening films throughout July and August so any suggestions would be helpful!

Be Creative Saturday!

Today starting at 2:oo pm we will have our "Be Creative Saturday" for June. For those feeling crafty we will be making pinwheel pencils. This craft is easy for children of all ages, but for those under 5, please make sure they are with an adult.

For those who don't feel like crafting but would rather draw or sketch, come check out our awesome assortment of drawing books. We recently received some new manga how to draw books as well as some books on drawing wizards, witches, and fantasy creatures. It will be a fun afternoon so stop on by for arts, crafts, and snacks.

Boardbook Spotlight: Mommy, Mama, and Me

With all the books that come across my desk on a daily basis, sometimes they all start to look the same. Covers blur. Storylines jumble. It's all a big bookish haze! Today however, a seemingly unassuming little boardbook jumped across my desk this afternoon with a big message. Love comes in all shapes and sizes. It comes from all types of people from all different places. Love is so beautiful in its simplicity.

Mommy, Mama, and Me by Leslea Newman is a boardbook about a little boy who receives lots of help, love, attention, and encouragement from his parents; Mommy and Mama. By removing all the hype around the oft discussed issue of same sex relationships we can see the most basic element that brings families of all sorts together -- love. Reading this with your child, I'm sure you will relate to many of the experiences the characters go through, from play time, to bath time, to sleepy time. These two parents are attentive and provide a strong sense of security for their little one, as I'm sure you strive to do. The text and phrasing, which relies on a simple cadence and rhyming scheme, make it a great book to work on your child's phonological awareness, which is their ability to recognize the sound structure, or phonological structure, of spoken words. Overall, this is a wonderful little book with a wonderful big message.