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

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

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.

Birds and Other New Picture Books

We are getting some great new picture books in the children's room. Some titles are perfect for our summer reading theme (Be Creative @ Your Library) and some are just perfect for other reasons. One great new book I think everyone should check out is Birds.

Birds, written by Kevin Henkes and illustrated by Laura Dronzek, is a wonderful new picture book just in time for bird watching weather. The wondrous simplicity of this book and the bold illustrations make it a perfect introduction to the carefree world of our feathered friends. Concepts such as color, size, and amount are worked into the text. Told from the perspective of a littler girl, the observations of bird behavior are fresh and imaginative. For example, when describing a flock of black birds perched in a tree, Henkes writes “If there are lots of birds in one tree and they all fly away at the same time, it looks like the tree yelled,” and when you turn the page, “SURPRISE!” as the illustration shows the black birds taking flight. This is definitely a delightful book to share with your young ones. Find it on the new books display today!

Here are some of the other new titles we've received this week:
Can You Hear It - by William Lach
Muriel’s Red Sweater - by Dara Dokas
The Travel Game - by John Grandits
I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello - by Barbara S. Garriel
Belinda and the Glass Slipper - by Amy Young
Which Puppy - by Kate Feiffer
Froggy Plays in the Band - by Jonathan London

(Image courtesy of the Kevin Henkes website)