Kids Blog

Zany Wooden Toys

mrsweasley@evpl — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:04:00 GMT

I'm not a woodworker myself, but if I were, I would want to work my way through all the projects in Zany Wooden Toys the Whiz, Spin, Pop and Fly. It's a delightfully colorful book filled with excellent illustrative photos, clear and precise how-to drawings, and really fun-looking projects. There's an appendix that provides a tutorial on woodworking basics, too.

Author Bob Gilsdorf brings a sense of fun and exuberance to this book that will enchant and inspire kids who love to create and invent. If I were a kid, I'd make sure that this book found its way into the hands of some Grandpa, parent, or friend with a woodshop.

Books for Boys and Ghouls

mrsweasley@evpl — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:50:00 GMT

With just about a week left until Halloween, most of the Halloween books in our Holiday collections have been snapped up and won't reappear until at least the Day of the Dead (Nov. 1). But here's a monstrous secret: many spooky stories are not found in the Holiday collection. Here are some books that will put a shiver up your spine or a coax a cackle from you, all found in our Picture Book, Easy Reader, Fiction, or Non-fiction collections.

Picture Books Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and Frankenstein Takes the Cake by Adam Rex consist of humorous verse about the trials of being a monster, with illustrations reminiscent of classic monster flix by the author. Michael Rex (no relation, as far as I can tell) gives us Goodnight Goon and The Runaway Mummy, good-natured monster's-eye parodies of Margaret Wise Brown's beloved bedtime stories.

Another parody favorite is Judy Sierra's gruesome reworkings of familiar nursery rhymes, Monster Goose, found on our shelves at 811.54 SIERR.

For little ones who need to be reassured that monsters can be conquered, try Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley. The scary Big Green Monster is disassembled piece by piece as you turn the die-cut pages in an empowering lapsit experience. Pair that with Sesame Street "monster"Lovable Furry Old Grover in The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone.

Other gentle ghost stories for the younger set are Ghosts in the House and Hush, Baby Ghostling. Get kids involved in the story with the very slightly scary (but mostly fun) Can YOU Make a Scary Face?

Beginning readers will enjoy Alice Low's The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches or In a Dark, Dark Room, and Other Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz in our Easy Reader collection.

Alvin Schwartz also authored the ever-popular Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Series, which you'll find at 398.25 SCHWA. While you're in the 398s, pick up Cinderella Skeleton (398.2 SAN ) by Robert D. San Souci, a rhymed retelling of Cinderella with artwork by David Catrow that may remind you of the movie Corpse Bride.

Lurking in the juvenile fiction collection (and currently on the NEW shelf) is The Book of Ghosts. Selected and illustrated by father-son artists Michael and Devon Hague, The Book of Ghosts is a collection of classic ghost stories from masters such as Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft and other well-known writers. It includes that standard for creepy suspense, "The Monkey's Paw," by W. W. Jacobs.

Contemporary author Neil Gaiman follows neatly in the footsteps of classic horror/suspense writers. He was recognized with a Newbery Medal earlier this year for his creepy fantasy The Graveyard Book. If you missed some of his earlier children's fare, check out Coraline (also available as a graphic novel) and The Wolves in the Walls to give yourself a Halloween treat.

Animals and ABCs

mrsweasley@evpl — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:51:00 GMT

Kids love animals, so Creature ABC will fascinate them with its range of familiar and not-so-familiar beasts.Photographs from Andrew Zuckerman's 2007 work Creature are arranged alphabet-book style, with a letter and photograph on facing pages, then another photograph and a word on the next 2-page spread.

The photographs have to be seen to appreciate their detail, clarity and expressiveness. Some of the smaller animals (fish, bird, frog) are about life size and all are reproduced in brilliant color. Kids and adults will enjoy looking at this book together. I predict that the kids will not want to put it down, and adults will sneak back for another peek.

Cursed

HipChick@evpl — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:19:00 GMT

The Pire family was perfectly happy living on Nostfer Avenue. But, when the new neighbors move in, things change quickly. The Wolfson's stay up all night, they lock their windows, and they love sunshine! What's a happy vampire family to do? They are too different in too many ways to get along. Little Pire Bram writes to his Grandfather in Transylvania, "Dear Vampa...mom asks if you can get the guest crypt ready for us." This story is a funny book for Halloween, but also could be used to talk about differences, acceptance and finding common ground. Much to the dismay of the Wolfson's, who are not who they seem, the vampire family moves out. It is so hard to find good neighbors. Check this one out, you'll love it!

Holiday Harmony Multi-Cultural Event

FiddleChick@evpl — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:21:00 GMT

We are currently looking for people to sing or speak the first verse of Silent Night in other languages.

In the past we have had the pleasure of hearing this verse in Swahili, Navajo, Dutch, German, Japanese and Gaelic.

If you or someone you know would be interested in participating in our Annual Holiday Harmony event, held Wednesday, December 16th at 5:30pm christas@evpl.org

We look forward to hearing from you!

Never Race a Runaway Pumpkin

UndergroundLibrarian@evpl — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:20:00 GMT

This is #7 in the Roscoe Riley Rules series by Katherine Applegate. It's just the thing for October! First-grader Roscoe is all excited about guessing the weight of the giant pumpkin in the bookstore window to win books for his school library -- and candy for himself. But his superstitious nature takes over when he encounters a black kitten there.

Roscoe's teacher uses this opportunity to discuss estimating, along with superstitions. And she does her best with him, but as he says, "Ms. Diz had that I-need-a-nap look she sometimes gets, but usually not until the ned of the day." Roscoe seems to be sitting in the time-out chair a lot -- he starts the story there, and the rest of the book tells how he got there.

Roscoe reminds me a little of Junie B. Jones because he always seems to be in one scrape or another, but he does not use the kind of baby talk that Junie B. Jones does. These are good beginning chapter books.

Today's the perfect day

HipChick@evpl — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:24:00 GMT

See that awful weather outside? Feel that chilly nip in the air? Today is the perfect day! Let's do nothing! This story is about two little boys who have spent their day doing everything. Now what? They try to do the near impossible task of ten whole seconds of nothing! Hold their breath, not a blink of an eye, remain absolutely still. The cartoon like illustrations will humor all ages as they come to realize doing nothing is a lot harder than it seems.

Can you do it?

Underpants On My Head

UndergroundLibrarian@evpl — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We just got 2 new juvenile fiction books by Jessica Harper. The first in the series is Uh-oh Cleo. The second is Uh-oh, Cleo, Underpants on my Head. They say you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but who ever said anything about its title? I went directly to the Underpants book. Given the success of all the Captain Underpants books that Dav Pilkey has written, I'd say kids will pick this up. Unlike Pilkey's books, this one is based on an event that took place in Jessica Harper's youth. At 60 pages, it's aimed at young readers, and Cleo, who tells the story, is an eight-year-old girl.

You know right from the beginning about the underpants thing. It starts like this: "Two things you hardly ever see are snow in summer and underpants on my head. But if you'd been on Mount Baldy last August 19th, you'd have seen both at once!"

And just to be sure you realize that this story really came from Jessica Harper's own childhood, the picture on the back flap gives you the chance to see a young Jessica and her brother wearing their spare underpants on their heads during a snowstorm. Yep, it looks like her dad really did take a picture.

Cleo and her family have several other adventures on their vacation from Illinois to Colorado, and the rest of them are typical family adventures. Well, typical if there are 6 kids in your family, with 3 of them being young enough to provide plenty of entertainment for all the rest of the airplane passengers.

Jessica Harper ends Cleo's account by having Cleo think of some other family adventures she could write about. This could be a way to get kids started on writing stories from their own adventures -- even if they have never worn underpants on their heads.

The Next Newbery?

UndergroundLibrarian@evpl — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:30:00 GMT

I've just read a review of When You Reach Me from our EVPL Newsletters. The reviewer fully expects this book to win the next Newbery Award and/or be high on all the best children's books of the year lists. (Click here to read that review.) Rebecca Stead has written a book that begins with 12-year-old Miranda in the 1979-1980 school year.

It seems to be in the realistic fiction category, albeit with some wacky people, perhaps the wackiest being the homeless man who sleeps on the sidewalk with his head under the mailbox. And Miranda does receive some notes that are scary and unnerving because 1) they are unsigned and 2) they make predictions that all come true. But by the time I finished reading this book, I decided that it belongs in a different category.

I'd love to read other people's opinions. What do you think? Do you think, in the reviewer's words, "it's that good"?

Mystery at the Club Sandwich

UndergroundLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:41:00 GMT

Everybody likes a good mystery, right? And a good detective, too. Nick Trunk is a great detective -- that's his picture there on the cover. He works for peanuts -- not bad, since he's an elephant. Doug Cushman tells and illustrates this picture book in the style of the old detective stories and movies, hence the black and white illustrations. Just in case we miss this point, he dedicates the book to Sam, Phil and Dashiell.

This mystery is about Lola Gale, a foxy -- oops, a fox -- singer at the nightclub called Club Sandwich. When her lucky marbles get stolen (okay, they say she's lost her marbles), she sends her assistant to Nick Trunk for help. NIck narrates this story, and when he sees Maggie come in he tells us that she looks like trouble. She is. Her name is Maggie Trouble.

Clues? A very expensive brand of peanut butter called La Peanut Goo and an ostrich feather. And who uses those things? It turns out that several people --er, animals -- who work at Club Sandwich dol So who's the thief? The magician who performs the Disappearing Peanut Butter Jar trick? The chef who uses an ostrich feather to spread peanut butter on his culinary creations? Maggie herself with her ostrich feather boa? You can find out by reading Mystery at the Club Sandwich.

Doug Cushman has illustrated many picture books including those he has written himself. We have lots of them in our library collection. This one is fun to read for kids and adults, too.

Brendan Buckley's Universe - and everything in it

kiya@evpl — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:26:00 GMT

Brendan is a ten year old scientist. He likes to understand the world and how it works. He has a whole notebook of the questions he has about the world, and the answers he has discovered. Brendan is ten, and one day at a rock show at the mall, he accidentally runs into the grandfather he has never met - his mom's dad. No one will tell him why his grandpa Ed lives ten miles away, and they've never met. Brandon begins to suspect that it is because his mom is white, and his dad is black. Brandon is already struggling to understand why the color of his skin makes a difference to people he doesn't even know, and finding that some questions just don't seem to have good answers.

This is an interesting, thought-provoking book about a subject that can be hard for kids to understand. Sundee Frazier, the author, is multi-racial, and makes the subject accessible to pre-teens.

Lucy Long Ago: Uncovering the Mystery of Where We Came From

UndergroundLibrarian@evpl — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:48:00 GMT

When they found her fossilized bones in 1974, the scientists had a tape recording of the Beatles' Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. They were so excited at their discovery that they played it over and over. So the hominid uncovered in Hadar, Ethiopia, has come to be called Lucy.

Catherine Thimmesh has written numerous award-winning nonfiction children's books. In Lucy Long Ago she turns her attention to the discovery of the oldest, most complete fossil skeleton ever found, and the earliest one to be bipedal, or walking on two feet. She follows the scientists in their work from Ethiopia to a lab in Cleveland, Ohio. There are lots of questions.

How did Donald Johanson get the pieces safely to Cleveland? By packing them carefully in toilet paper into a carry on suitcase which he held on his lap the whole way. Thimmesh goes into detailed descriptions, complete with photos and drawings, of how the scientists went about reconstructing the fossilized pieces into what they feel is their original shape.

How did they find their answers? By examining the bones. In this attractively laid-out book every so often is a section entitled And the Bones Said. . . Reading these sections will show how the scientists answer: *Was the skeleton adult or child? *Was it male or female? *Have people found examples of Lucy-types before, or was she the first? *How old is Lucy? *Could Lucy walk?

Then there is the work of paleo-artist John Gurche. He spent 15 months creating a sculpture of Lucy. Catherine Thimmish explains how he started with the bones and used educated guesses to progress from there to create the sculpture -- how he developed muscle, eyes, hair, skin color, etc. She concludes that chapter with "It is the image that really makes us wonder . . . is that what Lucy looked like?"

While this book is in the children's area, it is equally fascinating for adults, and at 63 pages, is quite manageable. Sources, websites, and index are included.

Looking For a Classic Children's Book?

UndergroundLibrarian@evpl — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:52:00 GMT

Sometimes it's good to read a brand new book, and sometimes you're looking for one that you know is tried and true. Every so often, Horn Book publishes a current list of children's classics. Their most recent compilation was published in April. Categories include For the Very Young, Picture Books, For Beginning Readers, Stories, Echos of Times Past, Myths, and Nonfiction. To see their list click here. I found so many old favorites here. I bet you'll find something that you really loved as a child yourself, and many that you will want to share with the children in your life.

Know Any Budding Authors?

UndergroundLibrarian@evpl — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:46:00 GMT

A Book is the book for them! Mordicai Gerstein has written and illustrated this picture book about a family who lived in a book. "When the book was closed it was night in the book and the family slept. When the book was open it was morning and the family woke up." Then all the characters woke up and went off into their own stories.

Every story has a problem, and here is this one: The girl doesn't have a story. So she starts off to find one. In the process she encounters stories of all types, and lots of familiar characters (if you've been reading your Mother Goose and fairy tales and Alice in Wonderland, etc.)

At first glance, the illustrations seem to be from an odd angle -- we seem to be viewing everyone from above, complete with their shadows. THen a goose tellls the girl to look up, where she is terrified to see a "huge...blobby thing that looks something like a face!" The goose explains that what she sees is a reader. In other words, us!

This would be a good way to give a quick introduction to mysteries, science fiction, historical fiction, and the like. And in the end the girl starts writing her own story -- a good time for your young reader to do the same.

Mordicai Gerstein was awarded the 2004 Caldecott Medal for The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, a true account of those events. A Book shows his fanciful side -- he has a great imagination!

9-Year-Old Author Tells How To Talk To Girls, Moms, Dads, and Santa!

UndergroundLibrarian@evpl — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:45:00 GMT

Alec Greven wrote his first self help book at the age of 9 when he was in the third grade in Castle Rock, Colorado, as a school assignment. Then he sold copies of it at his school book fair for $3.00. Now he has a publisher, HarperCollins, and he's taken his advice to such tv spots as Ellen, the Tonight Show, and others. Alec's first book is How to Talk To Girls, based on his observations at Soaring Hawk Elementary School. I love the end of that book: "Whatever happens, don't let it make you crazy. That's it. I am all out of ideas. Good-bye! Good luck!"

But apparently he really wasn't all out of ideas, because he went on to write How to Talk to Moms and How To Talk to Dads, and coming out this fall is How To Talk to Santa.

Alec is one cool character. You can click here for the HarperCollins page on Alec to see an interview with him on How to Talk to Girls. But what I want to know is, has Alec's advice worked for him? I haven't found the answer to that anywhere.