All posts by Children's Staff
Read With Your Child!
Have a variety of books located throughout the house where your child can access them by him or herself.
Talk With Your Child!
Call attention to things in the environment.
For example, while driving point out a stop sign or the name of a restaurant.
Caldecott awards for illustrations
This year the Caldecott medal was awarded to the illustrator of Finding Winnie: the true story of the world’s most famous bear. Sophie Blackall did the illustrations for Lindsay Mattick’s story.
Once upon a time, there was a veterinarian in Winnipeg, Canada who joined the army in World War I to take care of the horses. This is the amazing story of how Harry Colebourn found a bear cub, took it to England with the army and ultimately found a home for the bear at the London Zoo. He named the bear Winnie after his hometown.
A little boy named Christopher Robin Milne visited the London Zoo often, became friends with Winnie and decided to name his stuffed bear Winnie-the-Pooh. A. A. Milne then wrote many stories about his son Christopher Robin’s adventures with Pooh.
The author of Finding Winnie is the great-granddaughter of Harry Colebourn. She tells the story in this book the way she would tell a bedtime story to her son Cole. She and her son become characters in the book, asking and answering many questions.
There is a terrific description of the beauty of this book in a blog written by Lolly Robinson. The details she discusses could easily be overlooked, but now you’ll now how to look more carefully at the choices artists make when illustrating a story. You can also get a pretty good idea of the behind-the-scenes workings of the committees that choose the winning books.
The following books were given Caldecott honor awards:
This book also received the Newbery medal for the text. (see yesterday’s post)
~Maureen
A Surprising Newbery Award Book
A picture book won the Newbery medal this morning!
The American Library Association announced awards this morning for the most distinguished children’s books.
The criteria for the Newbery award is as follows: “The Medal shall be awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published by an American publisher in the United States in English during the preceding year.”
We are used to the award going to a novel (which we call chapter books in the children’s room).
This year it went to a picture book! I was particularly surprised because there were some outstanding novels this year.
I bought this book as a Christmas present for my grandchildren, because I love it so much. The nana is a great, unforgettable character. I should read this book daily to begin to look at the world through her eyes.
Last Stop on Market Street was also awarded a Caldecott honor award for illustrations. The author did not do the illustrations, so it was lovely that both the author and illustrator were acknowledged by 2 different committees.
The last time that an author and illustrator won the Newbury medal and a Caldecott honor for the same book was in 1982. A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: poems for innocent and experienced travelers by Nancy Willard with illustrations by Alice and Martin Provensen.
Newbery Honor books this year:
Two colleagues and one child tried very hard to get me to read this book. I tried, but I got too sad at the beginning. Perhaps I will try again.
Roller Girl is told in comic format which is a really good choice to show the action of the sport. It is a story of 2 best friends growing up and starting to grow apart. I must admit that I have gone to several Roller Derby matches in Wilmington, MA and my oldest daughter’s sister-in-law has participated in roller derby for years, so I was very pleased that this story got an award.
I thought Echo was going to win the Newbery award this year. At 585 pages, it is very hard to compare to the picture book that won; both are outstanding books. This one has 3 different story lines, so it is challenging for children to read. A colleague convinced me to listen to the audio version, so I’m waiting for the audio book now. I’m sure I won’t be finished reading before it is my turn for the audio.
In my next post, I’ll let you know about the Caldecott winners.
~Maureen
Dads and Donuts January 9, 2016
Happy New Year! Today was a damp and drippy day, but inside the library we had lots of fun reading stories and singing songs. Our first story had to do with a certain snack we’d soon be sharing:
Then we read one of my favorite stories– I love being able to use my grumpy voice AND my happy voice!
In our next story, we discovered that winter is the warmest season! Is that really true? Read the book to find out:
Do you think it would be fun to be a penguin? We learned about some of the things penguins do, and some of the places where they live. Lots of large, beautiful paintings brought us up close and personal with these fascinating birds:
Do you know what a “yes day” is? Read the story to find out if you’d like to have one at your house!
Bubble Dance Parties
We’re inviting our youngest patrons (ages 0-6) to a bubble dance party at the Main Library! We hosted one yesterday that was loads of fun. We sing some storytime songs, listen to some music and dance along to songs that make us move – Do You Love Me (now that I can dance)? by The Contours and Happy by Parrell Williams, for example.
There will be 2 more parties: Tuesday, January 12 at 10:00 am and Tuesday, January 19 at 10:00 am. Each one lasts approximately a half hour.
You can drop-in to these.
~Maureen
Play With Your Child!
Act out a story together, using puppets, people or toys. Drape a sheet over a few chairs to make a performance area.
Sing With Your Child!
Play a variety of music at different times of the day. Expose children to your favorites along with traditional children’s songs.
Write With Your Child!
Have your child “write” a thank you note after receiving a gift. This can be a drawing, dictated words or your child’s own writing.
Books for Toddlers, Friday, December 18
The toddlers and their caregivers gathered together today for our last storytime for a while. (Storytimes will resume the last week in January.) We had a great time singing about “two little blackbirds.” The birds “sat on a hill,” “sat on a cloud,” and “flew in the sky.” We decided not to sing about the birds sitting in the snow! That time will come soon enough!
We all joined together to read a simple version of The Gingerbread Man. There are lots of great versions of this story, but the one by Beatrice Rodriguez seems just right for the toddlers and their caregivers, as everyone joined in to read “Run, run, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me. I’m the gingerbread man.” At the end of the story, the fox eats the gingerbread man, so at the end of our storytime, the children got the opportunity to eat a gingerbread man cookie!