• Reviews

    My Not-Best List

    It’s been a particularly busy year for me – I bought a house in April, adopted a dog in August and in addition to working full-time, being an 2014 Emerging Leader for ALA and working with other committees as well.  That being said, I didn’t get the chance to read…

  • Lifestyle

    Boys Books vs. Girls Books

    I just read this article, “‘Where Are All The Boy Books?’ You’re Buying Them” that was posted last Monday by Kelly Jensen on Book Riot.  It takes a look at the 2014 Top-Selling Children’s and Young Adult books on Amazon and found that there are a number of “boy” books…

  • Lifestyle

    Not Only Storytime, Early Literacy Training

    Today, I’m spending the day at a training to become an instructor to provide training for early childhood providers as well as parents. We’re focusing on the Pennsylvania Early Learning Standards for Infants – Kindergartens as well as the Pennsylvania Core Knowledge Competencies for Early Childhood & School-Age Professionals. These…

  • Activities

    Sensory Play at Home

    I’m currently working on putting together a brochure for sensory play at home.  Within the brochure, I’ve got a little information about what makes sensory play so important for little ones, six recipes to make at home using typical household ingredients, and a whole slew of ideas on the back…

  • Lifestyle

    Holiday Early Literacy Extras

    The holidays are just about here and although there has been a lot of talk as to whether or not holiday programming has a place in the public library, I’ve thought of some great ways to encourage early literacy at home during the holidays, yes it’s Christmas focused, but that…

  • Activities

    Fun Friday: Dance Party

    I was going to go with a mock Caldecott event for my Fun Friday program last week. But at the last minute, decided to change the plan to have a dance party… The kids are at that point in the school year where they need a break and don’t want…

  • Lifestyle

    NPR's Book Concierge

    It’s that time of year as librarians, bloggers, websites, organizations and more create their “Best of the Best” list for the past year.  While I would love to post about all the different lists that are available, sadly, I don’t have the time, so instead, as I find lists that…

  • Lifestyle

    Bibliotherapy for Teens

    Over the past month or so, there has been a lot of talk about bibliotherapy for teens, specifically in an article published in School Library Journal, dealing with “tough” topics including depression, eating disorders, OCD, PTSD and more.  It’s a wonderful way to connect kids to realistic characters that are dealing with these…

  • Lifestyle

    Kid & Family Reading Report

    Last week Scholastic provided a sneak peek of there Kid & Family Reading Report which is due out in January. The brief sneak peek shows information, that I feel. Makes sense about kids today,but I’m interested to see more when the actual report comes out. “70% of kids ages 6…