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National Book Award Finalists
It’s getting close to the time of year when the “Best of the Best” lists come out for just about everything – including books! The National Book Award just posted it’s finalists in its four areas Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature. As per usual, I’m really only interested…
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Storytime Theme: Purple
This was the first storytime of the fall session and I had far, far too much planned. Because it was the first one, I had to explain a lot of who I was, how storytime works, and our storytime rules. This took up so much time that we didn’t even…
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Cybils Nominations
Nominate your favorite books published between October 16, 2013 and October 15, 2014 in the following categories: Young Adult Non-fiction Young Adult Speculative Fiction Young Adult Fiction Poetry Book Apps Middle Grade Fiction Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Elementary/Middle Grade Non-fiction Fiction Picture Books Graphics Easy Reader/Short Chapter Books for the…
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Locomotive
For train-enthusiasts, Locomotive is a beautifully written and illustrated book about the early beginnings of the cross-country railroad. With beautifully illustrated pictures that really show the details of early trains, to the rhythmic text that reminds you of a train racing down the train tracks – this is the perfect…
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Bad Girls
This was such an interesting title, I just had to pick it up! Written in (very) short chapters, the authors cover 26 “bad” girls of history with graphic novel conversation between the authors as to their own opinions on each of the women. Many of these women I have heard…
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Courage Has No Color
Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America’s First Black Paratroopers written by Tanya Lee Stone is such an interesting piece of history that I had never heard before. I am amazed by informational text authors finding these interesting subjects to write about – I feel that…
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Summer Book Discussion Group for Middle School Students (Grades 5-8)
The job of a children’s librarian is never done. Just as I’ve finally caught my breath with a number of programs and projects, the summer planning is looming ahead of me. Each year we offer our rising 5th – 8th graders two different book discussion opportunities. The first is called…
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Fun Friday Program – Urban Art
Friday’s program was a lot of fun! We ended up with 27 students from 1st – 4th grade. Our theme for the month was “Urban Art.” Because these kids live only about 20 minutes outside of Philadelphia with its largest public art program in the country, I felt that urban…
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Animal Grossapedia
If there was ever a book that boys (and some girls!) might like to peruse – it’s this one! Animal Grossapedia by Melissa Stewart is an encyclopedia of over 50 gross things that animals do. You’ll find everything from dung beetles to koala bears and vampire bats. Each animal is…
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Their Skeletons Speak: Kennewick Man and the Paleoamerican World
I know, I know, it’s Valentine’s Day and I’m not writing about love, hugs, or kisses! I figured that since I’ve done that all week, we all needed a break and I just finished this book the other day, so it worked out perfectly. I picked up Their Skeletons Speak…