• Lists

    Go Camping with Picture Books

    My parents were (and still are) pretty cool – they’d pack all four of us up (with the dog), maybe some cousins and we’d go camping all around western PA in the summer. We had a small pop-up camper and I absolutely loved every minute of it! So I’ve created…

  • Lists

    YA Beach Reads

    We Were Liars by e. Lockhart The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler The Summer After You + Me by  Jennifer Salvato Doktorski Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han Sixteenth Summer by Michelle Dalton Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland Be True to…

  • Lifestyle

    Reader's Choice

    Summer Reading is in full swing and without a doubt, we’ve had parents requesting classics, literary books, and titles that will challenge their kids, rather than picking up the Diary of a Wimpy Kid title for the 100th time.  And while classics, literary fiction and challenging works have their place, I strongly…

  • Lifestyle

    Children's Resource: Reading Beyond Book List

    I’m so excited to promote this amazing booklist, just in time for summer reading and all those parents looking for books for their kids who read beyond their grade level. The Reading Beyond booklist is a list of “75 titles chosen by the ALA-CBC (American Library Association & Children’s Book…

  • Lifestyle

    The Big Nate Effect

    This is something that has been going on for at least the past two years and it’s a phenomenon that my children’s librarian and I can’t figure out. We have at least two copies of every single Big Nate  book written by Lincoln Peirce. And there aren’t only a couple books…

  • Activities

    Maker Monday: Stop Motion Animation

    Our program is geared toward children entering 3rd – 6th grade in the fall.  We only register 20 kids for the program because we only have 10 iPads and with technology and science programs, less is more. This is our second Maker Monday program of the summer featuring our iPads…

  • Lifestyle

    Mini-Vacation

    It’s been a crazy summer so far and we still have a few weeks left of summer reading, so I’m taking a little break “down the shore” (as they say in the Philly-area) this weekend! Hopefully to get some reading done! See you Monday!

  • Lists

    25 Summer Reads from Picture Books to YA Novels

    The Raft by Jim LaMarche Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse Summer Days and Nights by Wong Herbert Yee To the Beach by Linda Ashman The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach by Melanie Watt Pool by Chi-hyŏn Yi One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab by…

  • Lists

    15 Books to Keep You Cool This Summer

    Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester The Adventures of a South Pole Pig by Chris Kurtz Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett Flora and the Penguin by Molly Idle Polar Bear Night by Lauren Thompson Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara Joosse Frozen Secrets: Antarctica…