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December 2012
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Upcoming Events for Children's Librarians
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December 2012MARK YOUR CALENDAR Upcoming Events for Children's Librarians |
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Art of Ezra Jack Keats at Contemporary Jewish Museum:
The Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) presents The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats, the first major United States exhibition to pay tribute to award-winning author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats (1916-1983), whose beloved children's books include Whistle for Willie (1964), Peter's Chair (1967), and The Snowy Day (1962).
The exhibit runs from November 15, 2012 to February 24, 2013. The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco is located at 736 Mission Street. For hours, admission fees, and special programs, see www.thecjm.org/about/press/press-releases/246-the-snowy-day-and-the-art-of-ezra-jack-keats .
Published at the height of the American civil-rights movement and winner of the prestigious Caldecott Medal, The Snowy Day became a milestone, featuring the first African American protagonist in a full-color picture book.
The Snowy Day went on to inspire generations of readers, and paved the way for multiracial representation in American children's literature. Also pioneering were the dilapidated urban settings of Keats's stories. Picture books had rarely featured such gritty landscapes before.
The exhibition features over eighty original works from preliminary sketches and dummy books, to final paintings and collages for the artist's most popular books. Also on view are examples of Keats's most introspective, but less-known work inspired by nature, Asian art, and haiku poetry, as well as documentary material and photographs.
The exhibition, organized by The Jewish Museum in New York, is part of a wide-scale celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Snowy Day.
Nat'l Book Award for Youth Goes to Alexander:
William Alexander's fantasy Goblin Secrets (Margaret K. McElderry, 2012), received the National Book Award in the category for young people's literature, announced on Nov. 14, 2012. Alexander quoted fellow fantasy writer Ursula K. Le Guin, highlighting the importance of stories for shaping kids' imaginations and making the world a larger place than the one they live in. "We have to remember that," Alexander said. Read more: www.nationalbook.org/nba2012_ypl_alexander.html.
2013 Grammy Award Nominees: Best Children's Album:
The winner will be announced on February 10, 2013.
Contra Costa Library Receives National Medal for Museum and Library Service:
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has selected five libraries and five museums to receive the 2012 National Medal for Museum and Library Service. The National Medal is the nation's highest honor for museums and libraries for extraordinary civic, educational, economic, environmental, and social contributions. Recipients must demonstrate innovative approaches to public service and community outreach.
California's Contra Costa County Library was named one of the innovative libraries for 2012, for their Snap & Go program. The Contra Costa Library system is reshaping how residents access library services on the go. Snap & Go, a smart phone application using a Quick Response (QR) code, enables the Library's card carrying commuters to carry the library with them. People can access e-books, the catalog and other features where and when they want them, not just when libraries are open.
A new program, Discover & Go, offers library users and underserved populations 24/7 access to downloadable free passes to a wide range of cultural institutions, such as museums and galleries, throughout the Bay Area. For more information, check out: www.imls.gov/news/2012_medals_contra_costa_county_library.aspx .
Common Core Resources at CCBC:
The CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center) in Wisconsin has a few lists on their website relating to the Common Core. Check it out at www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/commoncore.asp .
Although they're set up to be a resource for Wisconsin librarians and teachers, their web pages are terrific for librarians and teachers in any state. It would be great if California had something like it. Some of you already know about the CCBC through their listserv, but their website is a goldmine of great information. The Cooperative Children's Book Center's "Link of the Month" is well worth an exploration-- "Book Trailers for Readers." Take a look at:www.booktrailersforreaders.com/SSYRA+Nomination+Award+Book+Trailers+YouTube.
End-of-the-Year "Best" Lists:
Dinosaurs can be a great focus for a library program, especially if your target audience includes boys, primary graders, or those interested in science. Some of these ideas were posted on the PUBYAC Listserv by Heather Hart of the Newport Beach Public Library, and some ideas came from my personal experience.
Useful Websites:
Arts and Crafts
Dinosaur eggs: Makes dinosaur eggs (see recipe below), and put a small plastic dinosaur in the soft clay-like substance. When it dries, the children can use small hammers to break up the eggs and see the dinosaurs inside. This will give them an idea of what an archaeologist does.
DINO EGGS
2 1/2 cups Flour
2 1/2 cups Used Coffee Grounds
1 1/2 cups Salt
1 cup Sand
Up to 1 cup Water
** plastic dinosaurs
Mix flour, coffee grounds, salt & sand. Gradually stir in water until mixture holds together. Use as little water as possible to speed drying. Allow up to a week to air dry. Add the plastic dinosaurs as you are forming the rock, so that when you crack it open, out pops a baby dinosaur.
Refreshments
Dino Chow
1/4 cup dirt (cocoa)
1/2 cup swamp water (milk with green food coloring)
2 cups crushed bones (sugar)
1/2 cup fat (softened butter)
2 cups dead grass (uncooked oatmeal)
1/2 cup squashed bugs (peanut butter)
Mix dirt and swamp water. Add crushed bones and fat. Boil about 3 minutes. Add squashed bugs and dead grass and stir until melted. Remove from heat and stir until mixture begins to thicken. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper. Cool, (not in fridge), eat and enjoy!
Dinosaur Storytelling
Five Dinosaurs (felt story) -
Games
Use dinosaur shaped foam stickers. Divide them into pairs, and put 4 different pairs and 4 small cardstock squares into a baggie. They can decorate one side of the card, stick one dinosaur to each card. Turn them over and you have a memory game. You could do more pairs and have 16 instead of eight (depending on the age of the children).
Purchase a large tagboard dinosaur from a party store, or draw a large dino on butcher paper. You can also use a dinosaur poster. Duplicate the tip of the tail to use for a Pin the Tail on the Dino game (similar to Pin the Tail on the Donkey). If the dino pictured is a triceratops, change it to Pin the Horn on the Dino.
Science Activities
Make an egg bounce (using vinegar) in this easy science experiment; add a little food coloring and call them dinosaur eggs! www.planet-science.com/categories/experiments/messy/2011/02/can-you-make-an-egg-bounce.aspx
Pop-Up and Toy Books - Pt. 1
This month we will focus on pop-up books that will appeal to preschoolers. Next month in the January 2013 BayNews, we will focus on pop-up books for elementary school-aged children.
Lodge, Jo. Icky Sticky Monster. Nosy Crow, 2012. $12.99, ISBN 978-0-7636-6173-1.
The blue monster of the title plays in the toilet, picks his nose, and eats garbage in this hilarious story. Preschoolers actually learn good hygiene, such as using a tissue, but the rhyming story is more fun than purposeful. The pop-ups are dynamic - monster leaps off the page - and the illustrations are done in deeply saturated color cartoon artwork. The pop-ups are fairly elaborate so this is unlikely to hold up to circulation, but would make a nice book to use in storytime.
Horacek, Petr. One Spotted Giraffe. Candlewick, 2012. $15.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6157-1.
In this counting book, there is a flap on the right side of each spread that opens to show a pop-up of the number, done in the form of the animal. For example, we see "One spotted giraffe," then open the flap to see the numeral One shown as the neck and head of the giraffe. Unfortunately, the preschoolers who saw this counted two giraffes, not one, so it was confusing. The idea is a good one, and the artwork is realistic, but having the numeral look like the animal made it inaccurate as a counting book.
McCaughrean, Geraldine. The Nutcracker: A Magic Theater Book. Illus. by Kristina Swarner. Chronicle Books, 2012. $19.99. ISBN 978-1-4521-0669-4.
In this graceful retelling of the popular holiday ballet story, every other page has a hole in the middle that features a smaller element that moves. Not really a pop-up, the moving element (a nutcracker, two dancers), slide in or out of the hole when the page is turned. This makes it look like the figure is coming on stage, or going off stage, which is very fitting as this is a ballet story. The soft-focused full color paintings are not overly detailed but set the scene of the story quite well. The narrative is equally graceful, working as a nice introduction for children before they attend the ballet. Many libraries will find this in demand - catalog it in J792, not in picture books.
Davies, Nicola. Flip the Flap & Find Out series. Illus. by Marc Boutavant. Candlewick, 2012. $9.99 each.
Who Lives Here? ISBN 978-0-7636-6263-9.
What Happens Next? ISBN 978-0-7636-6264-6.
This hardback series has very sturdy flaps (similar to Eric Hill's "Spot" books), that will hold up to library circulation and please preschool animal fans. In each book, an animal is depicted in deeply saturated colors with a sentence or two of text. Then, the reader is invited to open the flap or turn the half-page and guess where the animal lives, or what the animal is doing next (as indicted in the title). The book on habitats is fairly easy to guess once the child sees the pattern and the science element is clear and age-appropriate. What Happens Next? is not as easy to guess but gives clear information on the animals depicted. The large-eyed animal characters are cute but relatively realistic-looking, and both books would be great for storytime and invite interaction.
BayNews needs you! BayNews welcomes any articles, news, ideas on storytime or programs, etc. Just send any articles as a Word attachment to email, to Penny Peck at [email protected]. Thanks!
Submitted by : Penny Peck
Copyright � 1999-2012 Association of Children's Librarians of Northern California. All rights reserved.
