Tween Book Club

Over the summer, I'm hosting a Tween Book Club.  It's a BYOB (bring your own book) club, where kids are encouraged to bring the books they're reading for their schools' required summer reading for discussion.  We meet once a month in the evening for book talk, a craft and ice cream sandwiches.

I start the book club by discussing a juvenile novel or YA novel I've read recently that I enjoyed.  I typically read my favorite passage from the book and explain why I liked that passage, as well as why I recommend the book to others.

Because I have no way of knowing who's reading what ahead of time, I've prepared a list of generic discussion topics for the tweens and I to discuss.  I'm happy to share my questions with you, as I had a lot of trouble finding good discussion topics for a BYOB tween book club online.

FICTION

• Did you think it’s believable?
• Where does the book take place?  Would you like to visit?
• Which character would you like to be?  Why?
• Which character would you like to be friends with?
• Which character would you not want to go to school with you?
• Does the main character change in the book?  How?
• What’s your favorite scene so far?
• If you could change one scene in the book, what would you change?
• Did you like the ending?
• What happens to the main character that you wish would happen to you?
• What happens to the main character that you wish would NOT happen to you?
• Which character, if any, would you most like to date? 

NONFICTION

• Did the book make you want to read more about the subject?
• What was the most interesting fact you learned?
• Does the author draw any conclusions?  Do you agree with the author?
• Did the author use a lot of references?

BOTH

• Did you like the book?  What did/didn’t you like?
• Would you recommend the book to everyone here?
• If you could talk to the author, what would you want to ask them?
• Would the book make a good movie?

 These are twenty general discussion questions.  I don't use every one at a single meeting, they're just used to spark discussion if conversation starts dying down.  The favorite book at my last club was Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  Since everyone had read it at some point, there was a lot to discuss and it completely took over the half hour-long discussion!  Girls wanted to be Katniss, the lone boy wanted to be Gale... and everyone giggled with approval at the question, "Which character would you like to date?"  If you're curious, boy wanted to date Katniss, all girls are Peeta fans. I got to work a few readalikes into the discussion as well:  Divergent, The Selection, Throne of Glass, etc.

The craft at the June meeting was Zombie Marshmallow Lollipops, to go along with our Groundbreaking Reads Teen Summer Reading theme.  I got this idea from The Decorated Cookie.  Please visit this site, it's very good for edible craft ideas!

One word of caution... try to ask the kids to use a gentle touch with the food markers.  One girl dyed her teeth bright red and green, and quite frankly, looked disgusting. 

Summer Reading Programs!

Hello, everyone!

Yes, it's been over a month since my last update!  To be completely fair to myself, I've been busy with between 1-4 programs a week, as well as signing up well over a hundred kids for the Summer Reading Programs, and helping them maintain their reading logs, then collapsing in a puddle of fatigue when I got home.  Today is a lone day when I'm fully conscious!  So now, on with the update!

Since my last update, I was able to go to a local elementary school to promote our summer reading programs, both those coordinating with the CLP children's theme "Dig Into Reading" and the CLP teen theme "Groundbreaking Reads."  Honestly, the teen theme was meant to be "Beneath the Surface", but everyone found it completely lame next to the zombie theme.  Seriously, librarians, zombies=teen glee!  The adult program, FYI, is "Drive Away With a Good Book," so not even the adults wanted to claim "Beneath the Surface."

Anyway, tangent over.  Back to the school visit.  I started off with the chant "Hermie the Worm", which is well-known, but my version was taught to be by Judy Freeman at her Winners Workshop about 6 or 7 years ago.  I just made myself feel really old!  I'll type it up down at the bottom of the page if you're interested.  It perked the kids up for my 10 minute long spiel about where their local libraries are, what the summer reading programs are all about and what kind of performers we're having this year.  MAGIC!  PLAYS!  SCIENCE!  STORIES!  To cap off my presentation, I mentioned the GRAND PRIZE for participating:  the chance to enter a raffle to win a Kindle Fire HD!  That woke everyone up, believe you me!  I finished off with a book talk, featuring My Life as a Cartoonist by Janet Tashjian, Like Bug Juice on a Burger by Julie Sternberg, Raising the Bar by Gabrielle Douglass and a dramatic reading of The Watermelon Seed, which I mentioned in my previous post.  I'm proud to say that 90% of the kids cracked up at the right bits.

Most of the kids who go to that particular school visit a library branch other than the one where I'm stationed, but I've still received visits from three students who all asked me, "Hey... did you go to my school?" I've spoken since with my fellow children's librarian, who is in charge of outreach in the middle and northern parts of the county.  Her school visits alone have bolstered our county's Summer Reading Program registrations by over 100 kids this year! We have already surpassed our previous year's total participants by 200 children with 4 more full weeks to go!  My point:  visiting local schools is essential to enhancing the library's use during the summer months.  It also creates a great relationship between you and the kids in the community, the three students that I mentioned all sat and chatted with me about books and summer for at least 5 minutes.

I haven't mentioned this before, but I'll mention it now.  Despite my strenuous objections, the children's librarians have decided to tell the kids in the county that if they read over 7000 books by the end of the programs, the librarians will have to eat a bug.  Not any bug.  A flavored mealworm.  Have you ever seen a mealworm?  Do an image search online.  Yeah, that thing.  I have to eat it.  If the kids read 7000 books.  And I can tell you, they've already read over 7800 books.

I DON'T WANT TO EAT IT!!!! NOOOOO!

I've made this sign for my desk:

Judging from the mocking laughter I've endured in the past couple of days from kids and parents, it's a hit.

The Teen Summer Reading Program has been just as successful.  We have surpassed last year's total amount of participants, and the teens have read over 140,000 pages.  Consider my mind sufficiently boggled.

Lastly, I'd like to shout out to all the brilliant performers that my library has hosted so far this year.  They're amazing and I've linked them all to their homepages.  Please keep them in mind for future events at schools, birthday parties, church groups, libraries and beyond!

• Piccirillo Sciencetelling:  Andrew tells stories using SCIENCE!  Always amazing.
• Gerald Fierst, storyteller:  Interactive storytelling, the kids really enjoyed this one.
• Hampstead Stage:  Everyone loved their theatrical adaptation of The Secret Garden!

And now, the words to Hermie the Worm!

I was sitting on my fence, chewing my bubble gum (smack, smack smack smack)
Playing with my yoyo (doo-wop, doo-wop)
When along came Hermie the Worm!
And he was this big (hold hands a little bit apart)
I said, "Hermie, what happened?!"
He said, "I ate my breakfast!"
"Ooooooh" and away he went.

Repeat the verse, but make these changes:
2nd verse:  He was this big (hold hands further apart)... "He said, I ate my lunch"
3rd verse:  He was this big (hold hands even further apart)... "He said, I ate my dinner"
4th verse:  He was this big (hold fingers a couple of inches apart)... "He said, I BURPED!"

It's a no-brainer, if you ever use burp, fart or poo in a sentence, kids will giggle.  Every... time.  So does my husband, for that matter!

Miss Vicki out.

What's new

Hello, all!  What an exciting week to be in the library!  We've received not just one, but TWO new Big Nate books by Lincoln Peirce:  Genius Mode and Game On!  These are automatically going to go out often, so I'm not going to bother to summarize them, but be assured they continue the fun!

 

 

We also received Like Bug Juice on a Burger by Julie Sternberg, a story about Eleanor's first time going to summer camp.  She is sure she'll hate it, especially after tripping over a root and wiping out in spectacular fashion within 10 minutes of being at camp, but she learns to enjoy herself after caring for the camp goat and learning to swim.  A good summer read for 7-9 year olds.

 

I also heartily recommend Janet Tashjian's My Life as a Cartoonist.  Derek wants to be friends with new student Umberto, but finds himself being bullied by him instead.  No one believes how bad Umberto is making Derek feel because Umberto is in a wheelchair.  That little details makes it different from other books that have come out this year about bullying.  Still, it has a light tone and lives up to the common view that it's a kinder, gentler Wimpy Kid.  There is cartooning in it, teachers will LOVE the illustrated examples of tough vocabulary words.  Pair it with the more serious new book, The Bully Book, for a lesson on the destructive powers of bullying and how one can cope and even come out on top. 

 

For the younger guys, The Watermelon Seed by Greg Polizzi is a fabulous start to the summer.  An exuberant crocodile informs readers that he LOVES watermelon... then has a meltdown when he swallows a seed and imagines vines growing out of his ears and a watermelon growing in his guts!  I've read quite a few reviews stating that they're afraid this will encourage children to be terrified of swallowing watermelon seeds and I say pish posh.  People take things so seriously.  Kids will hardly be traumatized.  It's a fun, lively read with bright, large colors and funny to boot.  So great, I'm reading it for a school presentation tomorrow! 

 

Of course, there are many many more books that have come in, including the unusual I Represent Sean Rosen by Jeff Baron.  I've only broken the surface of this book, about a 13 year old boy trying to sell a screenplay to Hollywood by faking an agent, but I'm having fun.

 

Tomorrow, I'll be writing about my school visit.

 

Cheers!



Little Diggers Teeny Weeny Storytime

Summer has started a bit early at my library branch!  I'm presenting a Little Diggers Teeny Weeny Storytime on Monday mornings throughout June for our youngest patrons, from newborns to 3 year olds.  This is a very hard thing to do, since all the kids are at several different stages of development, so it's important for me to be both incredibly rigid and flexible at the exact same time.  How do I do it, you ask?  Today's your lucky day!

A few entries ago, I discussed my structure for my normal Teeny Weeny storytimes, where the oldest child is approximately 14 months old.  I've tweaked this somewhat to appeal to both babies and toddlers.  The first thing I've changed is I've acquired several different toys for babies and tacked on a 15 minute playtime to the end of every Little Diggers Teeny Weeny session.  We have blocks, stacking cups, color-coded grocery bags with plushy produce, and wheely cars appropriate for babies (ie, they can't swallow them!)  For older toddlers, I will have sponge painting and coloring sheets.  The last week, we'll make fossils using quick dry clay.

The second most obvious tweak is it's themed to coordinate with our Summer Reading Club's theme, Dig Into Reading!  So all my board books are about dinosaurs, worms, construction trucks, gardens, sandcastles, etc.  I particularly recommend the new board book:  Dig In! by April Prince.  It has moveable parts, the text is clear and simple, it's about construction, the mice are cute... it's just dandy.

I've also created a brochure-style compilation of all the fingerplays and nursery rhymes I'll be reciting during the storytimes.  I'm using the following fingerplays:

A creepy crawly caterpillar that I see (wiggle index finger)
Makes a cocoon in the big oak tree (clasp your hands together)
He stays there, and I know why...
Because soon he will be a butterfly! (spread our your fingers with your thumbs connected)

See the wiggly wiggly worm, (wiggle index finger)
See it squiggly squiggly squirm. (wiggle it some more)
Over, under, all around... (move it up, down, in a circle)
Where's the wiggly squiggly worm? (cover index finger with your other hand)
1, 2, 3, POP! (pull out index finger)

Bumble bee, bumble bee, (fly index finger around)
Come from the barn,
Come to get baby
Right under the arm! (tickle baby)

Five little flowers standing in the sun (hold up hand, fingers up)
See their heads nodding, bowing one by one (bend fingers)
Down down down comes the gentle rain,
And the five little flowers life their heads up again (straighten fingers again)

Of course, the perennial Round and Round the Garden is used!
Round and round the garden (hold out babies palm, move your index finger in a circle)
Like a teddy bear.
One step, two step, tickle under there! (touch the palm, touch the elbow, tickle under arm)

After this, it's business as usual.  First five minutes is children playing with the books, reading them with their parents, followed by me reading a story to them.  Because some of the kids will be toddlers, I'm reading short picture books, rather than board books.  I will be reading The Watermelon  Seed by Greg Pizzoli, Underground by Denise Fleming and Giggly, Wiggly Worms by Neecy Twinem.

Then, we'll do our egg shaker dance to Old MacDonald Had a Farm.  We do fingerplays, then peekaboo with scarves and more dancing, then nursery rhymes.  Then, the BIG BLUE BALL!  Afterwards, we sing our goodbye song, If You're Happy and You Know It, then on to playtime!


Fun stuff!   Check out all the books at your local library and Dig Into Reading!

Re-cap of last couple of weeks

The last weeks of May and the first weeks of June are among the BUSIEST weeks a children's librarian faces, with the only exception being the start of the school year, when we're busy talking with schools and arranging library visits, signing students up for library cards, talk like a pirate day, etc.  This explains my long absence!

A Recap:
Our last storytime of the year happened on May 13th.  It was a campfire themed storytime. I created a campfire out of tissue paper, a paper plate and decorative rocks that I bought at the dollar store (yes, I bought rocks.)  Here is a picture of all the books I used:

Mm... hot dogs.

In case you can't see, they are Maisy Goes Camping by Lucy Cousins, Just a Little too Little by Mercer Mayer, Duck Tents by Lynne Berry, Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog by Mo Willems, Ruby's Sleepover by Kathryn White, Camping Day by Patricia Lakin and Ladybug Girl and Bingo by David Soman.  The crazy construction paper taped to the front of the table are my visual representations of We're Going on a Bear Hunt, a popular repeating chant game that Michael Rosen made into a picture book a few years back that I love doing at least once a year!  My simplified version is just saying "Grab your nets, put on your helmets! We're going on a BEAR HUNT!  Repeat after me!  'We're going on a bear hunt!' (we're going on a bear hunt) 'I'm not scared!' (I'm not scared.)  We walk by sitting cross legged and tapping our hands on our knees.  "Uh-oh! Tall wavy grass!  Repeat after me!  'We can't go over it! (we can't go over it) We can't go around it! (we can't go around it!) We have to go through it!'" And waving your hands side to side say "Swish, swish swish."  I like pretending there a bugs, smack them, or whatever.  After you get through, shake yourselves off and continue saying "We're going on a bear hunt!  I'm not scared!"  Go through a deep, cold river, a big dark forest, thick sticky mud, a swirling whirling snowstorm and a gloomy creepy cave.  You get to the cave and whisper "We're going a bear hunt!  I'm not scared!" and "Tiptoe tiptoe tiptoe...." and then YELL "A BEAAAAAAAAAAAAR  RUUUUUUUUUUUN!"  and go through everything in reverse order as you tap your hands on your knees quickly to simulate running.  Once you get "home", sigh in relief and say "I wasn't scared, were you?"  The end.  Le fin.

Other rhymes I used were:
A-camping we will go, a camping we will go,
Hi ho, what do you know?
A-camping we will go.
(First we build the tent; Then we make a fire, Then we roast marshmallows, Then we eat them up!)

My one little two little counting and subtraction game was hot dogs after reading Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog. 

For our craft, we made s'more magnets!  They were quite awesome, I have one on my desk still!

Don't eat it!

All you need are light brown and dark brown foam board pieces cut into squares, a cotton ball and a little magnet to glue onto the finished product.  You can adapt it to make a pin, a necklace, whatever strikes your fancy.  The older students who visited the library loved making them too, so it's not just confined to the little ones.

LEGO Club:
Our LEGO Club theme on May 14th was Pirates!  Our clubmembers made a swashbuckling pirate ship and a haunted treasure island.

Yarrrr!

Then, I took a break from programs to prepare for the summer, catch up on librarian-related stuff (orders, organization, brain-storming, meetings, etc etc etc.)  This past week was the NJLA conference in Atlantic City!  I attended a few seminars on building relationships with school libraries and incorporating superheroes in the library.  I got to see Jeff Kinney give a speech thanking us NJ librarians for giving him two Garden State Book Awards this year, for his Diary of a Wimpy Kid:  The Ugly Truth and his Diary of a Wimpy Kid:  The Movie Diary.  Now, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is one of my favorite all-time children's books because it's so FUNNY.  I remember the first time I read it, I was manning the children's room and the assistant director was walking around with Justin the Teen Librarian, introducing him to staff because he had just started.  She walks up to me as I was reading the big about eating the cheese and said, "Vicki, I'd like for you to meet..." as I immediately busted a gut laughing out loud.  So, yeah, like Jeff Kinney and got giggly at the chance to share a space with him.  PROOF:

He's in the purple shirt at the podium. 

Our keynote speaker was David Levithan.  Unfortunately, I did not snap a picture, but that's because he is such an awesome speaker and person that I was enthralled by his speech and forgot to get my camera out.  Seriously, this guy is an AMAZING author, on par with John Green (whom he even wrote a book with a few years ago!), so do yourself a favor and read his books.  I recommend Every Day.  He read from his newest book, Two Boys Kissing, and it's going to be an amazing read.  It takes place during a 32 hour kissing marathon to break a world record and features four different stories of some of the couples taking part.  It is narrated by a Greek chorus of the spirits of the last generation of gay men who died from AIDS.  It sounds a bit whackadoodle, but his writing left me absolutely enthralled.  It's on my "to read" list and should be on yours, too.  He also wrote Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, which the movie was based upon and is thus his most well-known work. 

I also attended a Teen Author Panel with David Levithan, Judy Blundell (aka Jude Watson, the author of about a million Star Wars books and at least three of the 39 Clues books) and Lara Zeises.  All three are funny, charming and it was an absolute delight to listen to the three of them chat about their books and life experiences.

That catches us up!  Book reviews and a discussion on my Little Diggers Teeny Weeny Storytime will be upcoming!

Children's Book Week

Next week is Children's Book Week! 

Celebrate by re-reading one of your favorite children's books, either to your own children or when you have a bit of quiet time.  I'm going to be re-reading Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright, one of my favorites that I haven't read in at least 15-20 years.  One of the earliest Newbery winners, published in 1939, this story is about a young girl named Garnet and her adventures on her family's farm over one summer.  The story is episodic, with each chapter telling a complete story about a specific day. My favorite is the chapter she gets locked in the library, after falling asleep over a book.  It was an early fantasy of mine, but the librarian always caught me!  What's your pick?


 You may want to check out this recent article from the New York Times, "Memories of a Bedtime Book Club" by Dwight Garner.

New children's books in the library this week include:  How to Steal a Dragon's Jewel by Cressida Cowells, Bluebird by Bob Staake, Penny and her Marble by Kevin Henkes and Katie and the Puppy Next Door by John Himmelman.

Mother's Day fiction for children

The lack of a strong mother figure in the vast majority of children's literature is nothing new to note, but I'm really struggling to come up with enough books to merit a salute to strong mothers in juvenile fiction.  I only have Marmee from Little Women, Molly Weasley from the Harry Potter series, Meg's mom from A Wrinkle in Time, Ramona's mother and perhaps even Greg Heffley's mother if I strain myself. There must be more!

However, picture books are all about the Mama!  Try these faves for reading aloud on Mother's Day:

• Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
• My Mom by Anthony Browne
• Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney
• Because Your Mommy Loves You by Andrew Clements
• T Rex and the Mother's Day Hug by Lois Grambling
• Are You My Mother by P. D. Eastman
• A Pocket Full of Kisses by Audrey Penn

Only one of these titles is specifically about Mother's Day, but all are about the special bond between a mother and child.

Happy Mother's Day!