Kent District Library (MI)'s Blog, page 128

Library Memories from Shelley Irwin

Enjoy this post from WGVU Morning Show Host Shelley Irwin:

As a child, I read. And as a competitive first-born child, I entered the summer reading contests,and made the weekly trips to the library for book exchanges. Funny, I don’t remember a ceremonial “winning,” albeit maybe an 8 x 10 certificate… but I do remember the “doing”: the reading… in the car, at the table, in my purple bedroom.

I date myself, but reading the works of Beverly Cleary (Ramona and Henry rule!) and Laura Ingalls is a very strong memory.  I so enjoyed reading simple historical autobiographies — Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman and Daniel Boone stand out. Autobiographies and history still interest me today, plus I’ve had the opportunity to interview Beverly Cleary. Score!

Thus I believe in the power of a good read, a good library, and still must get my fix with the real deal… the book with real pages. Yes, today’s libraries do serve in unique ways, the digital world well immersed from checking out a book to a lengthy research project done in pajama attire.

But thanks to the operations of KDL, including their summer reading incentives and more, another young competitive first-born is reaching for a book by Beverly Cleary or reading the history of Harriet Tubman, making his or her own memories. But I wonder if the purple bedroom is still “in?”

Stay the course, KDL!

Shelley Irwin is one of the featured guests at our upcoming Book Bash, taking place at the KDL Service Center April 26 – 28. Find out all the details at www.kdlbookbash.org.

Sing Along Books for Toddlers!

Want to have even more fun while reading with your child?  Check out these great sing along books for Toddlers! 

Great Sing Along Books for Toddlers!

Reading to toddlers sets the foundation for later independent reading. But before they can read independently, they need emergent literacy skills. These include:

having a large vocabulary of words and knowing how to use them
understanding that words are made up of smaller sounds understanding that marks on a page represent letters and words
knowing the letters of the alphabet

Sing Along books for Toddler!

Want to have even more fun while reading with your child?  Check out these great sing along books for Toddlers! 

Great Sing Along Books for Toddlers!

Reading to toddlers sets the foundation for later independent reading. But before they can read independently, they need emergent literacy skills. These include:

having a large vocabulary of words and knowing how to use them
understanding that words are made up of smaller sounds understanding that marks on a page represent letters and words
knowing the letters of the alphabet

Patron Story: Craig Paull

Just when many people think they know about everything KDL has to offer, they discover yet another free resource.

It happened to Craig Paull when he was searching online for a pair of relatively obscure books.. and the results pulled up something he hadn’t noticed before.

Read Craig’s full story here.

 

(Do you have a KDL story to share? Let us know!)

 

The Novel World of James Bond

If you watched Skyfall and need more James Bond in your life, what do you do now?  There are plenty of great options to immerse you in the James Bond Universe, like reading the original novels by Ian Fleming. Fleming’s first book, Casino Royale, is a good place to start and it was also the first Daniel Craig film as Bond. There are 12 original novels by Fleming plus some short stories, though some authors have taken the series further, including Jeffery Deaver who wrote Carte Blanche: 007.

There are also Bond books for teens, like Charles Higson’s Young Bond series that begins with SilverFin. In SilverFin, a 14-year old James is fighting evil villains in the 1930s.  Another good choice is the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, which is heavily inspired by James Bond. In Stormbreaker, Alex’s uncle dies a mysterious death, leaving Alex to discover the truth and become a superspy himself.

If you are looking for similar action-filled novels with a bit of the James Bond aesthetic, try out Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt books and Ted Bell’s Alex Hawke novels.  There is plenty to watch and read for any Bond fan while waiting for the next movie installment.

 

“The Kid with a Bike”

“The Kid with a bike”,  directed by the Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, is another volume on the shelf of their continuing attempt to realistically portray the lives of those on the fringes, those we might distantly know or hear about in the news, but whose full story is often obscured or dishonestly told. I have seen several other films by them, and they deal with serious matters involving the family; in this newest work (2011; The Criterion collection), a young boy is seeking some restoration of the family he once had. As the film opens, Cyril is in foster care and is desperately trying to establish contact with his father, who has moved to another town and expressed little interest in his own child. But this does not stop the boy from striking out on his own initiative to find him. Along the way, he (literally) runs into a young woman in a doctor’s office whose care for him in the near future may mean all the difference for young Cyril.

In the hands of some filmmakers, a story like this could easily slip into the maudlin and even manipulative kind of story telling we find much of nowadays. But the Dardennes are different. Yet this doesn’t mean they are out to tell a cruel or depressing naturalistic story about a lost child. Rather, they want to tell it straightforwardly so that we can see more clearly the worth of human beings and the stories we encounter every day. This means the viewer may not always have his expectations met, especially when it comes to endings and the resolution of a story’s loose ends.  But pay attention, and you will find some beautiful and surprising moments of grace that are told so unpretentiously and quietly that the viewer just might miss them.

Hachette eAudiobooks Available in MP3

Good news for eAudiobook lovers — Hachette Audio titles are now available in MP3 format! This means that these eAudiobooks can now be downloaded directly to a much wider variety of devices, including Mac, iPhone and Android.

Popular Hachette Audio authors include:

David Baldacci
Michael Connelly
Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures series)
Elin Hilderbrand
Joyce Meyer
James Patterson
David Sedaris
Nicholas Sparks
Scott Turow

Visit http://ebooks.kdl.org and download one today!

 

Hachette eAudiobooks Now Available in MP3

Good news for eAudiobook lovers — Hachette Audio titles are now available in MP3 format! This means that these eAudiobooks can now be downloaded directly to a much wider variety of devices, including Mac, iPhone and Android.

Popular Hachette Audio authors include:

David Baldacci
Michael Connelly
Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures series)
Elin Hilderbrand
Joyce Meyer
James Patterson
David Sedaris
Nicholas Sparks
Scott Turow

Visit http://ebooks.kdl.org and download one today!

 

KDL on WGVU Radio

Each month KDL staff join Shelley Irwin on the WGVU Morning Show to talk about what’s going on at the library. This month, listen to KDL Communications Assistant Morgan Jarema and author/illustrator Ryan Hipp talk about the upcoming Celebrate the Mitten Writers Conference, happening Saturday, April 20 at the Cascade Township branch.

(Space is filling fast for this conference, so register now if you are interested in attending!)

Enjoy!

Download WGVU4-4-13.mp3

(photo courtesy of Shelley Irwin)

 

Early Lit Bits: Learning with Crafts — Gifts That Grow

Gifts that Grow

Spring is in the air and it’s time to think about planning a summer garden. Here is a fun craft children can make as a gift for others or keep and plant in the family garden this summer. The tearing and squeezing can be done by small children and will help develop the muscles in the hand that they will need to hold a pencil and write when they begin school.

Materials

Newspaper
Seeds (wildflower seeds work well)
Cookie cutters
A blender
Sieve

Directions

Have children tear the newspaper into small pieces. ADULT: Put the paper pieces in the blender a couple of handfuls at a time. Add some water. Blend the newspaper pieces and water until it becomes a mushy pulp. Work in batches, transferring the pulp you make into a sieve resting over a bowl. Have children squeeze out as much liquid as they can. Add the seeds to the squeezed pulp and mix. Fill cookie cutter shapes with the seed mixture. Stand the cutters on some paper towel to absorb any liquid that will be squeezed out. Push the pulp down very firmly. Carefully push the shaped pulp from the cutter and leave it on some wax paper to dry.

To Use

Store your “seed cookies” in a cool dry place until you are ready to give them away as gifts or plant them in your own garden.

Other Ideas

Talk about how plants grow from seeds and teach children the names of various plants. The garden is an excellent place for young children to learn about colors, numbers and shapes. Consider planting seeds in a letter pattern to spell out a child’s name, or planting edible herbs for young children to taste and smell.

 

 

This article originally appeared in our Early Lit Bits eNewsletter. Read the most recent issue online or sign up to receive this monthly update highlighting early literacy tips and resources for parents and caregivers.