Posted on April 12, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley For Christmas, my youngest daughter received a doll that looked like her. This seems like a small thing, but I watched her study the doll’s face very closely and then beam up at the gathered family to announce, “Her eyes look like mine!” Our older daughters are blond and blue-eyed, like their […]
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Tags: books, Children's Day, cultures, Dia, diverse books, diverse languages, early literacy, El día de los libros, El día de los niños, family, kids, languages, Library Day, literacy, parents, reading, teachers, young learners
Posted on February 20, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Rachel Edmondson If your family is like mine, then February is peak cabin fever season. While we still bundle up and go outside occasionally, we don’t last long when the weather is so chilly. This leaves a lot of time spent inside trying to keep ourselves entertained. While we love reading books, watching movies, […]
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Tags: activities, baking, blanket fort, cabin fever, cookbooks, cooking, crafts, dance, decorate eggs, family, flashlight tag, food, hobbies, hoopla, indoor, indoor fort, kids, library, movies, music, parents, recycling, STEM, tag, teens, tweens, upcycling, young learners
Posted on October 31, 2017 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley I hear my grandfather’s voice when I read The Tale of Peter Rabbit. He did not read to me regularly. We lived very far away from him and only saw those grandparents once or twice a year. But when he read that story to me, it was magical. I have read the […]
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Tags: authors, Beverly Cleary, books, Charlotte's Web, children's books, E. B. White, family, kids, Ludwig Bemelmans, parents, Peter Rabit, Ramona, reading, reading together, young learners
Posted on September 21, 2017 at 6:00 am
By Sheri Boggs My favorite childhood books were often the scariest. If it had a ghost or a witch or a cover with a wind-tossed old tree on it, I was IN. I loved The Ghost Belonged to Me, by Richard Peck, (in which a 13-year-old boy not only learns he can see ghosts but […]
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Tags: booklists, books, ghost stories, ghosts, Halloween, haunted, kids, reading, scary, scary reads, spooky, spooky tales, tweens
Posted on July 11, 2017 at 6:00 am
by Melanie Boerner Grab your spy glass and let’s dust for prints! Here are some great mystery reads for tweens to investigate this summer. The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman Nobody “Bod” Owens is the only living resident of a graveyard and has been reared by the ghostly inhabitants since infancy, after his parents […]
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Tags: 59:Escape Room Adeventures, books, escape room, investigative, late night at the library, mysteries, mystery, mystery books, summer programs, tween
Posted on July 6, 2017 at 6:00 am
By Sheri Boggs If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being responsible for stocking the sections for “Kids Books to Go” at the Library District, it’s the perennial popularity of comic book heroes and their antics. “Kids Books to Go” is a bookstore-style display of multiple copies of high interest titles. Since its launch, year […]
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Tags: Babymouse, booklists, books, CatStronauts, Dog Man, Dork Diaries, graphic novel hybrids, graphic novels, kids, Kids Books to Go, Narwhal and Jelly, parents, reading, tweens, Wimpy Kid
Posted on June 29, 2017 at 6:00 am
By Erin Dodge We’re ready for comedy, creativity, audience participation, and outrageously amusing songs this summer. And we hope you are too! Eric Herman performs his cool tunes at our libraries, July 17–21. I reached out to Eric with a few questions and learned a bit about how Siri, poets, and kids influence his music. I […]
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Tags: events, family, kids, music, parents, summer, summer performers, summer programs, Summer reading, young learners
Posted on June 6, 2017 at 6:00 am
By Rachel Edmondson My family loves to go to farmers’ markets. We love fresh, local produce, and we find it’s even more appealing when you are face to face with the people who grew it. Of course, farmers’ markets have a lot more than just produce—artisan foods, fresh meat, crafts, and brews—something for everyone. Last […]
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Tags: Catholic Charities, Catholic Charities Food For All, eating right, educational, exercise, farmers market, healthy choices, KERNEL, kids, nutrition, parents
Posted on May 25, 2017 at 6:00 am
By Erin Dodge Summer is a fantastical time at the library—a time to build reading muscles with imaginative and real life stories found on the bookshelves. Summer is also the time when kids and families can see, hear, and interact with magicians, musicians, puppets, and more. These summer programs are geared towards kids entering kindergarten […]
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Tags: coin trick, improv, magic, magic show, magic tricks, magician, performer, Science Magic, Secret of Wizards, summer program, Summer reading
Posted on May 16, 2017 at 6:00 am
By Melanie Boerner After six years with our only child, my husband and I are expecting another in August. My son approached me the other day and asked, “Are you going to love the baby and stop loving me?” This, of course, broke my heart and had me, already a ball of hormones, in tears. […]
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Tags: adoption, booklists, books, family, kids, new baby, parenting, parents, reading, siblings, young learners