Friday, November 30, 2007

Are You Ready?

On Wednesday, the Middle School students who do service in the library sat down and began discussing The Golden Compass. They recorded the lively discussion for the school community.

Here it is!



[Right-click the picture or link, to download the
mp3 to your computer, or just double-click to begin streaming it.]


Do you have any thoughts on The Golden Compass? Do you have something to add to the discussion?

Let us know in a comment!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Room 5 came to the library on Wednesday. We read That New Animal, by Emily Jenkins, and The Baby Goes Beep, by Rebecca O'Connell.
Room 5 has a few students who are beginning to read, which is exciting! Everyone joined in and read along with The Baby Goes Beep.

Monday, November 26, 2007

My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were the planets of our solar system....until last year.

Last year, scientists decided that Pluto doesn't count as a full-fledged planet. That means that any of our planet books that were published before mid-2006, are a bit wrong! It's a good thing that a few new planet books have come out since then.


When Is a Planet Not a Planet? -- The Story of Pluto, by Elaine Scott, is the best I've seen so far.
Here we have a remarkably in-depth account of planetary science and the history of astronomy, a clear explanation of what we know about Pluto and why scientists decided to redefine it as a dwarf planet, and beautiful photographs and images.

This promises to be a gripping read for curious Middle School and Upper Elementary minds wanting to know as much as they can about astronomy, planets, and the world beyond our stratosphere. It's very attractive and very readable. The pages are loaded with solid facts and terrific trivia.

For a much simpler account of the solar system and dwarf planets, take a look at Exploring the Planets In Our Solar System, by Rebecca Olien.

Want to know more about Pluto? Visit our databases, like Grolier Online and Kids Search, from home or school, to learn more. [Go to our library web-page, scroll down to Online Resources, and click whichever you'd like to explore. See Rebecca for passwords to access the databases from home.]

Check out NASA's Pluto page: Pluto



Anyway, it's time for a new mnemonic device!

M V E M J S U N

Leave your ideas in a comment.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Two Facts About Your Librarian

1. I'm a big fan of wordless picture books.
2. I'm also a big fan of robots.

One of my favorite new books is Robot Dreams, by Sara Varon.
It has robots and tells a wordless story! [Well, almost wordless... a few pictures have funny word details, such as titles of books, postcard messages, and shop names, but that's about it.]

A lonely dog builds himself a robot friend. When robot and dog get separated, we get to see the robot's dreams. We also get to see what the dog does to keep busy without his robot friend.
There are some moments in this story that made me really sad. But it was the kind of sad that made me want to keep reading.

I highly recommend this for Upper Elementary and Middle School students looking for a quick-to-read book, with super-appealing illustrations, that tells a sweet story about making friends and losing friends and finding friends.


Find it with the graphic novels-741.5!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

A Leaf Man's got go where the wind blows...

When Room 3 & Room 5 came to the library this month, we read Leaf Man.


I could look at Lois Ehlert's leaf collages forever! In Leaf Man, you get to watch as Leaf Man shifts in the wind, from a man into chickens, ducks and geese, pumpkins and winter squash, fish and turtles, and a spotted cow. All the while, you wonder: Where does a Leaf Man go when the wind blows?


If you like Leaf Man, be sure to check out another book she wrote about autumn, Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf.

Thursday, November 15, 2007


What To Do With Autumn Leaves

Kick them.

Catch them.
Pick them.
Snatch them.

Romp them.
Stomp them.
Hurl them.

Heave them.
If you want to,
Even leave them.

-Douglas Florian

That is a poem in Autumnblings, a collection of fall poetry with terrific paintings, by Douglas Florian.

Julie borrowed Autumnblings from the library, and did autumnal action poems with the Lower Elementary dance class. The class read some of Florian's work, and then composed poems of their own, packing them with action words. The class enacted their fall poetry through dance.
Really neat!

Monday, November 12, 2007

Little Room Yellow visited the the library on Friday. Everybody loved listening to Leonardo the Terrible Monster, a fun picture book by Mo Willems.

Poor Leonardo can't scare anyone. He's a terrible monster. At last, he finds the perfect scaredy-cat kid, Sam, to frighten. Sam bursts into tears and Leonardo is thrilled! But Sam quickly explains that he's not scared at all, he's been having a terrible day! Leonardo thinks for a moment, and realizes that he may not be a great monster, but he could be a great friend for Sam.

Little Room Yellow is filled with great friends: everyone listened intently, and some friends gripped each other's hands during the almost-scary (but also funny) part.