M/RCPL Family Zone

February 2012 Featured Article

03 Feb

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Celebrate Black History Month!

February may be best known for Valentine’s Day but did you know February is also Black History Month? Established in 1976, the whole country comes together to acknowledge African Americans and their great history. Here at the library, we will be celebrating Black History Month on Saturday, February 4th from 11 AM to 3 PM. Come in and check out the soul food café, vendors, and entertainment. And of course, we will have craft tables set up in the Children’s Department so every child can make a hand-made souvenir to take home. And check out the links below for more history, activities, books, and crafts to help you celebrate Black History Month with us!

For more information about Black History Month:
·Black History Month information from The History Channel
·Black History Month and literacy information from Reading Rockets

Celebrating African-American history:
· Black History Month activity and craft ideas from Family Fun
· Projects to try at home for Black History Month

For parents and teachers:
· Learn about Black History Month
· Info for teachers about Black History Month
· Great links for content on Black History Month from Education World

Books:

Posted in Feature Article, Featured Books, Holidays, Videos, Web Resources, What's Going On | Tagged 2012, Black History Month, celebrating literature, children's authors, Holidays, monthly article, videos, what's going on | Leave a comment

January Book Reviews, Part 2

30 Jan

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The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales (illustrations by Chris Van Allsburg)

From Miss Melia at Main

Harris Burdick has been a mystery for over 25 years. As legend has it, a man walked into a publishing house, presented the publisher with fourteen drawings, and said he would be back the next day with the stories that accompanied them. The man didn’t come back the next day or the next—or ever again. His name was Harris Burdick.

Legend also has it that Chris Van Allsburg heard about the mystery man and decided to research the matter. He was presented with a box of stories many people had wrote to accompany the drawings, and Mr. Van Allsburg decided the only thing to do was publish Mr. Burdick’s sketches so that others could be inspired to create their own tales. And so, Mr. Van Allsburg did just that, releasing the sketches in a book titled The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. This was in 1984.

Now, with the publishing of a brand new book, the mysteries have been solved…or have they? The Chronicles of Harris Burdick puts a story with each of the original drawings. Written by some of today’s best-known authors, such as M.T. Anderson, Kate DiCamillo, Jules Feiffer, Stephen King, Lois Lowry, Linda Sue Park, Louis Sachar, Jon Scieszka, Lemony Snicket, and Chris Van Allsburg himself, the stories give the sketches a new life. One of my favorites is “Under the Rug”. From the humorous to the peculiar to the downright creepy, every story keeps the reader intrigued to the end and beyond. Be warned that for some readers, the stories may not satisfy them and they will want to read The Mysteries of Harris Burdick to make their own tales.

I would recommend The Chronicles of Harris Burdick for older children ages 10 and up. For younger children as well as older, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is the perfect book to spark a child’s imagination and encourage them to invent their own stories. I would highly suggest both books!

Find the new book, The Chronicles of Harris Burdick and the original tale, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick in our catalog!

Posted in Book Reviews, Children's Authors, Featured Books, New Books, Videos | Tagged 2012, book reviews, children's authors, New Books, picture books, staff suggested | Leave a comment

Illustrator Spotlight — Hiroe Nakata

26 Jan

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We’ve highlighted some of our favorite children’s authors in the past, but don’t think that we’ve forgotten about the illustrators, because we haven’t!

Some authors like Rosemary Wells, Margaret Wise Brown, and Kevin Henkes actually write and illustrate many of their own works. A large number of authors, however, are paired with separate illustrators to co-create a single masterpiece, with one person supplying the words and the other providing the artwork. Some illustrators are able to work with the author from the beginning, but in many cases, the illustrator is chosen after the words have already been written.

The illustrator we’ve chosen to highlight in this post is Hiroe Nakata. A couple of our favorite picture books illustrated by this artist (especially this time of year!) are Snow Happy by Patricia Hubbell and Duck Skates by Lynne Berry; also great is a book of poetry called Winter Friends by Mary Quattlebaum.

Here’s the publisher’s information:

Hiroe Nakata grew up in Japan, where she was encouraged in her drawing by her grandfather, a painter. She moved to the United States when she was sixteen and is a graduate of the Parsons School of Design. She has illustrated numerous children’s books and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Check our catalog to see everything else by artist Hiroe Nakata. You’ll discover sensational seasonal titles; books perfect for babies; and books about grandmas, grandpas, moms, and dads.

Surf on over to Hiroe’s website for even more information and a look at all of her amazing artwork.
Read an online interview with Hiroe.
Stop by as Hiroe answers questions from the blogger of “Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast”.

Posted in Book Lists, Children's Authors, Featured Books, Illustrator Spotlight, Web Resources | Tagged 2012, book lists, children's authors, Hiroe Nakata, illustrators, picture books, poetry | Leave a comment

The Awards Are In!

24 Jan

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Every year, the American Library Association (ALA) hands out all kinds of awards for Children’s and Young Adult books that were published over the last year. Of those awards, the most famous are the Newbery and Caldecott, but there are lots of other awards that are definitely worth looking at! Below you’ll find all the 2012 ALA Youth Media Awards that pertain to children up through middle school, as Young Adult books have their own awards (the most famous is the Printz; you can find more information about the other Young Adult award winners on the Printz Award page.) We will also link you to the catalog for each award and honor winner – we may not have all the award and/or honor books in our catalog right now, but rest assured we are ordering them and should have them soon.

2012 Caldecott Winner:

A Ball for Daisy, written and illustrated by Chris Raschka