What Has Happened?

What has happened? I've unwittingly abandoned my little blog that I started so many years ago at the encouragement of my wonderful critique partners. It sure has been a fun journey. How things have changed from way back when I would shudder to post a word anywhere online. Now I blab all over the internet and moderate Sub It Club where I am just happy to be able to keep up in the chat room when I can.

'My' Library
photo courtesy of Zeke & Torsten

The thing is, now I'm a full-time Branch Librarian and that work (along with being a parent of three busy kids and helping run a garlic farm, ever so slightly as my husband tries to make it for me) can be all-consuming. Patron use of 'my' library has grown tremendously over the past year and a half. I am proud to have helped it become an even bigger part of the community and am so pleased that so many people are using the library to their advantage. Of course, I may say 'my' library but it belongs to everyone, that is one of the fabulous things about libraries! I am just the caretaker. Be that as it may, with all of this newly used energy going to the library, something had to give. And though it was not in my plan it seems that blogging has been it.

But I have managed to keep writing books. I mean, I suspect my agent would be disappointed with me if I stopped and frankly, I would be unhappy with me as well. I am sad to say that I have posted none of my news here until now, but my agent Sean McCarthy and I have sold a series of books to the new Scholastic Acorn imprint for beginning readers and it is so very exciting! UNICORN AND YETI: SPARKLY NEW FRIENDS releases on April 30th! I feel so lucky to be working with amazing editor Katie Carella and the fabulous team at Scholastic. Hazel Quintanilla is Unicorn and Yeti's illustrator and I could not be more thrilled with how she has brought them to life. I just love them so. The release of two more Unicorn and Yeti books: A GOOD TEAM and FRIENDS ROCK follow in July and October. Pretty cool huh? If you want to see the info and happenings with my new series I invite you to come check out my new website HeatherAyrisBurnell.com.

Thank you to all of you who still frolic here for writing advice, agent and publisher listings, and even sign up for my newsletter. I have not decided what exactly I will do with this blog. But this is not really the end. I, of course, have ideas for migrating the well-used info to my other sites where it can still be useful, but for now and really the foreseeable future, I am leaving it up for you to use if you need it.

Write on my friends!

Escargot!

Not too long ago I followed someone on Twitter because she looked interesting. I found her because she entered the giveaway for my book, KICK! JUMP! CHOP! THE ADVENTURES OF THE NINJABREAD MAN, that was happening through Ninjas Read. Miss Gee, known as @MsGeeLvsBooks on Twitter, is a 2nd grade teacher and an aspiring teacher-librarian. Sounds just like my type of gal! When I followed Ms. Gee I had no idea I was entering a contest. And a really cool one at that! Not long after I received this tweet:

@heatherayris you're my 100th follower! So cool! My class is going to pick their favorite picture book to mail to you 😆 DM an address ❤️📚 pic.twitter.com/89LVi4vK9D

Unexpected and exciting! I got in touch with Ms. Gee and soon this cute little pink package arrived. I had run to the post office before work so I went straight to my favorite part of the library, the children's section amongst the picture books, of course, to find out what was inside the package!

I opened it up and there was the most adorable snail I had ever seen! (I put the book up on my shelf to admire it while I read the card!) Ms. Gee's class chose ESCARGOT written by Dashka Slater and illustrated by Sydney Hanson as their favorite book!

Now, I see a lot of books every single day in my work at the library and I was super excited not only because of the beautiful illustrations and the fact that this is a book about a snail. I love snails! I was excited because I had never seen this book before and oh my gosh do I love the story! You see Escargot is a beautiful snail from France and he simply wants two things: to be your favorite animal and to eat the fabulous salad at the end of the book. But wait! There is a carrot and that is trouble. Big, big trouble!


Oooo, la la! I cannot wait to share this story with the kids who come to the library for storytime and tell them about Ms. Gee's 2nd grade class in Virginia and how they chose this very book as their favorite!


Want to hear one more amazing thing? Miss Gee won the copy of my book in the Ninjas Read giveaway. I had absolutely nothing to do with picking the winner on that. It was completely run by the amazing ninja writer, Corey Rosen Schwartz. I'm no mathematician but there has got to be a mathematical lesson in probability on that! Maybe Corey could help us out. Her new book, TWINDERELLA, is a mathy fractioned fairytale.

Mathematics aside, I love that luck, Ninjas Read, and Twitter connected me with this fun new book and let me have a peek into what a second grade class on the other side of the United States from me loves.

A huge THANK YOU to Ms. Gee and her second grade class! You are magnifique!

Summer Reading aka Librarians Love Kid's Books!

I love the Summer Reading Program at the library. I've been a part of it in some way whether bringing my children, ordering in books, planning crafts, or reading books at storytime, for the past 12 years<--eek, that makes me feel oldish!

As a librarian I'm lucky enough to be asked to attend my regional library's Summer Reading Training, but did you know they love it when volunteers come and take part in training too? They do at my library system at least. If you're a children's book writer and have the time, volunteering to help with the Summer Reading Program is a great opportunity! I seriously learned the most about books the summer I read to the kids at storytime once a week. It was purely evident which books worked in a group reading session and which ones didn't. YA and MG writers, you could check with your library for Summer Reading opportunities too. My library has a teen group that is always in need of more adult help.

But, back to the training--if you want to be inspired as a writer, all it takes is to be amongst a group of librarians gushing over books. Each librarian at my training worked hard to create crafts based on picture books within the theme and write book talks for books from picture book to young adult. Oh, and when they gave the talks they were so expressive! I just sat there thinking wow, these people are so excited about children's books and they don't even write them (as far as I know anyway). Think about it, as an author, you never know, someone just might be talking about your book, or even creating a craft to go along with it. That is super exciting!
I see so much enthusiasm about children's books on a daily basis from within the kidlit writing community I think I can sometimes forget how enthusiastic non-writers are as well, especially when my husband asks me things like, "why did you check out that board book" as he eyes the faeries on the cover suspiciously. I suppose it's a fair question since we have no board book aged kids, and definitely none that are into fairies. But to me the answer is obvious. I want to read it. Yes, he rolled his eyes. Ha!

This year's Summer Reading Program theme is Dream Big, Read! I love love love putting together books with a theme. I know I'll find a lot (more--I already have a big stack) of books to go with that one. But, if you have any suggestions please do leave them in the comments. I'm certain there are lots of stories I don't know about. Plus I love to hear about (and read) new picture books!

Sharing the Love

Wow. This was our second weekend having the cafe & gallery open and it was hoppin'! I was so tired on Saturday that I fell asleep around 7pm! I have to say, this new venture makes me even happier that I have the fabulous Karen Grencik working to sell my books. I have to use my spare minutes to write! I did find the time to share some love over at Kai Strand's blog for Share the Love month. I talk about my friend/librarian and how she has gently pushed me into being a more outgoing author. I mean, it's not everyone that will get you up infront of a group of librarians while a well known book reviewer flips through the pages of your book for you! Anyhow, if you want to read about my library adventures, or even learn how you can help push an introverted author in the outgoing direction, head on over and check out my post at Strands of Thought.

Only One Published Book? Aaack!

What do you do when you are asked to do a library visit but only have one published picture book that takes mere minutes to read? First, you panic. Ha ha. Kidding.

Mostly.

After you stop kicking yourself for immediately saying yes and wondering what you were thinking, a good idea would be to go and talk to a librarian. Maybe even a librarian at the library you are going to visit. Why? Librarians know their audience when it comes to storytimes and they just might have some ideas for you.

I went and talked to one of North Central Regional Library's great librarians and regional supervisor, Sharon. She was so enthusiastic about me visiting that she didn't even see me having only one published books as a problem. Her brilliant solution? "Read some picture books from childhood that inspired you." Viola! Easy solution! Now why didn't I think of that?

I took Sharon's idea and ran with it. To go along with my reading of Bedtime Monster I chose two of my favorite monster books from childhood, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and There's a Nightmare in my Closet by Mercer Mayer. Those two books along with a little talk about being an author then a craft, and my program lasted over an hour. Happy kids, parents, and librarians. I definitely call that a success.

Now, I could have been a sport and read two more recently released picture books. Maybe even books written by friends. I actually had a couple in mind and suggested it. The thinking here? It was my time to shine as the author of a new book. Reading classics helped me have a little something special juxtaposed to these great books.

Well, it seemed to work out. Nobody asked my why I didn't write those other books instead of mine. Not even close. They applauded me. People told me they loved my book. Huh. A girl could actually get used to this.

Launch Party or Strapping on my Tail like a Big Girl

Waiting for a launch party to happen is a funny thing, especially if you work at the place the party is going to be at. Flyers with my picture on them were hung on the bulletin boards and there was a stack of handouts on the desk right next to me. It was a little weird to have pictures of myself hanging around the library, but it was entertaining. I lost count of how many people looked back and forth, back and forth, from me to the flyers, me to the flyers. Then I would hear them whisper to one another, "Is that her?"
"Nah."
"No, I think it is."
"I don't think so. Maybe."
Finally they'd ask, "Hey, is this you?"
I'd smile and say yes, and they would usually have a look of surprise or amazement. I mean, famous authors don't have real jobs, right? (Yes, some people even use that crazy 'F' word. Famous. To which I have to laugh.)

Anyway, I know I could have just piped up and said "That's me!" When I saw them looking, but it's so much more entertaining to see people try to figure out whether it was really me or not.

After a few weeks of flyer entertainment, the day of the party finally came. We made monster cupcakes. The head librarian came back from her vacation early just to be there and to make them with my kids. Isn't that sweet?!




Cute & tasty!



When the time came for me to get up in front of everyone, I thought I was ready, but I did get a little nervous. There were about forty people there and some of them were grownups! I was a big girl, though. I put on my tail and got up there.

I couldn't believe so many people showed up just to see me. Some of them I knew, but many of them I didn't. So, I started off by talking about how much I love books. I told them about how I love books so much that I write them. I told them that that's why I started working at the library, so I could be around more books.

Then I told them all sorts of things about Bedtime Monster. I talked about how long I'd been waiting for the book to come out. I showed them the original cover(they all agreed that Bonnie's cover was much better.) I talked about Bonnie and how she is the illustrator. Then we read the book. It went great! The kids stayed interested the whole time, and I didn't die because a bunch of grownups were watching me. Victory!

Then we all went and partied down. We made monsters out of some monster parts I'd made, did monster origami, put on monster tattoos, and ate popcorn and cupcakes. We even had live music provided by my husband and this crazy guy wearing a tattoo on his head.

Every party needs a crazy guy who lets the kids put tattoos on his head.

I got to sign some books too! A few people stopped in just to buy my books. I was amazed! Yup, this is where I sat and signed them.

Now, you may wonder why I'm not sitting here, and why I don't have a bunch of great pictures of all the fun stuff we did. Well, I have a little boy who loves to take pictures. He's really quite good at it. He wanted to be the photographer. With all the book stuff I've had going on my kids have really been learning a lot about writing and business and I think it's great for them to participate so, of course, I said yes. I went over things with him beforehand. I know, at the event I should have told him, "here take a picture of this, take a picture of that," but I ended up being a lot busier than I imagined. I mean, it was like I was the host to forty people and the guest of honor. My little guy did take a lot of pictures, he just kinda forgot that I needed them to be of things I could actually use. Oh well, he had fun.

I had another library presentation the next week, but it wasn't such a big production. The crowd was a lot smaller, but the intimacy was nice. I really got to talk to people. And the funny thing was, I wasn't even nervous. I feel ready to strap on my tail and do my next three library presentations in the spring!

A Review! (and stuff)

Booklist reviewed Bedtime Monster, and it's a nice one. Yay! It's my first review so I'm excited! You can read it at booklistonline.com if you're interested.

Fun things have been happening with my little book and me lately. Yesterday eight copies of Bedtime Monster arrived at the library while I was working and I got to check them in. I put one on the shelf and one in a bedtime display to go along with my release party tomorrow. I've got my tail and monster tattoos ready to go. I have a create-a-monster craft all together. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get my monster origami craft finished up. It's been a little tricky getting the dotted folding lines in just the right place. I also got a nice write up in the local paper with a big photo of my book cover and a little photo of me. Just the way I like it. Ha! Tomorrow is definitely going to test the depths of my outgoingness. I'll be sure to tell you how it all goes.

Weeding

I've been doing a lot of weeding at the library lately--pulling books off the shelves and packing them up to send to the library system's distribution center. I thought it would be hard for me to take any books off the shelves, especially in the children's section. Funny enough, that was the easiest place for me to pull books from. I know that section best and have read most all of the books in it(don't be too impressed, my library isn't that big). I definitely have opinions on which books are great and which aren't. I know which books are checked out a lot and which ones sit. I was a little sad about having to get rid of some oldies but goodies that were worn, but I have a feeling there are newer copies in the library system I can order in if I want to. So yeah, it was kind of fun weeding the children's section. It's definitely going to be easier for the kids to pull out books, the shelves were getting a little tight. And now I can order in a bunch of new books and freshen things up. Of course, I'll have to read them too!

I had thought that weeding the adult fiction would be easy. I was so wrong. I don't know a whole lot about those books. I know the popular authors like Catherine Coulter and Danielle Steele because I check their books in and out constantly, but I felt squeamish about pulling anything off the shelf lest someone want to check it out. I really don't know what has been sitting unread. So, I went the easy route and pulled books that looked worn. Then if an author had a slew of books on the shelves I pulled some of those. If a book was number 2 or 3 in a series and the first book wasn't there, I pulled them.

That system seemed to work pretty good until I got to the large print books. They all looked new! I noticed that I was pulling a lot of romance and westerns at first, so I started reading back copy and tried to make guesses on what people might want to check out. Large prints are so popular that I'm sure lots more will be flowing back in so I tried not to worry.

As I boxed up a heaping table full of books today I realized that it doesn't matter how popular an author you are, how famous, or how great your book is, sometimes it's going to get pulled off the shelf because there isn't enough room. I know I'll be happy to share a spot on the shelf at all. I hear that my library's copies of Bedtime Monster will be arriving on Thursday. I wonder whose books they'll be sitting next to on the shelf.

The Deep Dark Depths of my Writing Life

My friend and critque partner Stephanie Theban asked me some tough, personal questions about my writing life on her blog: Stories. Read'em. Write'em. She really got me thinking about things I'd never even realized, like how life on the mountain has prepared me for the publishing world. I had no idea!

Launch Party Prep

So I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do for my book launch party. I know it's happening at the library. I know I'm going to read my book and have food and drinks. I want to have monster masks for the kids to make or maybe have a monster art show where kids make their own monsters from random art supplies and they hang them up and get a ribbon that says "monstrously good".

I, of course, have to find a place to get such ribbons. And that's where my trouble begins. I have all these ideas but I scarcely know where to start. I want some really cool monster print pajamas and a big green tail to wear to my launch party, but where do I find such things? I see some monster attire for kids, but I think I'm going to need some specialty stuff. After all, I could be touring some more libraries in these jammies! I wish I was more crafty and could sew myself some pajamas and a tail. The closest shopping mecca is hours from here and I doubt there are the kind of monstery things I need. I know--there's online, obviously. But I don't seem to be finding what I need. Guess I'd better get to work.

At least I know that I'm going to be making a monster cake. I'm certainly looking forward to that! Maybe I should go practice making one now.

Reading Practice

I've decided that since my book is coming out soon, I'd better practice reading to kids. I mean, I know how to read to kids, I do it every day. But reading to large groups is different. There are more eyes that need to see the pictures, more mouths asking questions, more wiggling bodies, more minds to keep entertained.

Every year I help behind the scenes with the Summer Reading Program at the library, but this year I'm stepping it up. This year I'm doing the reading. I've done two readings so far to around 40 kids and 20 adults each time. I was surprised by the volume I was able to raise my reading voice to so that everyone could hear. I did not die when I got up in front of everybody. Actually, I wasn't even nervous. Pretty good for a girl who would rather not get a dipolma than take the required public speaking class. I'm still a little befuddled on what to do when all the kids want to talk at once. And what to do when the parents are louder than the kids, making it hard to hear the story. But, I'll get the hang of it.(Advice is welcome!)

So now, I've been asked to write a proposal for a library tour. I'm going to have to think of lots of fun things to do. It's one thing for people to be coming to the Summer Reading Program for the program. It's a whole other thing for people to be coming to see me. Hopefully I can figure out a library tour that will be a monstrously good time for all and build on the confidence I've attained from my summer's worth of reading practice.

Retold Tales

Retold Tales are fun! Most of us are familiar with classic stories and nursery rhymes, but even if we're not, new twists and retelling can be great reads. I especially love them for storytime. I went searching for retold tales on my library shelves. Here's what I found and put on display:


Hush Little Dragon written by Boni Ashburn and Illustrated by Kelly Murphy. A mother dragon soothes her baby by singing him a rhyme. A fiendishly fun play on the Hush Little Baby lullaby, this mama dragon sings about snacks of the royal kind.






Young MacDonald by David Milgram in which Young MacDonald creates all sorts of mixed-up animals on the farm while the Old MacDonalds are away. He's got to set thing straight before the Old MacDonalds, aka his parents, get home.



Goldie and the Three Bears written and illustrated by Diane Stanley. Goldie can't seem to find a friend that is just right, until she happens upon Bear's house. Both the illustrations and the story are very sweet.




The Famous Adventures of a Bird-Brained Hen is written and illustrated by Jessica Souhami. It's a simple retelling of Henny Penny's story with colorful collage illustrations.











The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon by Mini Grey. This book takes a couple of characters from the classic nursery rhyme. It's great fun. The Dish and the Spoon run away together and become vaudeville stars, of course, there is some trouble along the way.


Tom Thumb retold and illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson is a beautiful book. Mr. Watson's amazing illustrations alone make it a must read. There is so much detail! I actually have a signed copy of this book from when Mr. Watson visited our library. In it he drew a big beautiful lion for my son(amazingly quickly I might add). It's a book that we treasure.


Bubba the Cowboy Prince: A Fractured Texas Tale by Helen Ketteman and illustrated by James Warhola. Bubba is the "Cinderella" of this tale. He's the stepson of a wicked rancher and has some really mean stepbrothers and the fairy godmother is a cow. This is one of my absolute favorite stories. The voice is spot on. It'll have you talking like a cowboy in no time.

I'd love to know what your favorite retold tales are.

I'm a Cool Dork

I split my shift at work the other day so I could go to my little guy's award ceremony at school. Of course, I jumped out of my car and raced into school to make sure I wasn't late. It was snowing that day, so I had my scarf wrapped around my neck.

My little guy's class came down the hall. I met my guy and walked into the gym with him and we sat down. We were talking while we were waiting for things to begin, and I took off my scarf.

Suddenly he looked embarrassed. When I asked him what was wrong he pointed to my name tag which I had forgotten to take off. "It's okay," I said, "I'm cool. I work at the library."

"I know," he said. But he still wanted me to take off the name tag.

It's good to know my little guy thinks librarians are cool. Name tags, though, are way dorky.

Halloween Favorites!

Halloween gives us all a chance to dress up and be something else. Picture books create a world of their own full of imagery whisking us away to a different place. Picture books and Halloween seem to just go together. There are some great Halloween books that I love, and read every year. Here's the books I've been reading, over and over again, all month.



John Pig's Halloween written by Jan L. Waldron, illustrated by David McPhail is about poor little John Pig being too scared to go out to trick-or-treat with the rest of the piggies, so, he stays home. He expects a sad and lonely night, until a witch shows up at the door and shows John how to really party on Halloween. She sets him straight right quick. She doesn't want candy! John, the witch, and her cat, whip up some monstrously good food just in time for a crowd of monsters to arrive and party down. The story is written in rhyme and has such sweet illustrations. I love that real monsters don't eat candy, and the book has provided me with one of my favorite quotes, "You need savory snacks that real monsters can eat." I love it!



Bella Legrossi is messy. Boris Kleanitoff is extremely tidy. They don't make for good neighbors. They don't even like each other... until they dance. This is a great story about giving people a chance, even though they are different than ourselves. As we all know, opposites attract.

I so wish I had clothes like Boris and Bella wear so my husband and I could be them every year. I've always wanted green hair, and I am quite like Bella, so I could be messy all day and have an excuse! Boris and Bella is written by Carolyn Crimi and illustrated by Gris Grimly.



A Creepy Countdown is simply lovely. It's a fun little counting book, with a funny twist. Pus, it's a counting book that I can actually get my little guy to read with me. He has the best learning radar I've ever experienced. If there is any teaching whatsoever involved in a book, he's out. A Creepy Countdown isn't teach-y. Charlotte Huck has written the story so that it's just fun that happens to have numbers in it. It's the black ink on scratchboard illustrations done by Jos. A. Smith that I adore. They're just beautiful. The art in this book has inspired a story or two that I've written.



In Big Pumpkin, witch has grown a pumpkin so big she can't even get it off the vine. She seems to want the pumpkin all to herself because when others offer to help she's a bit resistant, witchy even. She tells them all,"It's big and it's mine but it's stuck on the vine." But, she wants pumpkin pie so bad, she reluctantly lets some others help. Funny how the smallest guy has the best idea. It's all about teamwork! Warning: me and my little guy played "It's big and it's mine but it's stuck on the vine," at the pumpkin patch. He pulled the pumpkin, I pulled him, he bopped me in the jaw, I saw stars. Luckily it works out alot better in the book. They even get pumpkin pie. Hey! I didn't get any pumpkin pie! Not fair. Big Pumpkin is written by Erica Silverman and illustrated by S.D. Schindler.



This is Simon Lester Henry Strauss, he's not afraid of this haunted house, and he's funny! There's loads of spooky stuff in this book, but Simon Lester Henry Strauss isn't afraid of any of it. He's so darn brave, which makes the ending all the more hilarious. My little guy laughs every time. This may be the book that inspired him to eat a spider, actually, but hey, he was fine. Everyone should try eating a spider once I suppose. Everyone... except me. I'm Not Afraid of This Haunted House is written by Laurie Friedman and illustrated by Teresa Murfin.



Snitched! This 800-year-old man's pumpkin has been snitched! Who would do such a thing to such an old man? There's some snarky characters in this book, The Vanishing Pumpkin, written by Tony Johnston and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. It's pretty darn funny. I love the rapscallion. I love the sassy old man. I love pumpkin pie--this is my third book on the list that has pumpkin pie in it. Think I can talk the kids into eating pumpkin pie instead of candy this Halloween? No, didn't think so.



Hic! Skeleton has the hic! hiccups. There's only one hic! thing that can hic! scare his hiccups away. Can you hic! guess what it is? Hic! Skeleton Hiccups is written by Margery Cuyler and illustrated by S.D. Schindler.



My little guy absolutely loves this book by Dave Horowitz, about the poor, Ugly Pumpkin. It's sad when the others treat the ugly pumpkin mean and we do feel very sorry for him, especially when he cries, "I am the Ugly Pumpkin!" in huge letters that cover the entire page. But, oh my gosh! The Ugly Pumpkin discovers he's something else, and takes us on into Thanksgiving.

What are your Halloween favorites? I'm always looking for more stories to add to my favorite reading list!

Learning About Books

One of the perks of being a librarian is that I get to go to some great trainings. Last week I was lucky enough to see Jonathan Hunt. He's a book reviewer for Horn Book Magazine and a blogger for School Library Journal as well as being a librarian and teacher. He's also served on award committees such as the Newberry and the Printz. So was I excited? Oh, just a little.

Jonathan Hunt is an amazing book talker. He came to tell us about books we may want to share with library patrons. Jonathan projected dozens and dozens (four hours worth) of book jackets up on the screen and proceeded to tell us what each one was about and why he loved it--including the parts he maybe didn't love, but still thought the book was worthwhile for one reason or another. He went over story plots, arcs, and characters--all from memory. He always pointed out how many starred reviews a book had, which I found interesting. The love he radiated for books was infectious although I must admit, he was playing to a pretty easy crowd.

The training was actually called "Best Young Adult Books with Jonathan Hunt" so you can imagine how giddy I, the picture book writer, got when he started talking picture books. Not only did he talk about some new favorites, he read them to us too! He got lots of laughs and cheers. I always love seeing a group of adults being read picture books.

One thing he did point out is that there are a lot of poetry picture books this year. Jonathan's reading of Bubble Trouble written by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Polly Dunbar was my favorite read of his. He called it a must have story time read with perfect meter. I must agree, and the illustrations are adorable too. But, you may need to practice this one a few times before attempting it before a crowd!

I have so many notes and learned about oodles of interesting books. My 'to read' list is a hulking pyramid now compared to the teetering tower it was before. I have Jonathan's Best Books of the Decade list, genre lists, best resources, strategies, and technologies lists. So many great resources for me as a librarian and a writer. Thanks Jonathan!

Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?

For my picture book display at the library this week, I tried to go with a Labor Day theme. It proved to be a little difficult, but I managed to come up with a fun display. After all, there are lots of different kinds of workers in any given place. My people in the neighborhood list includes firefighters, postal workers, a garbage man, store clerks, a librarian, bakers, musicians, a principal, a Zamboni driver, and of course, a mad scientist. Here’s what I found:


TRASHY TOWN written by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clamesha, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino. This is a classic story about the trash man with a great rhythm plus it encourages child participation, which is always fun. If you haven’t read it, what are you waiting for?



FIREFIGHTERS TO THE RESCUE by Kersten Hamilton and Rich Davis. A firefighter story. Kids love em.

PENGUIN POST by Debi Glori, about a little penguin who has to take over delivering the mail for his penguin parents—and ends up delivering himself a surprise.

BEBE GOES SHOPPING written by Susan Middletown Elya, illustrated by Steven Salerno. I know, I’m pushing it with this one, but there is a grocery store clerk in it, and he’s very nice.

NOTHING by John Agee. This story has a funny concept that challenges our way of thinking. Buying nothing? Absurd!

THE LIBRARY DRAGON by Carmen Agra Deedy. Hey, every librarian’s got to be a little bit of a dragon sometime, except for me, of course.

HAZEL NUTT: MAD SCIENTIST written by David Elliot and illustrated by True Kelley. Every town has a mad scientist, doesn’t it?



SUN BREAD by Elisa Kleven. Elisa’s books are always beautiful. And there’s a baker in this story that brings the whole town together.

MY FAMILY PLAYS MUSIC by Judy Cox, illustrated by Elbrite Brown. Where would we be without musicians?

SAM THE ZAMBONI MAN written by James Stevenson, illustrated by Harvey Stevenson. The Zamboni man is especially important around here. Lots of hockey lovers.

MR. TANNEN’S TIE TROUBLE by Maryann Cocca-Leffler. Mr. Tannen is one tie loving principal. I wish he would have been my principal when I was in school. He’s awesome.

I wanted to include police officers(Like OFFICER BUCKLE AND GLORIA by Peggy Rathman), doctors, dentists, truck drivers, teachers, the list could go on and on. Any favorites out there I should keep in mind for my next people in the neighborhood display?

Art at the Library

For our last week of the Summer Reading Program at the library, I put a display of books with an artistic theme in the children's section. I absolutely love so many of these books. I noticed that the majority of picture books about art (at least the one's I found at my library) are by author/illustrators. Interesting! Here's some of what I found on the shelves:

A IS FOR ARTIST: A Getty Museum Alphabet by John Harris. This high class alphabet book is illustrated with details taken from the collection of paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum.

THE ROOM OF WONDERS, written and illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier in which a pack rat loves to share his collection, but no one appreciates his most treasured item. A very sweet story.

LOOK, LOOK, LOOK written by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace with Linda K. Friedlaendar and illustrated by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. Three mice learn about art from a postcard of a painting. All of Nancy's books are beautiful.

COLOR DANCE by Ann Jonas. Dancers show how to combine colors as they dance with colored scarves.



HALIBUT JACKSON written and illustrated by David Lucas. Halibut Jackson is so shy that he makes outfits that will blend into the background wherever he goes, but, Oops! He makes a mistake--and gets noticed. A very fun book!

THE DOT by Peter H. Reynolds. Vashti thinks she can't draw, but her teacher inspires her to think differently. A wonderful story that I highly recommend.

MOUSE PAINT by Ellen Stoll Walsh. A very cute book about three mice and some paint.

THE BLACK BOOK OF COLORS by Menena Cottin and Rosana Faria. A book with an interesting concept, using words and the feeling of raised black pictures on black pages, to create the color in our minds instead of on paper.



WHEN PIGASSO MET MOOTISSE by Nina Laden. A story about two talented artists with strong styles and personalities who, after an art battle, manage to be friends despite their differences. This one is a family favorite.

What artistic themed picture books do you like? I'd love to read more.

Bilingual Book Display

This week at the library I decided to put up a bilingual book display. Bilingual picture books in my library are usually designated to the Spanish language section where they don't get a lot of attention, which is unfortunate. Young readers can learn so much from bilingual books. It seemed like a good week to put up this display because our bilingual specialist, librarian Deb McVay, is coming to do her tri-lingual program for kids this week. She takes stories and tells them in English, Spanish, and sign language in her fun sing-song way. She brings books and puppets and decorates the room like a wild book adventure. She's got a way of getting the kids excited about books.

Here's some of the bilingual books I found on our shelves:

On Ramon's Farm: Five tales of Mexico, written by Campbell Geeslin, illustrated by Petra Mathers (This one is a family favorite.)
Oh Crumps!/Ay Carumba! by Lee Bock (Fun!)
Cinderella/Cenicienta adapted by Francesc Boada, illustrated by Monse Fransoy
Bebe Goes Shopping written by Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Steven Salerno (Cute!)
Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora, illustrated by Raul Colon (Lovely story.)
Estrellita de Oro/Little Gold Star by Joe Hayes, illustrated by Lucia Angela Perez
La lagartija y el sol/ The Lizard and the Sun by Alma Flor Ada
Eight Animals Bake a Cake by Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Lee Chapman (Another definite family favorite. I see an animal theme here. We also love Susan's other "Ocho Animales" books.)
Counting Coconuts by Wendy Silvano (Spanish & math!)
Olivia's Opposites by Ian Falconer (Great for learning some simple words.)
Playing Loteria by Rene Colato Lainez (I didn't know what Loteria was until I read this book.)

I love this display. I hope the kids will see that there are fun books to read that contain words in both English and Spanish, and parents will notice that there are some fun books to check out in the Spanish section that they are able to read to their kids, even if they are not Spanish speakers. I also like this display because when my book comes out(Bedtime Monster/El Monstruo de la Hora de Dormir), it will fit right in!

Librarian's Special

 

I don't get to work at the library much, but when I do I love it. Since I'm so into children's books (yeah, I barely think about anything else) the picture books and junior reading are my sections. I try to keep books on display that the kids are into. I'm always happy to see when things I put on display have been checked out and take note which books aren't.

Every week I put up a new themed display in the picture book area. Sometimes it's tricky. The library is small and the books on the shelf don't always jump out at me in categories. I try to order in books from the library system, 28 libraries in all, but that takes planning and organization and if you've read my blog much you know that I am organizationally challenged. But, I usually manage to pull things together.

With the start of the Summer Reading Program this week I decided to go with the display I like to call "the librarian's special", all books about reading and the library. Here's the books I found on the shelves:

OUR LIBRARY by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Maggie Smith (Clarion Books, 2008) is about a raccoon and his friends going to great lengths to save their library. Quite inspirational as our library is in need of some saving, the building is falling apart.

CHARLIE COOK'S FAVORITE BOOK by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Alex Scheffler (Dial BFYR 2006) is a circular story. Each character in the book is reading about the next and it begins and ends with Charlie Cook. A fun read and my head librarian's favorite.

I.Q. GOES TO THE LIBRARY by Mary Ann Fraser (Walker & Co. 2003) is about a school mouse's first trips to the library and quest to get his own library card.

LIBRARY LION by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes (Candlewick Press 2006) has a sweet lion who loves the library and helps out, but it is a story about following the rules, and knowing when to break them. It's one of my favorite books.

AMELIA BEDELIA, BOOKWORM by Herman Parish, pictures by Lynn Sweat (Greenwillow 2003) is literal word fun with Amelia at the library.

RICHARD WRIGHT AND THE LIBRARY CARD by William Miller, illustrated by Gregory Christie (Lee & Low Books 1997) is based on a scene from Richard Wright's autobiography. Based on a scene from Wright's autobiography, Black boy, in which the seventeen-year-old African-American borrows a white man's library card and devours every book as a ticket to freedom. This one we recently got into the library and is on my to read list.

CLARENCE THE COPY CAT by Patricia Lakin, illustrated by John Manders (Doubleday BFYR 2002) is a fun story about a cat who isn't welcome anywhere until he finds the library but doesn't want to hurt mice--and it's his job to keep them out!

BEVERLY BILLINGSLY BORROWS A BOOK by Alexander Stadler (Silver Whistle/Harcourt 2002) Beverly's book is overdue, and she is afraid she's going to get into big trouble--maybe even go to jail!

READING MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD by Todd Parr (Little Brown 2005) is of course about reading. The illustrations are a big hit with the young ones.

I TOOK MY FROG TO THE LIBRARY by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Blanche Sims (Viking 1990) shows how disastrous it can be to bring your pet to the library. And when I say disastrous I mean funny, if it's not at my library, of course.

So that's my display for the week. I wanted to add THE LIBRARY DRAGON by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Michael P. White (Peachtree 1994), but it was checked out!

Like I said, the library is small as is my town so check out rates aren't as high as in a big city, but I'm looking forward to seeing what gets checked out this week.

If you have any favorite books about reading or the library I'd love to hear about them!

I'm Back

I took the winter off of work at the library since the weather is so unpredictable around here. I was skiing/sledding/walking out two miles and it was negative degrees for so much of winter this year, so I was glad I did. But I missed the library.

I'm finally getting back into the swing of things(winter was long!) I don't get to work too often--did you notice that I said get? That's right, because I love my job. I love shelving books. I have a hard time not reading each book jacket as I put them in their place. I love helping people find books they want/need. I love checking books out.

I fear that if I didn't work at the library I wouldn't even know what adult fiction books are out there. I do read quite a bit of non-fiction(mostly writing related of course) but really, I'm all about the children's books. I always head to the picture book section first, then go puruse the middle grade and young adult. The cool thing is, since I'm so into it, that has become "my section" of the library. All the subs get a section, depending on what they're into(the head librarian is very cool that way). No one else is so into children's books like I am. Imagine that.

It's my mission to rearrange books so kids can find them and to help kids find books that interest them. One girl said today, "I only read good books." She was very serious. Her friend cracked up. It was classic. Some people are harder to find books for than others.

My favorite part though is putting up book displays in the picture book section. We like to have some sort of theme, so I get to sit and look through the shelves just like I would anyway, but with more of a focus than I would normally have. I did a water theme last week. This week I did birds. And there's always my favorite library themed display. I want to start blogging my displays. I haven't had the time to write the books down so far. The library is a busy place.