Magazines of the Month

Did you know that the children's room has magazines you can check out and take home? Our collection features something for every age and interest, from science to literature to history to sports! We will be highlighting two or three magazines each month on this blog -- come on in and check some out!



Dig is a magazine of archaeology, paleontology

and earth science for kids 9 and up

Read about your favorite teams and athletes in Sports Illustrated Kids

Ages 8 to 11

Crinkles magazine features people, places and events, real and imaginary, for kids ages 7 -11

Great Books to Give as Gifts

Here in time for the holidays, is our list of terrific children's books to give as gifts:

FOR THE YOUNG

Burgess, Mark. Where Teddy Bears Come From (Xmas)

dePaola, Tommie. Strega Nona’s Harvest
Ehlerts, Lois. Boo to You
Fox, Mem. The Goblin and the Empty Chair (ill. Dillon)
Gravett, Emily. Spells
Isadora, Rachel. Happy Belly, Happy Smile
Kimmelman, Leslie. Mind Your Manners Alice Roosevelt!
Long, Loren. Otis
Oldland, Nicholas. Big Bear Hug
Pinkney, Jerry. The Lion and the Mouse (folk)
Rosenthal, Amy Krouse. Duck! Rabbit!
Rosenthal, Amy Krouse. The Spoon
Tafuri, Nancy. The Big Storm, A Very Soggy Counting Book
Van Fleet, Matthew. Cat
Willems, Mo. Big Frog Can’t Fit In
Willems, Mo. The Naked Mole Rat
Wolff, Ferida. The Story Blanket
Yoon, Salina. Opposnakes A lift-the-flap Book About Opposites

BEGINNING CHAPTER BOOKS

Brown, Jeff (creator). Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventure
Kelly, David. Babe Ruth And The Baseball Curse
Salisbury, Graham. Calvin Coconut Trouble Magnet
Voake, Steve. Daisy Dawson is On Her Way

OLDER



Baggott, Julianna. The Prince of Fenway Park (grade 3-7 plus)
Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone Shines My shoes (grade 5-8)
Carmichael, Clay. Wild Things. (grade 6-8)
Cooney, Caroline. If the Witness Lied. (grade 6-8)
Creech, Sharon. The Unfinished Angel (grade 3-7)
Hoberman, Mary Ann. Strawberry Hill (grade 4-5)
Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid. (grade 3-7)
Klise, Kate. 43 Old Cemetary Road Dying to Meet You (grade 4-6)
Lin, Grace. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. (grade 4-6)
Look, Lenore. Alvin Ho Allergic to Camping, Hiking… (grade 3-4)
Paulsen, Gary. Mudshark (grade 4-6)
Peck, Richard. A Season of Gifts (grade 5-7)

POETRY



Agee, Jon. Orangutan Tongs
Florian, Douglas. Dinothesaurus
Janeczko, Paul (sel). A Foot In The Mouth, Poems to Speak, Sing
And Shout
Rosen, Michael. The Cuckoo’s Haiku and other Birding Poems
Sidman, Joyce. Red Sings from Treetops a Year in Colors

Halloween Parade Picture

We had a wonderful turnout for our special Halloween Parade! Children and their families had fun showing off their creative costumes. Afterward, everyone enjoyed some not-to-scary Halloween films and yummy treats, courtesy of Whole Foods Market in Newtonville.

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH IS SEPTEMBER 15-OCTOBER 15

To highlight this special month, I thought I would mention a few great books in our Spanish language section, which is located right across from the magazines section. We have many bilingual books, so even if you cannot speak Spanish, you can still enjoy these books. You can easily spot the bilingual books by the pink dot on the spine.

--Jean

Fiesta! By Ginger Foglesong Guy is a fun, bilingual picture book about preparing for a party.

A brilliantly illustrated bilingual counting book is Counting Ovejas by Sarah Weeks.

Would you like a glorious tale of a grandmother and granddaughter in the Caribbean? Try

La Isla, by Arthur Dorros. This book is only in Spanish!

I always like recommending songbooks, as they are a fun way to explore another culture, and music is good for the soul. These two are also bilingual:

Diez Deditos/Ten Little Fingers: Other Play Rhymes and Action Songs from Latin America by Jose-Luis Orozco.

Mama Goose: A Latino Nursery Treasury/Un Tesoro de Rimas Infantiles by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy

A beautiful bilingual Peruvian folk tale by Lois Ehlert is Moon Rope/Un Lazo a la Luna.

How about an unusual alphabet book? Try ABeCedarios: Mexican Folk Art ABCs in English and Spanish by Cynthia Weill and K.B. Basseches.

For a splendid book about reading, check out Book Fiesta! Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day/Celebremos El Dia de los ninos/El Dia de los Libros by Pat Mora.

In addition to our many picture books, board books and song books, we also have novels in Spanish, as well as some great dictionaries and other non-fiction books. Older children may want to explore these two bilingual titles:

Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States, edited by Lori Marie Carlson. This is a nice collection of poems for middle school students.

My Name is Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz/Me Llamo Celia: La Vida de Celia Cruz by Monica Brown. This is a nice biography of Celia Cruz, the Queen of Salsa.

Summer Reading Wrap-up

Well, our summer reading program has come to an end and we are happy to report that it was a big success. We had over four hundred kids signed up, and over one hundred attended our end of the summer ice cream party! In addition, our new reading for charity initiative, Readers Reach Out, was also a huge hit. We exceeded our goal and raised over one hundred dollars to donate to Pennies for Peace! The staff of the children's room congratulates all of our summer readers on a job well done. Let's keep up the good work during the coming school year.

2009 Summer Reading Program

Join our summer reading club beginning June 24th. Come in to the children's room to sign-up and check out our terrific books and cool summer programs. Keep track of your reading and write book reviews online. Read books to benefit the Central Asia Institute's Pennies for Peace project.

(Not interested in registering online? You can get a paper log at the library instead.)





READERS REACH OUT!

Read books to reach out and help others. Bring in your online reading log or fill out a genre sheet and for every 5 books your read, you will receive one "spacebuck" to place in our Pennies for Peace jar. At the end of the summer we'll count up our spacebucks and the library will make a donation of the same number of dollars to the Pennies for Peace Project which helps fund education in Central Asia. Just $20 will provide school supplies for one child for a whole year!


Looking for something to do this summer? Take a look at our events calendar.

Find a great book on one of our summer reading lists!

Batter Up!

It's springtime, and we are thinking baseball! Newton author (and parent) David Kelly will be stopping by the library to read from his new book, Babe Ruth and the Baseball Curse. Books will be available for purchase after the program, and David will happily sign yours for you. For more information or to register, please contact the children's room at 617-796-1370.