Library Links

Would you like your younger students to become stronger readers this summer? Read more books? Develop a larger vocabulary? We would, too! That’s why Skokie Public Library developed the Booking with a Buddy program. Designed to keep the youngest readers reading during the summer months, the five-week program has been offered at the Library since 1998. Students entering 1st through 3rd grades work one–on–one with a volunteer for an hour each week. The pairs read together for 45 minutes and then groups of students and volunteers play a literacy–related game for 15 minutes. Approximately 80 pairs (young student and volunteer) participate each year.

Applications are being accepted until June 8th. Parents should contact the Youth Services Department (847–324–3149) to register. If you have students you believe would benefit from participating in this program, please encourage their parents to apply.

The Voice of Youth Award titles for 2012–2013 have been selected. We’re really excited about the titles that we’ll be booktalking to Grades 3/4 and 5/6 next school year. Now, staff members are busy creating an annotated bibliography, bookmarks to distribute to students and a poster for display at school and in our library. As those materials become ready, we’ll make sure you receive them.

In the meantime we wanted to get you the list of titles in case you want to order the books before the end of the school year. So, here goes–

Grades 3/4

Almond, David. My Dad’s a Birdman. 2007.

Cronin, Doreen. The Trouble with Chickens: A J.J. Tully Mystery. 2011.

Fleischman, Paul. The Dunderheads. 2009.

Kelly, Katy. Melonhead. 2009.

LaFaye, A. Worth. 2004.

Mills, Claudi. Being Teddy Roosevelt. 2007.

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Emily’s Fortune. 2010.

Rodda, Emily. Rowan of Rin: The Ultimate Test of Courage Begins. 2001.

Schlitz, Laura Amy. The Night Fairy. 2010.

Tarshis, Lauren. The Sinking of the Titanic, 1912. 2012.

 Grades 5/6

Amato, Mary. Invisible Lines. 2009.

Cody, Matthew. Powerless. 2009.

Connor, Leslie. Crunch. 2010.

Corbett, Sue. The Last Newspaper Boy in America. 2009.

Fuqua, Jonathon Scott. Darby. 2002.

Holm, Jennifer L. Turtle in Paradise. 2010.

Leal, Ann Haywood. Also Known as Harper. 2009.

Paterson, Katherine. The Day of the Pelican. 2009.

Scieszka, Jon, (ed.). Guys Read: Funny Business. 2010.

Tashjian, Janet. My Life as a Book. 2010.

It’s official! The voting for your favorite Voice of Youth Award 2011–2012 (VOYA) author is complete. Nine Skokie schools participated in the voting this year. To be eligible to vote students had to read 3 titles from the VOYA list of recommended titles. We delivered voting boxes to participating schools during the week of April16th–20th. Librarians encouraged students to vote with creative displays and lots of reminders!

The ballots have been counted and with a drum roll we are pleased to announce the winners.

1st place – Adventures in Cartooning by James Sturm

2nd place – The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies

3rd place (tied) – Masterpiece by Elise Broach and Smile by Raina Telgemeier

Now we get busy trying to arrange a visit to the Skokie Public Library by the winning author. We’re also finalizing our list of recommended VOYA titles for 2012–2013. Keep tuned to LibraryLinks for the announcement.

What an amazing visit with Eric Rohmann on April 11th! Just back from eight weeks in Singapore and India, Eric had wonderful things to draw and stories to share. We also had a great discussion about The Hunger Games – book and movie – during our staff luncheon with him.

Many thanks to staff at Elizabeth Meyer School and Madison School for hosting visits for their students. They had the opportunity to follow along as Eric drew a character–a skateboarding, snorkeling pig. Next he introduced the antagonist–a scary looking shark. When the Meyer students reacted to the introduction of the shark by  chanting, “Eat the pig!”, the adults were dumbfounded. It was such a gentle, sweet looking pig…  But, we also knew Eric had them hooked.

To end the presentation, Eric read his Caldecott Medal winning picture book, My Friend Rabbit, and I learned something new. The hippopotamus in the book is always drawn with his eyes closed, sleeping. Check it out! Eric told the students that every time he visited the zoo to observe the hippopotami, they were asleep. He finally gave up and created a sleeping hippopotamus.

Click here to see more pictures from Eric’s visit.

We’ve selected a list of ten titles that we think are terrific summer reads for middle school students – books they will get excited about and dive into during the summer months when they have more leisure time.  We’re going to promote these books during our Summer Reading Program and give middle schoolers the opportunity to vote for their favorite title/author online and when they visit the Library during the summer. We will then attempt to bring the winning author to Skokie during the following school year.

You have an opportunity to schedule booktalks introducing these titles to middle school students during April and May. Our hope is that teachers may have a bit more flexibility as the school year winds down and be interested in scheduling a half-hour program for their students that promotes reading. We’ve read all of the books on the Hot Summer Reads list and believe students are sure to find titles that they want to pick up and then just can’t put down.  

You can start scheduling classroom booktalks now. Telephone (847-324-3144) or email me scarlton@skokielibrary.info to arrange a booktalk in April or May.

I’m recently back from attending the Public Library Association (PLA) conference in Phildelphia, PA. The PLA conference attracts public librarians from around the country. It was a terrific conference with amazing author presentations, thought-provoking workshops and exhibits showcasing some of the latest in library-related technology.

Caldecott Medal winner Kevin Henkes conducted an hour long workshop in which he talked about his career as a picture book writer and illustrator. He’s a Midwest boy — grew up in Racine, Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Amazingly, he got in a car and drove to New York City after his freshman year in college. Once there he went door to door visiting publishers until he found one who took him on — Greenwillow Books — and he’s been with them ever since. Kevin distributed copies of The World of Kevin Henkes which contains study guides for seven of his best known picture books. So, if you’re planning an author study, let me know; and I’ll see that you get a copy (I came back with a very full totebag.). He also talked about writing  Penny and Her Song, his first foray into beginning readers. Recently released, it will soon be available for checkout here at the Library.

As libraries are increasingly applying for grant funding to support special initiatives or programs, the importance of being able to demonstrate the impact of a program is critical. I also attended a workshop showcasing one library’s efforts to conduct outcome evaluation. They were able to document changes in preschoolers’ preliteracy skills after participating in a program using the Every Child Ready to Read concepts. Libraries make a difference in people’s lives every day and we need to continue to get better about measuring and documenting some of those changes.

Quite a satisfying repast at PLA and the food in Philadelphia was pretty good, too! But I’m glad to be home and looking forward to working with each of you as you begin the last lap of the school year.

Let the voting begin!

We’re celebrating National Library Week with elections for our 11th annual Voice of Youth Award. Students in grades 3–6 in the Skokie schools may vote their choice for best book from our nominated titles. The book’s author will be invited to visit the Skokie library and the two schools who have the largest number of stuent voters.

So, sign up now to be a polling place! Contact Susan Carlton by Friday, April 6th by phone (847–324–3144) or email (scarlton@skokielibrary.info). We’ll deliver a ballot box and ballots to your school by April 12th. Then sit tight and wait for the election results!

Award-winning children’s illustrator and author Eric Rohmann will spend Wednesday, April 11th visiting two local schools – Madison School and Elizabeth Meyer School, telling stories at the Library in the afternoon, and  speaking about his books and writing during an evening presentation. Rohmann was the 2003 recipient of the Caldecott medal for outstanding illustration for his picture book, My Friend Rabbit. Click here to listen to an interview with Eric and to read a short biography of his life.

I hope you’ll plan to attend Rohmann’s presentation at the Library and encourage your students to attend, too. The presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. Copies of Eric’s books will be available for on-site purchase from Oak Park’s Magic Tree Bookstore and autographing will be available at the end of the presentation. Students in Kindergarten through 5th grade will appreciate Eric’s presentation. Registration is required and begins April 1. You can register online or by telephoning the Youth Services Desk (847-324-3149).

[Cross posted with edits from The Explorer, authored by Ruth]

We’ve just added several new puppets to our collection of Puppet/Book sets! Each puppet is paired with a book and the sets are available for checkout for your classroom storytime fun.

Browse our catalog to see what’s available, view photos of the puppets on our Flickr photostream, and take a look below at the newest additions…

This is a program fantasy fans won’t want to miss! Brandon Mull, author of the Fablehaven series is coming to Skokie Public Library on Tuesday, March 27th at 7:00 p.m. We hope you’ll encourage your students to register to attend this free program and also plan to attend yourself to learn more about this popular author.

Mull is well known for his action packed stories and the first title in the Fablehaven series was a 2011 Rebecca Caudill nominee. While the Fablehaven series is considered most appropriate for a middle school audience, his new series, Beyonders, targets students in grades 4 – 7. Visit Mull’s website and find trailers for both the Fablehaven series and the Beyonders trilogy. Also included on the website is a Teacher’s Guide for Fablehaven and videos featuring Mull in which he talks about the writing process and offers tips for young writers.

Register for this program online or by calling the Youth Services Desk (847–324–3149).