Art & Max

Are you a creative person? Max isn't.  His friend, Art, is though!  Art can paint anything.  He is really good.  Max wants to try painting.  When he asks Art what he should paint, Art says he can paint him.  So Max picks up his paintbrush and starts painting ON his friend!  Oh no!  That's not what Art meant!  Find out what happens between these two funny friends in the book Art & Max by David Wiesner. 

David Wiesner is the author and illustrator of many books, including a few Caldecott medal winners - Tuesday and The Three Little Pigs.

Caldecott Medal books

Kindergartners have been very interested in "those books with the gold stickers" lately.  Today I had a Kindergarten class in the library to learn about those gold medals and I was reminded of a very famous book that is perfect for this time of year.

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats won the Caldecott Medal in 1963.  That means this book is 47 years old! 

The Caldecott Medal is given out to one book every year that has the best or most meaningful illustrations.  I especially like part of the end of this book where the main character is thinking about his day outside.  If you didn't see the pictures, you would never know that he was doing his thinking in the bathtub!!!

Do you need a haircut?

When was the last time you got a haircut?  Have you ever given a haircut?  Have you ever given a monster a haircut?  The little boy in this story has!  His dad owns a barber shop and every month on the full moon, the little boy sneaks out of the house and goes down to his dad's shop.  All through the night monsters come in to get their hair cut.  On the night in the story, someone knocks at the barber shop door.  No one ever knocks.  Who could it be? Is the little boy about to get in trouble?  Eek! 

Even Monsters Need Haircuts by Matthew McElligott is now in all the elementary libraries.  Go check it out!

Amazing Book Fairs!

The two fall Book Fairs were both amazing successes!  Thank you to all the parent volunteers who came in to work the fair and thank you to all the students and families that purchased items from the fair. With your support of the library, we are able to get over $500 of free books at one school and over $1000 at the other!  You are all amazing!  Thank you!

Fall Book Fairs

The Book Fair is here at two of our elementary schools!  I just love this time of year.  It's a lot of work but we all have so much fun with it!   I love to see all the kids come in to a "store" that's just for them and spend their money on whatever they want.  I also love to see when parents come in with their children and hear the excellent discussion that goes on over what books to buy! 

This year's theme is about superheroes - Reading Saves the Day!  

Here are some books Mrs. Green is buying: 

Lois Ehlert and Eric Carle

Today I taught a lesson with a first grade class on their author of the month.  Every month they choose a different author to highlight.  This year the teacher decided to do Lois Ehlert and Eric Carle together because of their illustration style.  They both use materials besides paint, markers, crayons or other "normal" art tools.  Instead they use items from around them.  

Ehlert especially uses all sorts of fun things like leaves from outside in her yard or string she found while on a walk.  

Carle uses tissue paper and pastes to make his pictures come to life. 

Today we used our own supplies from the library to make fun pictures and write a sentence to go along with them.  How fun to be an illustrator!

Bones and The Cat's Pajamas

I got a new box of books in today and of course I had to read some of them!  Here are two I really liked and I think you will too! 

Bones by Steve Jenkins

Have you ever wondered what bones actually look like?  Or how big they are?  This book explains about all different kinds of bones and compares them so you can think about how big they are.  Did you know there are 27 bones in your hand?

The Cat's Pajamas by Wallace Edwards

This book has 27 different idioms in it.  What is an idiom?  According to the book, it is a "group of words whose meaning cannot be understood from the meaning of the individual words" by themselves.   Have you heard the phrase "more fun than a barrel of monkeys" or "frog in your throat"?  That doesn't really mean you have an actual frog in your throat.  This book will help you understand what those sayings really mean.  Plus, there is a hidden cat on every page!  Have fun looking!  You might have to "use your noodle"!

Look for these books in your library soon!