Blog Post
Muppets Most Wanted
by manz
The Muppets are at it again! Fresh off the stage of the Mupppet TV Show, you first saw them on the big screen in 1979’s The Muppet Movie, and then saw them in slew of other movies. Well, they’re "together again" in The Muppets Most Wanted.
Criminal mastermind Constantine, who looks very much like Kermit, trades places with him. Constantine tries to run the Muppet Show and works with the silly Muppets (and secretly plots a heist), while Kermit sits in a jail in Siberia. Will the gang realize the funny talking green frog isn’t Kermit before it’s too late? Will Kermit and Piggy ever marry?
Starring the Muppets, as well as Tina Fey and Ricky Gervais, with cameos from the likes of Lady Gaga, P. Diddy and Salma Hayek, the film is full of the usual Muppet-y one-liners and song and dance numbers. It's fun to see them all together again. Again.
Blog Post
Furry Friends at the Tot Table
by StoryLaura
Check out all the furry forest friends at the tot table in the youth area of the Downtown Library. Possums dangle from the big tree and fawns curl up in their hidey hole. Raccoon chases squirrel through the log tunnel and watch out for those skunks! For real wildlife adventures make sure to visit Leslie Science Center or The Creature Conservancy or take a walk through Saginaw Forest while the beautiful weather holds!
Blog Post
Help! We Need A Title!
by manz
Any fans of the fabulous interactive picture book Press Here by Hervé Tullet? Help! We Need A Title! is his newest. It’s a clever and sweet book that has half drawn “characters” that speak to the reader, because the book is not finished! There are no characters, story or plot. Until they knock on the author’s door! He then supplies a short little story that doesn’t quite satisfy the characters looking for a story. My favorite part is the nod to Press Here, where the reader is asked to “press here” to turn off the author’s desk lamp. A bit quirky, but indeed fun.
For another fun book where the author "speaks" in the book, check out Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett. The book comes to a halt when the writer and the illustrator disagree. It's a great read and super funny.
Blog Post
An Amazing Assembly of Alphabet Books
by LibraryMaven
I love alphabet books, and am always on the lookout for ones I haven't read. Thankfully, new and interesting alphabet books are being published all the time. Check out some of our new arrivals that will delight adults and kids alike.
The ABC of Fabulous Princesses by Willy Puchner presents readers with twenty-six fabulous bird princesses, one for each letter of the alphabet, along with their interests, favorite foods, and gifts for the prince. Readers are invited to decide which princess is best for the prince. Apart from being a delightful read aloud, this book invites audience participation!
S is For Salmon- A Pacific Northwest Alphabet by Hannah Viano gives each letter an emblem of the Pacific Northwest. The illustrations, made using a papercut technique, are breathtaking, and one gets a sense of the natural wonders of the Pacific Northwest. One wonders what alphabet we would have for Michigan- S is for Sleeping Bear Dunes, perhaps?
Last, but certainly not least, we have the noisiest of the new alphabet books. Adam Watkins' R is for Robot follows a colorful cast of robots as they assemble the alphabet, accompanied by beeps, clangs, and whirrs. If you like robots and making silly noises, this one's for you!
Blog Post
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
by Enzy
If you are looking for an Alice in Wonderland or Wizard of Oz read alike with a fairy twist you should certainly give Catherynne Valente's The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making a try.
The story begins with a 12 year old girl named September. September is an ordinary girl from Omaha, Nebraska who longs to play a special part in an adventure. After a character from Fairyland called The Green Wind steals her away one night, she finally gets her chance to experience some excitement. She meets many fantastical characters and makes some good friends along the way, including A-Through-L, a wyvern who believes his father to have been a library and therefore considers himself a "Wyverary."
The writing is superb and Valente does an excellent job of painting vivid pictures of fantastical scenes and situations with her words. If you enjoy The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making don't miss the sequel The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There where September returns to Fairyland for a brand new adventure.
Blog Post
Get an Inside Look at the White House...When Audrey Met Alice
by skcramer
Ever wonder what life is like for a kid in the White House? Then check out When Audrey Met Alice by Rebecca Behrens.
Thirteen-year-old Audrey Rhodes became the First Daughter when her mother was elected the first female President of the United States. Sadly, life in the White House is far more frustrating than fun. After her last hope of making friends at her new school is ruined by a security breach, Audrey feels alone and miserable. Then she discovers the diary of Alice Roosevelt, eldest child of Theodore Roosevelt and a former First Daughter herself. Alice seems to understand exactly how Audrey is feeling, and while reading about the lively and rebellious Alice – whose antics included taking her pet garter snake, Emily Spinach, to dinner parties and sneaking a boy into the White House by dressing him up like a girl – Audrey decides to try out a little of Alice’s rebellious spirit. By channeling Alice, Audrey is eventually able to stand up for a cause both she and Alice believe in – marriage equality.
I have been a big fan of Alice Roosevelt ever since reading the wonderful picture-book biography What To Do About Alice? by Barbara Kerley, and so I loved getting to learn more about Alice and her White House adventures. Readers who enjoy spunky female characters and kids who stand up for what they believe in will definitely enjoy meeting Alice for themselves.
Blog Post
Cozy Classics
by Enzy
If you ever get tired of checking out the same board books about shapes and colors, you can round out your board book reading with Cozy Classics. Each of these adorable little books feature classic stories such as Moby Dick, Pride and Prejudice, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Each classic tale is condensed into 12 words that relate to a child’s world such as “friend,” “mean,” or “chase.” On the page opposite each word appears a needle-felted illustration that provides a visual for the plot. These illustrations are gorgeous in their detail and their beauty alone is a good reason to check out these books.
Parents who know the original stories will enjoy these books and may also appreciate the opportunity to introduce their little ones to such great works of literature so early.
“Enchanting… a service to literate families everywhere” ~ The Wall Street Journal
“Capture[s] the imagination of young readers” ~ Reading Rainbow
If you like the concept of introducing your young children to classic literature but the Cozy Classics aren't appealing to you, try a BabyLit book. These books teach concepts such as opposites and the weather with the backdrop of stories such as Sense and Sensibility and Wuthering Heights.
Blog Post
At the Art Table: Chalk It Up!
by manz
Hey kiddos! Next time you’re in the youth area downtown visit the art table and see what’s new! This month we’re working with chalk. We have colorful sidewalk chalk and chalkboards ready for you to create a masterpiece, erase it, and start all over!
Chalk artist Julian Beever uses a technique called anamorphosis in his amazing 3D effect large scale chalk drawings. To read more about his process and see samples, check out the book Pavement chalk artist: the three-dimensional drawings of Julian Beever.
Blog Post
"Oldies but Goodies!"
by eapearce
There are so many fun kids’ books out there from recent years that sometimes we forget about the great older books that are still fantastic reads today! If you or your children are looking for something new to read, why not try something “old?”
Newbery Medal winner The Westing Game, first published in 1978, is a wonderfully mind-twisting tale of a group of people—all potential heirs to the inheritance of an eccentric millionaire—who must race one another to solve the mystery of his death before one of them can claim the money. The fun quirks of the different characters keep the book interesting and funny, and make this a great story for older elementary readers.
A Long Way From Chicago, published in 1998, and its companion, A Year Down Yonder (2000), both by Richard Peck, are fantastic read-aloud stories and audio books. The Newbery Medal-winning A Long Way From Chicago is really a series of short stories, told from the perspective of a young boy who visits his wild grandmother with his sister during the Great Depression. Their visits produce all sorts of experiences and memories and make for a wonderful, heart-warming story that has stuck with me since I first had the book read to me in, well, 1998.
The Phantom Tollbooth (1961) opens with a terribly bored boy who can never find anything to do that amuses him. Arriving home from school one day to find a mysterious gift in his bedroom, he is ultimately transported to a magical land where he has grand adventures and even goes on a quest to save two princesses trapped in a castle in the air! Reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, this is an endlessly entertaining story with lots of great puns and wordplay.
Other lovely “older” reads are: All-of-a-Kind Family (1951), From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967), Our Only May Amelia (1999), Harriet the Spy (1964), The Borrowers (1953), and Bud Not Buddy (1999).
Blog Post
Roar said Dragon!
by manz
This week in Ms. Amanda’s preschool storytimes we read books about dragons! Dragons who breathe fire and eat castles in The Paper Bag Princess, dragons who are looking for a friend in A Friend For Dragon, and dragons who count and make way too much noise in One Drowsy Dragon. Which shows you that not all dragons are as fierce as Smaug.
For more picture books featuring dragons check out this nice list. And to see what else we've been reading at storytimes this summer check out this list of books.