Tag: libraries

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Tales from the TBR: Alpacas Make Terrible Librarians!!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Alpacas Make Terrible Librarians!!, by Kristi Mahoney/Illustrated by Chantelle Thorne & Burgen Thorne, (Oct. 2024, Gnome Road Publishing), $18.99, ISBN: 9781957655284

Ages 4-8

What happens when you walk into the library and see the new librarian, who happens to be an alpaca? This laugh-out-loud book has the answers. First things first: Alpacas make terrible librarians! Readers will learn fun facts about alpacas and laugh at why they are not cut out for librarianship. For example, did you know that alpacas will hide all of the books about other animals and only let you read books about alpacas? My friends, that is denying access and that is a straight-up violation of one of the five laws of library science, so that should be your first clue. If you need more, though, alpacas make clucking and humming noises all the time: terrible for people who need to concentrate on their book! Also, when they get mad, they make an awful screech, and they spit. Do you need to go to the bathroom? Don’t ask the alpaca. Trust me on this one. Playful, colorful illustration work with bold, colorful fonts make this a great class visit readaloud.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

It begins with a word, it creates a community: This is a Story, by John Schu & Lauren Castillo

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

This is a Story, by John Schu/Illustrated by Lauren Castillo, (March 2023, Candlewick Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781536204520

Ages 4-8

Children’s librarian, literacy advocate, and author John Schu follows up last year’s This is a School with a moving tale of how stories connect communities. Beginning with a word on a page, Schu takes readers to the library, where a child and librarian connect over a book, creating a reader. Readers read together, dream together, and grow together: all because of a story, which helps us make sense of the world around us. Castillo uses ink, watercolor, and pastels to create warm images of a diverse group of readers and creates a welcoming, comfortable space a place where people can come together: the library. The choices for favorite children’s books throughout the book can be found in the acknowledgements, and would make for a great reader’s advisory list or display. Choosing to put the library at the heart of a community is a powerful statement. An excellent choice for collections and a first choice for class visit readalouds.

This is a Story has a starred review from School Library Journal. Candlewick offers a downloadable teacher’s guide on the book detail page on the publisher’s website.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Cozy Storytelling: Books Aren’t for Eating

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Books Aren’t for Eating, by Carlie Sorosiak/Illustrated by Manu Montoya, (Sept. 2022, Walker Books US), $17.99, ISBN: 9781536214963

Ages 4-7

Bookstore owner Leonard the goat loves losing himself in books and delights in choosing the just-right books for his customers, but the day another goat walks in and starts eating his books, he is beside himself! His wife lovingly reminds Leonard that he used to eat books, too, prompting Leonard to find a read that will show the other goat that Books Aren’t For Eating. This cozy story is all about the love of books and finding that one story that :excited me, challenged me, and made me feel less alone”. Sorosiak combines humor and the transformative power of books; Montoya brings the words to life with soft gouache illustration, showing readers how we can be carried away on the wings of a story; she creates warm, cozy settings with delightful details, like Leonard’s green Fair Isle sweater with goat detail, the cozy bookshop exterior and warm interior, and the cute white mice that show up throughout the story. I love reading this to my class visits to show them not only how to love books, but how to respect them. A definite add to collections.

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Back to School Readaloud: Read Island

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Read Island, by Nicole Magistro/Illustrated by Alice Feagan (Oct. 2021, Read Island, LLC), $18.99, ISBN: 9781736523308

Ages 3-6

A magical celebration of books and stories, Read Island follows the adventures of a young girl and her animal friends who journey to “an island made of books” and spend time with all the literary animals who live there. The delightful rhyming story is filled with vibrant color and cheery rhyme; digital images use printed media, including maps and pages from classic children’s stories and songs, as part of the scenery: a sailboat’s sail; animals and trees in silhouette; the curve of the ocean. A raven has a book trapped to their back as they circle the water eaglets cheer from their nest, greeting their parent as they swoop in with a book in their talons; a grizzly emerges from a cave holding a mug and a book. Everyone gathers on the beach for a storytime, and the verse invites readers to sit and take part: “Can you join them? / Just be still. / Breathe in. / Breathe out. Listen well”. Perfect to greet new students for the beginning of a school year; perfect for a class visit storytime. Visit the Read Island website for activities including a coloring sheet and a word search.

Released last October, Read Island is a delightful choice for back-to-school storytime collections.

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Moose’s Book Bus brings book love to you!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Moose’s Book Bus, by Inga Moore, (Nov. 2021, Candlewick Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781536217674

Ages 3-7

A wonderful love letter to libraries and book lovers everywhere, Moose’s Book Bus starts with Moose, who has run out of stories to tell his family. He heads to the library after none of his neighbors have stories available, and he discovers a wealth of books to bring to his family! The news about Moose’s storytimes spreads, and before Moose can say “Cinderella”, his house is simply stuffed with friends and neighbors, all waiting for his stories! Moose asks the librarian at the library for some advice, and the two work together to create a bookmobile! Moose fixes up an old bus, the Duck Librarian fills it with books, and Moose drives the bus to his neighborhood, where he also teaches his friends to read – and they teach other friends, until everyone is able to read and love books together. This is heartwarming book illustrates the power that stories have to bring us together. Inga Moore’s pencil, pastel, and wash illustrations are soft, and her animal cast of characters are a delight. Perfect for library storytimes, you may want to pair it with Inga Moore’s A House in the Woods (2011), the companion book to Moose’s Book Bus. Sepia endpapers have a wonderfully antique feel to them, showing the book bus parked in the woods, with excited animal friends racing toward it. Download a free activity kit to have ready to hand out at storytime.

 

Posted in picture books

Library Love: Lila Lou’s Little Library

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis
Lila Lou’s Little Library : A Gift From the Heart, by Nikki Bergstresser/Illustrated by Sejung Kim, (Oct. 2021, Cardinal Rule Press), $16.95, ISBN: 9781735345116
Ages 5-7
A little girl who loves to read has too many books for her home, so she creates a Little Free Library for her community! A story of book love, library love, and literacy activism, Lila Lou’s Little Library is perfect for class visits and book-about-books storytime. It’ll inspire kids and grownups alike to share their love of books with their neighbors. Back matter includes tips on creating and curating your own little library, and that’s one of the things I love most about this story: it’s not just about loving books, although that’s certainly at the heart of the story; it’s about the love of sharing – the community starts to get involved, contributing to the library with their own books – and the love of librarianship. Lila Lou is a little Reader’s Advisor, selecting just right books for everyone who asks her for a suggestion; she shows readers what librarians’ real talent is. We listen, and we share information that readers want and need. Adults, children, Lila Lou is ready to help them all. It’s a very sweet story about gentle, but firm, literacy advocacy. Colorful kid-friendly artwork is eye-catching, and the storytelling will inspire readers to look over their own piles of books and share them with their friends, their classrooms, and possibly, their communities. Lila Lou’s tree stump reminds me of the librarian in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, who created a gorgeous Little Free Library from a hollowed-out tree in her yard, but there easier ways to share books with others. Talk about some of those ways, using the information at the end of the book, and the free, downloadable reader’s guide. Print out coloring pages to share, too!
I would love to see where Lila Lou goes next – maybe she’s got more book-related adventures to come?
Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Let’s get some #LibraryLove!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I am SO excited. I’m returning to my community library on Monday for the first time since I locked the doors on March 16, 2020, when New York went on “pause”. We’ve got two weeks of work to get our little home away from home back in shape (so many bins await unpacking), and then we reopen to our families on July 12th. It’s the day I’ve been waiting for and I am just so happy. So let’s celebrate some library love with two great books!

Stanley’s Library, by William Bee, (Aug. 2021, Peachtree Publishers), $14.99, ISBN: 9781682633137

Ages 3-7

It’s the Stanley book I’ve been waiting for! The hardest-working gerbil in town is back with Stanley’s Library. It’s going to be a busy day for Stanley, who arrives at work, loads up his bookmobile (they call it a “library van”) and head to the park for a day of truly public librarianship. He spots some friends and makes sure they get books he knows they would love, and then gets back to the library in order to set up for their big author event! The day is done, and it’s time for Stanley to go home, have supper, take his bath, and get to bed – with a good book. ‘Nite, Stanley!

The Stanley books are the best career books I can offer to my little kids (you have to love a multi-tasker!), and Stanley’s Library is so much fun. The endpapers show all the tools of the trade, including a date stamp, stamped library card, author event ticket, and bookmark. There are great details throughout the story, too, like the labeled shelves and the books on them: the Horror section includes books on Owls, Cats, and Snakes, all predators to gerbils; History stocks books like Famous Gerbils and More Famous Gerbils; Cheese gets its own very popular section, as we learn later on. Stanley exhibits fantastic readers advisory and collection development skills as he makes sure to give books to his friends that are in just in line with their interests, too; he gives Hattie, who’s working on her motorbike, a book on traveling twisty roads, and Little Woo gets a book on pirates, as he works with Shamus on his boat. The Stanley books are such fun and such easy reading; they’re a hit for your shelves.

 

Nia and the New Free Library, by Ian Lendler/Illustrated by Mark Pett, (June 2021, Chronicle Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9781452166865

Ages 5-8

Inspired by Stone Soup, this story hits on so many things: the idea that the library is always there, but no one uses it; that ideas people have about libraries aren’t always the reality, and my favorite, that libraries are built by communities, for communities. The Littletown Library has always been there. Until it’s not when a tornaldo carries it away. A young girl named Nia wants to rebuild the library, but – in a series of panels every librarian will identify with – hears a lot of talk as to why it’s not a priority: “What’s the point? No one uses libraries anymore”; “That costs money, and I can’t spare a dime”; and of course, “My son and I get everything we want online”. Taking matters into her own hands, Nia comes up with a very creative idea to get her community to come together and create a library – first, as a community, then, within a building. There are wonderful moments as Nia brings townspeople together to create their own stories or remember stories and parts of writing that inspired them; one gentleman recalls Maya Angelou’s And Still I Rise; detectives and boat captains recall the works that they loved from childhood. The library reopening is a stirring statement on what we do: “everyone crowded into the library to admire what they had accomplished”. Children paint, read books, and write their own, new ones; grandparents learn to use computers; there’s a knitting class taking place.  In an author’s note, Ian Lendler remembers how his grandfather helped rally his own community to build the library he dreamed of a kid, saying, “That’s when I realized – a library is an expression of a town and all the poeple who live in it”.

An excellent book for storytime and class visits, and for just reminding people that we all have a stake in our libraries.

Posted in picture books

Dear Librarian: A moving memoir

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Dear Librarian, by Lydia M. Sigwarth/Illustrated by Romina Galotta, (June 2021, Farrar, Straus, Giroux), $18.99, ISBN: 9780374313906

Ages 4-8

Librarian Lydia M. Sigwarth’s picture book memoir was inspired by Ira Glass’s public radio show, This American Life. At the age of 5, Lydia’s family moved from Colorado to Iowa. WIthout a home of their own, Lydia, her six siblings, and parents stayed at relatives’ homes, but had no place of their own – until Lydia’s mother took her to the library, where she found a Library Home in the stories, the programs, and in the librarian, who always had time for a hug, to read a book with Lydia, and make her feel safe. Inspired to become a librarian thanks to “her” librarian, Lydia’s experiences illustrate both the library as emotional home for those who may not have anywhere to go; the emotional work of the librarian, and the love so many of us have for what we do. Romina Galotta’s illustrations capture the magic hidden in the ordinary; we see young Lydia walk into the library for the first time, flowers blooming out of shelves and sprouting up from book pages, just waiting for her. The warm atmosphere of the children’s room will bring a smile to any library lover’s face; I ached, missing my library even more, seeing the puppet show theatre and toy bins lining the floor of Lydia’s childhood library. Most of all, I loved the panel where Lydia’s librarian leans forward as Lydia approaches the desk; the two share a smile, connected, as Lydia’s flowers, bloom up from the librarian’s desk, letting readers know that this is part of her magical, safe space. She wanders through the stacks, accompanied by a whale; she and her librarian fight dragons together; she is where she needs to be. Now a librarian, Lydia connects with the children in her room, making paper dolls, sharing books and hugs, and connecting at that desk, robots and flowers present: she is someone else’s safe place now. An afterword from Lydia Sigwarth talks about her experiences in the library and reconnecting with her librarian Deb Stephenson, thanks to This American Life.

I was lucky enough to attend a librarian chat with Lydia Sigworth and her publisher, and it was one of the best experiences! Lydia Sigwarth is amazing, folx; I just wanted to talk books with her forever. She’s upbeat, inspirational, and such a positive force. I’m thrilled that she had a chance to share her story with us. Dear Librarian is a book every library should have handy – and that every librarian should read, because what we do makes an impact (and we need to remember that!).

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

The epic tale of Ronan the Librarian

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Ronan the Librarian, by Tara Luebbe & Becky Cattie/Illustrated by Victoria Maderna, (Apr. 2020, Roaring Brook Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781250189219

Ages 3-7

To truly enjoy this writeup, please click here to enjoy The Anvil of Crom from the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack, courtesy of Spotify and CimmercianRecords.com.

The mighty Ronan was a barbarian invader, raider, and trader. He led his people and pillaged the best jewelry, precious metals, weapons, you name it. If you wanted to trade for it, Ronan had it. But when one of Ronan’s raids turned up a chest  of books, he was baffled. Barbarians don’t read, right? What was he supposed to do with these things? No one else wanted them either! Until… well, one night he figured reading a sentence won’t hurt. Maybe a paragraph. A page? Every reader worth their salt knows what happens next: a true disregard of bedtime; Ronan becomes a Reader and seeks out books on all of his pillages from then on. And again, like any true book fan… his collection threatens to overwhelm him. After all, no one else wants the books: Barbarians don’t read! So Ronan builds a library, and decides to entice his fellow barbarians into reading. Like any bookworm knows, one of the best parts about loving books is sharing them with friends! This hilarious, wonderful story about barbarians and books is perfect storytime reading (I’ve got one coming up myself): it’s got adventure, barbarians, and books! Tara Luebbe and Becky Cattie create a story that book lovers will relate to, and give a wink, nudge, come to the Book Side for those kids who don’t think they’re readers… yet.

Victoria Maderna’s artwork is cartoony fun, with so many little moments to love: the Viking ship toppling over with books (I feel seen); Ronan riding into battle, axe held high in one hand, book wide open in his other hand; Ronan curled up with a cup of tea amidst his towering pile of books (so precarious!), the swirling, dreamlike story of Odin coming to life as it leaps from a book Ronan reads out loud to his fellow barbarians, and – one of my favorite pieces in the whole story – the bulletin board Ronan puts up in his library, with notes like “Keep Out: This Goat” (sharp-eyed viewers will notice the goat snacking on some books, a few spreads earlier), “Closed During Raids”, and a cautionary “Swords Make Terrible Bookmarks”. Clearly, library signage hasn’t seen the need to evolve much.

I’m gushing with love for Ronan the Librarian because it’s just too much fun and it’s all about discovering the joy of books and reading. Insta-buy for your collections if you don’t already have it. Consider it an investment in your class visits for life. Make sure to visit the authors’ website, and find activities, guides, and more information about their books!

Posted in ALA Midwinter, Conferences & Events, picture books

Bloomsbury Book Buzz and the Free Library of Philadelphia at #ALAMW20

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The first day of ALA Midwinter tends to be a little slow, so I was thrilled when my friend invited me to be her +1 at Bloomsbury’s Book Buzz, held at the Free Library of Philadelphia. I was planning on visiting the library during my Midwinter visit, so this was perfect! We got to enjoy the Our Five Senses exhibit, which included some beautiful picture book framed artwork and thought-provoking questions about the senses various art invoked in the kids.

Still one of my favorite storytime books: artwork from Aliki’s My Five Senses (1962).

 

A friendly, giant eyeball welcomes us to the exhibit.

Artwork from Angela Dominguez’s Maria Had a Little Llama (2013).

 

Sketches from Zachariah OHora’s Stop Snoring, Bernard! (2011), which is storytime GOLD.

 

Artwork from Lizi Boyd’s Flashlight (2014).

 

Ezra Jack Keats’s artwork for Ann McGovern’s Zoo, Where Are You? (1964)

 

Finally, it was time to go to the Book Buzz, where there were snacks! There were fun tattoos and swag bags for all, and we got to enjoy author Isaac Fitzgerald’s presentation about his book, How To Be a Pirate, and the four additional books being fêted.

I love this picture so much, but the actual photo it’s based on was underneath, and it is stunning.

The work that went into this book is incredible: look at the Google Image search, and look at how illustrator Laura Freeman used it to create this spread.

I love this series! Connie Schofield-Morrison and Frank Morrison are back with their upbeat young protagonist from I Got Rhythm and I Got the Christmas Spirit. Now, she’s showing readers her school spirit, and the artwork is just PERFECT.

I can’t even do this justice with photos. The artwork is gorgeous, with warm colors and the full run of facial expressions, from “Whoa, this school is big” to “I am not having this”. I love this relentlessly cheerful little girl and wish I could channel her positive energy every day.

A Way With Wild Things has the sweetest story of an introvert named Poppy, who will do anything to not stand out at family gatherings, including dressing like household fabrics… until she spies a gorgeous dragonfly at one backyard party. Sara Palacios’ artwork is just beautiful, and I love spotting Poppy in each spread. Didn’t get a photo of this spread, because I just couldn’t capture the textures in a way that made me happy with the photo.

This book is WAY too much fun. It’s a story about girls being pirates, about tattoos and their meanings, and love. The author and illustator are both tattooed and fantastic, and Isaac Fitzgerald’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. How To Be a Pirate reminds me a bit of 2016’s Tell Me a Tattoo Story, by Alison McGhee and Eliza Wheeler; I love the way each book illustrates the meanings we have behind our tattoos. Adorable, fun, and with gorgeous illustration with a definite tattoo flair.