Aubrey D.'s blog

This is Oskar playing his favorite game. He knows the names of all the letters in the alphabet and he loves to take these magnetic letters off the wall and carry them to his parents. They were wise to help him make learning fun. All children need to know the names of the letters and the sounds they make before they begin school and learn to read. Oskar is on his way to becoming a great reader!

As Oskar grows, his parents can expand on his knowledge by introducing new games about the look and sound of letters. Here are some ways all caregivers of young children can grow a young child's letter knowledge.

• Point out the shapes of toys and other objects, and talk about how they are alike and different. Comparing and contrasting shapes helps children notice the differences between letter shapes.
• Help your child notice environmental print such as names on food cartons or words on road signs. Point out letters as you go through daily routines.
• Play games like, "We are going to go to a place to eat that begins with the letter M. Where do you think we are going?"
• Talk about the letters that are most interesting to your child, like the beginning letter of his or her first and last names. Help your child find those letters on signs, food boxes, mail, and other objects. Repeat this activity using the beginning letter of other things your child likes.

Read more about our Learn and Play Space here, then visit us and help your child find fun ways to learn!

view in catalog

Sonnets, Haiku, Free Verse... Shel Silverstein, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost... There is a poet and style of poetry to suit you. You can sample a wide range of poetry in the juvenile nonfiction collection between 808.81 and 821.92: individual poems, collections of poems, poems to ponder silently to yourself, poems to read aloud. If you want to memorize a special poem, you might peruse a collection like: Poems to Learn by Heart, selected by author Caroline Kennedy, pictured to the left.

You can also create your own poem -- from your imagination or observation. If you look carefully enough, you can find poems all around you -- like on the spines of books at the library -- just waiting to be discovered:

Find other ideas for celebrating National Poetry Month at ReadWriteThink. Read more »

It's that time of year again, awards season! Sure the Oscars and Golden Globes may get the most media attention, but the announcement every children's librarian looks forward to is the Caldecott Medal. Each year the Caldecott Medal is awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children to "the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children". The ALSC may also name a few runners-up, or Honor Books. We'll learn the 2013 medal winner tomorrow, Monday, January 28th.

So who will win the 2013 medal? In anticipation of this year's announcement our Children's Department pulled as many contenders as we could find. We chose our books based on recommendations from School Library Journal, Horn Book, and the more populist list put together by Goodreads. We dubbed our cart of thirty-some books "The Caldecart" and over the past week we've read as many of them as we could, making notes and picking our favorites. Was there a consensus? Nope! But here are a few of the books we liked the best and a few on which we couldn't quite agree. Read more »