Kids Blog

It's almost time for the annual library Summer Reading Clubs, which run from June 1 - August 31. They are free to join and a great way to discover new favorite books, win prizes, and have a blast reading all summer long. Kids of all ages and teens will earn prizes based on the number of minutes that they read and enter into their online logs. Special summer events include nature classes, drop-in STEM activities, and fun festivals to wrap it all up.

Adults can submit book reviews and be entered to win a movie pass, 2 Bob Evans restaurant coupons, and other goodies. A grand prize winner at the end of the summer will receive a new EReader! Programs feature a special author visit, a writing camp, and our popular Music on the Steps summer music series.

Sign up will be available online and in the branches starting at 9 am on Saturday, June 1.

On a cold, March day in 1806, Abbie and Seth lost their beloved mother to the smallpox epidemic that was ripping through the town of Wiscasset, Maine. Without food or wood for the fire, the children were in terrible trouble. They could hear the bell tolling for the dead—so many times for a man, so many for a woman, so many for a child. But how many for a missing father? In Lea Wait’s Stopping to Home, the only hope the brother and sister have to survive is that someone in that stricken town will take them in, if only for a little while.

A trip to the farmer’s market is one of the highlights of a visit to “Aunt Bek’s” house.  Recently, my six year-old niece declared she couldn’t wait to go to the market.  The only correlation I could make during the cold winter months was the grocery store and I kept wondering why the sudden interest in food shopping.  Finally it dawned on me that she meant the Farmers’ Market.  Her enthusiasm is understandable.  There she meets the people who planted the seeds and grew the produce.  The farmers welcome her, encouraging her to touch and taste a new and wide variety of food.  Never an adventurous eater, this is a chance for her to possibly expand her palette.  She also loves helping choose the ripest plums, pay for them and carry the bags.  

Starting in May, the library will visit each of the four area Farmers’ Markets once a month, offering information on library resources, checking out a few recipe books for cooking the delicious produce and providing quick, fun hands-on activities for children.  

One of my daughters enjoys math, science, and thinking about seemingly abstract concepts in practical terms. I brought home the picture book Infinity and Me by Kate Hosford, thinking it would be particularly suited to capture her interest. In it, a young girl named Uma stares at the night sky dotted with stars and asks how many there are. Maybe as many as infinity? And then she begins to wonder how other people imagine infinity.

She performs her own research, asking her friends, Grandma, school staff, and ponders their unique responses. Her friend Sam introduces her to the infinity symbol and Grandma explains how infinity reminds her of their family tree. Other ideas about infinity make her head hurt, like her music teacher's idea of infinity as music that goes in a circle and never ends.

Children's Book Week (May 13-19, 2013) is the national celebration of books and reading for youth.

Visit your nearest branch to receive a special bookmark and to attend a free program.  

Preschool Classes

Specially trained staff present stories, songs, and activities that lay the foundation your child needs to get ready to read.

Mother Goose Time
Monday, May 13, 10:00-10:15 @ Salem Church
Tuesday, May 14, 9:30-9:45 @ Porter
Wednesday, May 15, 10:30 - 10:45 @ Snow
Thursday, May 16, 10:30-10:45 @ Headquarters
Friday, May 17, 9:30-9:45 @ England Run
Ages 2 and under with a caregiver. Drop-in. 

Toddler Time
Monday, May 13, 11:00-11:20 @ Salem Church
Tuesday, May 14, 10:30-10:50 @ Porter
Tuesday, May 14, 10:30 - 10:50 @ Snow
Wednesday, May 15, 10:30-10:50 @ Headquarters
Friday, May 17, 10:30-10:50 @ England Run
Ages 2-3 with a caregiver. Drop-in.

Alphabet Soup
Monday, May 13, 11:00 - 11:30 @ Snow
Wednesday, May 15, 10:00-10:30 & 11:00-11:30 @ England Run
Friday, May 17, 9:30-10:00 & 10:30-11:00 @ Porter
Friday, May 17, 10:00-10:30 & 11:00-11:30 @ Salem Church
Friday, May 17, 10:30-11:00 @ Headquarters
Ages 2-5 with a caregiver. Daycares welcome. Drop-in.

The Ojibwa trappers had come to trade with the villagers on Spirit Island, but what they saw caused them to turn their boats around and head for home as quickly as they could.  The entire island seemed empty of life. Smallpox, the terrible illness for which the Native Americans had little immunity, had wiped out everyone. Well, almost everyone. Still alive and crawling through the ruins was a baby girl, all alone.

Omakayas, or Little Frog, was soon adopted into another Ojibwa family on Lake Superior’s Madeline Island.  Her life is as rich and full as that of another beloved book character, Laura Ingalls, and there are many similarities between the stories, including the children’s delight in nature and wild creatures.. Omakayas’ family’s everyday activities and celebrations and tragedies are carefully set down, from season to season.  The Birchbark House is foremost a very well-written story with believable, lovable and intriguing characters, including Omakayas’ annoyingly greedy little brother and beautiful but sometimes cold-hearted big sister.  Older generations are also well-represented.  The grandmother, a gifted healer, shares stories of long-ago, and her dreams are filled with omens of things to come and solutions to real-life problems given by the spirit world.