Recommended Read

I finished this one just in time for Halloween! It's a sort of modern day Hansel and Gretel tale with just enough spunk and spookiness to "grab" young readers. Here's the pertinent details + publisher's summary --

THE WITCH'S GUIDE TO COOKING WITH CHILDREN by Keith McGowan
(New York: Henry Holt, c2009), 176 pgs. Summary: Eleven-year-old inventor Sol must recover his self-confidence if he and his eight-year-old sister, Connie, are to escape the clutches of Hansel and Gretel's witch, to whom they have been led by their new stepmother and the man they believe is their father.

Remember their names

If there is one tip that I could offer new youth librarians, it would be to learn the names of the children who come to your programs. When they come to the library again and you have remembered their names, their parents are pleased that you have noticed their special child and the child feels an instant bond because you know them. A connected circle of encouragement is formed to help nurture the child and enrich his/her library experience. I sometimes write down the names of new attendees on a sticky note and keep the sticky note for the next week's round of programs (as a cheat sheet), in case some of the newbees reappear. It's a very simple thing, but it means a lot to those involved. I stopped trying to remember the caregivers' names a long time ago. It's hard enough for me to remember the childrens' names. And, for some reason, I have real difficulty remembering first names that are like surnames, such as Madison or Parker. But I try. And if I forget, I keep asking what the child's name is until I eventually remember it. When I finally "get" it, instant smiles appear on the faces of the child and his/her caregiver.

Outreach Matters

At my current site, and with the ever so lean staffing in our libraries, I don't get out and do a whole lot of outreach programming. But I am committed to doing quarterly programs at the local Boys & Girls Club. This serves those children whose parents work and can't often get them to the library during the week. Going to the Boys & Girls Club changes up their aftercare afternoons and brings the fun of library materials to them. When I do weekday outreach gigs, I always remind the children that the library is open in the evenings and on weekends and that, hopefully, their parents can bring them to the library then. Sometimes I'll tell them that I'll be at my library on Sunday (I work every Sunday), and if they come in and say hello to me I'll give them a special bookmark. It has happened, and when it does, it makes my day. Yesterday was an Early Release day in the local school district, which means the kids only went to school for half the school day. I planned a special library program, in conjunction with the opening of the film, "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" (based on Judi Barrett's book), hoping to rope in some families with extra afternoon time on their hands. Before the program, several kids said "hi" to me and asked me if I remembered them from the Boys & Girls Club program when we did the "Miss Mary Mack" clap rhyme. Not only did they remember their last outreach program, but they found a way to get a parent to take them to the library for an in-house weekday afternoon program. Outreach does matter!

Book Brief

COLD HANDS, WARM HEART (YA Fic) by Jill Wolfson

In the beginning, one of the girls has a warm heart. The other has cold hands. And then a tragic accident happens. In the end, a grieving mother hugs a girl and feels her own daughter's heart beating deep inside the girl's chest. In the center of it all is the complex and moving story of an organ donor. And the many lives that are fraught with sadness, humor, fear, hope, anger, gratitude, guilt, and lots of questions when her death touches them. But mostly it's about the heart recipient. And how she finds a way to truly accept the gift she has been given.

Return Visit

Looking up over my computer screen, I saw a woman approach the reference desk with two young boys. She introduced herself as the mother of Edmund, who had visited the library earlier in the week with his daycare. She smiled and said that Edmund had been "bugging her" to bring him back to the library. Edmund's class had come to the library for a storytime which I had conducted 4 days earlier. His class had been very attentive, enthusiastic, and well-behaved. I had urged the children to return to the library with their parents so they could get a library card and borrow books. I explained that the library was open at night and on Saturdays and Sundays, when their parents might not be working and could bring them. I told them that I worked almost every Sunday and would be delighted to see them if they came back to visit the library. And Edmund did. And I was TOTALLY delighted. It made my day. And it was a great way to start another intense work week, knowing that I had truly connected with a little boy and had made him feel welcomed at the library. I let Edumund know just how excited I was to see him again. And everyone in his family got a special bookmark to keep.

Kneeling

I kneel a lot these days at work. The picture books (Easy Fiction) are my assigned area to shelve. On any given day I shelve two to four full book trucks of picture books -- hundreds -- in and around my other duties. And it involves a lot of kneeling, as the shelves that hold the books are low for the young children the books are intended. Often you can spot my head bobbing in the children's area as I walk on my 51-yr.-old knees, from one range to the next, while pushing along a stack of books, which are laying flat on the top of the shelves, with my raised arm. It is the very task with which I began my career in libraries, as a shelver while in high school. As I handle the books I remember my first experience in a public library as a very young child. My Aunt Judy, an elementary school principal in south Florida, took me to the Coconut Grove library and let me pick out two picture books. I was awed by the huge selection of colorful stories from which I was allowed to choose. I was entranced by books from the start. And I still am. They have opened up a world of ideas --- real and imagined -- to me and so many others. So I am honored to daily stock the low shelves of picture books for the children who come to the library. I am humbled by the richness that books and libraries have brought to my life. I am grateful to be part of the continuum of providing others with library materials -- to be a librarian. My vocation has provided me with a rich inner life, a comfortable lifestyle, and the opportunity to continue to grow and learn as I age. As I kneel to re-stock the shelves with returned picture books, I also kneel in appreciation and respect for all that books and libraries have meant to me and others.

They're Reading!!!

Yep, they're reading. And how. Summer library programs have begun this week at my library, and we are swarming with children of all ages, and dads, and moms, and aunties, and grandmas, and grandads, and group leaders, etc. And it's super to see all of this happening in the public library. Even though it means way more time for me spent shelving books that are being returned. I wouldn't want it any other way. I am encouraged by how many picture books, juvenile fiction titles, young adult novels, and graphic novels are being read at my library. The juvenile non-fiction load has remained high, even though school is out and reports are not being assigned. It's a beautiful and sometimes chaotic thing to see all of this reading behavior in a world full of digital temptations!