Babies' Night Out

Babies may not need a night out, but let me tell you - their parents sure do. As a children's librarian, I often forget that most parents don't remember Mother Goose rhymes, or fingerplays, or even little songs. Heck, I didn't even remember most of those things when I had my first daughter. That is why I decided to conduct a program specifically for parents with newer babies. The age limit for this program was babies birth to 6 months and their caregivers. One thing I was adamant about was no younger siblings. I know this is hard to do for most parents, but the reasoning behind it was I wanted the parent to be able to focus solely on baby. Sure, we have Baby Storytimes, but most of the time older children are in there as well and, at least at my current library, it's really crowded.

So far I've only had one session (part of a three-part series) and I had 3 babies and their caregivers. It was a lot of fun, and the parents were really excited to learn the games and rhymes. I conducted it like a regular Baby Storytime, but this week I added in 3 "games" the parents could play at home with their child.

Here's a quick layout of my plans for the first program:

Song: Humpty Dumpty (from the CD Wiggleworms Love You)

Rhyme: Humpty Dumpty

Book: You and Me, Baby by Lynn Reiser

Game: Happy Feet

Song: Baby Hop (from the CD Diaper Gym)

Rhyme: Here are Baby's Fingers

Book: Peek-a-Boo Baby by Margaret Miller

Game: Where is My Baby's Belly Button?

Song: Baby Hokey Pokey (from the CD Babyface)

Rhyme: Bumblebee, Bumblebee

Game: Buzzy Bee

Song and Bubbles: I Can Sing a Rainbow (from the CD Wiggleworms Love You)

I got the games from a great book called Baby Play and Learn: 160 Games and Learning Activities for the First Three Years by Penny Warner.

One thing I would recommend if you decide to do a similar program is market it and advertise. Get fliers out to the maternity ward for your nearest hospital, pediatricians, mothers groups, and more.

Tween Ink! Journal Writing for Tweens

Ever since I've started to do children's programming, I've always wanted to try some kind of writing program. I had my chance last month to do a Journal writing program for 4th - 6th graders. This was a three-part series, with each week having a different topic.

Week 1: How to Get Your Journal Started
This session we discussed a little about why we journal, and the different kinds of journals you could have (travel diaries, shared journals, blogs, etc.) Then we spent the rest of the hour decorating journals I had bought at Staples. I really lucked out with finding about 25 journals on-sale for only $0.70 - $1.00 a piece. The kids then decorated their journals with fabric, felt, stickers, ribbons, and other odds and ends that staff members donated.

Week 2: Discovering Topics to Write About
This session we discussed and shared different topics to write about. Because there were so few of us (only 3 attendees), we all sat at the same table and spent most of the time writing and sharing our responses to the prompts. I had the tweens different writing exercises that I found in the book "Keeping a Journal" by Trudi Trueit. Some of the exercises we did included: Freewriting Activity: Set a timer for 3 minutes. Begin writing whatever pops into your head: the weather, your pet, a hobby, school - anything. Don't worry about spelling, grammar, or punctuation. Don't cross anything out. And whatever you do, don't stop. If your mind goes blank, simply scrawl your name until something else strikes you.
The Real You Activity: Answer the following questions and work to go beyond the simple explanation "because I do" to find a deeper reason. If you can't come up with a reason for each response, leave that part blank and try again later.

1. My favorite color is_______because:




2. My favorite subject in school is________because:




3. I am afraid of_______because:




4. The thing I most admire about myself is________because:

After we did the writing exercises I had the participants write their own prompt on a piece of paper, and then we drew them one-by-one from a bowl and shared the topics and wrote our responses.

Week 3: Using Popular Books to Create Entries

I knew I could pull in the boys this week because I used Diary of a Wimpy Kid in the fliers. My plan this week was to booktalk different books that used journal and diary formats. Some of the titles I had displayed included:
Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf by Jennifer Holm
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Dork Diaries by Rachel Russell
Popularity Papers by Amy Ignatow
Safari Journal by Hudson Talbott

I was also going to talk about the 1001 Journals project.

However, things don't always go as planned when programming for children. My numbers for this program were small, some of the reasons being Spring Break and not enough promotion of the program. Would I try this program again? Definitely.

Top 10 Tuesday

Top Ten Teen Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books

(*editors note: these are books I have read. I know that there are many, many more out there, and I encourage your comments. I'm sure this list will change - it's an organic thing.)

10. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

As much as I hate to say it, when I first read this series I loved it. Loved it so much that I went out and bought it. However, after subsequent readings, I don't feel quite as warm and fuzzy towards it. The real question is, would I recommend this to a teen? The answer is yes, definitely. Except for the violence, it's a pretty tame book and appealing to a wide audience. Do you like romance? Try Twilight. Love vampires and werewolves? Twilight. Love whiny girls and guys that sparkle? Twilight.

9. Avalon High by Meg Cabot

Ellie has arrived at her new school - Avalon High. It's pretty typical, as far as high schools go. You have your popular jocks - Will and Lance. Your pretty cheerleader - Jennifer. And the crazy history teacher who believes his students are the embodiment of the Arthurian legends - Mr. Morton. We're not in Shalott anymore Toto. This is a great introduction to the Arthur myths and is good for middle or high school-aged teens. Plus, there is a manga series based on the novel!

8. The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Everyone is considered "ugly" until they turn 16, when they move to out of the dorms, get plastic surgery and are graduated into the "Pretties" where their only chore is to party and be pretty. Tally is ready to become pretty, but before she can undergo surgery, her best friend runs away and she must find her, or she will be doomed to be ugly forever. In her quest, Tally discovers some disturbing procedures that are also performed when someone becomes "pretty." This book will hit home with lots of teens because, let's face it, who doesn't feel "ugly" at some point?

7. Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Simon and Garfunkel have nothing on this book. Centered around the ballad "Scarborough Fair," this book weaves a story of date rape, pregnancy, a curse, and madness into a great modern fairy-tale. Oh, and did I mention the fairy king?

6. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

What if you were born with the ability to kill people? What would you do? Poor Katsa is forced to be a henchman in her uncle's kingdom, but she wants out. She goes on an adventure gathering like-minded Gracelings who want to do something good with their gifts and along the way she meets Po, a prince with a secret. Romance, fighting, adventure. What more could you want?

5. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

After seeing her mother murdered in the streets of Bombay, Gemma Doyle is sent back to London to attend finishing school and become a proper lady. Gemma wins over the most popular girl in school, and soon becomes friends with Pippa, Felicity and Ann. The four girls accompany Gemma into a parallel world where all their dreams come true. However, things are not always as they seem and Gemma must try to figure out the mystery surrounding her mother's past as well as her own future.

4. Life As We Knew It by Beth Pfeffer

If a meteor crashed into the moon, what would happen? In this novel, Pfeffer answers that question, as well as many others. Told in journal entries written by Miranda, a teen in rural Pennsylvania, we get a glimpse of what life would be like after such a devastating natural disaster. This book had me mentally running to the grocery store and writing lists of everything I would possibly need to survive such an event. So scary, yet so good.

3. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I have yet to meet a kid who doesn't like Greek mythology. (I'm sure they're out there, but you know what I mean.) When this series came out, whoa boy, it was hot! Hotter than Zeus's lightning bolt. Percy finds out that he is the son of Poseidon, which is awesome! Percy also finds out that he is accused of stealing Zeus's lightning bolt, which is not awesome. Together with his friend Grover, a can-eating satyr, and Annabeth, daughter of Athena, the three travel the US in search of the lightning bolt and try to clear Percy's name. Who knew the opening to the Underworld was in LA?

2. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

If I had to pick my favorite from this series, Order of the Phoenix would be it. It was darker, Harry was angry, and the final climatic scene in the Ministry of Magic was fantastic. That's all I have to say about this book.

1. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

1984 meets Logan's Run and together they have a baby: The Hunger Games. The thought of teens, some as young as twelve, competing in a battle royale to the death is pretty disturbing, but somehow it really, really works in this series. Katniss steps in when her sister is chosen to compete in the Hunger Games, and she is sent off to the Capital to train. This is one of those books where every library needs to own 20 copies in order to keep up with the demand. And now that the movie is in production, requests are only going to become more frequent.