Mural design by Yetti Frenkel
FAMILY NIGHT 2008 Our Family night program was a great success! Over 150 parents and children enjoyed a great evening of entertainment, face painting, food and fun. We would like to thank all of the parents who volunteered to help out with this program–we couldn’t have done it without you.
July 7, 14, 21, & 28: Messy Mondays A fun arts & craft program for children ages 2 to 5. 10:30 a.m.
July 16: Milk & Macaroni Manners. Kids ages 4 to 8 will have fun while learning some everyday etiquette, including table manners and the correct way to meet & greet. Presented by Mannersmith of Marblehead. 2:30 p.m. Registration begins July 7.***
July 17: Wild About Reading Tales. Noted Storyteller Davis Bates will regale us with a range of stories and songs, including Native American and regional tales. 2:00 p.m. Funded by a grant from the Swampscott Cultural Council.
July 18: “Tool Time” A story and craft program for anyone who likes tools, trucks and building. Recommended for ages 3 to 6. 11:00 a.m.
July 21: Mountain Mushers. Meet retired sled dogs Su, Pixie and Sorrel and learn about their adventures in Denali National Park in Alaska. You will also see a real dog sled and other equipment. 3:00 p.m. Funded by the Friends of the Library.
July 22: Dora the Explorer visits. Come meet Dora and hear some stories about your favorite explorer. 10:30 a.m. MEFA/Ufund program.
July 23: Nate the Great program Celebrate the famous detective with stories and crafts about the art of solving mysteries. Recommended for ages 5 & up. 2:30 p.m.
July 25: Fancy Nancy program Come in your fanciest clothes to hear stories about Nancy and create some fancy crafts. Recommended for ages 4 & up. 11:00 a.m.
July 29: Fog, Flowers & Fireworks. What do these 3 have in common? Chemistry! The Museum of Science will demonstrate these color changing, cloud forming reactions. 2:00 p.m. Museum of Science grant.
July 31: Reading Rewards Party. All registered readers are invited to see Dondo the Clown, receive certificates, and enjoy Ice Cream Sundaes. 2:00 p.m.*** Funded by the Friends of the Library. Registration begins on July 21.
Programs with *** require registration. We would like to thank The Friends of the Library for their ongoing support of all of our children’s programs.
The theme of this year’s Statewide Summer Reading Program is: “Wild Reads at your library!” We would like to encourage all children from infants to age 12 to register for the reading program. Children who are able to read on their own are asked to read a minimum of 15 minutes per day. For children unable to read alone we have a Read-to-Me program, where each child is asked to listen to a book for 15 minutes per day. We will have all of the recommended books from the summer reading lists available here in the Children’s Room. See our page for Summer Reading Grades K to 5 for a complete list of all the books. (Books for the Middle School and High School are located in the Reference Room). [More...]
Think you’re too young to vote? Not at Vote for Books.com, where you can vote for your favorite children’s books. Check out our display and read as many as you can over the summer. Voting begins September 1, with the selection narrowing down on September 22 and again on October 13. Votes will be tallied on November 4 (Election day) and the winner announced on November 5. Go to Voteforbooks.com Voteforbooks.com for more details and to cast your vote.
We would like to thank the Friends of the Library for our new CD Rack. Now you can easily browse through our CD collection as they are shelved face out. Thanks, too, for the additional book cases to hold our ever growing collection of books on CD and tape.
Help us celebrate Poetry month in April by adding a poem to our Poetree (poetry tree). Bring in a short poem (your own or a favorite) to attach to a leaf and hang on our tree. We hope to have the tree covered with poems by the end of the month.
Be sure to check out our display of poetry books and our list of recommended poetry books as well.
The 2008 Newbery and Caldecott Awards were announced on January 14.
The winner of the Newbery Medal is Good Masters! Sweet ladies!: Voices from a Medieval* village by Laura Amy Schlitz. Honor books include Elijah of Buxton* by Christopher Paul Curtis (author of Bud, not Buddy); The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt; and Feathers* by Jaqueline Woodson.
The winner of the Caldecott Medal is The Invention of Hugo Cabret* by Brian Selznick and is the first time a “novel” has won the award. Honor books include Henry’s freedom box: a true story of the Underground Railroad illustrated by Kadir Nelson; First the egg* by Laura Vaccaro Seeger; The Wall: growing up behind the Iron Curtain* by Peter Sis; and Knuffle Bunny Too: a case of mistaken identity* by Mo Willems.
Titles with a * are owned or on order by the Swampscott Public Library.