Holiday Closures

Holiday Program

Upcoming December Programs

Catching Fire Party!

Teens and Tweens join us for a Catching Fire movie release party!

Library Visits!

Schedule YOUR visit to the library!

Teachers, homeschooling parents, and group leaders! Now is the time to schedule your group visit to the library! We would be happy to arrange a tour and personalized program for your group (a minimum of 10 students is required). Call now to schedule your visit to the Children’s Room!

Schedule our visit to YOU!

Times are tough and we know that it is difficult to bring your class to the library, but you’re in luck! The library will come to you! Call now to schedule a visit by our Children’s Librarian to your classroom!

November Programs at the Library

October Programs at the Library

Chick 'n' Pug Meet the Dude

He's taller than the Chrysler Building. He drools more than a teething baby sucking on a piece of Jello. Dog people will recognize him as a Great Dane. Chick and Pug know him only as . . . The Dude.

When the larger-than-life Dude ambles into Pug's territory and steals Pug's favorite chew toy, Chick is ready to take down the slobbering scoundrel. However, that would require making Pug get up first. . . . Will Chick save the day? Will Pug nap through all the best parts? And will we ever see what's at the top of The Dude's incredibly long legs? Stay tuned!

Meet The Dude yourself in Chick 'n' Pug Meet the Dude by Jennifer Sattler here!

Bedtime Math

Our mission: to make math a fun part of kids’ everyday lives.

We all know it’s wonderful to read bedtime stories to kids, but what about doing math? Many generations of Americans are uncomfortable with math and numbers, and too often we hear the phrase, "I’m just not good at math!" For decades, this attitude has trickled down from parents to their kids, and we now have a culture that finds math dry, intimidating, and just not cool.

Bedtime Math wants to change all that. Inside this book, families will find fun, mischief-making math problems to tackle—math that isn’t just kid-friendly, but actually kid-appealing. With over 100 math riddles on topics from jalapeños and submarines to roller coasters and flamingos, this book bursts with math that looks nothing like school. And with three different levels of challenge (wee ones, little kids, and big kids), there’s something for everyone. We can make numbers fun, and change the world, one Bedtime Math puzzle at a time.

Find out how to make math approachable with Bedtime Math by Laura Overdeck here!

Planet Thieves

The Planet Thieves is the first thrilling installment of a new middle-grade series by Dan Krokos.

Two weeks ago, thirteen-year-old Mason Stark and seventeen of his fellow cadets from the Academy for Earth Space Command boarded the SS Egypt. The trip was supposed to be a short routine voyage to log their required spacetime for summer quarter.

But routine goes out the airlock when they’re attacked by the Tremist, an alien race who have been at war with humanity for the last sixty years.

With the captain and crew dead, injured, or taken prisoner, Mason and the cadets are all that’s left to warn the ESC. And soon they find out exactly why the Tremist chose this ship to attack: the Egypt is carrying a weapon that could change the war forever.

Now Mason will have to lead the cadets in a daring assault to take back the ship, rescue the survivors, and recover the weapon. Before there isn’t a war left to fight.

Check out The Planet Thieves by Dan Krokos here!

An elephant in Muskegon?

In the summer of 1908, in Muskegon, Michigan, a visiting troupe of vaudeville performers is about the most exciting thing since baseball. They’re summering in nearby Bluffton, so Henry has a few months to ogle the elephant and the zebra, the tightrope walkers and — lo and behold — a slapstick actor his own age named Buster Keaton.

The show folk say Buster is indestructible; his father throws him around as part of the act and the audience roars, while Buster never cracks a smile. Henry longs to learn to take a fall like Buster, "the human mop," but Buster just wants to play ball with Henry and his friends. With signature nostalgia, Scott O’Dell Award–winning graphic novelist Matt Phelan visualizes a bygone era with lustrous color, dynamic lines, and flawless dramatic pacing.

Check our Bluffton: My Summers with Buster Keaton by Matt Phelan here!

"Pollyanna in a parka"

"A warm tale set in an Alaskan gold-mining town in 1929-30 . . . Bo is an endearing Pollyanna in a parka." -- Kirkus Reviews

It's the 1920s, and Bo was headed for an Alaska orphanage when she won the hearts of two tough gold miners who set out to raise her, enthusiastically helped by all the kind people of the nearby Eskimo village.

Bo learns Eskimo along with English, helps in the cookshack, learns to polka, and rides along with Big Annie and her dog team. There's always some kind of excitement: Bo sees her first airplane, has a run-in with a bear, and meets a mysterious lost little boy.

Here is an unforgettable story of a little girl growing up in the exhilarating time after the big Alaska gold rushes.

Take a step back in history with Bo at Ballard Creek by Kirkpatrick Hill, illustrated by LeUyen Pham here!

Tween Book Club

Have you read City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau?

Join us for our very first Tween Book Club

Wednesday, July 17th @ 5pm

when we will talk about the book!

Graphic novel from David Almond

The imagination of three children takes on unexpected life in a creation tale from the dream team of David Almond and Dave McKean.

The gods have created a world that is safe and calm and rather wonderful. They have built mountains, forests, and seas and filled the world with animals, people, and unnamed beasts. Now their days are fat with long naps in the clouds, mutual admiration, and tea and cake. But their world has gaps in it filled with emptiness, gaps that intrigue Harry, Sue, and little Ben until they begin to see what might fill them. One by one the children conjure, from twigs and leaves and stones, a mousy thing, a chirpy thing, and a twisty legless thing. But as the children’s ideas grow bolder, the power of their visions proves greater and more dangerous than they, or the gods, could ever have imagined. Is it possible to unmake what’s been made?

Check out Mouse Bird Snake Wolf by David Almond, illustrated by Dave McKean today!

New Pete the Cat!

Join Pete the Cat on his newest adventure: going to school!

The kitties on the bus say,
"Come on, Pete!
Come on, Pete!"

The kitties on the bus say,
"Come on, Pete!
Hop on board!"

Pete the Cat can't wait to drive the school bus all the way to school! Everyone's favorite cat is groovier than ever in this way- cool adaptation of the classic kids' song "The Wheels on the Bus"!

Check out Pete the Cat: The Wheels on the Bus by James Dean today!

New Warriors Super Edition

As a young WindClan warrior, Talltail’s life is marred by a tragedy that fills his heart with bitterness. He sets off on a dangerous path in search of revenge—far outside the bounds of the warrior code.

Check out the newest Warriors Super Edition Tallstar's Revenge by Erin Hunter today!

Preschool Storytime

Sign up for the Preschool Storytime and receive a free copy of Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert*!

While teaching upper- and lowercase letters to preschoolers, Ehlert introduces fruits and vegetables from around the world.

Preschool Storytime is July 9th @ 10am

*Free copies are limited to the first 10 registrants. Check out the library's copy here! 

Infant & Toddler Storytime

Sign up for the Infant and Toddler Storytime and receive a free boardbook copy of Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert*!

While teaching upper- and lowercase letters to preschoolers, Ehlert introduces fruits and vegetables from around the world.

Infant and Toddler Storytime is June 28th @ 10am

*Free copies are limited to the first nine registrants. Check out the library's copy here! 

 

Children's Summer Book Club

Sign up for the Children's Summer Book Club and receive a free copy of Judy Moody and Stink and the Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt by Megan McDonald*!

Avast, ye scum buckets and scallywags! Judy and Stink co-star in their second full-color adventure – crawling with pirates and puzzles, carbuncles and chuckles.
As soon as the Moody family drops anchor on "Artichoke" Island, they are greeted by Cap'n Weevil, a one-eyed buccaneer with a scraggly beard and a secret treasure map. Before you can say "Davy Jone's Locker," Stink and Judy are racing across the island in search of gold. But – shiver me timbers! – they're not the only salty dogs lookin' for loot. Can Mad Molly O'Maggot and Scurvy Stink beat out their rivals, Tall Boy and Smart Girl? Can they find the hidden clues, crack the secret codes, and solve the tricky puzzles before time runs out? Aaarr!

Children's Book Club will meet July 10th @ 5pm

*Free copies are limited to the first 45 registrants. Still want to take part? Check out the library's copy here!

Children's Room Summer Hours

 

Due to renovations, access to the lower floor will be limited this summer. We apologize for the inconvenience, but are very excited to be able to offer more program and class space in the future!

Children's Room Summer Hours

Tuesday: 12-5

Wednesday: 2-7

Thursday: Closed

Friday: 12-5

Saturday: 11-4

Sunday & Monday: Closed

New! Tween Summer Reading

New! Early Literacy Summer Reading

Summer Reading Begins June 4th!

New Pete the Cat easy reader!

Do you like Pete the Cat? Join him in an all-new adventure intended for children learning to read on their own!

Pete the Cat has a mitt, a ball, and a bat. He's ready to play baseball! Pete's team, the Rocks, is playing the Rolls. But when things don't go Pete's way, will he get upset?

Cheer on Pete as he tries his best and brings his signature groovy attitude to the game of baseball.

Check out Pete the Cat: Play Ball! by James Dean here!

New chapter book set in China!

Things aren’t looking good for fourteen-year-old Mehrigul. She yearns to be in school, but she’s needed on the family farm. The longer she’s out of school, the more likely it is that she’ll be sent off to a Chinese factory . . . perhaps never to return. Her only hope is an American woman who buys one of her decorative vine baskets for a staggering sum and says she will return in three weeks for more. Mehrigul must brave terrible storms, torn-up hands from working the fields, and her father’s scorn to get the baskets done. The stakes are high, and time is passing. A powerful intergenerational story of a strong, creative young artist in a cruelly oppressive society.

Grab a copy of The Vine Basket by Josanne La Valley today!

New middle grade title from Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr!

In Viking times, Norse myths predicted the end of the world, an event called Ragnarok, that only the gods can stop. When this apocalypse happens, the gods must battle the monsters--wolves the size of the sun, serpents that span the seabeds, all bent on destroying the world.

The gods died a long time ago.

Matt Thorsen knows every Norse myth, saga, and god as if it was family history--because it is family history. Most people in the modern-day town of Blackwell, South Dakota, in fact, are direct descendants of either Thor or Loki, including Matt's classmates Fen and Laurie Brekke.

However, knowing the legends and completely believing them are two different things. When the rune readers reveal that Ragnarok is coming and kids--led by Matt--will stand in for the gods in the final battle, he can hardly believe it. Matt, Laurie, and Fen's lives will never be the same as they race to put together an unstoppable team to prevent the end of the world.

Check out Loki's Wolves, book one in the new The Blackwell Pages series,

by K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr here!

Program this Saturday @ 1pm!

Join us Saturday @ 1pm for

Beyond Storytelling with Roan Judd!

Storyteller Roan Judd will lead the program through mime, puppetry, Irish drumming, improvisational acting and dialects!

Contact the library for more information at 906-486-4381.

New Graphic Novels

Check out the newest children's graphic novels @ the library!

Giants Beware! by Rafael Rosado, art by Jorge Aguirre

Make way for Claudette the giant slayer in this delightful, fantastical adventure!

Claudette’s fondest wish is to slay a giant. But her village is so safe and quiet! What’s a future giant slayer to do?

With her best friend Marie (an aspiring princess), and her brother Gaston (a pastry-chef-to-be), Claudette embarks on a super-secret quest to find a giant—without parental permission. Can they find and defeat the giant before their parents find them and drag them back home?


Giants Beware! offers up a wondrous, self-contained world in the tradition of the very best of Pixar. Claudette and her friends will have you laughing out loud from page one.

That One Spooky Night by Dan Bar-el, illustrated by David Huyck

There can only be one night a year when a broom will go in search of a witch, when mermaids might swim in a bathtub and when a house party can get a little too batty. Here are three strange stories about that one spooky night!

Seekers Manga: Kallik's Adventure by Erin Hunter and Dan Jolley, illustrated by Bettina M. Kurkoski

Polar bear cub Kallik and her brother, Taqqiq, live in a cozy den nestled into the side of a snowy hill. Their mother, Nisa, tells them stories of the great world beyond their little den: stories of other bears, endless snow, and flecks of ice in the sky called stars. Kallik and Taqqiq can't wait to explore everything, though Nisa says they're still too little to venture out. But when the two cubs sneak out one day, they discover some startling new things about life in the wild and make a new friend--whose life may be in danger!

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

FAMILY, FRIENDS, BOYS...DENTAL DRAMA?! A true story

Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girls Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth. What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached(!). And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly. Raina's story takes us from middle school to high school, where she discovers her artistic voice, finds out what true friendship really means, and where she can finally...smile.

Book Sale this Saturday!

Stop by Saturday, May 4th from 10am-noon for the Friends of the Library Used Book Sale!

Hardcover and tradebound books are 50 cents

Paperbacks are 25 cents

Find some great books and support your library!

Have you met Timmy Failure?

 

Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis

Meet "detective" Timmy Failure, star of the kids’ comedy of the year. Created by New York Times best-selling cartoonist Stephan Pastis.

Take eleven-year-old Timmy Failure — the clueless, comically self-confident CEO of the best detective agency in town, perhaps even the nation. Add his impressively lazy business partner, a very large polar bear named Total. Throw in the Failuremobile — Timmy’s mom’s Segway — and what you have is Total Failure, Inc., a global enterprise destined to make Timmy so rich his mother won’t have to stress out about the bills anymore.

Of course, Timmy’s plan does not include the four-foot-tall female whose name shall not be uttered. And it doesn’t include Rollo Tookus, who is so obsessed with getting into "Stanfurd" that he can’t carry out a no-brainer spy mission. From the offbeat creator of Pearls Before Swine comes an endearingly bumbling hero in a caper whose peerless hilarity is accompanied by a whodunit twist. With perfectly paced visual humor, Stephan Pastis gets you snorting with laughter, then slyly carries the joke a beat further — or sweetens it with an unexpected poignant moment — making this a comics-inspired story (the first in a new series) that truly stands apart from the pack. 

Newbery Winner and Honor Books 2013

Winner:

Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.

Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.

Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.

Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope.
Read for yourself why The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate is this year's winner for best literature for children!

Honor Books:

In December of 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: When placed next to radioactive material, a Uranium atom split in two. That simple discovery launched a scientific race that spanned 3 continents. In Great Britain and the United States, Soviet spies worked their way into the scientific community; in Norway, a commando force slipped behind enemy lines to attack German heavy-water manufacturing; and deep in the desert, one brilliant group of scientists was hidden away at a remote site at Los Alamos. 

This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and genius that created the world's most formidable weapon. This is the story of the atomic bomb.

Read the remarkable history in Bomb by Steve Sheinkin.

The master puppeteer, Gaspare Grisini, is so expert at manipulating his stringed puppets that they appear alive. Clara Wintermute, the only child of a wealthy doctor, is spellbound by Grisini’s act and invites him to entertain at her birthday party. Seeing his chance to make a fortune, Grisini accepts and makes a splendidly gaudy entrance with caravan, puppets, and his two orphaned assistants. 

Lizzie Rose and Parsefall are dazzled by the Wintermute home. Clara seems to have everything they lack — adoring parents, warmth, and plenty to eat. In fact, Clara’s life is shadowed by grief, guilt, and secrets. When Clara vanishes that night, suspicion of kidnapping falls upon the puppeteer and, by association, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall. 

As they seek to puzzle out Clara’s whereabouts, Lizzie and Parse uncover Grisini’s criminal past and wake up to his evil intentions. Fleeing London, they find themselves caught in a trap set by Grisini’s ancient rival, a witch with a deadly inheritance to shed before it’s too late. 

Newbery Medal winner Laura Amy Schlitz’s Victorian gothic is a rich banquet of dark comedy, scorching magic, and the brilliant and bewitching storytelling that is her trademark.

Check out Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz here!

A hilarious Southern debut with the kind of characters you meet once in a lifetime

Rising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone's business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she's been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her "upstream mother," she's found a home with the Colonel--a café owner with a forgotten past of his own--and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known.

Full of wisdom, humor, and grit, this timeless yarn will melt the heart of even the sternest Yankee.

Solve the mystery in Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage here!

Winners announced!

The 2013 Youth Media Awards have been announced! Click here for a full list of the winners!

Youth Media Awards

Today's the day! Head over to ala.org to view the live webcast of the 2013 Award Winners of the Caldecott, Newbery, and Printz Awards, as well as many others!

ALA Webcast

Join us here Monday, January 28th when the 2013 Caldecott and Newbery winners are announced!

Can't make the live webcast? Stay up to date with the winners as they're announced here!