New Year’s tends to bring a refreshing feeling and a thirst for change. What better way to start off the new year than by making a New Year’s resolution? The new year presents us with an opportunity to make a change; whether it’s to become healthier, lose a habit or do something just for fun! With limitless possibilities, it can be daunting to pick a resolution and stick with it. But the library is a great resource to find ideas and information to help kids get started on making a change for the better! Here are some ideas for New Year’s resolutions and some books to complement them: Continue reading “New Year, New You!”
As 2015 comes to an end, the children’s staff at DBRL has been reminiscing about the fabulous new books that arrived on our shelves this year. While it’s hard to pick a favorite, there were some books that stood apart from the rest. Here are our top 11 favorite picture books and chapter books published in 2015.
“All My Stripes” by Shaina Rudolph
I really liked how this book talks about differences in a way children
understand, while still telling a story children will want to read. The
illustrations are also really well done. ~Katie L
“Bunnies!!!” is the perfect picture book to pull out for an impromptu story time! It’s an entertaining combination of a misunderstood monster, multicolored bunnies and a noisy, fast-paced game of hide-and-seek. ~Kristy
Continue reading “Best Children’s Books of 2015”
This past fall, the Columbia Public Library hosted its fourth season of the Heavy Medal Mock Newbery program. Youth in grades 4-8 were invited to join us twice per month to discuss possible Newbery Award contenders for 2015. The John Newbery Medal is an award given annually for the most distinguished contribution to American Literature for children. At these interactive sessions, we discussed six Newbery contender books, and kids were able to defend the book they felt deserved the Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Award.
This year we read the following books:
Continue reading “2015 Mock Newbery Winners”
Looking for a cheap and easy way to create keepsakes with your children? Try making a hand imprint ornament! You can do this activity with babies and decorate it yourself, or you can work together with older children, allowing them to add personal touches. Even your pets can get involved if you want to make paw imprint ornaments! Regardless of the subject, you will create a cherished memento that will last for years.
Want to give this hand-y gift a try?
Continue reading “Hand-y Ornament”
A few months ago, I was shelving new books and came across a picture book that I couldn’t put down. The book is called “The Night World,” and is written and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein. The story starts when a cat named Sylvie wakes her boy. Sylvie says she needs to go out even though everyone else is asleep. Soon she is insisting that “It’s coming…hurry,” and the boy must come outside with her.
Continue reading “Books We Love: The Night World”
What could be better than a book with a digger? A book with bigger and BIGGER diggers!
The last of our featured Missouri Building Block nominees, William Bee’s “Digger Dog,” fits that bill. Youngsters love the repetitive phrases and will be “reading” along as Digger Dog strives to unearth the world’s biggest bone with his fleet of diggers. The book’s surprise ending will have them asking you to read it again and again. Continue reading “2015 Missouri Building Block: Digger Dog”
We are excited to announce that DBRL has recently acquired six children’s digital magazine subscriptions through Zinio! To use Zinio, you need an active DBRL library card. Multiple readers can check out the same magazine at the same time, and you can keep issues on your computer or mobile device as long as you wish. This service is PC and Mac compatible, and an app is available for most mobile devices. If you have questions about setup, you can use our Quick Start Guide.
Here are the digital magazines for kids that we currently have to offer:
American Girl
American Girl magazine is packed with fun! The content includes party plans, crafts, real girls’ stories, quizzes and contests. Ages 8 and up. Continue reading “New Digital Magazines for Kids”
Attention dog lovers! The tough little bulldog in David Ezra Stein’s “I’m My Own Dog” will grab your heart, and its inner monologue will tickle your funny bone. This pooch is quite content to curl up at its own feet and fetch its own slippers, until that tricky itch that can’t be reached sneaks up. Then the bulldog finds a human to train. You’ve got it: “I’m My Own Dog” comically turns traditional pet and human roles on their heads.
Once you’ve read this book several times and your kiddos have named the dog and learned half the sassy dog’s lines, you may be ready to branch out. We would suggest you try the activities on Candlewick Press’ Publisher site or The Missouri Building Block Award activity sheet. Continue reading “2015 Missouri Building Block: I’m My Own Dog”
Thanksgiving is finally here! Looking back over the history, it’s amazing how much this holiday has changed. Did you know that Americans did not celebrate Thanksgiving as an official national holiday until 1863? Also, the first Thanksgiving meal was held in 1621 and was three days long! The foods the pilgrims ate were not the same foods we think of as a Thanksgiving meal. The now-traditional meal was created by journalist Sarah Josepha Hale who created the children’s rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Hale worked for almost 30 years to make the Thanksgiving holiday official. After writing letters for years to five different presidents, Hale succeeded, and Thanksgiving was finally declared a national holiday by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.
In celebration of Sarah Josepha Hale, here are some rhymes to share with your family on Thanksgiving Day. Continue reading “Turkey Tunes”
This fall
R.L. Stine, famed author of the beloved Goosebumps book series, held a contest with the Scholastic Reading Club called the
Design-A-Monster Contest. To enter the contest, U.S. students in grades 2-6 were encouraged to draw an original monster, come up with a name for the creature and write up a short description of what makes it so spooky. The entries were judged on originality, creativity and execution. With almost 15,000 entries from across the country, the judges had the extremely difficult and terrifying task of selecting only eleven creepy creations to be recognized.
Continue reading “DBRL Patron Wins Design-A-Monster Contest”
