Did you know that altruism, defined as the “behavior of an animal that benefits another at its own expense,” has been observed in bat populations, especially the iconic vampire bat? Vampire bats display what scientists call “reciprocity,” which is a fancy term for friendship. For example, vampire bats don’t just take care of other vampire bats by grooming one another and sharing food (which, sidebar, they do by regurgitating blood and spitting it on their fellow bat’s face to lick up — sweet and gross!): vampire bats actually make social bonds with other specific vampire bats, forming relationships beyond kin or direct familial connection. In other words, vampire bats make and take care of friends outside of their biological family, a behavior that, until it was first documented in the 1980s, scientists thought was more exclusive to humans and other primates. It seems to me that we humans have much to learn from our bat friends, especially in the spirit of this year’s Summer Reading theme, “All Together Now.” So, to celebrate friendship, community and care, let’s make like a bat with an adorable headband craft!
Continue reading “All Together Now . . . With Bats! 🦇”
The April rain, the April rain
Comes slanting down in fitful showers,
Then from the furrow shoots the grain,
And banks are fledged with nestling flowers.
— from “April Rain” by Mathilde Blind
Although we didn’t receive the deluge of rain we might have hoped for last month, here’s a charming craft to celebrate the saying, “April showers bring May flowers.” (Thanks to this blog for the craft idea!) Continue reading “Chenille Stem Flowers”
This year I’ve been surprised when the flowers are blooming, and never quite sure how long they will last. So I thought it would be fun to share a craft where you can play with the wind, and also have something bright and cheerful. Pinwheels! Once you’ve made one of these pinwheels, you’ll find yourself wanting to create more and more till you have a whole bouquet of them!
First, gather your supplies. There are two patterns per page, and it’s a good idea to print extra-these are so much fun it’s easy to make a bouquet of pinwheels.
- Pencils with an eraser
- Small beads
- Pins (Mine are small and silver, but almost any sewing pin will work.)
- Coloring supplies (I prefer colored pencils and crayons.)
- Scissors
- Printed templates (Regular copy paper works best.)
Continue reading “Pinwheel Flowers”
I tend to be drawn to a lot of fantasy books, and I freely admit it! But this time, I’ve kept myself to contemporary realism. No spells or superpowers or talking animals, just real people in real situations. Okay, the virtual reality graphic novel might be skirting the line, but I still get points for trying.
Picture Books
“Big” written and illustrated by Vashti Harrison
This could easily be one of the most important books we read this year. The book opens with an adorable baby girl, who has a big laugh, a big heart and big dreams. She learns and grows, and adults exclaim over what a big girl she is. Being a big girl is an exciting aspiration when you’re little, but eventually it’s no longer a good thing. Soon it’s, “Aren’t you too big for that?” and suddenly you’re not fitting into costumes or swings or with the other kids. As the little girl is bombarded with cruel words, both unthinking and intentional, she withdraws until she finds the courage to love and accept herself. The author’s note shares her own experience of being “in the crosshairs of adultification bias and anti-fat bias” and offers hope and love to all other children that may be going through the same thing. Known as an illustrator, Harrison’s artwork is absolutely perfect, and the story itself is one that everyone needs to hear. Continue reading “Brianna’s Books: May Favorites 2023”
Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, flowers and bees began their ancient, symbiotic relationship. Tens of millions of years later, we are still enjoying the fruits of their labor — quite literally! Did you know that one in every three bites of food we eat is made possible by bees, and about 75% of the world’s flowering plants are pollinated by our buzzing friends and other animals like bats?
Why not support the native bees in your neighborhood? Building an upcycled bee sanctuary may attract cavity-nesting bees, which usually lay their eggs in holes made in dead wood by beetles or hollow or pithy stems. In this adaptation, we’re using cut cardboard tubes and paper straws!
Continue reading “DIY Bee Sanctuary”
Now is the time of year when plastic eggs become widely available in stores, and they also reemerge from under beds, the back of the closet or the top shelf of the garage. In some households, these eggs are filled with treats by adults, and hidden for children to find. Other households hide the eggs outside multiple times and decide who can find the most. This year I found a STEM challenge that can be done indoors, with less risk of losing the eggs.
This challenge is about guessing (or hypothesizing) whether the item you place in the plastic egg will make the egg sink.
For this game, you will need the following supplies:
- Plastic eggs
- Water
- Container to hold water (mixing bowl, sink, bucket)
- Assorted items that fit into an egg (see ideas below)
- Optional: paper and pencil
I suggest having your items for inside the eggs preselected and ready before you and your child begin experimenting. I organized my items in a muffin tin. If your eggs have holes, cover those with tape to make water-tight seal.
Continue reading “Sink the Egg Challenge”
I thought I’d highlight some nonfiction this time! Sometimes it can be hard to convince fiction lovers (like myself!) to read nonfiction, but often a good narrative nonfiction will do the trick. And because I can’t resist all the amazing fiction titles coming out this month, I picked two nonfiction and two fiction books.
Picture Books
“Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series” written by Traci Sorell and illustrated by Arigon Starr
This book tells the story of two men who became the first Native professional baseball players to face each other in a World Series in 1911. Each of them left life on their respective reservations (Charles Bender in Minnesota and John Meyers in California) to play baseball. Each had to persevere through countless insults and slurs. The media was not kind to them, and neither were the fans. Frequently called “Chief” and portrayed as fierce rivals, the two men actually had great respect for each other and the barriers they were breaking together. Not only does this book highlight an exciting moment in history, it also brings attention to current attitudes toward Native players in sports. Author notes in the back give more info about their careers beyond the 1911 World Series. Continue reading “Brianna’s Books: April Favorites 2023”
Spring is here, a season of new beginnings, which means it’s a great time for kids and parents to start incorporating, or re-incorporating, habits into their lives that will nourish and uplift their bodies and minds. Making sure that you’re moving your body, eating a balanced diet of nutrient-rich foods and taking time for mindful breathing and relaxation are some important ways to help create and maintain a healthy lifestyle, and the library has many books that can help:
How do you like to move? Do you like stretching, team sports, swimming or skateboarding? Or maybe hikes, bike rides, dancing or martial arts? There are so 
many different ways to move your body in healthy ways. One of my favorite ways to move my body is through yoga, and there are many different poses and types of yoga to try. In “Yoga Frog,” by Nora Carpenter, Yoga Frog leads you through a series of yoga stretches, or asanas, from Mountain Pose (tadasana) to Resting Pose (savasana) to help you have a happy, hoppy day just like him! And author Mariam Gates has two books, “Good Morning Yoga” and “Yoga Friends” that use yoga poses to lead young readers through a story. Another wonderful story with movement is Eric Carle’s “From Head to Toe,” which invites kids to copy the antics of various animals as they wave, clap, wriggle, thump, kick and stomp. And the benefits of physical fitness are also covered in both Scot Richie’s “See How We Move!,” which follows the members of a swim team as they prepare for an upcoming meet, and Rosalyn Clark’s “Why We Exercise.” Continue reading “Cultivating Healthy Habits for Spring”
Can you imagine scraping pictures onto the walls of a fire-lit cave using a small, sharp stone? How about carving symbols into a beeswax-filled wooden tablet using a sharpened piece of metal or bone? No longer needing to fill a goose feather with ink to capture our thoughts on paper (although I think that sounds fun), we can use the coniferous wood and graphite of the standard yellow pencil.
For school-aged kids, pencils may seem kinda dull. What’s so special about something you use every day? I think pencils are magical, actually. Think about all the future writers, illustrators and animators journaling or doodling in notebooks or the margins of their homework; who nurture big dreams and later go on to create wonderful chapter books, graphic novels, television shows and movies. In celebration of pencils as vehicles of creativity, check out the books featured below!
“Malala’s Magic Pencil” by Malala Yousafzai, illustrated by Kerascoët
As a young child in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai dreamed of having a magic pencil to create peace in the world and erase suffering. When she was only ten years old, she began speaking out for girls to have the same educational rights as boys. Living under Taliban rule posed threats, but Malala was not afraid. This reflective, auto-biographical picture book chronicles Malala’s journey to becoming an international activist for universal education, earning her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 (awarded when she was only seventeen!).
Continue reading “Celebrate National Pencil Day”
In Lewis Carroll’s “Through a Looking Glass,” a gnat asks a little girl named Alice, “What sort of insects do you rejoice in where you come from?” “I don’t REJOICE in insects at all,” Alice explained, “because I’m rather afraid of them — at least the large kinds.”
For the most part, like Alice, we do not “rejoice” in insects in the United States, much to the dismay of entomologists like Dr. Dino Martins, author of “You Can Be An Entomologist!” In this colorful overview, Dr. Martins speaks directly to kids, explaining why entomologists study bugs and how bugs are helpful.
Dr. Martins says that all we need to be an “insect watcher” is curiosity and patience. But what if the thought of watching bugs is scary?
“Ruby and the Itsy-Bitsy Icky Bug” is an excellent book to read to warm up bug-reluctant readers. One day while stuck in time out, Ruby discovers a bug on her window. When the bug won’t fly away, and they are forced to spend more time together, Ruby slowly discovers that the bug maybe isn’t so icky after all. Continue reading “Exquisite Entomology”
