Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

One of our young friends modeling his Very Hungry Caterpillar hat, standing near our Happy Birthday card! We expected maybe 40 people for our The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle) Birthday Party on Friday here at Sticks Library--71 people showed up. 71!!!!!! We are hoping to expand the Library one day, and when people ask me why I use instances like that--the meeting room is maybe designed for 40 people, so folks were overflowed into the Kids Dept. area. We had a great time. Prairie Dawn was kind enough to let me read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the kiddos, as it's my favorite kids book, and then we let the kids make Hungry Caterpillar hats, decorate butterflies, color the foods that the Caterpillar eats, and we also had a station set up for kids to get their hands painted and printed on a huge "card," which I will be mailing to Mr. Eric Carle himself, via the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art . Some Eric Carle books for checkout. We serv...

Thank God for Wednesdays which are movie days during Summer Reading--the day when Prairie Dawn and I can breathe and take a break. We break it down so that there's a family friendly movie in the morning (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 this week) and teens friendly movie in the afternoon (City of Bones). Thursday was a lot of fun: Sensory Science for the 18mos-4years old crowd. Prairie Dawn read a book about Sinking & Floating, then each child was given a plastic bucket filled with water and a variety of objects, grown-ups asked the children if the item would sink or float (hypothesis!) and then watched as said item did it's thing. The kiddos loved it! Prairie Dawn also showed the kids a simple experiment with raisins (they sink), and Sprite (makes raisins float), talking about why that happened. Science made simple! Families had a blast. Good feed back. Family Games and a speaker on Bigfoot in Ohio Thursday afternoon and night respectively--both things drew respec...

This week our storytimes were about our bodies; we heard lots about elbows and toes, fingers and noses, but we also read fun books like Eric Carle's The Mixed-Up Chameleon , which shows a chameleon who wants what makes other animals special, i.e. elephants trunk, deer antlers, until he's quite a hot mess...a "think outside the box," book about the body (and animals). Here are some of the books we used for all three of our storytimes (Toddler, 4s & 5s, Family) Dancing Feet , Lindsey Craig, illus. Marc Brown Here Are My Hands , Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault, illus. Ted Rand From Head to Toe , Eric Carle The Mixed-Up Chameleon , Eric Carl All of Baby, Noes to Toes , Victora Adler, illus. Hiroe Nakata I have NEVER met a kid who didn't LOVE this book!

Having themed storytimes is a great way to reinforce what kids are learning about at school, or introduce and reinforce information to little listeners, but sometimes you just need to read books that have nothing to do with anything, other than the fact that you love all the books. Sharing your favorite books with kids is cool because when you love something you're more likely to be more amped about it! Today was Ms. Monster's favorites when I visited the Sticks' Kindergarten and 1st grade classes. The kids LOVED the books! The kids loved Gloria's antics! The kids LOVED looking for the shape on each page and knowing/guessing what came next! HANDS DOWN favorite with Kindergarten and 1st Grade. Audible gasps when I opened the page with the fold-out full moon!!

...when I see the cool things I will miss seeing at the Eric Carle Museum. Coming up is: Beyond Books: The Independent Art of Eric Carle September 30, 2012 - February 24, 2013   According to the museum's website, the exhibit of  what Carle refers to as, "Art Art," will include: Early posters and book jackets l inoleum cuts, created for several adult titles by other authors caricature notes: funny and irreverent hand-drawn notes written to friends  Non-representational art or “Art Art:" abstract painted tissue paper collages created between picture book projects “Name Art:” names of close friends and colleagues captured in his famous painted tissue paper Metal sculptures/Glass sculptures: forays into three-dimensional realms, including metal sculptures and painted glass assemblages in collusion with his friend and renowned glass artist Tom Patti Costumes/Drawings: costumes and a set for The Magic Flute stage concert performed by The Springfield Symphony in 20...

The Very Hungry Caterpillar turned 40 years old in 2009; M & N and kiddos, Mummy Dearest and I were all able to see the Very Hungry Caterpillar atop his 40th cake at the Eric Carle Museum. I just now stumbled upon this wonderful, short video about the story behind the caterpillar as told by its creator--my favorite children's illustrator--Eric Carle. I love that he published this book the year he turned 40 years old; it makes turning 40 seem less scary--knowing that I too may one day make my own masterpiece. Also, check out Eric Carle's blog, found here.

Back to titles from songs Today was one of those days. Last night I finished My Sister's Keeper , which I enjoyed, surprised by the ending. That was after I watched I am Sam for the first time. I felt emotionally ravaged. I woke up this morning with a renewed sense of life. All that thoughtful "what does life mean"-edness that both the book and movie forced me to have, I thought I would make the most of the day. I got up early and actually left the house early, got my morning hazelnut coffee. God Bless, Tim Hortons ! Work was alright. Had a training session on microfilm and microfiche-yes, in the age of technology these formats are still used. There are some things that even Google hasn't been able to scrape up. Had to "play nice," with the new girl. For those of you GFers that know me well, you know that I hate training new people and I hate change in my workplace unless I have control over it. I can already tell that I need to be careful with her....