New Year!

Happy New Year!

What was the most interesting thing you learned about, or explored, or tried, this year in Youth Services?

For me, it was starting to think about Library 2.0 and the Transparent Library stuff, in terms of children and children's libraries, in a more systematic manner. I'm not very far along yet, but as we think about ways of encouraging patron interaction with the library and its processes, in person and on the web, we should be thinking about how to include children as well. I'll post more on this later in the month!

readertotz Arrives!

Hooray! Another cool blog to share with you guys! This one is called readertotz and it's from the same people who brought us the fab readergirlz.

readertotz aims to celebrate the best of the books for infants and toddlers. You can read their press release to find out more.

I'm so excited about this because choosing books for my baby storytimes is such a struggle. I use the same titles and authors all the time! I can't wait to keep an eye on their list and get some fresh ideas for storytime and for our board book bins.

What are your favorite books for the youngest kids?

Literary Clocks - a fun project!

This neat idea was passed on to me by Amanda P. It's an adorable clock made out of a children's book! (I would vote for using Where the Wild Things Are, myself!)

Children's Librarian Training, Chicago-Style

Here's a post from the ALSC blog that describes "basic training" for Chicago PL Children's Librarians!

As we swing into the new year, what training would you like to see ALD offer so you can continue to build your skills as youth services staff?

Tale of Despereaux

The Tale of Despereaux movie is out tomorrow!

Guess what I'm going to ask? Yes, that's right. What are we going to recommend? For books or for movies? Post your ideas!

We link to games on the movie site from the Treehouse and have a nice If You Like list there.

Monica Edinger at Educating Alice talks about seeing the movie and Alison Morris at PW talks about it too. (Thanks Fuse #8 for the links.)

This title is still a big favorite with classroom teachers and an easy one to recommend when a child has to read off the Newbery Medal list for school. If you haven't read it yet, now's a great time to get caught up.

If you have read it--how is it holding up for you? Did you like it when you read it? Do you like it now? What do you think? Does it still feel like a Newbery? Is anybody planning on seeing it?

I read it when it won, but now I just have foggy impressions of a dining hall, dungeon, and authorial asides. Guess it's time to read it again!

Best of 2008

It's a fun time of year--lots of "best of the best" year-end round up lists are out.

Check out a few of these lists...are any of the titles familiar to you? If not, now's a great time to read some reviews! You'll be ready with some fresh books the next time someone needs a recommendation!

Horn Book Fanfare
New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books
School Library Journal
Publishers Weekly (scroll down for youth titles)
Amazon: Picture Books, Middle Readers, and Teen.

Books that are on at least three of those lists?

Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Kingdom on the Waves
Graceling
Hunger Games
Little Brother
Nation
Our White House
Pale Male
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
Tender Morsels
We Are the Ship

Need more?
Check out the Best Of page at Chicken Spaghetti.

Grade-Level Reading Lists

This time of year, we sometimes get patrons who are asking for good books they can buy as presents for their nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. They may not see them often and may wish us to recommend books by grade level because they don't know what the children are currently reading.

Well, help is at hand! While we have fewer paper bibs and lists in the libraries, there are grade-level reading lists on Tales' Treehouse.

This is a great resource to share with grownups. To get there, go to the Treehouse, click on Swoop the Owl, then on Great Books. You'll see "Books by Grade Level" on that list.

We want to make sure there's a good mix of genres and interests on each list. Go have a look and see how we've done so far. If you have titles you'd love to see included, send them to Alyson Corcoran!