Children’s Event Organizer
Lakeshores Library System and Mid-Wisconsin Federated Library System Youth Services Update Issue 304, January 30, 2008
http://www.west-bendlibrary.org/mwflskids.htm
In this issue: Ruhama’s Reviews Catch the Reading Bug Picturing America Grants ABBA Valentine’s Day Fun Mardi Gras Events This Week Dates to Remember Website Faves And Finally……. RUHAMA’S REVIEWS
Julie Black Belt by Oliver Chin
http://www.amazon.com/Julie-Black-Belt-KungChronicles/dp/1597020095/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201103136&sr=8-1 Julie's parents wisely play on one of her loves to get her more active: Brandy Wu, martial arts movie star. Julie is excited to learn kung fu, though at first she feels she already knows everything (thanks to video games). Quickly, though, Julie finds out it's hard work, but her teacher convinces her it's worth it. In the end, she becomes a yellow belt and is determined to stick with it until she gets black. This is slightly cheesy, but there is a great lesson in perseverance and the need to practice, and kids who love martial arts will enjoy this book. The artwork is computer generated and colorful, though a little cluttered. The illustrations do expound on the text and give a few visual hints of what's to come. Overall, this fills a need and isn't too badly executed. Chester by Mélanie Watt http://www.amazon.com/Chester-M%C3%A9lanieWatt/dp/1554531403/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201103431&sr=1-1
A story that has been hijacked by the star: Chester tells us 'the rest of the story' with a red magic marker. It's *supposed* to be about a mouse and his house, but the (extremely cute) calico insists on being front and center. He constantly breaks into the narrative with his own drawings and storyline, though the author does manage to keep the upper hand, especially with the twist at the end. The illustrations are clever and colorful, and several pages are a hilarious use of text and picture. This book would be great for storytimes, especially for anyone who uses puppets, reader's theater or multiple voices. CATCH THE READING BUG Songs and Fingerplays about Bugs http://www.preschooleducation.com/sbug.shtml http://www.songsforteaching.com/insectbugsongs.htm http://www.everythingpreschool.com/themes/bugs/songs.htm http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/insect-rhymes.htm PICTURING AMERICA Applications are now being accepted for Picturing America (SM), a project of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), conducted in cooperation with the American Library Association. Applications may be submitted online at http://picturingamerica.ala.org through April 15, 2008. In order to enhance the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture, Picturing America brings some of the nation’s greatest works of art into school classrooms and public libraries. Successful applicants will receive a set of forty high-quality reproductions of American masterpieces, a teacher’s resource book and additional educational resources available at http://PicturingAmerica.neh.gov. Public, private, parochial, and charter schools and home school consortia (K-12), as well as public library systems and school districts, are invited to apply. Awards will be announced in May 2008 and distributed in September 2008 for display during the 2008-2009 school year and beyond. For more information about Picturing America, including a list of the artwork featured, grant guidelines, and the online application, visit http://picturingamerica.ala.org. ABBA
ABBA was a successful pop music group from Sweden that enjoyed a decade of pop chart hits that started in the mid-seventies with their "Waterloo" single. In 1999 their music was turned into a musical, Mamma Mia! that is still pleasing crowds around the world. Later this year, Mamma Mia! is coming to the big screen as movie starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth. The ABBA legend lives on. ABBA: The Site http://www.abbasite.com/start This official ABBA site boasts more than 138,000 members, and according to a recent site poll, 69% of them listen to ABBA every day. Membership is free, but is required to make and listen to personalized ABBA playlists. Other reasons to visit are the ABBA biographies and image galleries (under People), discography and lyrics (under Music), news updates, and computer wallpaper and screensavers (under Misc.). ABBA World http://www.abba-world.net/ "2008 already promises several significant events, with the promise of more new music from Benny, and a film version of Mamma Mia! Then in 2009 we have the opening of ABBA the Museum to look forward to." Ian Cole's fan site has an incredible depth of ABBA facts and trivia. For example, in addition to the usual listing of albums, ABBA World has a chronological and alphabetic song listing that tracks the history of each song from first working title to released and alternate versions. Also categorized are books, live performances, videos, TV shows, and a huge hotlist of ABBA fan sites. ABBA Plaza http://www.abbaplaza.com/ Robert Verbeek has been an ABBA fan since he purchased his first ABBA album, Dancing Queen, in 1975. Unique features of his fan site are his ABBA quizzes and games (can you place ten ABBA songs in chronological order?), downloadable lyrics in PDF, and pictures of his ABBA doll collection. Since the site is quite large, start at Most Popular Pages, or using the sitemap. You'll find both below the "plaza" drop-down menu. VH1: ABBA http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/abba/bio.jhtml "The next year [1974] rechristened ABBA (a suggestion from Stig Anderson and an acronym of the members' first names), the quartet submitted the single 'Waterloo,' and became the first Swedish act to win the Eurovision competition. The record proved to be the first of many international hits, although the group hit a slump after their initial success as
subsequent singles failed to chart." VH1 offers an excellent ABBA biography, peppered with hyperlinks to related VH1 articles. (Note: in the past months, one of my guilty musical pleasures has been listening to ABBA and the soundtrack to Mamma Mia on my iPod. I see I am not the only one……) (from Surfing the Net with Kids, 1/30/08) VALENTINE’S DAY FUN I’ve compiled just a few sites here, there’s several links to other resources you can check out on each site. DLTK’s Valentine’s Day Activities http://www.dltk-holidays.com/valentines/index.htm Valentine Coloring Pages http://www.preschoolcoloringbook.com/color/cpvalentine.shtml Printable Valentine's Day Cards, Coupons and Stationery http://www.womansday.com/crafts/5779/valentines-day-printables.html Family Fun’s Valentine Crafts http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/minisite/valentines-main-ms/ Valentine Projects from Kaboose.com http://crafts.kaboose.com/valentines-day-crafts.html MARDI GRAS More of the same for Mardi Gras, which is next Tuesday (Feb. 5). http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/mardigras/ http://www.holidays.net/mardigras/ http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/mardi_gras.htm http://www.mardigrasday.com/mardigras/child.php EVENTS THIS WEEK Thursday, January 31 Eat Brussels Sprouts Day Backwards Day Child Labor Day
Inspire Your Heart with Art Day Friday, February 1 Robinson Crusoe Day Hula in the Coola Day National Baked Alaska Day Women's Heart Health Day Bubble Gum Day Serpent Day Saturday, February 2 Self Renewal Day Wear Red Day California Kiwi Fruit Day Groundhog Day Sunday, February 3 Super Bowl Sunday National Popcorn Day National Carrot Day Halfway Point of Winter (finally!) Monday, February 4 National Stuffed Mushroom Day Rosa Park's Birthday Create a Vacuum Day Thank a Mailman Day Tuesday, February 5 National Weather Persons Day Mardi Gras Wednesday, February 6 Pay a Compliment Day National Frozen Yogurt Day Babe Ruth's birthday b. 1895 Ash Wednesday DATES TO REMEMBER February 1 February 2 February 22 March 25-29 May 1-2 Barbara Park at Schwartz’s, Brookfield, 7 PM Riverport Chorus DivaQuest, Waterford Union HS, 7 PM 2008 SLP workshop, Muskego PLA Conference, Minneapolis WAPL Conference, Stevens Point
June 26-July 2 WEBSITE FAVES
2008 ALA Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA
Astronomy Expert http://www.astronomyexpert.co.uk/ This site provides teachers and students as well as the general surfing public useful and interesting information about celestial objects and phenomena that exist outside the Earth's atmosphere. The articles are grouped into ten categories: Astrobiology, Cosmology, Galaxies, Our Solar System, Small Bodies, Star Watching, The Moon, The Planets, The Stars, and The Sun. The site hosts over eighty articles and new ones are added each month. Visitors to the site can learn how to find planets in other solar systems, how to measure the universe, how orbits work, how big the stars are, how far away they are, and much more. This site would be useful as an introduction for students who are beginning to research some aspect of astronomy for a paper or other homework assignment. (Education World Site Reviews, 1/30/08) Ragtime http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/ragtime/ragtime-home.html Ragtime is a uniquely American musical idiom and it is generally distinguished by its three or four contrasting sections or strains, each one being 16 or 32 measures in length. Played by itinerant pianists who made their way across the South and Midwest, the music first began to be formally published in the mid-1890s, and it soon made its way to Europe and other parts of the world. The Library of Congress recently created this fun and interesting site which pays homage to this art form through essays, musical selections, and digitized sheet music. Visitors can browse through the offerings at their leisure, though they may wish to start their journey by reading one of the four explanatory essays which cover topics such as "The History of Ragtime" and "The 'Classic' Rag". Moving on, visitors can also read biographies of artists like Scott Joplin and Joseph Lamb and also listen to noted ragtime performer Bob Milne. (From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008, http://scout.wisc.edu/, 01/25/08) AND FINALLY…. My chorus is performing this Saturday evening at the Waterford high school at 7 PM. Hope to see you there!