Calling All Toddlers and Preschoolers....

Ready for Fall Storytimes?
We (almost) are!
Here's a sneak peek at SOME OF our all new, revised and revamped plan of action...

FOR TODDLERS (16 MONTHS TO 3 YEARS OLD +CAREGIVER):
Tuesdays,Thursdays, or Fridays 9:30 to 10:15am
-Spring into action with a toddler-friendly craft
-Theme related picture books, old favorites and hot new picks
-Songs with shaker eggs, "Hammer Song" with rhythm sticks
-Parachute action
-Free play time at end of each program to mix with friends
FOR PRESCHOOLERS (3 TO 5 YEARS OLD +CAREGIVER):
Tuesdays or Fridays 10:30 to 11:15am

-All new "ABC/123" story time with a fun and action filled focus on letters and numbers
-Classic and new and noteworthy age appropriate picture books
-Preschool level craft related to theme
-Games, songs, puzzles and free play at end of program
REGISTRATON STARTS SEPTEMBER 12TH
FALL SESSION RUNS FROM SEPTEMBER 19TH TO NOVEMBER 18TH.
Hope to see you there! Miss Carla

Summer Reading Club Ends August 12!

A few reminders about the Summer Reading Club:

1. The last day to stamp your passport (RC) or map (RTM) is Friday, August 12. The library closes at 6:00, so please be at the Reading Club table by 5:30 pm so that we have time to help you. To be eligible for the sweepstakes drawing, your passport must be stamped and your entry must be in the jar no later than 3:00 pm on Friday, August 12.

2. During the last week of the Reading Club, those who have gold registration cards and who have eight stamps in their passports will be given a sweepstakes ticket each as their Week 8 prize. Only those who are eligible Reading Club participants will receive a ticket; all others in the Reading Club (stamping for Weeks 1-7) and Read-To-Me Club (stamping for Weeks 1-8) will receive those weeks' prizes.

3. Sweepstakes winners will be announced at the Ice Cream Social at 4:00 pm on August 12. If you haven't yet registered, please do! To win the iPod Shuffle and the door prizes, you must be present at the social. All other winners need not be present.

4. If you registered for the Reading Club but never returned to stamp your passport, it's not too late to earn a Week 1 canvas book bag! Just make sure to bring in your passport and get it stamped by 5:30 on Friday, August 12.

Bach2Rock Violinist Caryn Lin Returns to Tredyffrin!

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
Live at the Library presents

“BACH 2 ROCK”
With violinist Caryn Lin
Monday, August 8, 7:30 pm

FREE! No registration required, but please be prompt. The show is appropriate for ages 7-adult (ages 7-9 must be accompanied to the library by an adult). No babies/toddlers/preschoolers, please.

Caryn Lin is a Cherry Hill, New Jersey native who started violin lessons at age 9, and soon began studies with the Philadelphia Orchestra's Larry Grika. She earned a degree in violin performance from Northwestern University, but even then she took a unique approach to the violin. After graduation Caryn moved to Germany to study under virtuoso Susanne Lautenbacher but, staying true to her love of innovation, she also jammed with street musicians and played in several bands. During a show on her last night in Germany, a guitarist wondered what would happen if they plugged an echo box into the pick up on her acoustic violin. Caryn listened as the sound of her violin filled the room, accompanying itself, and creating a fantastic soundscape unlike anything else she'd ever heard. It was as exciting as an electric guitar, but it was even closer to her heart. The classical musician who had always felt like a misfit had found her place.

After years of experimenting with sound, Caryn puts on a live show that is truly unique. Sometimes as a solo artist and sometimes with a backing band, she plays her 4, 5, and 6 string electric violins and uses a jam man to make short on-the-spot recordings of her voice, percussion instruments, and other sounds. As she plays the violin, the recorded snippets play back in a continuous loop adding layer upon layer of sound over deceptively simple melodies. The result is music that is both otherworldly and totally catchy.

Caryn has played everywhere form Lincoln Center to Six Flags, the Kimmel Center to the Crayola Crayon Factory. Her music has been featured on MTV's The Real World and on 150 radio stations across the county, and she (and her music) appeared in the movie Philadelphia. she has just released her fifth studio album, The Call.

KTB = Kids Talk Books

We're into our second week of KTB and already the recommendations are pouring in! Our panel today consisted of: Hari (entering grade 7); Arshad, Sai, Yerin (entering grade 6); Mayaank (entering grade 5); Jeevan, Neha, Shiva, Uday (entering grade 4).

Today's discussion topic was, "What makes a good series?" Readers of all ages love the comfort, ease, and predictability of series fiction. Once we discover an author we like, it's exciting to find out that he or she has written more books about our favorite characters.

Here are the series our panelists recommend, along with the genres they fall into, how our panelists discovered the series and/or why they like it, and suggested reading levels.

The 39 Clues series by various authors
mystery
grades 3-5
"I like that the same characters appear in all of them, but they're all a little bit different." ~ Jeevan

The Cabin Creek Mysteries by Kristiana Gregory
mystery, suspense
grades 3-5
"My teacher read the first one aloud to my class and I got hooked." ~ Uday

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney
family & friends, humor, school stories
grades 3-6
"I just found the book on the shelf at the library. The cover and the title looked good, so I checked it out." ~ Hari

The Dragon Slayers' Academy by Kate McMullen
fantasy, school stories
grades 2-4
"The author came to my school and got me interested in the books." ~ Uday

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
adventure, fantasy, school stories
grades 4+ (later titles in the series grades 7+)
"I like all of the action and how the characters sometimes break the rules." ~ Shiva

The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan
adventure, fantasy, mythology
grades 4-7
"I really liked the Percy Jackson books, and this series is by the same author. It's also about mythology, but this time it's Egypt instead of Greece." ~ Arshad

The Lost Hero series by Rick Riordan
adventure, family & friends, fantasy, mythology
grades 4-7
"It's a Percy Jackson spinoff, and I had read and liked the first series." ~ Sai

The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
fantasy, mystery
grades 1-3
"This series was a reading challenge in second grade. Our teacher challenged us to read books 1-18, but we liked it so much we kept going!" ~ Uday

The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
adventure, family & friends, fantasy, mythology
grades 4-7
"A friend of mine read it and recommended it to me." ~ Arshad

The Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch
humor, mystery, suspense
grades 4-7
"I liked A Series of Unfortunate Events and this one is a lot like it." ~ Shiva

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
adventure, humor, mystery, suspense
grades 4-6
"My school librarian thought I might like it, and I did!" ~ Mayaank

The TinTin series by Herge
adventure, graphics, humor
grades 5+
"We liked that they were exotic and had lots of travel and adventure." ~ Arshad, Hari, Sai

The Wayside School series by Louis Sachar
family & friends, humor, school stories
grades 3-5
"My teacher read the first one to our class and I really liked it." ~ Neha

Other series mentioned in brief:
A-Z Mysteries and Capital Mysteries, both by Ron Roy (mystery; grades 1-3)
The Boxcar Children Mysteries by Gertrude Chandler Warner (mystery; grades 3-5)
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson (graphics, humor; grades 4-7)
Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey (humor; grades 1-3)
My Weird School by Dan Gutman (family & friends, humor; grades 1-3)
The Warriors series by Erin Hunter (adventure, animals, fantasy, graphics; grades 4-7)

Harry and the Potters

There is something I want you to know.

There is a band called Harry and the Potters. Some of their songs include, "I'm a Wizard," "Save Ginny Weasley," and of course, "Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock."

Yes, this is a band that writes songs about the stuff that happens in the Harry Potter books.

Why am I telling you about them?

Weren't you listening? THIS IS A BAND THAT WRITES SONGS ABOUT STUFF THAT HAPPENS IN THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS! If that's not cool enough for me to give you a heads-up about it, I don't know what is.

But the reason I am telling you about them TODAY is so that you can have enough time to make a plan to go see them in Philadelphia where they will be performing live on July 30! (Yes, that's right, the day before Harry Potter's birthday!)

If you've spent any time at all in the children's department this spring, you might have heard us playing their first album behind the desk. (It is a particular favorite of a few of our staff members, myself included.)

If you haven't heard their music at our library, you might want to give them a shot.

You're welcome.

The Luck of the Buttons

There are two things I wanted to do after completing my Week 2 Summer Reading book, The Luck of the Buttons. First, I wanted to bob my hair, and second, I wanted to watch The Music Man, another story about a fast-talkin' salesman coming to a small Iowa town and shaking things up a bit.

(But, really, I've wanted to cut my hair into a bob for about a month now. I can't really lay all of that at author Anne Ylvisaker's door.)

I think what I liked best about this story is how the main character, Tugs Button, decides that she isn't defined by her family. They're not bad people, but she wants something different for herself.

But a very close runner-up to what I liked best was the way the Buttons eat pie when life throws them some bad luck. (Which is often.) Speaking quite personally here, that's my kind of family.

More next week, when I tackle my Week 3 book: Dear Anjali.

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

Angleberger, Tom. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. Amulet Books. 2010. ISBN: 978-0810984257

Like Dwight, the weird kid who created Origami Yoda, my Yoda impression is not very good. However, I can muster up enough inner Yoda to tell you, "Funny this book is. Liked it I did."

The plot, super-brief: Weird kid Dwight makes an Origami Yoda, which starts giving out advice to everyone in school. Some of the advice is good, some of the advice is bad, and some is just plain weird. (For example, "The Twist you must learn.") But all of it makes the kids wonder: Is Origami Yoda real or not?

Of course, there are other more serious issues in the story, including bravery, kindness, academic honesty and Cheeto hogging, but they're all part of the larger question.

I liked the whole story, but I especially liked how the author keeps the characters real. They have problems and they're not always on their best behavior, just like all of us. I mean, haven't we all wanted to cry after striking out or struggled with the question of how to cover an embarrassing water stain? No? Just me?

Tiny details I loved:
1. The X-wing and Tie-fighters at the bottom of every page
2. Harvey's reference to Robert E. Lee's horse
3. Soapy the monkey

And of course, the author includes directions on how to make your very own Origami Yoda. That's pretty cool.

I'd recommend this book to kids ages 9 and up, to adults who still remember what middle school was like, and to Star Wars fans everywhere.