We are excited to announce that DBRL has recently acquired six children’s digital magazine subscriptions through Zinio! To use Zinio, you need an active DBRL library card. Multiple readers can check out the same magazine at the same time, and you can keep issues on your computer or mobile device as long as you wish. This service is PC and Mac compatible, and an app is available for most mobile devices. If you have questions about setup, you can use our Quick Start Guide.
Here are the digital magazines for kids that we currently have to offer:
American Girl
American Girl magazine is packed with fun! The content includes party plans, crafts, real girls’ stories, quizzes and contests. Ages 8 and up. Continue reading “New Digital Magazines for Kids”
Attention dog lovers! The tough little bulldog in David Ezra Stein’s “I’m My Own Dog” will grab your heart, and its inner monologue will tickle your funny bone. This pooch is quite content to curl up at its own feet and fetch its own slippers, until that tricky itch that can’t be reached sneaks up. Then the bulldog finds a human to train. You’ve got it: “I’m My Own Dog” comically turns traditional pet and human roles on their heads.
Once you’ve read this book several times and your kiddos have named the dog and learned half the sassy dog’s lines, you may be ready to branch out. We would suggest you try the activities on Candlewick Press’ Publisher site or The Missouri Building Block Award activity sheet. Continue reading “2015 Missouri Building Block: I’m My Own Dog”
Thanksgiving is finally here! Looking back over the history, it’s amazing how much this holiday has changed. Did you know that Americans did not celebrate Thanksgiving as an official national holiday until 1863? Also, the first Thanksgiving meal was held in 1621 and was three days long! The foods the pilgrims ate were not the same foods we think of as a Thanksgiving meal. The now-traditional meal was created by journalist Sarah Josepha Hale who created the children’s rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Hale worked for almost 30 years to make the Thanksgiving holiday official. After writing letters for years to five different presidents, Hale succeeded, and Thanksgiving was finally declared a national holiday by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.
In celebration of Sarah Josepha Hale, here are some rhymes to share with your family on Thanksgiving Day. Continue reading “Turkey Tunes”
This fall
R.L. Stine, famed author of the beloved Goosebumps book series, held a contest with the Scholastic Reading Club called the
Design-A-Monster Contest. To enter the contest, U.S. students in grades 2-6 were encouraged to draw an original monster, come up with a name for the creature and write up a short description of what makes it so spooky. The entries were judged on originality, creativity and execution. With almost 15,000 entries from across the country, the judges had the extremely difficult and terrifying task of selecting only eleven creepy creations to be recognized.
Continue reading “DBRL Patron Wins Design-A-Monster Contest”
In “Down by the Barn” by Will Hillenbrand, a dog happily drives a clunky blue tractor around a farm. Hitched to the tractor are two wagons, which the dog uses to collect a scarecrow and an array of baby farm animals. When the wagons are packed full of critters, the dog makes a stop at a school bus full of excited children. The story ends on a sweet note, with the scarecrow reading a book aloud, sharing a story with all of the children and animals.
The text is simple and contains repetitive phrases (Puff puff, clank, clank, moo, moo, and OFF WE GO!), adding new sounds to the end of each phrase as baby animals hop into the wagon. “Down By the Barn” is bursting with cheery art and onomatopoeic text that begs to be orated by all, making it a wonderful read aloud.
Continue reading “2015 Missouri Building Block: Down By the Barn”
America Recycles Day, celebrated on November 15th, has passed us by. Did you celebrate with your children by utilizing your local recycling center, repurposing something that you otherwise would have thrown away or by taking the Keep America Beautiful pledge? If you did, wonderful! If you missed out on celebrating America Recycles Day, that’s okay! You can celebrate recycling any day of the year.
Recycling is a great activity for children to participate in, not only because it helps the environment and reduces waste, but also because it can be a sorting project, requiring children to pay attention to details.
A great place to start your recycling journey is your local library, where you can find children’s books about recycling and examples of recycling. When we update the DBRL buildings or buy new furniture, we give preference to local products and products that have a percentage of the content made from recycled materials. Continue reading “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”
Dragons are fierce and mighty and SCARY- or are they? The lovable red dragon in David Kirk’s “Oh So Brave Dragon” is the scared one. Afraid of what terrible beasts might lurk in the woods, the dragon roars his loudest roar. Frightened by the ferocious sound he hears, the dragon bands with the little forest animals to roar back and scare the beasts away. Only the little yellow bird and the readers recognize that there is no monster; little dragon is making the entire ruckus and scaring himself. This is NOT a quiet read. Your young ones will be roaring along in no time.
Continue reading “2015 Missouri Building Block: Oh So Brave Dragon”
“Hooray for Hat!” is a fun, brightly colored picture book that follows animal friends as they go from being grumpy to being happy, all thanks to wonderful hats! The simple text and the animals’ facial expressions let us clearly know the animals’ moods throughout the book. Brian Won, both the illustrator and author, begins the book with a gray elephant waking up grumpy. What will change his mood!? Why, a stack of fun hats of course! Elephant then wants to show his friends his hats and share the joy.
As a gal who hosts lots of story times, I think this book is fantastic! It’s perfect as a read-aloud, boasting large bright illustrations, simple text and the message that it’s the little things in life that can brighten a grumpy mood. Continue reading “2015 Missouri Building Block: Hooray for Hat!”
Pregnancy can be a wonderful, joyous time you will cherish for the rest of your life. However, it can also be a baffling and sometimes uncomfortable process. If you or someone close to you is an expectant or brand new parent who could use some guidance and information, Daniel Boone Regional Library offers a wonderful resource called Parent Packs.
The Parent Pack kits are available in English and Spanish, and they include books about pregnancy and parenting, a yoga DVD and a set of pamphlets for you to keep. The pamphlets include a list of books for children about new siblings, as well as information on breast-feeding, child safety and getting assistance from social service agencies. Continue reading “Pick Up a Parent Pack!”
In “This Book Just Ate My Dog” by Richard Byrne, a girl named Bella takes a walk with her dog. During their walk, her dog disappears into the gutter of the book (the center seam where the pages come together). Friends and various vehicles come to the rescue only to be eaten by the book. Bella goes in after them but then sends out a note to the reader asking for some help. Continue reading “2015 Missouri Building Block: This Book Just Ate My Dog”
