Each year the American Library Association honors books, videos, and other outstanding materials for children and teens. Selected by committees composed of librarians and other literature and media experts, the awards encourage original and creative work in the field of children’s and young adult literature and media. The following titles and contributers are some of the 2016 YMA winners.
Caldecott Winner
”Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear,” illustrated by Sophie Blackall and written by Lindsay Mattick.
A woman tells her young son the true story of how his great-great-grandfather, Captain Harry Colebourn, rescued and learned to love a bear cub in 1914 as he was on his way to take care of soldiers’ horses during World War I, and the bear became the inspiration for A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh. Continue reading “2016 Youth Media Award Winners”
Here’s a craft that allows you to combine three wonderful things:
1) Young children
2) Fine motor skill development
3) Minimal mess
Don’t believe it is possible to do all three at once? Read on, and find out how you and your child can make a simple bird feeder! Continue reading “Make Your Own Bird Feeder”
New Year’s tends to bring a refreshing feeling and a thirst for change. What better way to start off the new year than by making a New Year’s resolution? The new year presents us with an opportunity to make a change; whether it’s to become healthier, lose a habit or do something just for fun! With limitless possibilities, it can be daunting to pick a resolution and stick with it. But the library is a great resource to find ideas and information to help kids get started on making a change for the better! Here are some ideas for New Year’s resolutions and some books to complement them: Continue reading “New Year, New You!”
As 2015 comes to an end, the children’s staff at DBRL has been reminiscing about the fabulous new books that arrived on our shelves this year. While it’s hard to pick a favorite, there were some books that stood apart from the rest. Here are our top 11 favorite picture books and chapter books published in 2015.
“All My Stripes” by Shaina Rudolph
I really liked how this book talks about differences in a way children
understand, while still telling a story children will want to read. The
illustrations are also really well done. ~Katie L
“Bunnies!!!” is the perfect picture book to pull out for an impromptu story time! It’s an entertaining combination of a misunderstood monster, multicolored bunnies and a noisy, fast-paced game of hide-and-seek. ~Kristy
Continue reading “Best Children’s Books of 2015”
Looking for a cheap and easy way to create keepsakes with your children? Try making a hand imprint ornament! You can do this activity with babies and decorate it yourself, or you can work together with older children, allowing them to add personal touches. Even your pets can get involved if you want to make paw imprint ornaments! Regardless of the subject, you will create a cherished memento that will last for years.
Want to give this hand-y gift a try?
Continue reading “Hand-y Ornament”
A few months ago, I was shelving new books and came across a picture book that I couldn’t put down. The book is called “The Night World,” and is written and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein. The story starts when a cat named Sylvie wakes her boy. Sylvie says she needs to go out even though everyone else is asleep. Soon she is insisting that “It’s coming…hurry,” and the boy must come outside with her.
Continue reading “Books We Love: The Night World”
What could be better than a book with a digger? A book with bigger and BIGGER diggers!
The last of our featured Missouri Building Block nominees, William Bee’s “Digger Dog,” fits that bill. Youngsters love the repetitive phrases and will be “reading” along as Digger Dog strives to unearth the world’s biggest bone with his fleet of diggers. The book’s surprise ending will have them asking you to read it again and again. Continue reading “2015 Missouri Building Block: Digger Dog”
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”
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”
