Summer Planning Workshop

On Thursday, February 3, the SRP Planning Workshop was held at the Neville Public Museum!

Over 40 librarians attended and received lots of great ideas to get their summer planning started for the "One World, Many Stories" theme.

Participants did the Hokey Pokey, made cloth rabbits and snacked on delicious tacos for lunch.

Presenters were Marge Loch-Wouters, Rick Szcepkowski, Kathy Dettman, Mary Bohman and Cindy Tuschy.

Check out the NFLS Flickr page for more photos!

Bits from Barb

New Performer List

A list of performers who joined the Wisconsin Children's Performer Directory was distributed to the System Liaisons. Check out the new and existing performers in the Directory at dpi.wi.gov/pld/performers.html.

Possible Flannel Board Story Resource

Story Time Felts offers a set of four stories from around the world in felt pieces. The stories include "Androcles and the Lion"-Italy, "Beauty and the Beast"-France, "How Kangaroo Got his Pouch"-Australia, and "Rabbit Steals Elephant's Dinner"-Central Africa. For information go to www.storytimefelts.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=12_15&osCsid=55bcb37a42a8c93ed524079830e41d3a

Summer Free Lunch Distribution Sites Needed

DPI is looking for locations willing to serve as a free meal site for children in the summer. Public libraries can be a distribution site. Typically the local school district would bring the meals to the library. The meals can be given to all children who are present so it might work for a lunch bunch situation. Interested libraries should check with their local school districts to see if their districts qualify for the program and to find out if the schools and library could work together on the program. Contact Allison Wineberg for more information at alison.wineberg@dpi.wi.gov.

Book Reviews

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Sixteen-year-old Mackie Doyle struggles with a strange, debilitating illness that makes him miss out on most of the fun of high school. Throughout the story, Mackie discovers that he is a changeling, who was left in the crib of a human child stolen by the fairy folk. In the town of Gentry, this is a familiar, unspoken occurrence that is linked to the continued prosperity of the community as it happens every seven years. The changeling usually dies within a few months of being left with the humans. But Mackie survived. When his friend suffers an infant sibling’s death, and claims loudly that the infant is still alive, no one believes her--except for Mackie. In his search to understand himself, he stumbles into the underground world of the fairy folk, discovering his roots, his legacy, and the baby girl missing from Gentry. Together with his friends at school, Mackie attempts to rescue the child before the dreaded day she will be sacrificed to appease the fairy folk.

This debut novel was very well written, and proved to be a compelling read. I enjoyed it, while at the same time found the story unsettling. Mackie is a likable character, as are his friends, Roswell and Tate. The author presents fairy lore in a different light that is dark and disturbing, giving a fresh new take to the usual ‘I’m different from everyone else and no one understands me’ scenario that can be overused in the young adult genre. In this case, the author has created a new ‘monster’ that we can identify with and root for as he struggles with his desire to be normal and "human."

- Lily Silver, Stephenson Public Library

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

I heard about this book during a book talk by Karol Sacca at the ARSL Conference. She said it was one of her favorite teen books of all time and that you should have kleenex next to you when reading it.

Caitlin, an 11-year-old girl who has Asperger's, now has to live her life without her older brother, Devon. (How he died is revealed later in the book). So now it's just Caitlin and her father, who isn't very much help to her. Caitlin especially has a hard time accepting and moving past her brother's death. When Caitlin reads the definition of "closure," she makes it a priority to see that she gets it - if only it was that easy.

This is an excellent read for teens and adults. Sometimes Caitlin's behavior, even though it couldn't be helped, made me want to pull out my hair. I found myself empathizing with Caitlin, her father and anyone who tried to help them. I also loved that Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," is referenced in the book, and the connections Erskine makes between Scout and Caitlin. This is a moving, beautiful story told in Caitlin's "black and white" perspective. And Karol was right - I did tear up at times.

- Jamie Matczak, NFLS

Grant Opportunities

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation supports nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and libraries that offer literacy programs in communities served by Dollar General in 35 states. Currently the Foundation is accepting grant requests through the following programs: Adult Literacy Grants support nonprofit organizations that provide direct services to adults in need of literacy assistance. Family Literacy Grants support family literacy service providers that combine parent and youth literacy instruction. Summer Reading Grants help nonprofit organizations and libraries with the implementation or expansion of summer reading programs for students who are new readers, below grade level readers, or readers with learning disabilities. Online applications must be submitted by February 24, 2011. Visit the Foundation’s website at http://www.dollargeneral.com/dgliteracy/pages/grant_programs.aspx to access guidelines for each grant program.

The Joyce Foundation supports efforts to protect the natural environment of the Great Lakes; to reduce poverty and violence in the region; and to ensure that its people have access to good schools, decent jobs, and a diverse and thriving culture. The Foundation focuses its grantmaking on initiatives that promise to have an impact on the Great Lakes region, specifically the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

The Foundation’s program areas include the following: Education, Employment, Environment, Gun Violence, Money and Politics, and Culture. (Several program areas have specific geographic limitations within the Great Lakes region: K-12 education grantmaking focuses on the cities of Chicago, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee. Early childhood grantmaking focuses on the states of Illinois and Wisconsin. Culture grants are primarily provided to organizations in the Chicago metropolitan area.) Letters of inquiry should be submitted six to eight weeks before the proposal deadline. The 2011 proposal deadlines are April 11 and August 17. Visit the Foundation’s website for detailed guidelines for each of the program areas.

More information is available at http://www.joycefdn.org/content.cfm/home.

-CEO, 2/9/11, Issue 354

Teen Tech Week

Teen Tech Week 2011 is March 6-12!

Teen Tech Week is a national initiative aimed at teens, librarians, educators, parents, and other concerned adults that highlights nonprint resources at the library. The 2011 theme — Mix and Mash @ your library — focuses on encouraging teens to use library resources to express their creativity by developing their own unique online content and safely sharing it by using online collaborative tools.

The YALSA website has TONS of program ideas, publicity tools and resources!