What's in Your Story Hour Closet?

What supplies do you keep on hand for your story hours? Do you have favorite items that you believe are necessary for your story hour programming?

Luci Bledsoe of the Johnson Creek Public Library shared this list on the March CEO for the Lakeshores Library System. The following suggestions are either very inexpensive or can be donated by your library customers and story hour parents.

Send an email to Jamie if you'd like to share what's in YOUR Story Hour Closet!

What do we have in our closet at Johnson Creek PL?

• Cotton balls (the white ones are perfect for snowmen; if you can find the colored ones, they are great for decorating paper Easter eggs or making spring pictures)
• Brown paper lunch bags (paper bag puppets)
• White paper lunch bags (perfect for Valentine bags; gift bags for making a Mother’s or Father’s Day gift)

• Advertising Magnets (cut them with scissors; put a dab of glue on the printed side and attach to the craft project for a memorable refrigerator magnet (thanks to Nancy B at West Bend for this idea!)
• Old or damaged compact discs or CD-ROMS (used to make CD-ROM fish or birds; hanging mobiles—use 2 discs for a project and glue the printed sides together)
• Empty cereal boxes (have a volunteer or staff member cut them and save the fronts and backs. We use them for patterns (for our Valentine Story Hour, we cut out half hearts and showed the children how to fold paper; trace the half heart; and cut on the traced line). Although we have our die cut machine, we still need to make or cut an original pattern for tracing. *Extra bonus—if there is a promotional item available such as a small toy, send for a free toy for a SLP prize!)

• Stickers (magazines and other companies will send stickers as a small gift—they go into our sticker box and are used for a variety of crafts)
• Paper towel tubes (we do not use toilet paper tubes for obvious reasons! We have used cut down paper towel tubes for making small turkeys; groundhogs, binoculars, etc.
• Yarn (don’t buy it, just put up a list of what you need and your customers will donate! We use scrap yarn for holiday crafts; paper dolls; gift bags, etc.)
• Ribbons (again we use donated scrap ribbon for holiday crafts; lacing paper plates together, etc.)
• Gift bows (use as a color matching activity)

• Cheap white envelopes (hold game pieces when we make paper dominoes or play Color and Shape Bingo)
• Reinforcement labels for hole-punched paper (we use both white and colored. The white ones are used to reinforce punched holes for adding a bow to a paper bunny or cat)
• Inexpensive paper punch (if you make a paper bunny, punch 2 holes on the neck; add a ribbon for a bow, and it is one classy bunny!)

• Cheap paper plates, both large and small (lace a whole plate and ½ plate together; fill with paper flowers and small candies for a Mother’s Day gift or May Day gift; we also use them for small trays if we work with glitter or paint; also can be used for masks)
• Paper cups (planting a seedling or bean or radish seeds)
• Craft sticks (ask your local doctor’s office to see if they will donate tongue depressors, use for paper plate puppets)

• Powdered detergent measuring cups (fill with dirt, add a small seedling; glue buttons on sides for wheels, and you have a small wheelbarrow for a gift)
• Scoopable kitty litter jug lids (I used to use milk bottle caps, but they are potentially dangerous due to their size. I use kitty litter bottle caps for counting; matching colors; shape recognition, graphing, etc.)
• Brass paper fasteners (allows the head/arms/or legs of a paper animal to move)

Bits from Barb

Free International Math Resources from Massachusetts

TERC, a nonprofit educational organization in Cambridge, MA, has created some wonderful activities for librarians to use as part of their "One World, Many Stories" programming. TERC would like to share their activities and resources with any library participating in One World, Many Stories programs.

Mixing in Math (MiM), a set of FREE materials in English and Spanish, is designed for integrating numeracy into story time, summer reading, and crafts for children and families. Through their Mixing in Math grant, TERC staff have assisted many MA librarians incorporate math skills into existing programs. MiM was funded by the National Science Foundation and created at TERC.

Check the MiM website at http://mixinginmath.terc.edu to learn more and to download the materials. If you'd like to reach the developers of MiM or would like to arrange for a free webinar, please contact mixinginmath@terc.edu. There are free summer reading 2011 resources at http://mixinginmath.terc.edu/Themes/Stories_World2011.cfm.
—Sarah Sogigian, Advisor Youth Services, Massachusetts Library System

YALSA Teen Spaces Webinar

Join Kim Bolan Cullin as she discusses the latest in teen space planning and implementation in YALSA's May 19 webinar, to be held at 2 p.m. EDT. Participants will learn the nuts and bolts of basic teen space design, including actively engaging teens throughout the process, incorporating their ideas and maintaining ongoing involvement. She will also discuss the latest teen space trends, including planning tools, layout, décor, digital creativity and interactivity, collaborative spaces, and more.

Registration is now open at www.ala.org/yalsa/webinars. Webinars cost $39 for individual YALSA members, $49 for all other individuals, and $195 for groups (unlimited participants).Questions can be sent to Eve Gaus, YALSA's program officer for continuing education, at egaus@ala.org or 1 (800) 545-2433, ext. 5293.

Children's Book Week May 2-8

Children's Book Week will be May 2-8. Peter Brown designed the 2011 poster and Jeff Kinney designed the bookmarks. For more information, go to www.bookweekonline.com/

Libri Grants Due April 15

The Libri Foundation is currently accepting applications for its 2011 BOOKS FOR CHILDREN grants. The Libri Foundation is a nationwide, nonprofit organization which donates new, quality, hardcover children's books to small, rural public libraries throughout the United States. In general, county libraries should serve a population under 16,000, and town libraries should serve a population under 10,000 (usually under 5,000). Libraries should be in a rural area, have a limited operating budget, and have an active children's department.

In order to encourage and reward local support of libraries, The Libri Foundation will match any amount of money raised by local sponsors from $50 to $350 on a 2-to-1 ratio. Thus, a library can receive up to $1,050 worth of new children's books. After a library receives a grant, local sponsors (such as formal or informal Friends groups, civic or social organizations, local businesses, etc.) have four months, or longer if necessary, to raise their matching funds.

The librarian of each participating library selects the books the library will receive from a booklist provided by the Foundation. The 700-plus fiction and nonfiction titles on the booklist reflect the very best of children's literature published primarily in the last three years. These titles, which are for children ages 12 and under, are award-winners or have received starred reviews in library, literary, or education journals. The booklist also includes a selection of classic children's titles.

The application deadline is April 15. Application guidelines and forms may be downloaded from the Foundation's website at www.librifoundation.org.

- Barb Huntington, DLTCL

System Youth Liaison Posting, March 2011

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!