Thursday, March 14, 2013
Toddler Storytime – 10:15am
Songs, active rhymes and stories especially for ages 18 months to 3 years, followed by Playtime! Make new friends and play with toys.
Baby Bounce – 11:30am
Play, sing, and rhyme one on one with your baby from birth to 18 months, followed by Playtime! Make new friends and play with toys.
And don’t forget to work on your entries for the UNBOUND Book Art & Craft contest, due April 3!
March is National Craft Month, and our first-ever UNBOUND Book Art & Craft Contest is up and running!
Sometimes we receive donated books which are too old or damaged to re-sell. Now we’d like to see what you can make with a discarded book. Stop by the library to pick up a free book for the project (or use one of your own) and turn it into a work of art or a craft.
We’ll have winners and prizes in three categories: Kids (ages 5-12), Teens (13-18) and Adults (19 and up). Special thanks to our sponsors, local merchants hatch and A Great Good Place for Books, for donating some prizes! Entries are due Wednesday, April 3, 2013.
See our Pinterest board for inspiration, then check out our contest page for more info, official rules and entry forms, and get crafting!
First Lady Michelle Obama reads to students on Read Across America Day 2010. Photo: Department of Education
In honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday (March 2), today, March 1, is the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day. With the slogan “Grab your Hat and Read with the Cat,” the day is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that aims to get kids reading.
Looking for some simple ways to celebrate? Check out the NEA’s Resources to Get Reading for tips on reading to kids of different ages and lists of recommended books. Or try cooking up a Dr. Seuss recipe (green eggs and ham, anyone?) or checking out one of the many books by or about Seuss available in the children’s room at the Montclair library.
Adults who want to learn more about Seuss might enjoy The Man Who Was Dr. Seuss: The Life and Work of Theodor Geisel by Thomas Fensch, or Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel by Richard H. Minear.
Posted in Just for Fun | Tags: authors, books, children, reading
Oakland’s Second Annual Youth Poet Laureate Contest is on! Teens ages 13-18 who live or attend school in Oakland can apply to be the city’s new Youth Poet Laureate.
The contest is sponsored by Oakland Public Library and Youth Speaks. The contest winner will receive a $5,000 scholarship and gain invaluable experience and exposure through public speaking engagements and publishing and media opportunities.
Last year’s winner, Oakland’s first Youth Poet Laureate Stephanie Yun, is a graduate of Montclair Elementary, Montera and Skyline.
The entry deadline is Friday, April 19. For more details and info on how to apply, see the OPL website or the Youth Speaks website.
Emma Thompson struggles with writers block as author Karen Eiffel in “Stranger Than Fiction”
With Oscar fever in the air, the New York Times published an essay last Friday by Roger Rosenblatt about the best films about writers.
His nominations (available at nearby branches unless otherwise noted) include “Stranger Than Fiction“, with its portrait of writer’s block; “Misery,” about a reader’s unhealthy obsession with an author, based on Stephen King’s book of the same name; and “Wonder Boys,” based on the novel by Michael Chabon.
In the end, he declares the winners as “The Third Man,” with its Western-writer-turned-sleuth based on the novel by Graham Greene; “Starting Out In the Evening,” from the novel by Brian Morton; and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” with struggling writer Paul Varjak, based on the novella by Truman Capote (available at Montclair).
Posted in Just for Fun | Tags: authors, books, movies
Close-up lion dancer. Photo by Jing Mo.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Branch libraries closed for Presidents’ Day; Main Library will be open.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Toddler Storytime – 10:15am
Baby Bounce – 11:30am
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Jing Mo – 1:00pm
Celebrate the Lunar New Year! Jing Mo will help us enter the year of the snake by featuring their snake set, something most people never see. The Jing Mo philosophy can be stated simply: practitioners should have respect for themselves, respect for others, be humble, know and practice humility, show restraint and assist others.
Howard Carter inspecting King Tut’s mummy.
90 years ago today, on February 16, 1923, archaeologist Howard Carter opened the sealed burial chamber of the ancient Egyptian ruler King Tutankhamen, who died around 1346 B.C. Carter had discovered the long-lost tomb the previous November at Thebes in the Valley of the Kings.
If you’re itching to know more about the history of King Tut and ancient Egypt, here are some books (some in the Montclair collection and some elsewhere in the OPL system) to get you started:
For kids:
Tutankhamun by Robert Green (Montclair)
How the Sphinx Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland
Tutankhamun: The Life and Death of a Pharaoh by David Murdoch
Inside the Tomb of Tutankhamun by Jacqueline Morley
Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki (Montclair)
Mummy (Eyewitness Book) by James Putnam (Montclair)
For grown-ups:
Howard Carter and the Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun by H. V. F. Winstone
The Golden King: The World of Tutankhamun by Zahi Hawass
The Murder of King Tut: A Nonfiction Thriller by James Patterson and Martin Dugard (Montclair)
Tutankhamun: The Book of Shadows, a fictional mystery by Nick Drake
Or if you’re feeling like doing some exploring of your own, try looking in the non-fiction 393 and 930s sections for more books on Tutankhamun, Carter, mummies and ancient Egypt.
Today’s random internet fact: The grand home that stands in for Downton Abbey (available on DVD at the Montclair branch) in the eponymous TV series is Highclere Castle, the family seat of the Carnarvons — and it was the fifth Earl of Carnarvon who sponsored the search for the tomb of Tutankhamun. Source: Oxford University Press
Posted in Just for Fun | Tags: books, history
Illustration by Sophie Blackall from Ivy + Bean.
If your kids are fans of the Ivy + Bean series of books written by Berkeley author Annie Barrows and illustrated by Sophie Blackall, check out the current production of “Ivy + Bean, the Musical” by Bay Area Children’s Theater. It plays in Berkeley through March 3, then moves to San Ramon and Mill Valley through April 6.
Bay Area Children’s Theater puts on shows throughout the year based on children’s books – their shows are a great way to introduce kids to live theater. Opening in Berkeley in April, “Knuffle Bunny, A Cautionary Musical”, based on the books by Mo Willems.
Ivy + Bean books at the Montclair branch include:
Ivy + Bean
Ivy + Bean and the Ghost that Had to Go
Ivy + Bean Break the Fossil Record
Ivy + Bean Bound to Be Bad
Ivy + Bean Doomed to Dance
Ivy + Bean Take Care of the Babysitter
Ivy + Bean What’s the Big Idea?
Ivy + Bean: No News is Good News
Ivy + Bean Make the Rules
Fun fact I just realized: Annie Barrows is also the co-author (with her aunt, Mary Ann Shaffer) of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
Posted in Just for Fun | Tags: authors, books, children
Tuesday, February 12
Lincoln’s Birthday. All library locations closed.
Thursday, February 14
Toddler Storytime – 10:15am
Baby Bounce – 11:30am
Happy Valentine’s Day!
While 49ers fans may be sad about the outcome of last Sunday’s Super Bowl, Edgar Allen Poe fans will be happy to know that the Baltimore Ravens are the only NFL team (and the only professional sports team, as far as I know) named after a literary work: Baltimore denizen Poe’s famous poem “The Raven.”
The ever-clever McSweeney’s offers up some other ideas for literary team names – Virginia Woolves, anyone?
Posted in Just for Fun | Tags: authors, books, poetry, sports
Friends of Montclair Library 