Charlotte Zolotow Book Award

The Cooperative Children’s Book Center announced the Charlotte Zolotow Book Awards today, recognizing picture books with distinguished writing:Carole Boston Weatherford is the winner of the 2017 Charlotte Zolotow Award for Freedom in Congo Square (illustrated by...

Mr. Potato Head at LEPMPL

Thanks to Samantha Carpenter for this guest post:Mr. Potato Head has been a very popular magnet board activity at LEPMPL the past two months! Every time I walk by, he looks different. There’s something about this particular configuration . . . that accurately reflects...

Youth-related webinars coming up!

Don’t forget to check out the following sessions at the Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference!  There are many others that would be of use to a general audience, but these Wednesday sessions may be of particular interest to librarians serving youth!Wednesday...

Serving Tweens–some resources

At our Summer Library Program workshop, one of the groups that librarians felt they had a hard time reaching is tweens (3rd-7th graders or so).  I found  a few good resources for people who are feeling like this is a gap for them:Five Lessons in Tween...

Escape Rooms!

Thanks to Sam Carpenter at LEPMPL for this guest post!   Those of you who came to the Sure-fire Teen Programs presentation at the SLP workshop in November might remember Ashley Bieber, the teen coordinator at LEPMPL, talking about an upcoming Escape the Room program....

SLP Musings, Part 5: SIMPLIFICATION

The final big trend to discuss from the SLP workshop responses to making the Summer Library Program easier:  Simplification.Several people talked about looking at programs and simplifying them.  Many talked about looking at record-keeping and simplifying it....

Opportunity to Share Information!

We need to spread the word that the earliest weeks matter!Many thanks to Saroj Ghoting, Early Literacy Consultant (and popular workshop presenter) for pointing out the interesting results of a Zero to Three parent survey.  Major points are summarized here, and...

SLP Musings Part 4: On Getting Help

Asking for help should be easier and more pleasant than a giant dose of castor oil!Moving on from the things that people HATE about the Summer Library Program, and moving on to the things that people thought they might be able to do to make their SLP easier.  A...

SLP Musings, Part 3: On Being Overwhelmed and Exhausted

Take a tip from the koala:  REST!Several people listed being overwhelmed and exhausted during the summer in the exercise about the thing people hate the most about the Summer Library Program.  I think we can all relate to the feeling of being inundated with...

On Being Thankful

I’ve had a bit of a rocky fall, and have missed a lot of work to help care for a loved one who is at the end of her life.  I thought it might be appropriate during this Thanksgiving season to give some thanks for things that are helping me get through it...

SLP Musings, Part 2: On Themes

Luckily, your programs and services don’t HAVE to fit into boxes, colorful and fun as those boxes might be.At the SLP workshop on November 11, our wonderful presenter Holly Storck Post asked people to write down one thing they hate about SLP.  I noticed...