CEO, 071210

Children’s Event Organizer
Lakeshores Library System and
Mid-Wisconsin Federated Library System
Youth Services Update
Issue 344; July 12, 2010
http://www.llsmwflschildrens.blogspot.com

In this issue:
Ruhama’s Reviews
Northwoods Children’s Book Conference
ALSC Announces Exceptional Websites for Children
Movie News
The Business of Children’s Publishing
National Indicators of the Well-Being of Children
Dates to Remember
Website Faves
And Finally......


RUHAMA’S REVIEWS

Maggie's Ball by Lindsay Barrett George
http://tinyurl.com/36up5zt

Maggie the dog has a bright yellow ball, but it gets lost! She searches through town trying to discover where it went. She visits the four shops on the circle, but no one has it. In the end, she not only finds her ball, but also a friend. Bright and colorful illustrations easily convey emotions and actions. Several pages can be used for I Spy or learning more about circles. Text is simple and works for younger aged storytimes.


What the Ladybug Heard by Julia Donaldson
http://tinyurl.com/2b7ctj4

Have you ever thought a ladybug would save the day? Because she's small and quiet, the ladybug overhears the entire plan of two thieves to steal the farm's prize cow. She immediately comes up with a plan to foil the robbers and keep the farm safe and breaks her silence for one day. The concept is neat, but has several aspects that fall flat. The rhyme is generally good, but the cadence is tricky and some of the text tries too hard. The illustrations also are generally good, but some of the mixed media is disconcerting and some pages are quite busy. Overall, an additional purchase.


Nibbles: A Green Tale by Charlotte Middleton
http://tinyurl.com/2g4kkvn

Nibbles loves dandelion leaves, as does his whole family, as does his whole town! These guinea pigs aren't careful, though, and eat the plants almost to extinction. But Nibbles will save the day with a garden and everyone can still enjoy their favorite treat. Adults will enjoy the irony of the guinea pigs' plight and children will appreciate the resourcefulness of Nibbles (and librarians will rejoice). The illustrations are mixed media, colorful and work well for storytime or a lap.


NORTHWOOD CHILDREN’S BOOK CONFERENCE

Northwoods Children’s Book Conference is pleased to announce Anita Silvey as the keynote speaker and presenter for this year’s conference to be held September 30 and October 1 at Lakewoods Resort in Cable, Wisconsin. Ms. Silvey is a nationally recognized author and advocate of youth literacy. She has devoted 35 years promoting books that will turn the young--and families--into readers. To do this she has appeared frequently on NPR, "The Today Show," "60 Minutes," and radio programs in the United States and Canada to talk about books for children and teenagers. As Publishers Weekly has said "It would be hard to find a more authoritative voice than Anita Silvey."

Anita Silvey has been in the book industry as an author, publisher of children’s books, editor of journals in the field, and reviewer/evaluator. In a unique career in the children’s book field, Ms. Silvey has divided her time equally between publishing and evaluating children’s books. But her lifelong conviction that “only the very best of anything can be good enough for the young” forms the cornerstone of her work. Ms. Silvey served for eleven years as Editor-in-Chief of The Horn Book Magazine, a publication many call “the Bible of children’s literature.” As Editor of Horn Book, she read several thousand books a year, hunting for those of exceptional quality that children return to again and again. Bev Bauer, of Redbery Books and a sponsor of the event says, “I have followed Anita Silvey from afar my entire career. It’s a real highlight to have her here for the conference.”

Silvey will be delivering the keynote address on Friday, October 1st, the title of which is also the title of her latest book, “Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book. In addition, she will present a three-hour workshop Thursday, September 30 titled “Like a Rolling Stone, the Changing Landscape of Young Adult Books.” In the spirit of her title, the conference will conclude at the end of the day with a fun-filled hour of presenters and selected attendees sharing thoughts on the influential children’s book that gave them everything they needed to know to prepare the for life.

More information and registration details can be found online at http://www.northwoodsbook.org/ or by calling Redbery Books, 715 798-5014. Sponsors include Northern Waters Library Service and Children’s Literature Network.


ALSC ANNOUNCES EXCEPTIONAL WEBSITES FOR CHILDREN

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has added recommended Web sites to Great Web Sites for Kids www.ala.org/greatsites, its online resource containing hundreds of links to outstanding Web sites for children. Great Web Sites for Kids (GWS) features links to websites of interest to children 14 years of age and younger, organized into diverse subject headings, from astronomy and space to zoos and aquariums, from games and entertainment to geography and maps. There is also a special section with sites of interest to parents, caregivers and teachers. Members of the ALSC Great Web Sites for Kids Committee review and evaluate potential sites for inclusion and vote on the sites to be included. They also regularly check the entire site to ensure currency and re-evaluate sites when necessary.

The newly added sites are:
Aaron Shepard’s Folktales - www.aaronshep.com/stories/folk.html
Academic Skill Builders - www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/
BAM! Body and Mind - www.bam.gov/
Book Worm for Kids - www.bookworm4kids.com/
Census in Schools - www.census.gov/schools/census_for_kids/
Chicos - www.chicos.net/
Cool Science for Kids - www.hhmi.org/coolscience/forkids/index.html
Dogo News - www.dogonews.com/
Enchanted Learning - www.littleexplorers.com/languages/spanish/Aisfor.shtml
Exploratorium Science of Gardening - www.exploratorium.edu/gardening/feed/index.html
Games for Change - www.gamesforchange.org
Genna’s World - www.gennasworld.com
If I Was King of the World www.ifiwasthekingoftheworld.com/
Jefferson Lab - http://education.jlab.org/
Lab TV - www.ndep.us/LabTV.aspx
MakeBeliefsComix - www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/
Math Apprentice - www.mathapprentice.com/
Mr. PicassoHead - www.mrpicassohead.com
Nourish Interactive - www.nourishinteractive.com/
NSA www.nsa.gov/kids/
Pat Mora - www.patmora.com
Plimoth Plantation - www.plimoth.org/education/olc/index_js2.html
Smarty Games - www.smartygames.com/
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne extension - http://urbanext.illinois.edu/kids/index.html
US Mint for Kids - www.usmint.gov/kids/
Wacky Web Tales - www.eduplace.com/tales/
You Are Here www.ftc.gov/youarehere/

The complete listing of great sites with annotations and selection criteria can be found at www.ala.org/greatsites.


MOVIE NEWS

Sorcerer’s Apprentice
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963966/

Loosely based on the brief segment in Fantasia….


Ramona and Beezus
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493949/

Looks like the focus of the film is not Ramona, but I could be wrong….


Hugo Cabret
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970179/

Jude Law added to the cast…..


Charlie St. Cloud
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1438254/


THE BUSINESS OF CHILDREN’S PUBLISHING

“The Business of Children’s Publishing” will be held October 1 and 2 at Carthage College in Kenosha at the Hedberg Library. The conference will be 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM both days.
Featured speakers include Ann Bausum (National Geographic), Kevin Luthardt (Peachtree), Quinlan Lee (Adams Literary). Anita Eerdmans (Eerdmans Publishing), and Scottie Bowditch (Penquin). The conference will focus on what different aspects are essential in children’s publishing, including what do publishers do, what does an agent do, what do an editor do and what does a marketing manager to? For further information, contact John Stewig at jstewig@carthage.edu or call (262) 552-5480.


NATIONAL INDICATORS OF THE WELL-BEING OF CHILDREN

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics has released "America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2010." This report continues a series of annual reports to the nation on the well-being of children in the United States. The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences, in cooperation with 21 other federal agencies, contributes indicators to the report and supports its production.

According to the report's section on education, eighth graders’ average mathematics scale scores increased between 2007 and 2009, as did eighth graders’ average reading scale scores. Not all the report's findings were positive, however; the proportion of youth aged 16-19 who were neither enrolled in school nor working increased from 8 percent to 9 percent between 2008 and 2009.

The 2010 Childstats website includes 68 tables and 59 figures that describe the population of children and depict their well-being in the areas of family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education, and health.

You can view, download, and print the report at http://childstats.gov/


DATES TO REMEMBER

July 13 Barbershop Music Appreciation Day ☺
July 15-17 Laurapalooza, Mankato, Minnesota
August 19 UW-Madison SLIS Alumni Board meeting
August 20 WLA Strategic Planning meeting
August 23-25 CSLP Board meeting, Chicago
September 23-25 ALSC Institute, Atlanta
September 27 – October 1 Rhonda on vacation
November 2-5 WLA Conference, Kalahari Resort, Wisconsin Dells
January 6-11 ALA Midwinter meeting, San Diego


WEBSITE FAVES

SunGuard Man
www.sunguardman.org

Now that school's out and summer's here, kids will be outside and exposed to the sun's rays. Make sure that they and their parents know how to be "sun smart." Start your tour by clicking on the red tabs at the top of each page. Kids can find out what UV radiation is and why they need to protect themselves from it, what their chances of getting skin cancer are, how to prevent skin cancer, why it's important to use sunscreen, the dangers of tanning beds/booths, and how to do a skin self-exam. Check out the "Games & Activities" on the navbar, where you can try your hand at shooting down some nasty UV rays in "Ray-Zin-Noma Attacks the Ballpark." The "Adventures of SGM" contains six animated cartoon episodes with cool sounds and music. Don't miss the "Teacher Resources," which include PDF handouts, flyers, a teacher's guide, and even a ready-to-use PowerPoint presentation. Finally find out what the current UV index is in your area of the country by clicking on the map at the bottom of the navbar. Kids can have fun in the sun if they're SunGuard Man smart! (SLJ’s Extra Helping, 6/8/10)


A Place of Our Own
http://aplaceofourown.org/index.php

The multiple award-winning PBS television series, website and outreach program, A Place of Our Own, and the Spanish language version, Los Niños en su Casa is aimed at child caregivers including parents, grandparents, daycare workers, and nannies. The goal is to give child caregivers a supportive and informative place to turn for help with the important task of caring for children of their own or someone else's. Visitors to the website will find that topics for the week, Monday-Friday, can be viewed and selected on the homepage. Each day there is a new topic covered, such as getting kids to share. The topic begins as question sent in from a child caregiver, and then answered by the show's host, someone in the medical community such as a pediatrician or a therapist, parents, or other caregivers. For more responses, visitors can join the discussion by going to the "Message Board". Visitors will find a helpful "featured activity" that relates to the topic, such as making box structures to encourage sharing among children. Sometimes a topic even has a "featured video", such as the video offered on separation anxiety. (Copyright 2010 Internet Scout Project - http://scout.wisc.edu, 7/8/10)


Laura’s Life
http://lauramitolife.blogspot.com/

Laura is 4th grader at Stonegate Elementary School in Zionsville, Indiana, and lives "in the middle of nowhere", rural Indiana. As a second grader she decided to read all the Newbery Medal winners before she got to middle school, which for her starts in 5th grade. She reached her goal with time to spare. At the ALA conference last month, Laura was able to meet Rebecca Stead, Rodman Philbrick, members of the ALA Executive Board and the ALSC board, and attend the Newbery Caldecott banquet and shared these experiences on her blog.


Digital Comic Museum
http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/

For well over a century, comic books have been the stuff of childhood pastimes. Some people never grow tired of comics, and this website might be just the tonic they are looking for. The Digital Comic Museum presents hundreds of unique comics in their original format, and visitors will need to complete a short registration form before they get started here. The works here were published decades ago by long-gone companies such as the Croydon Publishing Company and Key Publications. Visitors can make their way through 1950s classics like "Black Cobra" and other gems, including the war-time classic "Joe Yank" and "Sparky Watts", who was billed as the "World's Strongest Funny Man". Scholars of this commercial art form may also find the site quite useful, as it provides a look into a number of rather obscure comic book titles. (Copyright 2010 Internet Scout Project - http://scout.wisc.edu, 6/11/10)


TeensHealth
http://teenshealth.org/teen/

The non-profit health organization Nemours has developed a website that is just for teens and their health issues. The health issues covered on the site include growth and emotions, as well as other bodily health issues. The categories of health issues that are covered include "Food & Fitness", "Infections", "School & Jobs", and "Mind". On the homepage visitors will find several colorful boxes with different themes, such as "Hot Topics", "Expert Answers On...", a "Quiz", and "Featured Articles". Some of the "Featured Articles" are on golf safety tips, strength training, and smart snacking. The current "Quiz" question is about insomnia, and once the question is answered, visitors can click "Find Out More" and read about (or listen to) information on nine different sleep problems facing teens. (Copyright 2010 Internet Scout Project - http://scout.wisc.edu, 6/25/10)


AND FINALLY…..

Today’s photo of Posie was taken this morning before work. It was the first time I’d caught her in the kitty condo. It will probably be the only time. ☺