CEO, 08/11/10

Children’s Event Organizer
Lakeshores Library System and
Mid-Wisconsin Federated Library System
Youth Services Update
Issue 347; August 11, 2010
http://www.llsmwflschildrens.blogspot.com

In this issue:
Ruhama’s Review
The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!
2010 KIDS COUNT Data Book
Movie News
Celebrating a Decade of Judy Moody
Dates to Remember
Website Faves
And Finally......


RUHAMA’S REVIEW

Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist: Flight of the Phoenix by R. L. LaFevers
http://tinyurl.com/yd6s5ue

Nathaniel's parents have been lost at sea and now he's being sent to live with his only known living relative: cousin Phil A. Fludd. To his consternation, this cousin turns out to be a woman, a beastologist and ready to take off on an adventure the very next morning, and Nathaniel is expected to go with her! Phil explains the Fludd history as they fly to Arabia, telling Nathaniel that all Fludds are explorers, with one of their missions being to record strange and exotic beasts. This particular mission is to watch the phoenix die and be reborn. Complications ensue when Phil is taken hostage by Bedouins, who don't like her setting up camp on their land. It's up to Nathaniel to keep watch and protect the phoenix's nest and ashes.

This is book one of what I hope will be a long series of adventures for Nathaniel and his cousin. There are many questions still to be answered about the loss of Nathaniel's parents, several beasts to encounter and much that Nathaniel needs to learn about himself, including how his need to draw and sketch are valuable assets. The characters are all accessible, humorous and very likable. Illustrations complement the text and will encourage reluctant readers to continue to the end. A glossary at the end gives further description of terms used in the text. Give this to Judy Moody lovers, as well as those needing a little magical adventure in their lives.


THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT!

Voiced by award-winning actor Martin Short, Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat guides friends Sally and Nick – with a little help from the Fish, Thing 1 and Thing 2 – on fun-filled expeditions where they make natural-science discoveries such as learning how bees make honey or why owls sleep during the day.

Filled with adventure and silliness, THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT!™, based on the acclaimed The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library book series, will appeal to preschoolers’ natural curiosity and engage them in the process of scientific exploration and discovery.

THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT!™ supports young children’s science learning by introducing scientific inquiry skills, teaching core science concepts and vocabulary, and preparing preschoolers for kindergarten and first grade science curriculum — all in whimsical style. The show premiers September 6, 2010. Go to the website at http://pbskids.org/catinthehat/.


2010 KIDS COUNT DATA BOOK

Since 2000, Wisconsin has improved on five of the 10 key measures of child well-being included in the 2010 KIDS COUNT Data Book, a state-by-state analysis published each year by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Wisconsin’s ranked 10th best overall among the states in this year’s report, the same as a decade ago and the same as last year.
Wisconsin ranked among the top 10 states on four of the 10 indicators covered in this year’s Data Book. Wisconsin’s percentage of teens who are neither in school nor working is one of the lowest in the country, at 5% (5th best in the nation). Wisconsin also scored well on percentage of children whose parents do not have secure employment, ranking 7th best in the country at 22%.

The 2010 Data Book is based on data from 2007 and 2008, primarily the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey (ACS). While this is the most recent data available for many of the measures, it does not capture the impact of the recent severe recession. In addition to the data included in the 2010 KIDS COUNT Data Book, information on hundreds of other measures of child well-being is available via the Kids Count Data Center, which offers tools for creating maps and graphs of the data at the national, state, county and city levels. The Data Center’s Wisconsin data is available at http://datacenter.kidscount.org/wi. The 2010 KIDS Count Data Book can be found online at http://datacenter.kidscount.org/DataBook/2010/Default.aspx.


CELEBRATING A DECADE OF JUDY MOODY

It's been 10 years since Megan McDonald's comically capricious and unfailingly endearing character first made her debut in Judy Moody (Candlewick, 2000), winning the hearts and loyalties of a wide spectrum of young readers. Since then, the forever-third-grader has taken center stage in eight more funny-bone-tickling adventures, including the latest, Judy Moody, Girl Detective (August 2010), and played a supporting role in several tales about her younger brother Stink, all humorously and heartwarmingly illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. Judy Moody has become a mainstay with kids (13 million books have been sold worldwide), earned numerous awards, and even inspired a feature film (set for release in summer 2011). To mark this milestone, Candlewick has reissued the entire series with an attractive new cover design, available in both hardcover and paperback. In addition, the dedicated website, http://www.judymoody.com/ has been refurbished, offering colorful visuals and lots of "Way-Not-Boring Stuff to Do”. (SLJ’S Extra Helping, 8/10/10)


MOVIE NEWS

Well, yet another book getting its movie:
http://www.movies.com/hachi:-a-dogs-tale/m22720

Teaser trailer for Yogi:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi737805849/


A new Muppets movie? As animation?
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i4c15c030a696fa14c0791f2acbc0e09b


Flipped as a historical fiction? The trailer's cute, though:
http://www.movies.com/flipped/details/m60238

(Thanks to Ruhama for this compilation!)


DATES TO REMEMBER

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
Sept 27 – Oct 1 Rhonda on vacation (guess where?)
November 2-5 WLA Conference, Kalahari Resort, Wisconsin Dells
January 6-11 ALA Midwinter meeting, San Diego


WEBSITE FAVES

Reader's Almanac
http://blog.loa.org/

The Library of America's is known for offering up the best of "Classic American writers, classic American books", and their blog is a veritable trove of just that. The site offers a daily update, complete with links to special stories recently featured in their critical print editions, along with video features, interviews, and rare items of interest. Recent posts include an excellent bit of commentary on Zora Neale Hurston, complete with a rare movie clip of her conducting ethnographic work in Florida in 1928. Visitors can browse through past posts, and they won't want to miss their RSS feed and their excellent list of high-quality literary blogs. This site is a must for anyone with an interest in American literature and culture. (Internet Scout Report, 7/30/10)


Alaska's Digital Archive
http://vilda.alaska.edu/

There's a great deal of history up north in Alaska, and the Alaska Digital Library has done a lovely job of digitizing a number of items from a variety of area institutions. This project was initiated by the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and the Alaska State Library in Juneau. The initiative has already digitized several thousand images, and many of them are organized into thematic collections here. Visitors might wish to start by looking at some of their 1,200 maps, which include an 1897 gold prospecting map and an early map of Hudson Bay from 1758. Moving on, the "Movement to Statehood" collection provides a fascinating host of materials related to the state's history, complete with photographs of the military presence in the Aleutian Islands. Also, visitors can create their own collections for future reference. (Internet Scout Report, 7/30/10)


Wordle
http://www.wordle.net/

If you've ever wanted to create a "word cloud", this application is the perfect way to do it. With Wordle, visitors just provide the text, and the application will generate these "clouds", which give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently. Users can tweak the clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. On the website, visitors can look at samples that use the US Constitution and other pieces of text. This version is compatible with all operating systems. (Internet Scout Report, 7/30/10)


Mosquito Mayhem
www.cbc.ca/kids/games/skeetersplat

Mosquitoes can ruin a picnic, a camping trip, and even a walk in the park. Kids spend most of the summer scratching their bites, so why not let them have fun getting a bit of virtual revenge by playing "Skeeter Splat," created by the folks at CBC television in Canada, which is home to even bigger mosquitoes than we get here in the States. "Skeeter Splat" was created especially for elementary to middle school-age kids-and it's super easy to play. All kids have to do is click on any of the mosquitoes that fly onto the screen. (Note: there are three different color "skeeters." The farther away they are from the skin, the more points they're worth). Don't let one land on the skin though because it'll bite and start to drain the "bite meter." When the meter's empty the game's over. There are other things to watch out for besides "skeeters." Don't click on any bees or spiders because they'll drain the meter even faster. Do, however, click on any blood drops that move across the screen to increase the "bite meter" level, and be sure to click on any lightning bolts, snow flakes, or bug spray cans you see to temporarily get rid of, or slow down, the attacking bugs. "Skeeter Splat" is easy to play, but it's a real challenge to rack up a high score. Consider holding a Mosquito Mayhem journey this August to find out who's your library's "splat champ". (Gail Junion-Metz in SLJ ‘s Extra Helping, 8/3/10)


The Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM)

http://www.thegateway.org/

GEM is a one-stop source for high-quality Internet lesson plans, curriculum units, and other educational resources for parents, teachers, and others involved in education. It currently contains 24,926 education resources. This extensive collection is categorized by subject area, grade level, and keyword. Each collection is reviewed and must meet certain standards to be included in the Gateway. Search results provide a comprehensive list of annotated links. Each record provides a "more info" option that provides the complete GEM review and gives a short description of the resource, including author, title, and location. This is one site teachers will want to bookmark and visit often! (Educational World Site Reviews, 8/10/10)


FREE (Federal Resources for Educational Excellence)
http://www.free.ed.gov/

Teachers will find this site to be a welcome one-stop source of educational resources from more than thirty-five federal organizations including the Library of Congress, NASA, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, and others. Resources are available on thousands of topics in a variety of formats including teaching ideas, learning activities, photographs, maps, primary documents, and much more. The What's New section lists the newest additions to the site by date. (Education World Site Reviews, 8/10/10)


AND FINALLY…….

The cat plant is blooming! ☺

Trouble Clef Quartet and Riverport Chorus will be performing tomorrow, Thursday the 12th, in the Gazebo next to the Burlington Public Library during Burlington’s Farmer’s Market. Trouble Clef is my daughter Bethany’s quartet!