April 24, 2008

School Visits

Your favorite Library is coming to your school to talk about new books and summer programs!

When will we be at your school? Here are the dates:

Holmes - May 6-7
Royle - May 13-15
Hindley - May 20-21
Ox Ridge - May 22
Tokeneke - June 10-11

Posted by joan at 01:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 15, 2008

New Children's Books in Philly

The Children's Librarians were in Philadelphia last weekend for an American Library Association conference!

That means that we heard about lots of new books coming out in 2008! These include a sequel to Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks, new books by Meg Cabot, and more!

Posted by joan at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2007

Preschool Movie: Doogal

Thursday, June 14th
10-11:30 a.m.
Free tickets distributed 15 minutes before movie begins.

Beat the heat and join us for Doogal, in which a group of friends embark on a journey to save their world from being frozen over by the evil Zeebad. 85 minutes. Rated G.

Posted by joan at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2007

Summer Calendar

The complete summer schedule of: Storytimes, Bookgroups, Programs, Teen events, and Harry Potter celebrations is now online. As a matter of fairness, our summer brochure (presently available on our website) will be distributed on June 4, the day the brochures will be dropped off to each of the public elementary schools in Darien.

Teen events, previewed during our Middlesex Middle School booktalking visit, are on the web as well. The brochure for teen events is currently available in the Library.

We hope you'll join us for a little bit of everything. We love seeing students during the summer. They have such wonderful reading experiences to share with us.

Posted by Caitlin at 02:35 PM | Comments (0)

May 08, 2007

Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter

A librarian friend of mine told me, at the midnight launch of HPVI, she stood in line behind a girl who sang, full out, "Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter," for the entire time (say, 30 minutes) until the book was in her hands. Right about now, that sounds like a good idea.

If you have nothing else but Harry Potter on the brain, you'll be happy to see we've laid out our Harry Potter celebration schedule on our website. Our Harry Potter celebrations include a phenomenal quiz show (Don't even ASK me what the prizes are. They're GOOD), a movie showing, a midnight launch, and a fanatics book group for people of all ages who can finish the 7th book in one week (including me because I'm hosting it). Now, before you jump up and down, this is a preparatory email. Registrations don't start until June 25th. I'm merely giving you time to get ready for Harry. However, for the desperate ones, there are tips on our schedule for how to fill the time between now and July 21st in gainful Harry employment.

So, hop on over there, and don't make Hermione ask YOU - "Honestly, don't you ...READ?"

Posted by Caitlin at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2007

Nutmeg Book Award Winner for Grades 4 to 6

Connecticut students in grades 4-6 have voted Thunder From the Sea as the winner of the 2007 Nutmeg Book Award. Congratulations to author Joan Hiatt Harlow and thank you to everyone who voted!

Posted by joan at 02:19 PM

February 01, 2007

2008 Nutmeg Titles Announced

The intermediate (grades 4-6) nominees for the 2008 Nutmeg Book Award are:

A Bear Named Trouble by Marion Dane Bauer
Escaping the Giant Wave by Peg Kehret
Hatching Magic by Ann Downer
Jackie’s Wild Seattle by Will Hobbs
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park
The Ravenmaster’s Secret by Elvira Woodruff
The Seven Professors of the Far North by John Fardell
Shredderman: Secret Identity by Wendelin Van Draanen
White Star: A Dog on the Titanic by Marty Crisp

Posted by joan at 02:24 PM

Harry Potter VII will be released July 21st!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will arrive on July 21st. One week earlier, on July 13th, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be released in theatres.

In other words, July is going to be awesome.

Posted by joan at 02:14 PM | Comments (1)

January 26, 2007

Nutmeg Book Award News

There's lots of Nutmeg news for the month of February!

We are all on the edge of our seats waiting to find out which of the 2007 nominees will be voted #1. The 2007 winners will be announced in the beginning of February. We will post the winners on this blog as soon as they are announced.

On February 1st, the new 2008 Nutmeg nominees will be announced. Check the blog or the Nutmeg website for the list.

On Wednesday, February 28 from 6-7 p.m. we will be having our Nutmeg book group. The title for the group will be announced on February 1st. Call us at 655-1234 x117 to register.

Finally, thank you to all who helped make our Nutmeg @ Nite game show a huge success! The contestants blew us away with their Nutmeg knowledge and rebus-solving abilities. Good job everyone!

Posted by joan at 09:38 AM

December 28, 2006

Vote For Your Favorite Nutmeg Book

More Nutmeg news! You can vote for your favorite 2007 Nutmeg title in the Library all this January. In grades 4-6? Vote for your favorite Intermediate title. In middle school? Pick your favorite Teen title. Winners will be announced in February.

Posted by joan at 09:50 AM

September 26, 2006

So Long, Snicket

It is an unfortunate event indeed that the world has come to the end of Lemony Snicket's most dismal and most popular A Series of Unfortunate Events books. From The Bad Beginning, in which we meet Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, miserable yet resourceful orphans, readers knew they had found something special. And now, facing The End, the last of Mr. Snicket's 13 desperate, despairing books, we're not sure how we feel. Sanguine, dolorous, or merely lacking the extensive vocabulary necessary to express our conflicting emotions.

Friday the 13th is not only the day that The End is released to the public. It's also the day of the Darien Library's So Long, Snicket! Evening Event. We'll be celebrating the end of Lemony Snicket with a hilariously somber evening of games and fun.

Join us Friday, October 13 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. for a game show just as strange as the books themselves. Children grades 3 to 5 can play; Register beginning October 2 by calling the Children's Room at 655-1234 x117.

So Long, Snicket is also a great opportunity to involve your older children in a Library event. Responsible teens grades 7 and up are needed to set-up and be team captains. The uniform is a black top and jeans or black pants. Sign up (anytime) by calling the Library at 655-1234 x117, emailing us, or IM @ deweydarien.

Posted by Caitlin at 07:18 PM

August 28, 2006

Congratulations Summer Readers!

Congratulations to the hundreds of children who completed summer reading at the Library! Last night we had our finale event with author Bruce Coville, and I just realized we were all too spellbound by his Frankenstein impressions to take any pictures :( So, to make up for that mistake, I include a photo of the book he mentioned, The Monster's Ring. And now, get ready for school! See our fall calendar to help fill those spare moments.

Posted by Caitlin at 12:27 PM

May 22, 2006

Summer Reading Update

Everybody loves summer reading, right? It's hot, there's no school, you can read what you like. This summer's theme is "Just Kidding Around at the Darien Library." And there's more good news. Summer Reading is for Readers as well as Pre-Readers, so every child can participate. It's easy.

Summer Reading is Monday, June 19 through Friday, August 25, and you may sign up any time during the program.

Summer Reading Club is for independent readers in elementary school.
Join online at http://w ww.darienlibrary.org/children or in the Library using your library card. Log books online, and receive prizes when 5 and 10 books have been read.

Read-to-Me Club is for pre-readers. Join in the Children's Room and receive a reading record to keep track of books. Prizes are awarded at 5 and 10 books.

Independent readers who have completed the Summer Reading Club (read 10 books) will receive an invitation to "An Evening with Author Bruce Coville." The last day to pick up invitations is Friday, August 25. The author visit will consist of a presentation, a question and answer session, and a gift.

Posted by Caitlin at 05:10 PM

April 11, 2006

Thought You'd All Like to Know

I received an Acceptable on my Harry Potter W.O.M.B.A.T. exam. Hey, at least it's not T for Troll. You can find more about JK's latest frolic on www.mugglenet.com or www.the-leaky-cauldron.org - Rumors seem to abound that book 7 may make its spellbinding appearance sometime next year, although with OOTP (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, to the uninitiated) movie slotted to appear in theatres next July, it's hard to guess what the publication date might be.

Posted by Caitlin at 01:21 PM

April 03, 2006

In Other News

Lemony Snicket's 13th and final (we sincerely hope) unlucky book will be released on, you know it, Friday, October 13th. Stay tuned for more details of what promises to be a grisly end to all our favorite characters.

Posted by Caitlin at 03:06 PM

Knockin' on JK Rowling's Door

The 'Do Not Disturb' sign is off JK Rowling's door at jkrowling.com, and visitors are welcome... if they can figure out how to get in. www.theleakycauldron.org will provide some helpful tips on entering JK's private domain. Once in, sit for your W.O.M.B.A.T. exam; a series of devilishly difficult questions. JK promises the exams will be graded soon, but one wonders if this is just an April Fool's Day joke of Potter proportion.

P.S. Don't forget to water the plant while you're there.

Posted by Caitlin at 03:00 PM

March 21, 2006

Internet Safety

Complete with mascot Clicky the Netsmartz website was designed to help children practice good Internet safety. Sponsored by Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Netsmartz aims to teach children how to stay safe on the internet. Tips on the website include keeping the family computer in an open area of the house and teaching children to refrain from giving out personal information online. Take a few minutes and surf the site - you may learn information your family needs.

Posted by Caitlin at 02:10 PM

March 13, 2006

Spelling Bee with a Twist

I saw this on the news and thought it was hilarious. Hope this link gets you there. It's a face off: nuns versus librarians. Who can spell better?

Posted by Caitlin at 10:28 AM | Comments (1)

January 23, 2006

Award Winners Announced

As Nutmeg at Nite is tomorrow, this will be brief, but I wanted to let everybody know that the National children's award winners, including the Caldecott, Newbery, and Printz, were announced this morning. I have the winners up now, and hope to have the honors on our website by tonight. See the winners at our website.

Posted by Caitlin at 10:53 AM

January 19, 2006

Kids Predict Award Winners

Our two mock-awards committees predicted the following books to win the national awards. We're pleased to present our picks. Caldecott Kids is grades 2-3 and Newbery Visionaries is grades 4-5.

Caldecott Kids predicted the following titles to win this year's Caldecott Award:
Winner: Beyond the Great Mountains by Ed Young
Honors: Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson & Lights Out! by A. Geisert

Newbery Visionaries predicted the following titles to win this year's Newbery Award:
Winner: The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
Honors: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan & Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan

See if we're right! Watch the website Monday, January 23rd for the 'official' winners announcements.

Posted by Caitlin at 10:42 AM