Photo by Flickr User Photo Mojo

Moving Day is getting close.  We are almost ready to start packing up our stuff and moving over to New Darien Library 1441 Post Road. I'm sure you've noticed, we are only ONE WEEK AWAY!

The Children's Department staff are compiling your responses to our Program Evaluations and they will help inform our choices as we begin to plan our events in our new building.  We hope you will come by for a tour when we open!

There is a lot of information about what to do when we're closed and answers to your Frequently Asked Questions on our website.  We will be saying a Fond Farewell to this building on Wed. November 26th at 6pm and will reopen in our new digs January 10th, 2009. Never fear, you can still access information and materials. Just read Getting Your Hands on Library Books While We're Closed for more information.

In the meantime, we've got a lot of work to do. We're going to roll up our sleeves and get to work tagging all of our books with an RFID chip. 

Our goal is to make the new Darien Library much easier for you to use.  We've crafted a survey we'd love for you to fill out how you find what you are looking for in the Children's Room.  Would you take a moment to fill out these 8 questions?

Darien Library Children's Room User Survey

Everyone can look forward to more program offerings starting in January. Stay tuned to the website for more information as it develops. Registered storytimes will begin in February with the lottery signup the last 2 weeks of January.  We'll have plenty of other choices for you and your kids of all ages to attend programs with more drop ins and after school programs in the coming months.  Our annual Nutmeg @ Nite will be our first major event in the new building and we look forward to sharing that information when we open.

The Children's Department looks forward to giving lots of tours to our town. Teachers, if you're intersted in scheduling a visit to the library with your class, please contact me at ghams@darienlibrary.org to make arragements.

We hope you will come by and say goodbye to the old building this week. Feel free to sign the wall! We look forward to seeing you down the road after to the holidays.

photo courtesty of Flickr user lepiaf.geo

If you're the parent of a child with autisim, I'd like to discuss starting a new program specially designed for your kids!

Once we move to the New Darien Library, we will be offering lots of programs for all ages and we hope that kids of all abilities join us.  I understand, however, that many parents of autistic kids are uncomfortable joining regular storytimes.  That's where "Stories on the Spectrum" comes in.  It would be a story program for children on the autistic spectrum and their siblings, parents, and/or caretakers.

The primary focus is to simply allow the children a space in which to explore and express themselves in the way they feel most comfortable. But mostly, it's about making them feel good about themselves and having a fun time.  We might read a few books (but maybe not, depending on how we are all feeling that day), we usually sing some songs using our hands or bodies to show the actions, we might look at some pictures and discuss what we see, we might play pretend games, or use art materials to create things.  Every autistic child is different and communicates uniquely, so I like to offer a variety of activities, materials, and levels of interaction.

If this type of program sounds like something your child(ren) and you might be interested in, or if you have ideas, suggestions, or questions, I'd like to hear from you!  Please email me at kparrott@darienlibrary.org

I'm looking forward to seeing you at our New Darien Library!

On Wednesday night, November 5th, the Teen Nutmeg Group gathered to discuss Gennifer Choldenko's Al Capone Does My Shirts over pizza and soda.

The story takes place in 1935 on Alcatraz Island- the infamous prison in San Francisco Bay that housed such criminals as Al "Scarface" Capone.  Twelve-year-old Moose and his family move to the island prison when his dad accepts a job as a prison engineer and guard. 

Our group talked about what it was like for Moose to live in such a strange environment.  When asked if they would ever want to live on Alcatraz, everyone was pretty clear: no way.  But, a tour for a day might be fun. 

We also talked a lot about the relationship between Moose and his sister, Natalie.  Natalie is unlike the other children.  For one, she rarely speaks.  She loves to count things and read the indexes of large books.  She doesn't usually like to be touched or hugged and her favorite activity is counting and sorting her collection of buttons.  And strangest of all, Moose's parents have celebrated Natalie's 10th birthday for the past five years. 

We brainstormed some adjectives that might be used to describe Natalie.  Some of the words included: strange, abnormal, retarded, stupid, locked, misunderstood, autistic, smart, savant, special.  Our group talked a length about some of these words, what they mean, and how things are different today for children with special needs.

When asked to describe how the book might have been different if told from Natalie's point of view, one of the teens had this to say:

     "She's locked up inside......she has all these feelings and maybe she wants to be like everyone else, but her body won't let her.....as if she is a prisoner in her own body."

It was interesting to think about the parallels between Natalie's inner life and the life of the prisoners on Alcatraz. 

Overall, the group decided Al Capone Does My Shirts was "pretty good."

We've been talking alot about change. Imagine that. And while the changes we face in the next several weeks are pretty straight forward, the intellectual and emotional responses are not!  Technology plays a big role in the changes-and challenges- ahead of us, and technology has taken up much of our time, thought and conversation lately. What is good? Beneficial? What kinds of technology enhance our quality of life?  How is technology seen as a waste of time? What concerns you about the use of technology within your household?

I find I need to ask myself these questions often, otherwise risk  a "technology for technolgy's sake" mentality. We walk a fine line.

But one form of evaluation that is both valuable and amusing to me is perspective. What did I reject as folly 10 years ago that I can't go without now? A cell phone, for one. You?

Take a look at these two photos.

The photos show graffiti carved into rocks in the the Catskills. But the rock on the right depicts names and dates from guests at the long defunct Catskill Mountain House, carvings that date back to 1866. Suddenly not grafitti. Not to me, any way. Perspective. When does new become old? When does trash become treasure? When does what we reject become mainstream?

And then there was a favorite, a startlingly innovative children's TV program from the 1950's.

it was pure genius at the time! Viewers would cover their TV screens with a sheet of clear vinyl (available as part of  a much coveted kit costing 50 cents) and use grease pencils to draw things- a bridge, a rope, a submarine-that would help the TV character perform a daring rescue. At the time, parents questioned the "rightness" of such a program. Kids won out, of course, and today Winky Dink is a television-and technology-icon.

So, as we move into a new, interactive website, tagging, clouds, social bookmarking, networking, photo sharing and the next Big Idea, whatever it may be, I resolve to stick my toe in the pool and test the water. I resolve to remember perspective! I resolve to remember Winky Dink! You?

  

1. Connect the book to their own life experience
2. Connect the book to other literature they have read
3. Connect what they are reading to universal concepts (Keene & Zimmermann, 1997)

Enjoy! 

     SPOOOOKY STORIES!

The cool weather makes me want to settle in with a spooky story!  When I feel like that, the first three authors I turn to are Peg Kehret, Betty Ren Wright and Joan Lowery Nixon.

Check out Kehret's  Horror at the Haunted House for a chilling tale about a town's Halloween haunted house that turns out to be truly haunted. Maybe? And then there's Danger at the Fair, about a boy who receives a ghostly message at a carnival seance.

Betty Ren Wright gifted mystery/suspence fans with The Dollhouse Murders, a truly spooky modern classic, and Christina's Ghost , in which a boring summer vacation in an isolated victorian home becomes an eerie adventure!

More?  No problem! Joan Lowery Nixon comes to your rescue with The Name of the Game is Murder, and, for young adults, The Other Side of Dark.   Wait Til Helen Comes is a popular ghost tale by Mary Downing Hahn.

And, you might also consider The Wrath of the Grinning Ghost  and The Mummy, The Will and The Crypt, both featuring a clever young character named Jonhhy Dixon, and his mentor Dr. Childermass. John Bellairs is the author.

We are here to help, if you need more spoooky ideas. And one last suggestion.....

                                                  Keep the lights on!

The chill in the air always makes me want to curl up with a good scary story!

A few of the authors I can depend on for a good scare are Betty Ren Wright,  Peg Kahret and Joan Lowery Nixon.

Wright gifted us with three of the spookiest ghost stories for ages 8-11. The Dollhouse Murders, Christina's Ghost and A Ghost in the House. Spooky, supernatural tales that will keep you reading all nght!

Want more? Try Deadly Stranger or Horror at the Haunted House by Peg Kahret.

If you prefer good solid mystery, I suggest The Other Side of Dark or The Name of the Game was Murder, by Joan Lowery Nixon. The latter reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt.

You'll be sleeping with the lights on!