photo courtesy of Flickr user Eddie~S

From pushes on the playground to mean instant messaging, bullying is an issue that almost all children face at some time or another.  With a recent surge in media attention and a new focus on cyber-bullying, parents may wonder where and how to find the best information and ways of talking to their own kids about bullies. 

What if my child is the victim of bullying?

A recent article in Parenting magazine offered the following 3 Step process for parents:

Step One: Find out what's going on.  Get the facts and reassure your child that you will both work together on a solution.

Step Two: Help your child figure out how to respond.  Some responses include:

•  Stand tall and act brave
•  Ignore the bully
•  Stick with friends
•  Tell an Adult

Step Three:  Take action yourself.  Set up a meeting with the teacher, parent, or caregiver. 

What if my child's friend is the bully?

One of the hardest things for a child to learn is how to stand up for what's right, even in the face of possible scrutiny or embarassment. 

The US Department of Health and Human Services has a kid-friendly website called Stop Bullying Now that features info, games, quizzes, and webisodes all designed to address the issues of bullying , offer meaningful discussion starters, and help promote positive ways of combatting this childhood problem.  Check out this video featuring the character Melanie and her struggle with a friend who is a known bully.

What if my child is the bully?

It can sometimes be hard to tell if childhood squabbles are simply "kids being kids" or if there is a more serious problem.  

Stop Bullying Now offers the following advice to parents:

• Make it clear to your child that you take bullying seriously and that you will not tolerate this behavior.
• Develop clear and consistent rules within your family for your children's behavior. Praise and reinforce your children for following rules and use non-physical, non hostile consequences for rule violations.
• Spend more time with your child and carefully supervise and monitor his or her activities. Find out who your child's friends are and how and where they spend free time.
• Build on your child's talents by encouraging him or her to get involved in prosocial activities (such as clubs, music lessons, nonviolent sports).
• Share your concerns with your child's teacher, counselor, or principal. Work together to send clear messages to your child that his or her bullying must stop.
• If you or your child needs additional help, talk with a school counselor or mental health professional.

The Children's Library also offers some great books for both children and parents on the subject of bullying.  These are a few of our favorites: 

February is Black History Month, a time to celebrate and honor great and influential African Americans throughout history. 

Did you know that Black History Month was first celebrated in 1926? It was originally called "Negro History Week" (a term that we no longer use) and was started by historian Carter G. Woodson. Mr. Woodson was one of the first scholars to study African American history and promote the importance of discovering and understanding the history of African Americans here in the United States and around the world.

Here are a few inspiring books to share in celebration of Black History Month:

For young children:

Langston Hughes' melodic poem is paired with stunning photography by Charles R. Smith, Jr. to create a siimple, yet moving tribute to beauty in its particular and universal forms. 

For elementary-aged children:

Did you know that one of the 2011 Caldecott Honor books tells the story of a slave who went on to become an influential artist and poet?  Dave the Potter by Labban Carrick Hill is a beautifully illustrated, powerful true story.   

For older readers:

In this tour-de-force sequel to Chains, Curzon, a 15-year-old escaped slave, joins the Continental Army at Valley Forge.  Will he and his friend Isabel finally be granted true freedom?

More books to celebrate Black History Month.

Looking for in-depth information on famous African Americans? Check our Biography Resource Center or History Resource Center. 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

This Monday, January 16th is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which celebrates the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was one of the most famous and respected civil rights leaders in the 1960s. He fought against racial discrimination using non-violent methods such as sit-ins, marches, and boycotts. Whether you're working on a school assignment or interested in learning more about Dr. King, check out the links and booklist below.

Martin Luther King, Jr. - Life in Pictures by National Geographic Kids

Video of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech via Teacher Tube

Civil Rights Primary Sources for Students via  Library of Congress

Celebrating MLK Day- Selected New York Times Articles and Front Pages via NYTimes Learning Network

The Martin Luther King National Memorial

For Teachers: Lesson Plans and Activities via Thinkfinity (use the search term "Martin Luther King, Jr.")

And don't forget the amazing online resources available through Darien Library:

Biography Resource Center

History Resource Center

And more!

The New York Times Book Review just announced it's 10 picks for Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2011.  These books run the gamut from dry humor (I Want My Hat Back) to gorgeous biographies (Me...Jane and A Nation's Hope, which you might remember as a Booktalking title from this past summer!).

The list of books is below, with the exception of two books:  Ice by Arthur Geisert and A New Year's Reunion by Yu Li-Qiong. 

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Boston-Globe Horn Book Awards at Simmons College. Each year, honors are bestowed upon authors and illustrators who excelled in Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Picture Books for children and teens. A full list of winners and honorees can be found here.  

Winner : Picture Book

Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes

Illustrated and Curated by Sally Mavor

Sally Mavor hand created each 3-D image in this book, a process taking years. Her pictures are whimsical and detailed. In her acceptance speech, she talked about her creative process and showed a video of her embroidery work. She also spoke of her love for creating things with her hands and expressed an interest in creating animated films.

The library has one other work illustrated by Ms. Mavor: Martin Waddell's The Hollycock Wall, where her attention to the tiniest aspects of her creations is perfectly displayed.

Although the Fiction winners this year were authors of Young Adult literature, the Non-Fiction winner was writen for children (and is excellent!)

Winner: Non-Fiction

The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, and Treachery

Written by Steve Sheinkin

This non-fiction account of American traitor Benedict Arnold's life reads like a spy thriller but is entirely true. Not content to paint his subject with an overbroad "bad guy" brush, the author details Arnold's heroics in the American Revolution (he won several important battles for General Washington before defecting to the British). Highly recommended.

In his acceptance speech, the author, a former writer of history textbooks, spoke of his desire to bring the "cool, intersting" parts of American history to life. These parts kept getting cut out of his textbooks, so he turned to stand-alone books instead.

The library also has copies of his highly informative, hilarious books: 

Two Miserable Presidents: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the Civil War

King George: What Was His Problem? : Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution

Distinguished (and hilarious!) author Richard Peck was the opening speaker, and although his entire speech was excellent, one line stood out to me in particular: "If you cannot find yourself on the page very early in life, you will spend the rest of your life looking for yourself in all the wrong places."

In her new book, Jefferson's Sons, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley does something truly remarkable. She takes a complicated and controversial idea, that Thomas Jefferson had children by his slave Sally Hemmings, and writes about it in a simple, eloquent way that children can understand.

This book is definitely for advanced readers. The themes it tackles are complex and readers need a working knowledge of early US history to understand the world that Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston live in. The story does not shy away from the horrors of slavery - families are broken apart, friends are sold, and slaves who run away are punished when they are caught. However, by presenting the book from the perspectives of children, Bradley is able to convey her story without graphic details.

This book is generating a lot of Newbery buzz for its honesty and the high quality of its storytelling. There is a recomended reading list at the back of the book, and Bradley writes an afterword in which she details how she did her research and where she located most of her information (in primary sources from Monticello.org).

I would recomend that parents read this book themselves if they have a child who would like to check it out, as it is a tale likely to generate a large amount of discussion.

Further reviews can be found here , here, and here. Highly recomended for children 9+.

Kids Book Club Kits

Kids and parents can easily host their own book clubs.  We'll get you started with multiple copies for your group, a discussion guide, and even a space to meet. 

Click HERE for all the details.

Welcome to the Innagural Fantasy Friday Post!

Kate Milford's The Boneshaker: a book I would highly reccomend it to everyone who likes thrills, chills, visions, prophecies, the midwest, history, and battles with great and terrible Evil.

It's 1914, and Natalie Minks lives in a quiet, sleepy town. A slightly strange, quiet, sleepy town, situated just down the road from the former town. Old Aracane burned  to the ground under mysterious circumstances 200 years before, and the crossroads it stands on have been known to flicker in the night.

Natalie loves two things more than anything else in the world. She loves the legends her mother tells her each night before bed, strange stories where men meet the Devil at the crossroads and survive, or don't. And she loves her father's mechanic shop, where she spends her days learning how things work.

Life is great until the day the doctor leaves town to help with a mysterious flu epidemic 200 miles away. As the doctor leaves town, Dr. Jake Limberleg's Nostrum Fair and Medical Show arrives. And there's something not-quite-right about Dr. Jake, who wears clothes from a 100 years ago and won't ever, ever take his gloves off.

Worse, there's something truly wrong with the medicines he begins to dispense to the town and the men who help him dispense it. Somehow, Natalie knows that there is a great evil at work in Arcane. And she may be the only one who can stop it.

Have you ever met the Devil at the crossroads? Because it looks like Natalie's about to...

We hope you all stayed safe and dry during Hurricane Irene!  If this storm got you thinking about hurricanes, we've put together some interesting facts and resources for you right here.

Tropical storms aren't named after the head meterologist's kids or pets, there is a well-planned naming system in place!  Check here to see if your name is on the list.

Wondering why it was called Hurricane Irene?  Since 1953, tropical storms have been given short, easy-to-say names.  For the first 26 years, tropical storms only had women's names!  Now, male and female names alternate storms.

There are six lists of 21 alphabetical tropical storm names for the Atlantic (this year, we've already gone through Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, and now Irene).  So, every six years, a list is used again--this year's list of tropical storm names will come up again in 2017.

If there is another tropical storm this year in the Atlantic, it will be called Jose.

The oceanic locations where hurricanes happen, the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, each have unique lists of names.  The Central North Pacific storms all have Hawaiian names.

Random fact:  Miss Marian was born during a hurricane in Hawaii, so one of the names her parents thought about giving her was Iwa (pronounced Ee-va) after the storm. 

Want to know more about tropical storm names?  Check out the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) page where we found this information--it's very cool.

If you're curious about the storms themselves, there's lots of information on tropical storms and hurricanes too!

FEMA for Kids: Hurricanes page - A kid-friendly, government site with everything you need to know about hurricanes and how to prepare for them

NASA's Tropical Twisters - Hurricane information written for kids.  Click around for information on the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, who FLY INTO HURRICANES to gather weather information! 

National Geographic's page on hurricanes.

Hurricane Irene image courtesy of NASA

The Wikkeling by Steven Arnston

Imagine your most boring day at school. Now multiply that by a hundred and you have the type of school day Henrietta has. All day long she sits at her computer and types the same sentences over and over: "Well behaved children are SAFE, SECURE, and SUPERVISED." Sometimes at lunch she gets to watch a movie about how dangerous kittens are while eating her gluten-free, sugar-free puffed corn. 

Now imagine your most boring car ride ever. Henrietta has been on a more boring car ride, I promise. After strapping herself into her three seatbelts, she listens to advertisements on the radio while being stuck in traffic for up two hours at a time, even if she's only going down the block.

And now, if you can bear it, imagine that you are a bright, energetic kid, but you're not allowed to run because you might fall. And you're not allowed to play outside because you might get kidnapped. And you're not allowed to walk on the sidewalk because you might get hit by a car. And you're not allowed to climb trees because, well, there are none left. And you can't even sit quiety and read a book, because there are none of those, either.

Now you know what Henrietta's life was like BEFORE.

Before Henrietta met Gary, a boy who takes his seatbelt off. Before she finds the hidden attic. Before she finds the injured cat she names Mr. Lady. Before she gets stalked by a monster.

Because soon after the cat arrives, bleeding and close to death, the Wikkeling arrives. And the Wikkeling, a pale creature with long wiggling fingers that only Henrietta can see, wants to know where the wild housecat is.

If you like books about the future, or books that are scary, or books about animals, or books about adventures, or creepy illustrations, or the kind of story that makes you think at night, then pick up The Wikkeling, by Steven Arnston, and be prepared to read your favorite book of the year.