Picture Book Month

November is Picture Book Month, an international literacy initiative that celebrates the print picture book during the month of November. On the Picture Book Month website  they state, “In this digital age where people are predicting the coming death of print books, picture books (the print kind) need love. And the world needs picture books. There’s nothing like the physical page turn of a beautifully crafted picture book.”

I can’t agree more. Last year, I served on the Caldecott Committee, which awarded the best picture book published in the United States to The Adventures of Beekle, the Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat.  I spent the year completely immersed in picture books. I read over 500 books—and many of those I read over and over. I looked at the art, how it interpreted the story, how well it was done, how it appealed to a child audience. I spent many hours soaking up the beauty of children’s picture books.  This year I will be watching from the sidelines, making my own predictions and seeing what others think. One great place to visit is the Horn Book blog, Calling Caldecott. Check out their list of books they will be discussing. There are some great choices on that list!

Ask any child—picture books are fun! Even if you are an adult who has no children to share these fantastic works of art with, you can still enjoy picture books. I recommend picture books over on my blog, ValleyStorytime in case you are looking for a few good titles to while away the hours. And if you want to really get immersed in picture books, I have compiled some blogs & sites that celebrate the form on this Pinterest board.

We have a few programs scheduled this month where you can come and look at some of the books that I am loving this year. Picture Book Palooza will be held in Middleton, Annapolis Royal, and Bridgetown. We are also having a contest—take a picture, tag your favourite picture book with #AVRLpicturebook on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, and you’ll be entered to win a bag of picture books! Contest ends November 30.

Tell us your favourite picture book in the comments. Read picture books to kids. Look at the art, share your favourite with others. The picture book is a portable art form that can be shared just about anywhere.  Find some of these wonders in your local library !

--Angela Reynolds, Community Engagement Coordinator

Get your HOMEWORK done. Get Back to Your LIFE!

“Now it doesn’t take me 3 hours to finish my chemistry homework” 10^th Grade Student

Tutor.com can help you get your homework done, write your paper or study for your test so that you can get back to doing the things you love. Don’t get frustrated and don’t stay stuck. Instead, grab your library card and log on to Tutor.com through the Annapolis Valley Regional Library  to get the help you need, right when you need it. Tutors are available from 3 PM – midnight, 7 days a week. See what an online classroom looks like here.

Students (and parents!) can get help for any kind of academic question in math, science, English, social studies and writing. The tutors work with students in kindergarten through 12^th grade and even enrichment-level class work and intro-level college coursework. Connecting with a tutor is easy. You just need a library card and a computer or mobile device with internet access. Just point your browser to www.tutor.com/AVRL.  

This resource is free for AVRL library card holders—just another in the long list of reasons why you should have a library card!  And if you create a FREE account, you can use the bonus features of Tutor.com – access to previous sessions, able to use the app (for iPad & iPhone); a “homework locker” which can store files that you can access from anywhere; and more! And if you find a tutor you really like, you can ask for that tutor when you log in. Tutors must go through a rigorous application process and several background checks in order to work for Tutor.com, so you know you are getting expert help.

The tutors will be available seven days a week, from 3 PM to midnight, but there are many other resources available 24/7. And Tutor.com is not just for grade-school students! College students and adults returning to classes, and those looking for jobs can get help, too. So don’t stay stuck—get help online and let the library help you on your way to better grades!  Connect. Learn. Go.

Want to find out more? We are hosting a launch party at the Berwick Library on Wednesday, November  13 from 3 - 4:30 PM. Stop by to see how it works, and have a snack with us!

Every Day is Family Literacy Day @your library!

January 27 is Family Literacy Day.  Family Literacy Day is a national awareness initiative created by ABC Life Literacy Canada in 1999 and held annually on January 27 to raise awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family.  This year the theme is "15 Minutes of Fun" - - a reminder to take at least 15 minutes a day to read together.  Literacy isn't just reading together, though. Literacy can be found – and practised- in so many other ways.  Play a board game together – most games involve some reading! Make dinner together, using a new recipe. Create  a grocery list. All involve reading!   

Here are some other fun ideas to help with your own Family Literacy Day celebrations:

1.     Create your own comic strip about your family.

2.     Invent two new endings to your favourite book.

3.     Make up a new recipe together and post it online.

4.     Tell knock-knock jokes together while doing the dishes.

5.     Sing five songs really, really loud!

6.      Invent a new game while playing at the park.

7.      Read a story to your pet (or favourite toy).

8.     Make a paper fortune teller with eight fortunes.

9.      Write a silly poem and tell it to your family at dinner.

10.  Log on to your favourite word game - can you beat your best score?

11.  Create your family tree.

12.  Play rhyming "I Spy" - "I spy something that rhymes with..."

13.   Play a board game together.

14.  Text your friend and tell them about your holiday.

15.   Find 15 things that begin with the letter "S".

January 27 falls on a Sunday, but some of our libraries will be hosting Family Literacy Day events earlier in the week. On Friday, January 25, the Berwick Library has stories and crafts, and in Hantsport the Friends group has put together a flyer to send home with all Hantsport and L.E Shaw school students encouraging families to participate in 15 Minutes of Fun literacy activities. Families who complete 4 activities are eligible to enter a prize draw for a $25 gift certificate from Box of Delights bookstore in Wolfville. 

Year-round, we celebrate Family Literacy by offering storytimes, LEGO and board game programs, our annual Summer Reading Club, book discussion groups, computer tutorials, and more.  So plan your own Family Literacy Day at home, and come see us any time for a Family Literacy outing.  

Apps for Kids

Many people have a mobile device, and many let their children use apps on these devices. There's nothing wrong with that, but establishing some good habits around digital media use is a good idea. While an app will NOT teach your child to read, interaction between yourself, your child, and your iPad can certainly help your child develop the skills they need in order to learn to read. An iPad, iPhone or other device is not the best choice for a bedtime story either, as some studies are suggesting that the blue light from computer devices of any sort before bedtime can disrupt sleep patterns (and not just for kids, for adults, too!) So when is the best time, and how should we be sharing apps with young children? And how do you find the best ones to share? Look for some hands-on classes at your library this winter and spring, but until then, here are a few tips to get you started!

First off, spend time with your young child as they play with apps. Just like with TV, use of tablets or phones should be limited for children under 5, and children under 2 should have very little exposure. Talk about what is happening in the app, what you can do, read together, play together, ask questions and talk with your child. 

How do you find the best apps to use? And how do you decide which ones are worth the money? There are lots of free apps, but as with anything free, quality is often an issue. I like to follow The iMums on Twittter and Facebook to get deals on apps and also free ones.    There's also Digital Storytime , which has a bank of reviews, sortable by age, price, quality, and more. A nice list of resources can be found here. 

I've been testing some apps, and I do very brief reviews on my Pinterest board called, you guessed it, Apps for Kids. Mostly I look for apps that are low-cost or free, educational yet fun, book-related, or ones that can help develop early literacy skills such as drawing, storytelling, and vocabulary. I especially like apps that take good children's books and make them even more fun, such as Good Night Moon, The Three Little Pigs, or the Sandra Boynton books. So take a look at some of these resources, and have fun exploring the digital early literacy world with your young child! 

Angela Reynolds, Head of Youth Services

Summer Reading wrap-up

The theme for the 2012 Summer Reading Club was IMAGINE. We imagined all sorts of things that we could do with this theme; libraries created castles and horse barns, we hosted reptile shows and wild animal puppets, we played with bubbles, recycled t-shirts, chased zombies, learned new computer software, created with LEGO, held library scavenger hunts, did a lot of pretending and read a whole lot of books.  In fact, the 2547 participants in this year's Summer Reading Club read for 31,885 hours! That is an impressive amount of reading in my book.  At the Kentville Library alone, 588 readers clocked nearly 8000 hours.  Thanks to a continued partnership with Upper Clements Parks, we gave out 1,957 FastPasses to the readers who completed their Summer Reading goal.  

You may wonder who these readers were. They were all ages—from babies whose parents read aloud to them, to preschoolers getting ready for Primary, to elementary kids who have discovered the pleasures of books, to teenagers (422 teens read for at least 25 hours!), we had readers who just love books. The Summer Reading Club was originally designed to promote the FUN of reading, and to keep kids reading during the summer months so that when they return to school, they haven’t lost those valuable skills that they worked so hard to acquire.  The Summer Reading Club allows readers to choose whatever they want to read, in whatever format they want to read – be it audiobooks, magazines, comics, or even the back of cereal boxes.  Older brothers and sisters read to younger siblings, babysitters read to their charges, parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles read aloud at cottages, teens read under a tree in the park. It is all about the JOY of reading, and we love promoting it. 

The program lasts for 8 weeks—a good chunk of the summer-- and consumes huge amounts of staff time and resources.  We are only able to offer such a great program because of partners, sponsors, and an annual Book Sale that helps us raise funds to run this amazing program. Some materials are provided by TD Bank, who sponsors the program nationwide. Locally, we had support from Upper Clements Parks, Oaklawn Farm Zoo, Adopt a Library, and the sponsors of prizes for our new adult SRC, Watch the Sky Photography, The ClayGround, Coles Bookstore, and Paper Pleasures at the Coffee Shop.  We wholeheartedly thank all these businesses once again and also those who come to our book sale. 

Summer Reading Club will be back next year, but for now, just continue to enjoy those books and what's left of this glorious summer! 

--Angela J. Reynolds, Head of Youth Services