A MAGICICAL SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Jay Leslie* will astound you with his incredible feats of magic this coming Saturday at 2PM. Join us for a post Halloween treat.
For Ages 4 and older.

Central Library
Auditorium
2 p.m.
Call 818-548-2035 for more information.

* Jay Leslie will perform in place of Arty Loon.

FEED THE BRAIN!

Did you feed your baby's brain today? Just as children’s bodies need food, so too do their brains need “brain food”. And there is no better source of brain food - vocabulary, pre-literacy skills, knowledge-building, rich interactions - than reading aloud!

-From the Read Aloud Campaign

http://www.readaloud.org/15minutes.html

NEVER GIRLS AUTHOR IS COMING

Author Kiki Thorpe will be visiting the Children's Room next Wednesday to talk about her new Never Girls book.  Come meet the Author have some tea and sweets and find out what those fairies are up to in her new book.  For children reading beginning chapter books, grades 3rd-4th.

No reservations needed.  

Central Library

Wednesday, October 29 at 4pm

For more information - 818-548-2035

A HALLOWEEN SCAVENGER HUNT

What's Halloween without a black cat?  Well, Bad Kitty is roaming around the Children's Room so come and look for him during this week's Halloween scavenger hunt.  Everyone can join in the hunt from Saturday - Sunday 10/25 - 11/2 all day long.

Ask at the desk in the Children's Room for the game.

WHY DO THE SPOOKIEST THINGS HAPPEN AT NIGHT?

A review by Theresa from the Children's Room: 

It wouldn’t be Halloween without at least one spooky book on the list and The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier is one that is not to be missed. It has all the required ingredients for a scary story, an old crone telling innocent orphan children a warning tale; a dark and forbidding house where the appearance of the occupants is rapidly changing; sinister characters and lots of suspense. 

This story is told by two Irish orphans who after being hired as servants arrive at the aforementioned house which needs to be mentioned, has been built practically on top of a very old, very large and diseased looking tree, is actually one of the main characters in this story. Undaunted by this very dark scene Molly and her brother Kip enter the house to meet their employers, the four Windsors, and begin their spine-chilling adventure. Want to come along? Just remember, it’s only a story in a book. 

For readers in grades 5-8

HELLO KITTY TURNS 40!

There's still time to join us for some Hello Kitty fun this week.  

Make a cupcake finger puppet in honor of Hello Kitty's birthday today, Thursday,  during Art Cart from 3:30-5 p.m.  

Saturday, 10/25, after Chalk the Walk from 2p.m. to 6p.m. come upstairs to and decorate a pair of paper reading glasses a la Miss Hello Kitty and read her new comic books. 

Don't forget to ask for the Hello Kitty coloring sheet of the day.   

For all ages

Children's Room 

818-548-2035

THE SCAVENGER HUNT IS ON!

Don't miss our Bad Kitty Scavenger Hunt during Halloween week, Mon.- Sun. 10/27- 11/2 all day.

Bad Kitty is wreaking havoc throughout the Children's Room.  Come and get him.

ARE YOU EASILY FRIGHTENED?

If so this might not be the book for you, but if you aren’t afraid of much and a trip through a very spooky and almost too real to be true amusement park sounds like fun, then come along for a very thrilling ride in Laurie Faria Stolarz’s WELCOME TO THE DARK HOUSE. 

You won’t be alone on this trip but in the company of some very unusual characters. The first person you meet, Ivy Jensen, suffers from terrible, sleep stopping, scary feelings don’t go away in the daylight, nightmares. When an announcement in the Nightmare Elf’s newsletter promises to take away the bad dreams of the winners of an essay contest, she starts writing and enters the 1000 words or less contest hoping for a cure. She wins, of course. Arriving via a hearse to the Dark House, a replica of the house from a very scary movie, she joins the rest of the winners, all dedicated horror movie fans. 

Not wanting to ruin this for anyone who decides to join the adventure, there will be no spoiler alerts here, you will just have to see for yourself what lies behind the gate of the Dark House when you read in this fast-paced story told by Ivy and her fellow contest winners. 

For readers in grades 6-8.

READ ALOUD! FEED THE BRAIN!

The amazing benefits 15 MINUTES of daily reading aloud will have your child's pre-literacy skills and lifelong learning success.

Sign up for the library's 1000 Books Before Kindergarten reading program to help your family get started.  Ask us about it.

STORY OF A GIRL

Here is a story of a twelve-year-old girl named Mysti Murphy who lives with her loving parents and sister. Never mind that her mother hasn't left the house for years, and her best friend Anibal Gomez is doing a social experiment where he pretends to be a hipster and not to know her so he can go out with popular girl Sandy. Mysti is determined to stay positive despite everything and think about her plans to live in Paris when she grows up. But things get worse before they get better. When Mysti's father - the only one who can leave the house and buy groceries - ends up in the hospital, Mysti has to change the story of her life. Here is a story of a girl who can muster the courage to go grocery shopping, stand up to her bullies, and make a new friend.

Courage for Beginners by Karen Harrington is a book about a girl who will teach you all about courage, while telling you a joke or two. She shows us that even if things don't always end up perfect, there is always a solution.

For grades 6 and up.

TROUBLEMAKERS

A young boy loves to imagine that he and his stuffed animal are pirates.  One day, he runs out of props for his adventures and decides to sneak off with his sister's toy.  She is not pleased, and a cat and mouse chase soon follows.  He eventually gets disciplined for his actions, but he quickly notices that something is amiss.  Different toys start to disappear, including HIS favorite stuffed toy.  If it is not the young boy who is taking the toys then who can the troublemaker be?

Lauren Castillo's The Troublemaker is a simple story about a boy who learns the value of sharing and compassion.  Ms. Castillo's pen and ink are well matched with this story, which promises to delight young children.  

For Pre-K-2nd grade.

A JOURNEY

A review by Theresa from the Children's Room: 

Based upon a real incident in the 1920’s when American children raised the funds to send dolls* to Japan to promote friendship, understanding and peace, Shirley Parenteau’s SHIP OF DOLLS gives the reader a chance to experience a slice of life from that period in time as they follow eleven-year-old Lexie through a challenging period in her life.

Sent to live with her grandparent’s in Portland, Oregon following the death of her father, Lexie is having a very difficult time settling in to a more strictly run household and life style than the one she shared with her free-spirited mother. Making friends at school is also difficult for the shy girl and the school “mean girl,” Louise, is not making it any easier. When Lexie finds out that the author of the best letter to be sent with the school’s doll for Japan gets to accompany the doll to the big send-off, she sees a way to get back to San Francisco and to rejoin her mother. Things don’t go quite as smoothly as one would hope and it takes more than a letter to get her where she wants to be.

Follow along with her journey and discover her story in this work of historical fiction for readers in grades 5-7. 

*The Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles has one of these dolls on display.

POOP FOUNTAIN!

Lyle is a middle- schooler who lives in a trailer park with his loving parents.  His days are predictable and somewhat boring.  When one of the middle-schoolers, Miranda, moves into the trailer park community and when his friend Dave comes to visits them, things change for the better.  Lyle and his new friends quickly become inseparable and decide to name their trio The Qwikpick Adventure Society.  What could their first adventure be? 

When school resumes, the trio learns that the waste water treatment facility in their area is about to undergo a major sewage upgrade: the dated "sludge fountain" is scheduled to be replaced with new equipment.  Eager to see the fountain in action, the kids make plans to check it out on Christmas Day, while Lyle's parents are working.  With a new camera in hand, they journey to the treatment facility.  Along the way they become increasingly aware of the happenings in their community and they realize what a larger treatment facility truly means; those with less means will need to make way for the coming developments. 

The Qwikpick Paper Poop Fountain was mountains of fun and is a quick read.  The trio learn to have fun without handheld, electronic devices as part of their time together- a lesson that many parents will appreciate.  Tom Angleberger's inclusion of visiting a sewage treatment facility is unique, and including the economic effects of land development gives the book more depth than expected.  The colorful descriptions of the treatment facility are not for the faint of heart.

For 4th grade and up.

BETTER OFF FRIENDS

Noah and Macallan have been friends since junior high, after Macallan takes pity on the new boy and invites him to sit with her during lunch. The two discover that they share a favorite TV show, and a new friendship is formed. But when they start high school, things get more complicated. First, things get tricky when Levi starts dating Macallan's other best friend. Then, Levi starts spending more time with the guys and having less and less time for Macallan. And through it all, they have to deal with everyone's automatic (and awkward) assumption that they are dating. Will the two manage to stay friends through the ups and downs of high school, and will they be able to prove that boys and girls can be just friends?

Elizabeth Eulberg's novel perfectly captures the transition from middle school to high school and the friendships that inevitably are made stronger or perish in the aftermath. It is a story of friendship and romance, told in alternating chapters from the points of view of Noah and Macallan that is at times heartbreaking and heartwarming, and definitely a page-turner.

For grades 7 and up.

DIXIE WANTS AN ALLERGY

While getting to know her classmates on the first day of school, Dixie discovers that many of the students in class have allergies to a variety of things- peanuts, wheat, or eggs.  When Dixie hears of the special things that are offered to her classmates because of their allergies, she wishes that she was allergic to something too.  She eagerly seeks things that might cause her to have an allergic reaction, but nothing seems to work!  When she finally comes across something that does cause a reaction, she quickly becomes ill and regrets that she wished for an allergy to begin with.

Tori Corn wonderfully addresses the subject of children's allergies in this story.  Although some children are treated differently due to their allergies, others can quickly learn that it is for a very good reason- not just for special attention.  A fun book for adults and children to share together.  

For PreK-2nd grade.