Great Listens for your Summer Road Trip

Kristal Craig from the Centennial Branch of the Ottawa Public Library shares some great audio selections for your summer road trips. 

Skippyjon Jones

An overactive imagination is what Skippyjon Jones has. He is a Siamese cat who takes you on all types of silly adventures and you never know where you will end up. Fun  for the whole family.

 Jamie Lee Curtis Collection

Relive days gone by with your little ones while listening to these stories by Jamie Lee Curtis.  You will laugh and giggle and want to hear them again and again.

Puff the Dragon

We all remember the song of this magical dragon. Puff will have you and your children inspired to travel to the land of Honah Lee or any land of their choice. This lovely illustrated book will have your children mesmerized and humming right along. Delightful!

Jillian Jiggs

Jillian Jiggs has boundless energy and imagination, one minute she is putting on plays, the next minute she's a tree. How could it be possible for Jillian to make time to clean up her room when, there are so many wonderful things to make and do? What will she think of next!

 The Uglified Ducky

Think you know the story of the Ugly Duckling?  Think again!  When this “Uglified Ducky”, a young moose,”blunders away” from home, he is mistaken for a baby duck and he tries to learn to waddle, quack, swim and fly.  In the end, he finds his true “family”, who help him appreciate his own beauty.  Wonderful storytelling by Willy Claflin.

Audiobooks for older children 8 and up

Because of Winn Dixie

New to the town of Naomi, Florida,  ten-year-old Opal  tells us about her first summer and how new and exciting things happen to her because she gets herself a dog named Winn-Dixie.

The Night Fairy

A night fairy is shocked to find herself wingless after a terrible encounter with a bat. Grounded and living in a garden, Flory works at becoming a day fairy. Finding a way to make friends and a new life, she discovers that there's more to life than flight.

Savvy

At the age of thirteen, all of the children in the Beaumont family receive a “savvy” or unworldly power.  One brother can create hurricanes, the other makes electricity…. and now it’s Mibs' big day.  But something happens to her Poppa, and her mother and her big brother have to leave Mibs to adjust to her “savvy”, all on her own...

The Ulysses Moore

Jason, Julia, and Rick have discovered one of the secrets of Argo Manor -- the Door to Time. A mysterious land of labyrinths, riddles, and secrets. Hidden somewhere in the past, Jason and Rick have to find the map to Kilmore Cove, but where?

Gregor The Overlander

Gregor, an 11 year old boy, falls down a grate in his laundry room into a strange new world called the Underland. There he becomes an unwilling warrior and leads an alliance of Underlanders on a quest to rescue a fellow Overlander.  Gregor’s adventure will change everything for himself, the Underlanders, and may solve the biggest mystery of his life.

The Unwanteds

Wanted or Unwanted - 13-year-old twins Aaron and Alex ponder their fate.  What will society decide for them...  Aaron is sent to University, “Wanted” and Alex to be eliminated, “Unwanted”.   But being “eliminated” holds unknown surprises for Alex, who finds himself in a remarkable world where he can show his abilities and learn magic.

 Join the TD Summer Reading Club at any branch this summer - pick up your reading kit and join some fun programs!

Bugs and Birds: Spring Into Spring with the Ottawa Public Library

  By Aileen Latulippe Children's Programs and Public Service Assistant Hazeldean Branch

Bugs and Birds:  Spring is here and kids of all ages are curious about birds and bugs in evidence. Check out these new books at the Ottawa Public Library.

That's Creepy! By Kate Riggs (2013) is a sturdy board book that uses bright, expressive illustrations to introduce curious children to wonderful creepy crawlies like centipedes, spiders, and worms. The text is simple and rhythmical for young learners and each page highlights a different insect. A hit for the toddler who like to examine bugs up close.

Bugs Galore by Peter Stein and illustrated by Bob Staake (2012) is a rhyming picture book that’s fun all the time! Bugs of all shapes, colours and sizes aren’t named but are pictured doing the things that bugs do: “some bugs fly in loop-de-loops, some bugs land smack dab in soups.” Not an informational book, but your kids will want to read this one over and over again to examine the illustrations.

This is a perfect book for your independent reader with an interest in bugs. From the ‘All About Nature’ series, Can You Find These Bugs? by Carmen Bredeson (2012) highlights common North American bugs like ants, crickets, ladybugs, dragonflies, mosquitoes, stink bugs, earwigs and honey bees. The text is large, easy to read, gives clear information and the photos are bright and clear.

Tom Jackson’s Spot the Bug (2013) is the perfect introduction to bug hunting for young nature lovers. It’s a colourful and fun beginner’s book aimed at 5 to 10 year olds and introduces kids to bugs in the backyard and the neighbourhood. Here’s where they can discover more than 100 best-known insects, from leaping grasshoppers to battling stag beetles. They’ll soon be telling you all the interesting facts: where bugs live, what bugs eat, and how to tell bugs apart.

DK Publishing’s Pocket Genius is a small encyclopedia of bug information, recommended for children 8 and up. The 160 pages in BUGS: Facts at your Fingertips  (2012) includes countless kinds of insects and other bugs, from beetles, butterflies to spiders and scorpions. Curious kids can find out all about them, what they eat, where they live, and which ones are poisonous.

It’s impossible to list bug books without including my favourites, the Very Insect series by Eric Carle, the best known of which is The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1981). It has delighted millions of children, and introduced them to a world of bugs, counting and foods.

Under a moon, on a green leaf, a small egg is laid. A caterpillar is born and over a week a large and varied amount of food is eaten. After a final binge, he forms a cocoon and goes to sleep. Toddlers follow the caterpillar’s diet by placing their fingers through the die-cut pages, count the food items, days of the week, and celebrate his transformation into a beautiful spring butterfly.

Puffin Peter by Jonathan and Martha Horacek (2013) is a bright, colourful picture book about a best friend puffins Peter and Paul. They keep each other laughing until Peter is lost in a storm.  After the storm, a whale rescues Peter and offers to help find Paul. Peter’s description of Paul as “funny and noisy” lead the pair to several islands and different birds before Paul is found. This is a reassuring book for preschoolers about being lost and found, having an older or larger presence in the search, and fun facts about funny, noisy birds.

Busy-busy Little Chick by Janice Harrington (2013) and is the retelling of a central African folktale. Mama Nsoso's baby chicks complain that they are cold and damp in their nest every night. Mama assures them that they'll get to work building a more sturdy ilombe (home), but every day Mama and the chicks are distracted by the good things to eat. All except one … Little Chick stays busy gathering sticks and mud to build the house. Your preschoolers will love the repetition and see what’s coming, cheering for the youngest chick hero.

Can you be different and still be friends? If you have children sharing a bedroom, a playroom, or a classroom, they’ll enjoy goslings Jasper & Joop by Olivier Dunrea (2013). Jasper likes to be neat. Each morning he tidies his nest and puts on his cap and bow tie. Joop likes to be messy! Each morning he rumples his nest and musses his feathers. Despite their differences, Jasper and Joop are two very good friends – birds of a feather! But what will happen when one friend gets into trouble with some busy bees?

Do your children love being in on a secret? Bird Talk: What Birds Are Saying and Why by Lita Judge  (2012) decodes the fascinating and funny things birds are saying to one another. One of 28 birds kids will enjoy is the large gray Palm Cockatoo described as ‘a regular one-man hard-rock band.” With rosy cheek patches and a burst of top-knot feathers, he whistles, bobs his head, then breaks a stick and bangs it against a tree to deliver the message, “Stay away! This is my tree!”

Another book for your independant 6-8 year old interested in nature is Can You Find These Birds? by Carmen Bredeson (2012). Four to seven sentences on the right face a full-colour photo of nine easily-identifiable species on the left. Birds include cardinals, house sparrows, blue jays and robins.

Bird Guide of North America by Jonathan K. Alderfer (2013) is subtitled ‘The Best Birding Book for Kids from National Geographic's Bird Experts’ and it’s certainly fun and informative. Every day is a birding adventure with this guide - your backyard, farm, the city or anywhere you go. Organized by region, you and your kids can learn the sounds of 100 birds, what they eat, and where they like to hang out. Tips are included for building bird feeders, nests, and bird baths.

April is Poetry Month

By Rebekah McCallum, Children’s Librarian, Cumberland Branch What better way to share a love of language with your child than through poetry? Even the youngest babies will respond to its rhythm; toddlers quickly learn the game of rhyme; and preschoolers develop an appreciation for drama and suspense through its musical storytelling. Perhaps best of all, poetry brings out the playfulness and humour to be found in language.

I would like to share some of my favourite poetry books from the Ottawa Public Library children’s collection with you, in celebration of Poetry Month this April. All of these titles can be found at your local OPL branch or requested through the library’s online catalogue.

While many of the poems from these collections are favourites of mine for personal reasons (often they were also favourites of my mother and grandmother), I think that the best of them share qualities of drama and humour, which will delight almost any reader, small or large.

The Baby’s Playtime Book is one in a series of colorfully illustrated poetry compilations by Kay Chorao. A mix of nursery rhymes, classic verses, and contemporary poems, this is a perfect “starter” volume for babies and toddlers, who will love the bright-eyed children and animals that romp through it’s pages. Some selections, like “Teddy Bears’ Picnic” and “Dance to your Daddy” can be sung; others make good lap-riding or action verses; and still others appeal to children simply in the sound of their words and rhymes. “Wild Beasts” by Evaleen Stein is not to be missed; “My Shadow” and “The Swing” by Robert Louis Stevenson are wonderful classics; and I’ve always had an unexplained partiality for “A Cat Came Fiddling Out of a Barn”…

If your child is hungry for fast-paced adventure, try picking up Once Upon a Poem: Favourite Poems That Tell Stories. This is a romp of a different order – what Kevin Crossley-Holland describes in the book’s forward as a throbbing, pulsing gallop!  Each one of these fifteen dramatic poems is championed by a contemporary storyteller, among them J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, and Mary Pope Osborne. And each is illustrated by a different artist to reflect the tone or mood of the individual poem. My favourites from this collection are Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky”, famous for its lucid nonsense-words; Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussycat”; Eugene Field’s lyrical “Wynken, Blynken and Nod”; and the unparalleled “Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes. Also watch for the poetry of Roald Dahl, Hillaire Belloc, Robert Service, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in this splendid series of adventures.

Rhymes for Annie Rose, by picture-book author and illustrator Shirley Hughes, is a magical (and also a remarkably consistent and well-crafted) series of poems. Toddlers will quickly identify with the quirky, smiling character of Annie Rose and find common ground with her, in her many adventures: splashing in puddles, oozing with finger-paint, making blanket forts, and peering through forests of legs and feet. Many poetry books portray childhood in an idyllic country setting; I appreciate Hughes’ ability to create the same kind of idyll in a city context. My particular favourites from this collection are “Duck Weather”; “Fingers”; “Feet”; and “Monday Morning Dance.” Recommended for lovers of A.A. Milne, who is an acknowledged influence on Hughes’ Rhymes.

And speaking of A. A. Milne, any list of my favourite children’s poetry books must include When We Were Very Young. First published in 1924, the book has been a best-seller ever since. Centered upon the character of Milne’s young son Christopher Robin, When We Were Very Young takes us on a series of toddler adventures through London and the surrounding countryside. It also includes the début appearance of Milne’s famous character, Winnie-the Pooh, in the poem “Teddy Bear.” Each poem is accompanied by a series of sketches by Winnie-the-Pooh illustrator E.H. Shepard. Both poems and sketches are like little windows into a child’s world. My favourite titles include “Happiness”; “The Four Friends”; “Summer Afternoon”; and “Sand-Between-the-Toes.”

For anyone who has fragments of poetry floating through their head, it is a pleasure to be introduced to someone else’s personal collection. In A Family of Poems: My Favourite Poetry for Children, Caroline Kennedy introduces us to over a hundred of her favourites (beautifully illustrated by Jon J. Muth). The poems are grouped into seven chapters, including “The Seashore”, “Adventure”, “Animals”, and “Bedtime.”

The Kennedy family had a tradition of giving poems for special occasions: they would find a favourite poem, transcribe and illustrate it, and present it to a relative instead of a card. Her mother pasted these selections into a scrapbook, and many of them have found their way into this collection. Among Kennedy’s selections, I find poems from my own ‘collection’: “The Tyger”; “In Just –“; “Full Fathom Five”, “The Mock Turtle’s Song”... But I also discover some new gems: “To P.J.”; “Moses”; and “Sea-Fever,” among others. Reading this book feels like conversation with a friend: the points of connection and the new discoveries are both a delight.

If you’re feeling a little crushed by the weight of so much great poetry, I encourage you to find a copy of Edward Lear’s Nonsense!, in particular the version illustrated by Valorie Fisher. Lear and Fisher take us on a “smile-provoking” tour of Europe through limericks: “There was an old man of Berlin…”; “There was an old person of Wilts…” If you are an avid poetry reader, but especially, if you are little nervous about ‘all this rhyming business’, this book is for you: it is a feast for ears and eyes. And you can enjoy some very light-hearted greatness.

In her introduction to A Family of Poems¸ Caroline Kennedy advocates for these little groups of words better than I can. She writes: “poetry captures the most fleeting moments and makes them last forever, or describes the tiniest creature and makes it huge. Poets express our deepest emotions and ponder life’s biggest questions in just a few lines that we can carry with us and bring to mind whenever we need them.”

I encourage you to venture into the poetry section of your nearest Ottawa Public Library branch, and seek out the special verses that will form a treasure trove of the mind, such as Kennedy describes, for you and your children.

Back-to-School Favourites from the Ottawa Public Library

By Rebekah McCallum, Children’s Librarian, Cumberland Branch September is here, and with it, the return to school. While you write your list of essentials - pencils, scribblers, lunch boxes, new gym shoes - you may also be looking for books to ease your child’s transition into school, or back to school. There is no shortage of options!

Your older child may prefer one of the many popular series set at school, such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Nate the Great, Harry Potter or Dear Dumb Diary. In this forum, however, I am going to focus on some of my favourite “back-to-school” picture books from the library children’s collection.

You can order all of these books online through OPL’s online catalogue (http://biblioottawalibrary.ca/) and stop into your local branch to pick them up.

My first pick is Lauren Child’s delightful sibling duet I am TOO absolutely small for school. Big brother Charlie tries to convince his small(ish) sister Lola that school might not be such a bad idea, even though she is “too extremely busy doing important things at home.” One by one, he quells her doubts, and finally persuades her that she needs to go to school to keep company with her imaginary friend, Søren Lorensen (who may be “a little slightly nervous to be at school on his own”). Warm and funny, with a text and illustrations that follow the intricate imaginative pathways of the preschool mind, this  one is an absolute charmer.

When you put your best foot forward and head to school, are there butterflies in your stomach? Maybe you’re feeling a little blue, and not quite ready to come out of your shell. Don’t worry – even if you think school is not your cup of tea, we’re all in the same boat on the first day. Serge Bloch commandeers half the idioms in the English language to tackle first-day-of-school jitters in Butterflies in my Stomach and Other School Hazards. Each metaphor is cleverly illustrated – taking the image literally, of course – and bound to bring out the giggles in your first or second grader. Ideal for preschool to grade three.

Audrey Penn’s classic, The Kissing Hand, is a ‘must-read’ for young children (and their parents) facing the separation that comes with the first day of school or daycare. Little Chester raccoon is worried about his first day at Owl’s school for woodland creatures. To quiet his fears, his mother shares a family secret called the Kissing Hand. When the world feels a little scary, Chester can find his Kissing Hand and remember that his mother’s love is with him, wherever he goes. The book’s illustrations, by Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M. Leak, are particularly fine. A New York Times #1 Bestseller and Ed Press Winner, The Kissing Hand is unsurpassed for tenderness and beauty in a school-themed picture book.

In Knuffle Bunny Too, by Mo Willems, Trixie is sure her one-of-a-kind plush friend, Knuffle bunny, will be a hit on the first day of preschool. How to describe her chagrin when she sees the smirking Sonja holding an identical bunny? “The morning did not go well”, writes Willems. Trixie’s teacher confiscates the Knuffle bunnies, and only returns them at the end of the day. But it is not until 2:30 the next morning that Trixie realizes what is badly amiss – she has the wrong bunny! With her dad’s help, arrangements are made; a bunny-exchange takes place in the dead of night; and Trixie makes her first friend. Willems’ pithy text, together with his comic-style drawings superimposed on photographs of New York, make for a terrific picture-book adventure.  Willems fans will also enjoy hunting for his famous Pigeon in the pages of Trixie’s life.

In Valeri Gorbachev’s Christopher Counting, Christopher bunny learns to count at school and decides it is his favourite thing to do. At the end of the school day, he counts his way home; he counts the toys in his toy box, the dishes in his kitchen and the boots on his boot rack. He even tries to count all the flowers in the meadow. But his friends want to play after school. Basketball, Christopher? No thanks! But then Christopher finds the perfect game – hide and seek! He can count all his friends! Gorbachev is a master of plot, and his storytelling here is no exception. As your children enter their first days of school, they can consider, with Christopher, how the things they learn in class can become part of their lives at home and at play. If your children prefer images to words, Walter’s Wick’s I Spy School Days: A Book of Picture Riddles may be the book for you. Two-page spreads of school-related toys and drawings explore themes such the alphabet, botany class, arts and crafts, the schoolyard, the dinosaur age, and an old-fashioned schoolroom. Rhyming lists of things to “spy” accompany Wick’s collages. For lovers of non-fiction, Susan Hughes’s Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World is a gem of a book. This magical read introduces children to the diversity of classrooms on our planet. Each two-page spread offers quick facts and amazing pictures of an unusual school somewhere in the world. Hughes shows how teachers and architects have overcome problems of poverty, climate change, physical isolation, and developmental impairment. Here we meet classrooms in boats, in tents, in slums, in refugee camps, on streets, in buses, on train platforms, and in trees. Schools act as bridegrooms; they move with nomadic cultures; and their halls guide the blind. Colourful and succinct, Off to Class is an inspiring read about the importance of education, the devotion of teachers, and the joys of flexibility.

So there you have them… my favourites for your little one this fall. Happy school days, and happy reading!

Do you have a favourite school themed book? Share in the comments!

More books to stretch the Imagination this summer!

 Our August post from the Ottawa Public Library was written by Andrea Gowing at the Centennial branch.  Thanks for more great books suggestions!!

Imagine a Day ; Imagine a Night; Imagine a Place - by Sarah L. Thomson, illustrated by Rob Gonsalves

These three books encourage the reader to ‘imagine!”  Stunning illustrations by Rob Gonsalves remind us of Eischer and Chris Van Allsburg as they draw you in to experience this world of illusions and fantasy art.   There is so much to look at that you see the impossible, you look twice because you are not sure that you really saw what you think you saw!

Thomson's brief sentences pack in imagery and paint pictures in your mind.  The beautiful text helps you to open up your or mind to a sense of wonder.   Experience these books together with a child of any age!

Not a Box; Not a Stick - Antoinette Portis

Both written and illustrated by Portis, these two simply drawn books open the child’s mind to possible uses of both a box and a stick.  Bunny is NOT playing with a box, he is imagining that is so many other things: a car; robot; hot air balloon; a building on fire, and more.  Likewise, Pig is NOT playing with a stick, it is: a caveman’s spear; a fishing rod; a paintbrush.

Children will love guessing what Bunny and Pig will dream up on the next page!   These are great read aloud books for Preschoolers.

If I Were A Jungle Animal – by Amanda Ellery;  Illustrated by Tom Ellery Who hasn’t watched the bored young outfielder building sandcastles or making daisy rings during a particularly slow game?  Well, Morton is no different.  He gets little action during the game, and when coach yells at him to pay attention he uses his imagination to go on a wild adventure in the jungle.  Lions, snakes, giraffes, monkeys and elephants join him on this jungle journey.  But uh oh, here comes a fly ball, will Morton catch the ball?  Amanda & Tom Ellery have written and illustrated a bright and funny tale for children 3-6 yrs.

Flotsam – David Weisner

What better time of year to discover this book, than summertime!  Beach day and a young boy is ready to explore all that the ocean pitches onto the sandy beach.  With binoculars, magnifying glass, and microscope at hand he can look closer and closer at so many interesting things.   He finds an old barnacle encrusted camera, that still has film in it – he waits for the film to be processed and finally he can see what has been captured through the lens.  Astonishingly, the pictures depict amazing scenes of aliens, mechanical fish, an octopus leading storytime, and then lastly a young girl holding a picture of another child holding a picture, of another child holding a picture...back and back in time it goes.  Through pictures alone, this wordless book has such a clear narrative that the reader quickly creates a greater story with their own storylines.  Spend some time absorbing the pictures in this book and share your story with a curious young person.  Pre K – grade 4 and even older.

You are a Lion: and other Fun Yoga Poses  -   Taeeun Yoo

How much fun is it for a preschooler to pretend to be something?  This book allows children to imagine that they are a lion, a dog, snake, butterfly and more, while assuming simple, safe yoga poses.  Stick out your tongue and you are a lion, hop and you are a frog, down on your belly you are a snake!   Simply illustrated and told, children will love trying the different poses, and seeing how they can really imagine being this animal.  This book would be wonderful with a group of children or one on one.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret  -  Brian Selznick

This stunningly illustrated and written book is the story of Hugo, who lives in the walls of a Paris train station.  Hugo’s story is brought to life through a blend of written language, the language of illustration, and cinematic technique.   One “reads” the illustrations as they continue the story past the written word rolling out like a silent film.  Twelve year old Hugo lives alone and hand to mouth as he tends the station’s several clocks.  Hugo’s late father was a clockmaker at a museum, where he found an automaton, and early robot, that sits human like at a desk, pen poised ready to write.  Hugo becomes obsessed with restoring it to working order.  He uses the notes his father kept as he was working on the automaton, but there is mystery surrounding where it came from and how it works.  Children aged 9-12 will crawl in your lap to see more deeply into the pictures and adults will be mesmerised by the plot tied to the history of cinema.   A magical and imaginative read to be sure!

Except If  --  Jim Averbeck

This book, with its very simple text and illustrations, allows the reader to stretch their imagination by presenting a puzzle on every page.  "An egg is not a baby bird, / but it will become one / except if..."  Turn the page, and see what it could be.  Children can use their imagination and predict what it could be; will it be a snake, a bird, a dinosaur?  A very clever storyline that teaches children about animals who hatch from eggs, surely an added bonus.   Preschoolers to Kindergarten will love this interactive book.

Don’t forget to visit your local library branch to sign up for the TD Summer Reading Club and get  your free poster, activity booklet and stickers. Keep reading all summer long!