Get Ready for Back to School!

     With summer vacation coming to an end, it’s time to get ready for school!
     To prepare preschool children for Kindergarten, we recommend two great picture books:  Pete The Cat: The Wheels on the Bus by James Dean; and The Pout-Pout Fish Goes to School by Deborah Diesen in which Mr. Fish tells about his challenging , but fun first day of school.
     If you love playing video games, you should login to The Nerdy Dozen by Jeff Miller. Neil Andertol and his video game buddies are recruited by the Air Force, after hacking into a classified military training program.
     Unexpected and dire consequences result when best friends Matt and Craz’s cartoons become real on a weird web site at Kilgore Junior High!  Draw your own conclusions in The Awesome, Almost 100% True Adventures of Matt & Craz written by Alan Silberberg.
     Once homework starts, you will be checking out the library, so read The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand by Jan Swann Downey.  Accidentally opening a portal to Petrarch’s Library, Dorrie and her brother Marcus uncover warrior librarians, who travel in time, protecting the world’s great thinkers from torture and death for sharing knowledge and ideas.
     A graduation day of another type awaits teen readers in Graduation Day by Joelle Charbonneau, in which the United Commonwealth wants to stop the rebel alliance fighting to destroy The Testing for Good.  Find out if Cia is ready to lead the chase, with her classmates following her into battle. 
     Every teen needs school spirit, but when fifteen-year old Izzy, whose ancestors were monster hunters, investigates hauntings in his new high school, he gets an icy reception!  Ghosts wreak havoc in School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins.
    School stories of all sorts are available at your local library.  Check out our website at www.orl.bc.ca  or ask a librarian for books, programs and more!

Written by Linda Youmans, Youth Collections/System Librarian, Okanagan Regional Library

Fall Programs at the Library Enrich Your Children's Lives!

Now that your older children are back to school, preschoolers want to learn too!  Libraries have wonderful FREE programs for babies to five year -olds which have significant benefits.  Storytime attendance can assist children with becoming successful readers and learners.  In addition, helping their ability to listen, sit still and be independent from their parents is an asset.  Colours, letters, shapes, and a larger vocabulary through hearing stories in books, singing songs and doing fingerplays, will all strengthen crucial skills that they need to succeed in school! Fingerplays and stretching songs build strength and coordination in kids. The socializing aspect of storytimes is great for both the children and their parents. It prepares the children for entering school by significantly decreasing social and separation anxiety.  Another positive result, for the family, especially fathers, is that these library programs are one of the few occasions where they can meet other parents and chat afterwards. Many long-term friendships have blossomed from these programs! 

So, why don’t you check out some of the wonderful programs for children at your local library? Series of programs will be starting in September. If you have a beautiful bundle of joy between a newborn to eighteen months, Babytime is the program for you! Featuring songs and fingerplays, Babytimes can be found in Kelowna, Mission, Peachland, Rutland and Westbank branches. For slightly older children between eighteen months to 3 years, we offer Toddlertime, with stories, flannelboards, puppets and lots more at Kelowna, Mission and Rutland Branches.  Preschoolers (ages 3-5) will love our thirty minute storytimes incorporating all of these elements, at Kelowna, Lake Country, Mission, Oyama, Peachland, Rutland and Westbank. Our largest library, Kelowna Branch also has a successful school-aged program called Lego Builder beginning on September 26 with registration required.

Check the ORL website at:  www.orl.bc.ca for specific days and times at the branch nearest you!

Help prepare your preschoolers for school by joining us and enriching their lives!

 

by Linda Youmans, Youth Collections / System Librarian for Okanagan Regional Library

Back to School Books for Kids!

Fall brings cooler weather and exciting times reuniting with school friends! Packed with colourful pictures, preschoolers will be excited to learn their 1,2,3’s in “My First 100 Numbers” by Tick Tock books.  In “September Sneakers”, a Calendar Mystery by Ron Roy, panic strikes four grade one students when, on their first day back, Goldi, the school hamster they have been taking care of,  goes missing! For beginning readers, in “Listen Up, Larry” by Karen Poth, Detectives Bob and Larry investigate the reason why Junior isn’t getting good grades.  Chapter book graphic novel fans can join the Lunch Lady, a secret crime fighter, on a class trip to an art museum in the hilarious book called  “Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Fiasco” by Jarrett J. Krosoczka.

Public libraries and school kids go hand-in-hand.  When twelve-year-old student, Kyle, wins  a contest to stay overnight in the new town library, which was designed by his hero, a famous game maker, Kyle has to solve an amazing mystery! Check out his adventures in “Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library” by Chris Grabenstein. Avid young history fans will be mesmerized by the facts in “A History of Just About Everything” by Canadian authors, Elizabeth MacLeod and Frieda Wishinsky. Kids of all ages will learn how to solve word problems by answering question in “Bedtime Math:  A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late” by Laura Overdeck. A great way to learn Math!  James Patterson gets an A+ for writing “Middle School:  How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli and Snake Hill”!  While reading his book, young adults will chuckle at the hijinks during summer camp!  Another middle school survival book, part of a non-fiction series, is “Cultivating Positive Peer Groups and Friendships” by Adam Furgang. Staying positive in school and having great friends is really important. This book will help!

Don’t forget about Fall storytimes,  for babies to age five, starting in September in all 29 branches!  Fun school-aged programs can be found at many branches too. Check our website:  www.orl.bc.ca for more details.

By Linda Youmans, Youth Collections/System Librarian