Holiday Hours and Closing

The Newport Public Library will be closing early at 6:00pm on Wednesday, November 27th and will be closed all day on Thursday, November 28th for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Rhode Island Children's Book Award

Here are four more titles from the current list of Rhode Island Children's Book Award nominees.  Read and get ready to vote for your favorite in February 2014!

Ungifted by Gordon Korman

Due to an administrative mix-up, troublemaker Donovan Curtis is sent to the Academy of Scholastic Distinction, a special program for gifted and talented students, after pulling a major prank at middle school.

Brother From a Box by Evan Kuhlman

Sixth-grader Matt Rambeau finds out what it is like to have a brother when his father, a computer genius, creates a robot kid that goes to school with Matt, shares his feelings and ideas, plays, does chores, fights for his "life" when chased by spies, and becomes a part of the family.

The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng

Follows a young Chinese American girl, as she navigates relationships with family, friends, and her fourth-grade classroom, and finds a true best friend.

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Washed ashore as a baby in tiny Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, Mo LoBeau, now eleven, and her best friend Dale turn detective when the amnesiac Colonel, owner of a café and co-parent of Mo with his cook, Miss Lana, seems implicated in a murder.

National Book Award Winner!

The winners of the 2013 National Book Awards were announced on Wednesday and the winner for Young People's Literature went to:  The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata! 

The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata

Just when twelve-year-old Summer thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong in a year of bad luck, an emergency takes her parents to Japan, leaving Summer to care for her little brother while helping her grandmother cook and do laundry for harvest workers.

Check out the other nominees as well!

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt

Twelve-year-old Chap Brayburn, ancient Sugar Man, and his raccoon-brother Swamp Scouts Bingo and J'miah try to save Bayou Tourterelle from feral pigs Clydine and Buzzie, greedy Sunny Boy Beaucoup, and world-class alligator wrestler and would-be land developer Jaeger Stitch.

Far Far Away by Tom McNeal - Young Adult

Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff - Young Adult

Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang - Young Adult

Books for Thanksgiving

Looking for something to get you in the spirit of Thanksgiving?  Try one of these...

Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet

Everyone's a New Yorker on Thanksgiving Day, when young and old rise early to see what giant balloons will fill the skies for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Who first invented these "upside-down puppets"?  Meet Tony Sarg, puppeteer extraordinaire! 

Thank You, Sarah: the Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Halse Anderson

Relates how Sarah Hale, a magazine editor and author, persuaded President Lincoln to transform Thanksgiving Day into a national holiday.

Who Stole Grandma's Million-Dollar Pumpkin Pie? by Martha Freeman

When the recipe for his grandmother's famous pumpkin pie is suddenly missing just before Thanksgiving Day, Alex and his friend Yasmeen try to solve the mystery of its disappearance.

November Meeting Wrap-Up

The Book Buddies Book Club met yesterday afternoon to discuss our November book, Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute by Jarrett J. Krosoczka.  We had a terrific meeting featuring a great discussion and a fun Lunch Lady activity packet!

We began by discussing the opening sequence in Lunch Lady and why the author chose to include it in the book since it is not directly related to the story.  We all agreed it was there as a preview of what the Lunch Lady can do and as a teaser to make kids want to read the story.  We all thought it was very effective and did make us want to read the book!

We talked about the color scheme of Lunch Lady (black, white, gray and yellow) and why the author chose to use only those colors to tell the story.  We also thought about why the author chose to make the Lunch Lady the school's secret crime fighter and who else in a school might make a good secret crime fighter.  We thought the school librarian, school secretary and the custodian could all reasonably lead secret double lives.

We thought about new inventions that Betty could create for the Lunch Lady including a pizza boomerang and a gravy/glue sticky trap among other possibilities.

After much discussion, we decided that future Lunch Lady chapter books could take place in the school gym, locker room, science lab, or art class and that another possible storyline could include a rival mutant alien Lunch Lady getting hired at the school.

We thought about what superpowers we would like to have and our favorites included invisibility, the ability to duplicate yourself, the ability to fly, super speed and the ability to create things just by thinking about them.

Following our discussion we looked at the author's website and a lot of the great information and activities that are there.  We also worked on a special Lunch Lady activity packet made up of Lunch Lady activities available on the author's website.

It was a great meeting and thanks to all the Book Buddies club members who attended!

Colonial Clothing - Under the Petticoats

Celebrate Thanksgiving and peek under the petticoats with professional history interpreter Patricia Perry on Tuesday, November 19th @ 4:00pm!  Discover the toiletry habits, clothing styles, and personal hygiene of our colonial ancestors.  Volunteers will have the opportunity to be clothed in colonial garb!

Learn how colonial customs impacted our lives and traditions, and how they continue to impact us today.

No registration is required for this free program.  Held in the lower level program room.

For kids in grades 3 - 5.

Meeting Reminder

Just a reminder that the Book Buddies Book Club will meet this coming Monday, November 18th at our new time, 3:45pm to discuss our November book, Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. 

Come for book discussion, snacks and a related activity.

Hope to see you there!

Graphic Novels

Lunch Lady is just one of the terrific graphic novel series available for  young readers.  If you like to read graphic novels and are enjoying Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute, you might also want to check out:

Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm

Squish by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm

Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi

Frankie Pickle by Eric Wight

And check out No Flying No Tights for everything you ever wanted to know about graphic novels!

Lunch Lady READ Poster

The Lunch Lady now has her very own ALA READ poster!

Lunch Lady Graphic Novels

There are 9 Lunch Lady graphic novels and a 10th will be released on January 29, 2014: Lunch Lady and the Schoolwide Scuffle!

Here are the books in order:

Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute
Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians
Lunch Lady and the Author Visit Vendetta
Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown
Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit
Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Fiasco
Lunch Lady and the Mutant Mathletes
Lunch Lady and the Picture Day Peril
Lunch Lady and the Video Game Villain
Lunch Lady and the Schoolwide Scuffle

Visit the author's website for videos, activities and downloads!

Lunch Lady Legends

Play the Lunch Lady Legends Video Game!

Meeting Jarrett Krosoczka!

I was fortunate enough to meet our November author, Jarrett J. Krosoczka a few weeks ago at the Rhode Island Festival of Children's Books and Authors.  The event was held at the Lincoln School in Providence on Saturday, October 19th. 

Mr. Krosoczka was charming and happily signed a book for me  (Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians - what else?) and posed for a picture!  It was a wonderful day and a thrill to meet him!

Me, my niece, Abby, and Jarrett!

Author Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Jarrett J. Krosoczka is the author of our November book, Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute.  He has an amazing website with 7 different biographies (I like "According to Ralph"), artwork, videos, activities and free downloads.  You can also learn how to correctly pronouce his name!  Check it out!

In addition to the amazing Lunch Lady graphic novels, Jarrett has also written and illustrated a number of picture books including Punk Farm and Punk Farm on Tour.  His newest chapter book is called Platypus Police Squad: The Frog Who Croaked.

Jarrett is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and now lives in Northampton, Massachusetts with his family.

Featured Author of the Month: Kevin Henkes

Kevin Henkes (birthday November 27) is the featured author of the month!  Mr. Henkes has written many books for children including Bird Lake Moon, Junonia, and Olive's Ocean which was a 2004 Newbery Honor book.  His newest chapter book is The Year of Billy Miller.  He lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his family.

Watch meet-the-author videos at TeachingBooks.net and go In the Studio with Kevin Henkes.  Visit the library today to check out his inspiring books.

Featured Homework Resource

Ever wanted to learn another language?  Becoming bilingual (or multi-lingual!) is easier than ever with Mango Languages.

Mango Languages is an online language learning system that teaches actual conversation skills for a wide variety of languages.  Mango is completely web-based and is accessible anytime and anywhere you have access to the Internet.  Create an account to keep track of your lessons or just start learning!

Learn French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Icelandic, Pirate and many more!  Mango is always adding new languages to learn.

Try Mango Languages by visiting the library's homework help webpage.

Questions?  Visit the Children's Desk or call 401-847-8720 ext. 204 for more information. 

November Book Buddies Book

The Book Buddies Book Club will meet again on Monday, November 18th @ 3:45pm (NEW TIME!) to discuss our November book, Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute by Jarrett J. Krosoczka.  Copies of the book are available for check-out at the Children's Desk.

New members are always welcome!  To sign up for Book Buddies, visit the Children's Desk, call 401-847-8720 ext. 204 or email me at cgould@newportlibraryri.org.

The school lunch lady is a secret crime fighter who uncovers an evil plot to replace all the popular teachers with robots.