Baseball

Opening Day has arrived and the baseball season has officially begun!  You can learn all about baseball from Baseball: The Game and Beyond and get information on New England's Major League Baseball team the Boston Red Sox.

If you are interested in going to a game a little closer to home, check out the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Newport Gulls.

For a great book to get you geared up for baseball season try:

Ballpark: The Story of America's Baseball Fields by Lynn Curlee

From the first ballpark converted from an ice rink in 1862 to the space-aged Houston Astrodome to the league's newest state-of-the-art stadiums, this book tells the history of baseball through its ballparks. As America changed so did its ballparks, and their various architectural forms helped shape the game we know today.

School Vacation Week Activities

Looking for some fun things to do over school vacation?  Visit the library!

On Monday, April 15th @ 2:30pm Casey Farm will be bringing a chicken and several baby chicks to the library for a special presentation.  Find out all about the life cycle of birds and how chicks are hatched and raised on the farm!  No registration is required - just drop in.  Held in the lower level program room.

On Wednesday, April 17th @ 10:30am kids ages 9 - 12 will explore different style and media in an interactive, hands-on art class provided by KidzArt.  Registration IS required - if you want to come stop by the children's desk or call 401-847-8720 ext. 204.




On Saturday, April 20th @ 2:00pm kids ages 8+ are invited to an origami workshop.  Learn how to make origami flowers!  Registration IS required - sign up at the Children's Desk or call 401-847-8720 ext. 204.



Have a safe and happy school vacation!

Rhode Island Children's Book Award Nominees 2014

King of the Mound, our April book, is one of the Rhode Island Children's Book Award nominees for 2014.  Check out the full list of nominated books and start reading today! 

Reading Week

This week, April 8 - 12, is Reading Week!  This year's theme is "Dig Deep: Unearth a Good Book" which matches our 2013 summer reading theme, "Dig Into Reading."  Stay tuned in the coming weeks for details about this year's Summer Reading Program and in the meantime get into the spirit of things with these books you can really dig into:

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R. L. LaFevers
Twelve-year-old Theo uses arcane knowledge and her own special talent when she encounters two secret societies, one sworn to protect the world from ancient Egyptian magic and one planning to harness it to bring chaos to the world, both of which want a valuable artifact stolen from the London museum for which her parents work.

Holes by Louis Sachar
As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

Leepike Ridge by Nathan Wilson
While his widowed mother continues to search for him, eleven-year-old Tom, presumed dead after drifting away down a river, finds himself trapped in a series of underground caves with another survivor and a dog, and pursued by murderous treasure-hunters.

April Author: Wes Tooke

Wes Tooke is the wonderful author of our April book, King of the Mound.  He was raised in Boston but now lives in Los Angeles with his family.  Find out all about him at his website and read a terrific interview at Boys Rule Boys Read!

Wes Tooke is also the author of:

Lucky: Maris, Mantle, and My Best Summer Ever (2010)

Louis, who loves baseball despite being the worst stickball player in White Plains, New York, sees his opportunity to be bat boy for the 1961 Yankees team as the perfect way to escape the problems of his father's remarriage and moving to the suburbs.

April Featured Author of the Month

Gary Soto (birthday April 12) is an acclaimed Mexican-American author and is the featured author of the month!  Mr. Soto has written many books for children and young adults including Baseball in April and Other Stories, Hey 13!, and The Cat's Meow.  He also writes poetry, biographies and picture books for younger readers.

Find out all about him and read an interview. Visit the library today to check out his amazing books.

April is National Poetry Month!

Do you like poetry?  If you do, you are in luck because April is National Poetry Month! Visit the Children's Poetry Archive or learn how to write a funny poem of your own!

You can visit Word Mover to create original poems, read hilarious poems at Giggle Poetry, and get your poetry juices flowing at the Poetry Idea Engine.

Find out all about J. Patrick Lewis, the current Children's Poet Laureate, and read some of his amazing poetry books:

World Rat Day: Poems About Real Holidays You've Never Heard Of
Poems about holidays you've never heard of including Firefly Day, Worm Day, Dragon Appreciation Day, and National Skunk Day.

Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs (by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen)
Morbidly-humorous, pun-filled, illustrated epitaphs for animals that poetically describe how they met their ends.






Or watch for these new or forthcoming poetry books at the library!

Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems by Marilyn Singer
A collection of short poems called reversos which, when reversed, provide new perspectives on the fairy tale characters they feature.

We Go Together: a Curious Selection of Affectionate Verse by Calef Brown
A collection of illustrated poems of love and friendship teeming with wit, whimsy, and wordplay.

Shiver Me Timbers: Pirate Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian
19 pirate poems including scoundrels, scalawags, and scurvy dogs.

The President's Stuck in the Bathtub: Poems About the Presidents by Susan Katz
The lives of the presidents are served up as fact-filled and fanciful poems.

And be sure to stop in and see our National Poetry Month book display.  Happy National Poetry Month!