Need Craft Supplies?

--------------------------------------------------------------

Franklin Public Library received a huge donation of plastic jewel cases with cds (5000) and photo frame cards without envelopes (50,000) in cream, sky blue and black.

If anyone in the area would like some for craft purposes, they can contact Debbie Olguin(414.425.8214) to make the necessary arrangements.

Street Fiction

Check out this blogger who works for the Hennepin County Library System, working with corrections populations. Marcia Sarnowski found this blog, which is a bit of a followup to the last post about urban fiction, providing reviews of the books.

2008 Notable Wisconsin Children's Author!

This past spring, the YSS Children’s Book Award Committee chose Marybeth Lorbiecki as the 2008 Notable Wisconsin Children’s Author. She is being honored for her body of work, as the author of more than twenty titles for children. Several of her books bring history alive for younger readers, often tackling difficult subjects such as racism, war, the environment and guns. A few of her numerous prior awards include Children’s Choice List, Parents Choice Award, New York Public Library Pick of the Lists, and Notable Book Lists by the American Library Association. For more information about MaryBeth Lorbiecki’s books, visit the YSS Notable Authors/Illustrators page at http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/yss/BookAward/notablehome.htm

The members of the 2008 Children’s Book Award Committee, chaired by Leah Langby of the Indianhead Federated Library System in Eau Claire, include Sonja Nelson Ackerman, Wausau School District; Geri Ceci Cupery, E.D. Locke Public Library (McFarland); Kate FitzGerald-Fleck, Waukesha Public Library; Pat Freitag, Graham Public Library (Union Grove); Linda Jerome, LaCrosse Public Library and Susan Pesheck, River Falls Public Library. For more information about the work of the CBA Committee, and awards criteria, visit http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/yss/bookawardmain.htm

Take note: if you’re attending the WLA Fall Conference next month, free Burr/Worzalla Award stickers will be available, compliments of YSS!

Laurie Halse Anderson at Milwaukee Public Library, October 30!

Meet author Laurie Halse Anderson at the Milwaukee Public Library, 814 W. Wisconsin Ave, on Thursday, October 30, 12:00 – 1:00 for a brown bag lunch discussion.

She is in Milwaukee promoting her newest book, Chains. This event is reserved for library professionals and educators. She will be presenting to the general public at Schwartz in Mequon at 7:00 p.m. Oct. 30 http://www.schwartzbooks.com/events.php

Please e-mail Kelly Hughbanks at khughb@milwaukee.gov to register for the brown bag lunch.

AWARD WINNERS?

National Book Award Finalists:Young People's Literature

Laurie Halse Anderson, Chains (Simon & Schuster)
Kathi Appelt, The Underneath (Atheneum)
Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied (Scholastic)
E. Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (Hyperion)
Tim Tharp, The Spectacular Now (Knopf)

I'm sure a few of these titles will make their way to the finalist lists of the annual Mock Newbery/Caldecott/Prinz Award Election which is held in January in my System (WCFLS). I'd love to get a discussion going. Please comment!

Patron Attraction

The title of this post is not referring to that cute guy or girl who you noticed in the stacks the other day, but rather is the beginning of a question: what's your best method to attract patrons? Do you use conventional methods (school visits, newspaper blurbs, word-of-mouth, etc.)? Or do you have a secret up your sleeve?

And what about those more controversial methods? Check out this article from the NY Times:

New York Region
Urban Fiction Goes From Streets to Public Libraries
By ANNE BARNARD
Published: October 23, 2008
Many libraries are embracing a sometimes controversial genre of “street lit” in an effort to attract new readers.

Let's use the comments section to discuss!

Brain Food!

Brain Food – I’m talking intellectual brain food - the concept of feeding your brain good ideas, having your brain in the right environment and being around people that can help nourish your mind – is a concept in which I’ve been very interested. In fact, I’ve been thinking about writing about it for a while now, but ironically, when I’ve needed it most, it seems to have eluded me. I’m curious as to how people come up with great ideas, new ideas or the perfect solution.

Currently my library system is going through one of the worst budget years ever. And it’s not the first year, but definitely one of the worst that I remember. When faced with the same problems, but with fewer resources, I need a vast quantity of ‘brain food.’ Yet the problems and issues can be so huge at times they can almost be paralyzing.

Finally it struck me that a good dose of brain food isn’t too far away – Friday, October 17, is the last day for advanced registration to the WLA Annual Conference. If you haven’t already registered, quickly do so. I’m looking forward to the chance to get out of the office and leave behind all the little details and focus on some bigger picture issues, talk with colleagues, and hear some inspirational speakers. Check out what YSS has planned on the YSS blog http://yssevents.blogspot.com/ or the list of YSS sponsored sessions at the end of this message.

Just knowing that I have the opportunity to get some brain food at the conference has renewed me enough to get this message out to you. I look forward to seeing you there and sharing some brain food with you.

Kelly Hughbanks

2008 YSS Chair

Children’s Book Award winners at WLA Fall Conference

Don’t miss meeting the joint winners of the 2008 Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award at WLA’s Annual Fall Conference this coming November! That’s exactly one month away!

Author George Shannon, formerly a children’s librarian in Eau Claire, and illustrator Laura Dronzek, a resident of Madison, combined their formidable talents to create Rabbit’s Gift: a Fable from China (Harcourt, 2007). Their book was selected this spring as the most distinguished work in literature for children published in the previous calendar year written and/or illustrated by a Wisconsin book creator –in this case, both! Based on a traditional Chinese tale about friendship and giving, the simple language and richly colored illustrations complement each other beautifully in a story that exudes kindness. With its winter setting, it fits snugly into holiday reading lists and book displays for families with young children.

George and Laura will be featured in a conference session on Thursday, November 6, from 2:00 to 3:15 p.m. (in Salon F, according to the at-a-glance schedule found on WLA’s website). They will then be signing copies of their book in the Autograph Garden at 3:30 p.m.

Mention should also be made of the seven additional books recognized in 2008 for Outstanding Achievement by the Children’s Book Award committee. Three are novels: Circle the Truth by Pat Schmatz; Keeping Corner by Kashmira Sheth; and The Silenced by James DeVita. The remaining four, like Rabbit’s Gift, are picture books: Babies Can’t Eat Kimchee! by Susan Roth & Nancy Patz; The OK Book by Amy Krause, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld; The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend, illustrated by John Manders; and Terrible Storm by Carol Otis Hurst, illustrated by S. D. Schindler. For more information about these seven titles, follow the Outstanding Books link on the YSS Children’s Book Awards page and click on 2008 at http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/yss/BookAward/outstandinghome.htm#2008_Selections

Mock Award Ceremony

Franklin Public Library
Invites you to
Participate in Our
Mock Newbery & Caldecott
Elections

Monday, December 8th from 1:00-4:30 pm

• 12:30-1:00 Check-in, light refreshments
• 1:00- 2:30 Table discussions
• 2:30-2:45 Break, door prizes
• 2:45- 4:00 Sharing of discussions
• 4:00-4:15 Additional suggestions
• 4:15-4:30 Voting, door prizes

Public librarians, school librarians, teachers or educators from the area are invited to read the books prior to December 8th and then meet to discuss the books. We will vote and pick our very own winners! There are six tables with 10 books assigned to each table. I will make every attempt to accommodate your first table choice, but may have to assign you to another table in order to have all the books read. Each table will have a captain who will take notes from the table discussion and share those thoughts with the whole group.

Please feel free to bring other books that you believe may worthy contenders for either medal and we will have some sharing time at the end.

To register for this event, please email Debbie Olguin, Youth Services Librarian, at debbie.olguin@mcfls.org.
Please include your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice for your table assignment. Titles are listed below.

Table One
Bird Lake Moon by Kevin Henkes
Just Grace Walks the Dog by Charise Mericle Harper
Smiles to Go by Jerry Spinelli
Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor
Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak by Kay Winters
Old Bear illustrated by Kevin Henkes
I’m Bad illustrated by Kate McMullen
Owney, The Mail-Pouch Pooch illustrated by Lynne Barasch
Blue Goose illustrated by Nancy Tafuri
How Mama Brought the Spring illustrated by Holly Berry

Table Two
Cicada Summer by Andrea Beaty
Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park
My One Hundred Adventures by Polly Horvath
Tennyson by Lesley Blume
Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Hogwash illustrated by Arthur Geisert
If Animals Kissed Goodnight illustrated by David Walker
Tadpole Rex illustrated by Kurt Cyrus
Don’t Worry Bear illustrated by Greg Foley
Hello, Day! Illustrated by Anita Lobel

Table Three
Diamond Willow by Helen Frost
Jeremy Cabbage and the Living Museum of Human Oddballs and Quadruped Delights

by David Elliott
Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich
Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg
We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro League Baseball words and paintings by Kadir Nelson
Oodles of Animals illustrated by Lois Ehlert
I Get So Hungry illustrated by Amy Bates
In A Blue Room illustrated by Trica Tusa
The House in the Night illustrated by Beth Krommes
How I Learned Geography illustrated by Uri Shulevitz

Table Four
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Trouble by Gary Schmidt
Eleven By Patricia Reilly Giff
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
Grow: a Novel in Verse by Juanita Havill
A Kitten Tale illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Jumpy Jack and Googily illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Too Many Toys illustrated by David Shannon
Wabi Sabi illustrated by Mark Reibstein
Bees, Snails and Peacock Tails: Patterns and Shapes- Naturally illustrated by Steve Jenkins

Table Five
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Greetings From Nowhere by Barbara O’Connor
The Seer of Shadows by Avi
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
Duel!: Burr and Hamilton’s Deadly War of Words

written by Dennis Brindell Fradin and illustrated by Larry Day
The Brook Book: Exploring the Smallest Streams illustrated by Jim Arnosky
Building Manhattan illustrated by Laura Vila
My Friend the Starfinder illustrated by Stephen Gammell
What to do about Alice? How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove her Father Teddy Crazy!

Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
Twenty Heartbeats illustrated by Ed young

Table Six
Savvy by Ingrid Law
Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West by Sid Fleischman
Redheaded Princess: A Novel by Ann Rinaldi
The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School and Other Scary Things by Lenore Look
Friday My Radio Flyer Flew illustrated by Zachary Pullen
Never Take a Shark to the Dentist illustrated by John Nickle
Abe’s Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln illustrated by Kadir Nelson
The Wolves are Back illustrated by Wendell Minor
Duck Soup illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic

Franklin Public Library
9151 W. Loomis Rd.
Franklin, WI 53132
414-425-8214

The Pulse of Youth

For the past month or so, I’ve been receiving the Ypulse Daily Update: daily news and commentary about generation Y for media and marketing professionals, and, even better, Ypulse Books: insight, news and trends for the young adult and children’s book industry. Both yield fascinating info about tweens and teens. A recent post on Ypulse Books linked to an article written by Kate Macdonald Butler, the granddaughter of Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of the much loved Anne of Green Gables. In the article, part of a series in the Globe and Mail on the mental health crisis in Canada, Butler reveals that her grandmother took her own life. It is a powerful and touching story that you may want to share with older fans of the series. To subscribe go to www.books.ypulse.com

Public Radio Segment

Were you listening to To the Best of Our Knowledge this past Sunday? The first hour was about reading, literacy and libraries!

You can check out the episode by either listening or just reading the summaries of each segment. The featured author is Ursula K. LeGuin.

Edited to add: Ben Merens had an hour all about Banned Books Week on At Issue with Ben Merens (081002M): Books are continually censored for the ideas, themes, or words in them. After four, join Ben Merens and his guest in a discussion of books, censorship and intellectual freedom. Banned Books Week is September 27-October 4. GUEST: Judith Krug is the Director of the Office of Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association.

This program aired October 2 at 5 p.m.