More Library LOVE

I've finally made it to another library! I was really hoping to maybe go to the Colorado Springs library while out here, but we have been trying to cram in as much as possible. Maybe I'll swing by there when I have to go pick up the Kindle charger at Grandma's house tomorrow. Curses! I hate when I forget things like that. The Kindles have been LIFESAVERS this week with all the time in the car and plane. But that is neither here nor there for this blog!

This post's library? Algonquin Area Public Library. I know that several months ago I saw them as an award winning library for SOMETHING. But of course though I've searched for it, I can't find the award anywhere! So again, I hope that my pictures might do it a little bit of justice.

The Algonquin Library is another one of those amazing libraries. It is right behind the Target on Randall Rd. (that's just north of Algonquin Commons).
They do this great program called "1,000 Books Before Kindergarten." Now while this is a great program, sadly only those that are residents of this library can do it. =(

Something that my Master's buddies might appreciate, is that they have a thing called Reading Corner. It is a blog on different books that have been read in their book clubs. There are little synopses and some even have book trailers.

I don't think that their webpage is as good as Elmhurst Library's but they do have a list of area preschools for parents (which is helpful, trust me), recommended books for kids, and early literacy tips. You can find all this on their parent's page.

Now to the good stuff! The Children's Room!
Now just like Elmhurst, the whole basement is the children's area. I really liked how the chapter books and higher level books, were totally on the other side of the basement from the picture books. They have a great section for children's dvds and cds. They even had a section of books for us teachers! I always love that!

Now, even though it was in the basement, it didn't feel like a basement. They, too, did a great job putting in windows to make it airy and open. Here, in pictures, were some of my favorite things!





YES!!! A new favorite series! Of course I had to see how they had their series sets organized!

I really liked that they had these books separate from the others! So much easier to find them. =)

You know me and the cute, comfy chairs!

Cute summer reading theme: Have book, will travel. This was what they had up on the window for the kids!

My little man giving the setup a spin. I think he approved!

Let me know if you've been to Algonquin Library OR if you have a library that you think I need to go visit! (But don't tell me Elgin! I already know about that. Just have to get back there for some pics!)

Book Sales and Book Series

Have I mentioned that I love books?

Some might even call it an obsession. 

I'm sure that my husband has less choice words for my love of books. Especially every year when the Algonquin 'Friends of the Library' has its book sale. I can say that, hands-down, this is the best library book sale around. I would like to be able to give a review of the Algonquin Eastgate Branch Library, but being as that I have only been down in the basement to go to their book sales, I, sadly, cannot give a review that would have anybody running off to that library.

Unfortunately for me (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) every time I go I spend at least $15. Now mind you, 98% of the children's books are only a quarter. So when I go and spend my $15, I am getting 60 books. When the cost of a new hardcover book is around $15, I can live with this. The problem surfaces, as you can ask any of my colleagues, when I take the books back to school, because I just don't have any more room for my books. I have stacks of books, and even a box of books, stuck in random corners and shelves, just because I don't have any more room for them! My book bins are literally overflowing with books.

I have a problem. 

I know this. 

Yet I CANNOT stop going to these book sales and finding great, quality books for all my little pirates to read.

Books for my kiddos.

Another AMAZING thing about this book sale is that on the Tuesday after the sale, teachers can then go in, show their IDs and walk out of there with ANYTHING their little hearts desire. Including cds, dvds, playaways, adult books, and anything else you can check out of the library.

Don't worry. I have the next book sale dates available for you.
Thursday, October 31 - Sunday, November 3.
Hours: 4-8pm

Close-up of chapter books above.

If you go on Thursday, um Halloween, you do have to pay a $10 cover charge to enter into the amazingness early. My tip to you, is to go Friday when it opens, if you're planning on going. The good stuff gets picked over early. Gems are sometimes missed though.

But yes, that does mean that on Tuesday, November 5, it is another FREE DAY for teachers!!!! And really, who DOESN'T love free books?!?!

The last of the 60ish books.

Close-up of the chapter books from above.

Now onto the review. Has anyone out there read the Dear Dumb Diary, series by Jim Benton?
I bought one, ironically, at the last Algonquin Library book sale. I took it back to school, shared it with my kids, and put it in with all the other books. Several weeks later, I had two of my girls HARASSING me about this book. I don't know which book it is I have at school. All I know is that they were fanatical about it!

Do I have more? Why don't I have more? Can I get them more? Will I get them more from the library? Does the school library have them?
My answer: I DON'T KNOW!!!!

They were relentless. At this point, I just didn't have the time to pick up that book myself to read it. These two were two of my highest readers, and I figured that it must be pretty good for them to be haranguing me about it.
So when I was at the book sale on Friday afternoon, there was a good stack of the series there for sale. Well, duh, of course I'm going to buy them after being verbally attacked by my two girls at school. I obviously needed more and would have to read one myself. (You know, in between research reading for my master's.)

Well, after reading the first book in the series, I can honestly say IT WAS AWESOME! I wanted to call both of them up and tell them that I now understood why they liked it so much. It was so funny and sounded just like any typical girl would. The best part about that, though, is that the author is male! So that really gave me a good chuckle thinking about a guy writing this funny book.These are "Tales from Mackeral Middle School." They say they are at a 5th grade reading level, but obviously my 3rd graders got the humor. Probably 3rd through 6th or maybe 7th would be amused by it. I know I certainly was! What are others' opinions of this series?

And these are the few books that I got from the free day! A lot of them will be getting passed on to my MLIT friends because they would be too hard for my 3rd graders!

If you are interested in finding phenomenal book sales near you, check out this website!
http://www.booksalefinder.com/IL.html
It will send you emails when there are book sales close to you!

HAPPY BOOK SALE HUNTING!!!!

The Testing: A must-read for dystopian lovers!!!!

 

This book is AWESOME!!!! This book was recommended to me by a friend who went to the Literacy in Motion Conference at Judson University. This was one of the books that was booktalked there. 

I was told that this book was a combination of Hunger Games, Matched, and Divergent. I don't think it has much of Divergent in it, but it is definitely a good combo of Hunger Games and Matched. 

This is the first book, in what I'm guessing, will be a trilogy. It does have a very Hunger Games-esque feel about it, just with slightly less violence. Cia is the main character, and it's hard not to like her. She is very naive going into the whole test, but she learns lessons the hard way, very quickly. 

Now there were many people out there who did not like The Testing at all and found it to be very boring. There are parts in the story where more action could have been thrown in, but overall, the book kept me coming back for more. I put off doing my first speech for my master's to finish this book! What are other people's thoughts on this book?

If you are into Dystopian society books, this is definitely one to check out!

Taking Eve by Iris Johansen

I must say that I love Eve Duncan. She is a character in a series by Iris Johansen. Last year she put out 3 books in a row about Eve Duncan that had to do with the finale of Eve finding the killer of her daughter. I was worried that once Eve found her daughter's killer, that the Eve Duncan series would just dwindle away to nothing.

Excitingly enough for me, the first book of 3 that she had coming out this year about Eve Duncan was AWESOME! She left Taking Eve as a total cliffhanger. The next book comes out in 3 weeks and I'm already calculating how far down the library wait list I am to get the second book after it comes out. I think it's far! =(

The Eve Duncan series is in the mystery genre. I can honestly say that I can't recall an Eve Duncan book that hasn't kept me interested the whole way through. Eve is a forensic sculptor and the story of the loss of her daughter is a very engaging one. This book is definitely worth reading. But if you've never read a book in the Eve Duncan series, you should definitely go back and start at the beginning. It would definitely be worth your while. I wonder what others think about the Eve Duncan series?

Elmhurst Library LOVE

I am proud to announce that I have done my first library visit! It might be partial cheating, since it was KIND of the library that I went to growing up. But then again, it's not. Elmhurst  built a whopping multi-million dollar library probably waaaaaaay back when I was in college. SO, in actuality, I've only been to the NEW Elmhurst Public Library twice now.

And I must say that it is A-MAZ-ING!!!! I am totally that person who could just go and hang out in the library because it is just that peaceful there. Pre-children and husband, I would go just hang out in libraries and bookstores. I did used to ride my bike the 2-3 miles down the Prairie Path just to go to the library. Yep, I was totally that dork.
I can truly say that I was SAD that I am no longer a resident of Elmhurst, just so that I could use that beautiful library! Forget being closer to my dad. Forget being able to see old friends. All the trials and tribulations that come with selling a house would almost be worth it, just to use that library. Almost.


The first thing that you notice about the library is the windows. They. Are. Everywhere! In the children's room (okay, let's call it was it was - the children's FLOOR) the whole south wall, pretty much from floor to very high ceilings, were windows. Talk about a dream come true. (Sliiiight sidenote here: I LOVE windows - main reason I don't like to be in my windowless basement.) These windows looked out onto a very well manicured lawn with a park in the distance. It was just beautiful.

Now the majority of my focus will be about the children's room, just because that is now where I spend most of my time. It is so nice to be a teacher and a parent so that I have an excuse to be in there reading all those fabulous books!

This is the view walking into the children's area.

 Notice that there is fancy wood-looking decor all over in the picture. This theme is throughout the whole children's area. Even the story room DOORS were made to look like trees with handles that looked like a branch! And the little peekhole into the room was in the shape of a bird!

Yes, those are letters on the column. And I know it's probably hard-impossible to tell, but the fabric of those chairs have shadow dogs and randomly placed fish bones! Super cute and comfy!

Another brilliant feature of the children's room are the placement of the bookshelves. You can kind of tell from above that the bookshelf curves. That is one massive bookshelf that curves around this one section in the children's area that holds all the picture books. The brilliant part of it is that you can then keep all your kids corralled in this area and be comforted in knowing right where they are! There are also several tables and chairs in this area (that is actually very large) and puzzles to entertain the young'ns.
I am so not doing this library justice. But I also thought it was really cool that you can check out bags with puppets or bags with puzzles! There's no excuses for parents anymore! I. LOVE. IT!!!! It doesn't cost a thing!

Alright, I'm going to wrap up my obsessings over my former library now. Wipe the drool off my chin and continue on with life. The last thing I'll talk about is all the amazing pamphlets I took/stole with an assortment of genres to address the developmental interests of boys and girls. I had to stuff them in my purse so I wouldn't look like a COMPLETE nutball.

Here is a link to the Kids' Library at Elmhurst Public Library. They do have printable versions of the aforementioned lists, by grade level. Go see them now and fall in love with Elmhurst Library the way I did! Again...

http://www.elmhurstpubliclibrary.org/Kids/

Library thoughts...

Libraries! 

I love to meander through libraries and explore what each one has to offer. Since I've become a parent, what I look for has changed slightly now that I have other people to please besides myself. 

So now, instead of looking for a comfy couch to settle into, I have to look at the little joys from the eyes of a child:
Can I find books? Are there pretty/funny/adventurous/colorful things to look at? What can I get into? Are there computers? Are there animals to entertain me? WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?!?!? 

Good thing I love books for ALL ages. Let the fun begin...