Saturday, June 27, 2026

STEAM/Early Literacy Activity Calendar: Chemistry


Canva files for this activity

Specific Supplies
  • Vinegar
  • Baking soda
  • Paint
  • Trays with a lip
  • Droppers
  • Small plastic containers (individual serving size)
General supplies and tools
  • Aprons
  • Cleaning supplies
I had originally planned to do slime this week. I was insane. This was much simpler - some kids repurposed some paper projects left from a different program and painted on them, but they didn't try to take the vinegar-and-paint soaked paper home, so all was fine. Other than a strong smell of vinegar, and accidentally putting out too much supplies (leading to baking soda potions), it all went fine. I was offered a donation of about 1,000 little plastic cups (I think meant for applesauce) from a patron and I'm glad I broke my "no donations during renovations" rule and took them, because they were perfect for this!


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Friday, June 26, 2026

Picture Book Neighborhoods: Fun - Concepts


I've fiddled around with concept books a lot over the past, um, many years. At one point, long before I created picture book neighborhoods, I had a collection of concept books. After that, I distributed them throughout the collection with genre stickers. In my most recent update of the neighborhood collection, I created a separate section for them, which is specifically for those titles that are alphabet books, counting books, and a few on shapes and colors. I also created an updated concept sticker which I still use occasionally throughout the collection. Concept books are rather out of style now, so this is a small collection.

Storytime Picks

Titles I have reviewed

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Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Picture Book Neighborhoods: Fun - Bedtime stories


 I abbreviated this to "Bed". It's a pretty simple category, the only exception being that I have put some books that focus on bedtime routines or help with sleeping in the early childhood experiences or parenting collections.

Must-Haves, Classics, and Personal Favorites

Sleeping issues

Other titles I have previously reviewed



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Saturday, June 20, 2026

Picture Book Neighborhoods: Fun


 This has always been a "general" section. I didn't want to get trapped into putting every book with an animal in the animals, for example, and while I do put a few books with non-human characters or humorous plots into the sections on social-emotional learning and similar topics, I don't really think that's the main purpose of those titles. So I knew I would need a fallback section from the start. Generally speaking, most of the books are funny, although some just don't really fit anywhere else.

The main update to this section was that when I got rid of the holiday sections a couple years ago most of the books went here. I only put those titles into culture that talked specifically about the traditions of the holiday, not "funny Santa books". I think they have gotten better circulation here and with holiday stickers they're fairly easy to find. I don't really review holiday books and I feel that pretty much anything will circulate for the mainstream holidays, so I don't have any listed here.

Incidentally, you may notice that there's an overwhelming number of male authors in those with multiple titles. I do not believe this is because male authors are funnier...

A selection of new titles (added to this collection in 2026)

  • Donuts: The hole story by David Miles (teacher request)
  • I am not happy! by Caroline Perry
  • Wally Mammoth: The sled race & Hide-and-seek by Corey Tabor
  • I love you alotl, I love you so much by Su Youn Lee (Valentine's)
  • Little bunny's to-do list by Helen Zax (Easter)
  • There's something odd about the babysitter by Elayne Crain
  • 100 goats and granny! by Atinuke
  • Fire truck vs. dragon by Chris Barton (replacement)
  • Bunny in disguise by Cynthia Platt (Easter)
  • Bear, a man, and a donut van by Daniel Bernstrom
  • The bear ate your sandwich by Julia Sarcone-Roach (replacement)
  • Dangerous alphabet book by DK Ryland
  • Cyril and Pat by Emily Gravett (replacement)
  • Little Elliot, big city by Mike Curato (teacher request)
  • Big rhinoceros, little rhinoceros by Jerrold Connors
  • Don't eat Eustace by Lian Cho
  • I yam a donkey by Cece Bell (teacher request)
  • No more gnomes by Beth Mills
  • My tiger by Joy Cowley
  • Mousestache moosestache by Rowboat Watkins
  • Go bananas! by A. B. Peele (staff request for storytime)
  • Broccoli is trying to kill me by Katie Evans
  • How not to make a jelly sandwich Ross Burach

Authors with 4+ titles

Titles with multiple copies (usually a marker of popularity)
Recommended/Must Have titles
 - I have not checked that these are still in print -
Personal Favorites
Additional titles I have reviewed


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Friday, June 19, 2026

STEAM/Early Literacy Activity Calendar: Weather


 I have, so far, NOT lost the Canva files for this activity.

Specific Supplies

  • Tongue depressors with pre-punched holes
  • Paper straws
  • Brads
  • Punch pins
  • 6x6" double-sided origami paper
  • Sticks (hoarded, ahem, collected over several years)
  • yarn
  • ribbon
  • Burlap twine
  • crepe streamers
  • misc. metal washers, nuts, bolts, etc. (checked to remove anything sharp. probably.)
General supplies and tools
  • Scissors (regular and children's safety scissors)
  • Hole punches
  • Tape
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Rulers
  • Pencils
  • Markers & Crayons
The brads I initially got were colorful but crap. They could not possibly punch a hole through anything, let alone a paper straw. So I offered a choice between push pins and tongue depressors with the holes already in them. Things stayed more or less in order this time, except when a bunch of the brads and push pins got dumped into the bin of metal bits. Not many people actually made pinwheels, but quite a few made wind chimes or variations thereof and wind streamers or magic wands. There were also lots of random creations like paper masks, things made with sticks and popsicle sticks, and there was some glittery ribbon that was much appreciated. You can do a lot with tape.

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Sunday, June 14, 2026

Mid-June Update

Staff picture at our kick-off - our director, me, our
technical services librarian and our circulation manager.

 We had a very successful - and busy - summer reading kickoff and grand reopening. Around 275 people came through the youth department. The following Monday felt even busier; I was glad I changed the schedule to come in and help because only one staff person that morning would NOT have been nearly enough! We had to do the usual weekly opening tasks, finish setting up and start summer reading, take down everything left from Saturday, and start two drop-in programs.

I moved the programs I had planned to hold in the Activity Room into the Storyroom, since the sink is on that side. Some of them got pretty messy but they mostly stayed inside the room. I can already see some things that I will do differently next year and some changes that need to be made to the spaces. It's been almost nonstop traffic, excepting a few times with severe weather, but I am hoping things will slow down over the next few weeks so we can take a breath and finally start catching up on the backlog of work from the last year of renovations. I've got almost no pictures - it simply isn't possible to take pictures while working at this pace - hopefully patrons will send me a few, especially of the kick-off.

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Friday, June 12, 2026

STEAM/Early Literacy Activity Calendar: Seeds


I created files for this activity in Canva and they appear to have disappeared. I think I deleted them when I was writing the next ones.

Supplies
  • Expired seeds (also some old beans/lentils from my pantry and some cheap birdfood I purchased)
  • Cardstock and thin cardboard
  • Markers (brown/black) and crayons
  • Glue
  • Stencils
  • Tweezers
  • popsicle sticks
  • Bowls and platters
I really liked these pictures on krokotak of using seeds to fill in shapes cut in cardboard. However, I didn't think I could recreate them - the cardboard I had was too thin and I'd need to use my die-cut to make a large number, which would have flattened thicker cardboard. I spent a long time looking at possible alternates, thinking most of them were too thin. I ended up buying polyurethane sheets that were 1/2 an inch thick and then die-cutting shapes into them. In the end, people ended up just using them as stencils, drawing the lines inside them, so I might as well have just supplied plastic stencils. Nobody really used the tweezers - they just poured the seeds onto the glue.

I received seed donations from other libraries
who have seed libraries - the kids enjoyed 
investigating the plants and pulling the seeds off. 
Some of them just wandered off with whole dead plants.
I don't know what they were planning to do with them...


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Sunday, June 7, 2026

This month in the collection: May 2026


Library Pinterest
New Book Spotlight

*Unless otherwise noted, all items were purchased for or added to the library collection*

Board Books
Early Readers and Transitional Chapters
Beginning Chapter Books (new series)
  • Fairytale Ninjas: The glass slipper academy by Paula Harrison
Juvenile Fiction
Juvenile Nonfiction
  • Sparks fly by Henry Hazel (TAB voting choice)
  • Please pay attention by Jamie Sumner
Young Adult
  • Lie for a lie by Jennifer Donaldson (TAB voting choice)
  • Beckett Effect by Nashae Jones (TAB voting choice)
  • Limelight by Andrew Keenan-Bolger
    • Review copy received from Penguin. Teen review "I don't like reading but I loved this book."
  • My wonderful disgrace by Angourie Rice (TAB voting choice)
  • Cove by Claire Rose (TAB voting choice)

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Friday, June 5, 2026

Picture Book Neighborhoods: Community-School


 This section is very similar to a holiday section - the books pretty much only check out around August/September when kids are starting or going back to school. There are a lot more titles available than I have use for, but if teachers ask me for titles I do purchase them.

Homeschool

  • A thank you letter to my homeschool by Deb Adamson
  • Getting ready for... (series) by Vera Ahiyya
  • This is my home, this is my school by Jonathan Bean

Preschool/Kindergarten

Other

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Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Picture Book Neighborhoods: Community-Religion


Although this is labeled generally religion, and the divider for it shows symbols from several major faiths, it's primarily Christian and Bible stories. Originally, I had the Bible stories in the Tales (I'm still kind of surprised nobody ever complained) and religious-themed books scattered about, with a lot mixed into some older Community categories. The collection of Jewish materials is mostly just based on availability - there's very little Jewish presence/interest in my small community and after buying a few items I generally stopped as they rarely circulated.

As far as specific titles, I focus on purchasing items which will, first of all, circulate and, secondly, satisfy patrons who would otherwise complain about a lack of "Good Christian books" or request that I purchase overpriced paperbacks and other titles that are not a good fit in a public library collection. Due to this category, I've had many positive interactions with patrons that I think would otherwise have ended with a bad experience for both the library and the patron.

I do have a specific Pinterest board of "Christian interest" and when choosing books I try to purchase those that reflect inclusion and kindness rather than specific theological or political messages. I've found Beaming Books and Zondervan to be good publishers in this regard and for more general spirituality titles, Running Press has some great choices as well.

Non-Christian Religious Titles
Jewish titles
Most popular Christian titles
  • Just in case you ever wonder by Max Lucado
  • Mortimer's Christmas manger by Karma Wilson
  • Twirl & Build by Emily Lex
  • The biggest, best light by Daniel Darling
  • Sparrow's Easter garden by Roger Hutchison
  • The big wide welcome by Trillia Newbell
Most popular Bible stories
  • Read it, see it, say it, sing it: knowing and loving the Bible by Hunter Beless
  • Miracle Man: The story of Jesus by John Hendrix
  • Go and do likewise! The parables and wisdom of Jesus by John Hendrix
  • Read-Aloud Bible stories by Ella K. Lindvall
  • Fox walked alone by Barbara Reid
  • Exodus by Brian Wildsmith
  • Baby Moses in a basket by Caryn Yacowitz
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Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Summer programs


 This is what I have planned for this summer. I focused on a lot of drop-in events and those will need to be adapted as we settle into the new program spaces.

Self-directed programs, available during all open hours

  • Monthly scavenger hunt with stickers/tattoos as prizes
    • June - seeds/plants
    • July - insects
    • August - I spy out the windows
  • Summer reading
  • Read and Grow
Self-directed programs at specific times
  • Open Activity Room (ironically, I think I'm actually going to have to do these in the Storyroom lol)
    • Seeds
    • Weather
    • Chemistry
    • Heat
    • Birds
    • Jellyfish
    • Bubbles
    • Insects
    • Patterns
    • Maps
    • Cooperation
  • Storyroom Playgroup (and this will have to go in the Activity Room)
  • Family Board Game evening
  • Pokemon Hangout
Storytimes
  • Paws to Read (outside presenter)
  • We Explore Art
  • We Explore Storytime (outside presenter)
  • Family Storytime (outside presenter)
  • Wiggles and Words
  • Firefighter storytime (outside presenter)
Other events
  • Drive into summer (outside presenter)
  • Land of Stories (kick-off)
  • Plant a seed, read
  • Destination Imagination (outside presenter)
  • Youth D&D (run by adult services department)
  • Family Camp-out
Performers (only otherwise noted, events are at the Recreation department or summer school)
  • Dino Discovery
  • Science Heroes (library)
  • Rope Warrior
  • Madison Circus Entertainment
  • Will Branch musician
  • Figureheads music
  • Snake Discovery
  • Na Hale Studios
  • Science Assemblies (library)
Teen Events
  • This is a little tricky - I started sending these out at the beginning of the month and not putting them on the calendar. My plan was to have times for the teens to volunteer, a weekly time when they could hang out in the Create Space, and one or two TAB meetings where we decorated the teen space. However, the Create Space isn't ready and we don't have anything ready for TAB meetings either. So we'll see what happens.

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