Planning next year at the library: Goals and program layout

Since I'm trying to plan many new things, I thought "hey, why not crowd-source?" So, this is my new mission statement, goals, and objectives for the youth services department (not final!) and my layout of programs for January - May. All suggestions, thoughts, criticisms, gratefully received...I'm especially always worried that I'm not underplanning or overplanning - it's hard to know what's a balance of programs, you know?

Mission Statement

The mission of the Youth Services Department of the Matheson Memorial Library is to provide informational, educational, and recreational services, in a friendly and supportive setting, to all families, children, and caregivers of the Elkhorn community. These services are available through quality materials and programs offered by a friendly and knowledgeable staff in a comfortable and welcoming environment. The Youth Services Department serves as a family gathering place focused on educating, enriching, and entertaining the families, children, teens, and caregivers of the public.

Department Goals

• Serve all age groups with a variety of programs.
• Serve all families and caregivers with a broad programming schedule
• Make the Youth Services Department a destination by offering a welcoming, fun, and enriching environment

2014/2015 Objectives

• Offer programs for each time slot (morning, afternoon, early evening, late evening)
• Offer a wider variety of programs for early childhood; active/movement programs and programs directed at smaller groups.
• Offer a wider variety of school-age programs, specifically for smaller groups, which will enable us to build relationships and encourage use of the collection
• Revive middle school and teen programs, creating simple, sustainable programs that build on school-age program participants
• Expand outreach to four year olds to build an audience for the preschool programming schedule.

How Will We Get There? Meeting Objectives

• Alternate programs in time slots so we can offer more variety (monthly/bi-monthly instead of weekly)
• Alternate programs - storytime/dance program/art program etc. instead of the same program every week
• Stagger programs - don’t start everything all at once, put in gaps when I know there will be heavy calls for outreach (end of October, end of April)
• Start with one middle school program (reviving middle school madness) and creating a teen volunteer program

• Implement a planning schedule to streamline marketing, budgeting and create better long-term evaluation of programming and build word-of-mouth interest in programs
• November (Thanksgiving) finalize plans for January - May
• April (after big party) finalize plans for June - August
• August finalize plans for September - December

Library programs	Staff	Audience	Day	Time	Frequency	Avg. Att.
Pattie's C.A.F.E.	Pattie	0 to 5	M	10 to 12	Monthly, 1st Monday	20
Moms with Multiples	Pattie	0 to 5	M	10 to 12	Monthly, 2nd Monday	15
Playgroup with Pattie	Pattie	0 to 5	M	10 to 12	Monthly, 4th Monday	20
Tiny Tots	Pattie, Associate	0 to 5	M	6:30 to 7:30	Weekly	15
Bookaneers	Jennifer	6 to 8	M	6:30 to 7	Monthly, 4th Monday	5
Toddlers 'n' Books	Pattie	0 to 5	Tues	10 to 12	2 sessions weekly	25
Preschool Interactive	Jennifer	3 to 5	W	1:30 to 3	Twice monthly	20
Winter Wigglers	Jennifer	0 to 5	W	10 to 12	Monthly	20
We Explore Nature	Jennifer	3 to 5	W	10 to 12	Monthly (no 4K)	20
Middle School Madness	Associate	11 to 13	W	3 to 5	Weekly	10
Books 'n' Babies	Pattie	0 to 2	Thur	10 to 12	Weekly	20
Lego Club	Jennifer	All	Thur	3:30 to 5:30	Twice monthly	35
Messy Art Club	Jennifer	All	Thur	3:30 to 5:30	Monthly	40
Mad Scientists Club	Jennifer	All	Thur	3:30 to 5:30	Monthly	35
Family game night	Pattie	0 to 5	Thur	6:30 to 7:30	Monthly	10
We Explore Science	Pattie	0 to 5	F	10 to 12	Monthly	40
We Explore Favorite Artists	Jennifer	3 to 5	F	10 to 12	Twice monthly	20
Special Programs
Saturday kick-off	Pattie, Jennifer		Sat	10:30 to 11:30	January
Angry Birds	Jennifer	All	F	4 to 5	January	25
Paws to Read party	Jennifer	All	F	4 to 5	February	25
Dr. Seuss party	Jennifer	All	F	4 to 5	February	35
Annual Spring Break T-Shirt Party	Jennifer	All	F	4 to 5	March	40
Under the Sea	Pattie, Jennifer	3 to 5	W	10 to 12	April	200
Fancy party	Jennifer	All	F	4 to 5	May	35
Muffins with Mom	Jennifer	All	Sat	10:30 to 11:30	May	25
Outreach
TLC	Jennifer	3 to 5	W	1:30/9:30-11	4 classes monthly	45
Step Ahead	Jennifer	3 to 5			field trip to library in April
Lakelands Little Learners	Jennifer	3 to 5	W/F		4-6 monthly visits
Tibbets	Jennifer	5 to 6	Tues		3 classes monthly
Jackson/West Side	Jennifer	5 to 6	F	10 to 11	6-8 kindergarten classes	200
Jackson/West Side/Tibbets	Jennifer	8 to 12	Tues	8 to 12	approx. 10 teams	100
Jackson/West Side/Tibbets	Jennifer				9 to 12 fifth grade classes	250
Jackson/West Side/Tibbets/EAMS sixth grade	Jennifer
Homeschool	Jennifer
Stealth Programming
Paws to Read (winter)
1,000 books before kindergarten
Take home bags
Activity table
Culver's coloring contest
Birdwatching station

This Week at the library; or, Settling down to work

This is a lame display. It was supposed to be a tree with
apples and pumpkins along the ground. It was supposed to be
up in September. At least the stuff is laminated. Next year...

What's going on: In my head and at the library

• This week's projects were planning programs for November/December, updating the last bits of publicity, continuing to work on neighborhoods, and starting to put together a departmental mission, goals, and objects as well as a tentative calendar for next year. I was also training a new aide and beginning a serious battle against the Decay of Order in my department. Spirit Animals after Superheroes?? What were you thinking??
• And, of course, end of the month reports! They seem to take more and more time...am I turning into....Management? Augh!

Programs

• Pattie's C.A.F.E.
• Toddlers 'n' Books (2 sessions)
• Middle School Madness
• Books 'n' Babies
• Mad Scientists Club: Force and Motion

What the kids are reading

• Wanted a Magic Tree House book, but both copies were checked out. Wanted a book they saw at the book fair, but all they had was "elementary...it had a boy...and stuff" we finally settled on Down Girl and Sit and Scary Tales.
• Wanted "a book on what to take if you travel to Japan" but settled for books about Japan.
• Neighborhoods are definitely showing me what's needed - I had a run on tractor books on Tuesday and was completely cleaned out.
• Amulet (2 requests)
• Bone (2 requests)
• Minecraft - I think they wanted the graphic novels, but they're going to have to be satisfied with the many, many handbooks I purchased. I am highly suspicious of those bindings.
• Stupid lexiles. 11 yr old girl looking for 1000 level lexiles. Lexiles suggests My Most Excellent Year, lots of nonfiction, thick classics, etc. We finally settled on Robinson's The Best School Year Ever.
• Who was Ferdinand Magellan - I have absolutely nothing on him. I need to fill in this series.
• Ready Freddy - firehouse fun, I'm missing this one
• Mickey Mouse books - I'll look for some next time I buy tub books
• MORE people want tractor books!
• Talking to the teens about starting an anime collection next year and adding more manga - requests for Black Butler

El Deafo by Cece Bell

Cece Bell tells of her childhood experiences with school, friendship woes, and everyday family life with the added complication of her deafness.

When she was four, she had Meningitis and it left her severely deaf. She spends kindergarten at a school for the deaf, learning to lip-read and adjust to her hearing aid, but then her family moves and she has to go to a regular school. She also gets a "Phonic Ear" a bulky, heavy hearing aid that connects to a microphone worn by the teacher. It's great that she can hear so clearly, but the Phonic Ear makes her feel self-conscious and isolated. She struggles with friendships, first with a girl who doesn't make a big deal out of her deafness, but is pushy and possessive, then with a girl who is fun to be with but makes a big deal out of her deafness. Finally, she discovers a younger girl in her neighborhood who is her perfect friend, but disaster strikes and their friendship is broken.

Throughout her trials and tribulations, she has her fantasies to sustain her, especially once she realizes she can hear her teacher anywhere in the school - even the bathroom! The story ends with her reconciling with her friend, possibly connecting with her crush, and becoming El Deafo, the superhero, not just to herself but to her widening circle of friends.

Bell's art has the strong lines and colorful palette that kids picking up this type of graphic novel look for, but she skilfully shows her isolation and confusion with the blank expressions on people's faces and the spurt of nonsense syllables filling the backgrounds as she tries to adjust to her different hearing aids.

A lot of people, librarians included, are comparing this to Raina Telgemeier and touting it as a read-alike. Telgemeier herself blurbed the book as well. I disagree with this for several reasons:

• El Deafo covers preschool through fifth grade - Smile goes from fifth grade to middle school
• Younger kids won't think anything of the choice to portray all the characters as rabbits, but the majority of older elementary and middle school readers won't pick up a book with anthropomorphic animals, because it looks "babyish"
• Telgemeier's art, like Bell's, is very clean-cut and easy to follow, lots of clear lines, expressive faces, etc. However, Bell's rabbit faces have much more limited expressiveness than human faces and she has a much more subdued palette, with lots of earth tones and lighter colors.

While I'm game to recommend anything that will get kids reading, and I'll certainly have a shot at suggesting this to younger fans of Telgemeier, they're apt to be disappointed. This is more likely to resonate with younger readers navigating elementary school, than those who are looking towards middle school.

Verdict: While I don't think this is a good fit for the way it's being publicized, I do think it's a really good portrayal not only of how one person dealt with being deaf but also with the everyday joys and despairs of elementary school. Recommend this to kids not quite ready to tackle Telgemeier or Myracle and to those who want stories about "real kids". If you can get them to look past the rabbits, they'll really enjoy it! Recommended.

ISBN: 9781419710209; Published 2014 by Amulet/Abrams; Purchased for the library

Read, Read, Read, said the Baby: Up Close by Gay Wegerif

[This review has been edited and republished]

This is a cute idea, but too abstract for a really successful board book.

The first page says "Up close I see your [shape, body part, such as "round snout"]. You are a..." The next page shows several shapes, as on the cover, to create an abstract of an animal. The final page of the triad says the animal's name. Kids would enjoy identifying the shapes and colors, but the images are far too abstract to really identify the animals, especially for the babies and toddlers who are the audience for board books.

It's not a bad book - it's a clever idea and little ones enjoy shapes and colors and a good reader could make this a fun interactive experience, but it's not really developmentally appropriate and one of my pet hobby horses for board books is that they're created for a much older and more sophisticated audience - if the concept is too difficult or abstract for the average toddler, it should be a picture book, not a board book.

Verdict: An additional purchase, if you need more board books.

ISBN: 9781419703911; Published 2013 by Harry N. Abrams; Borrowed from another library in my consortium

Nonfiction Monday: Park Scientists by Mary Kay Carson, photographs by Tom Uhlman

Park Scientists is another entry in the award-winning Scientists in the Field. This book visits three different national parks and examines two scientific studies of natural phenomena and wild animals in each park.

The book opens with a map of all the national parks in the United States (and now I want to go up north to the only one near Wisconsin - Isle Royale!) and a brief introduction to how scientists use national parks.

The first park is Yellowstone. We start with the facts - "How big? How old? How Busy?" as well as "Reasons to go" and websites to find out more about the park and its attractions. The chapter on Yellowstone examines two facets of the park - the famous geysers and the grizzly bears. The reader follows two geologists, who are also park rangers, as they keep a close eye on the geysers and the volcano that fuels them. Additional information about geysers is included in inset boxes and in a full spread. The second chapter on Yellowstone features grizzly bears and a wildlife biologist who does research in Yellowstone. This chapter includes information about the history of bears in Yellowstone and how contemporary scientists are studying them as well as the challenges they - and the bears - face.

The second park is Saguaro. After the initial facts, there is a chapter on Gila monsters, the largest indigenous reptile in the US. Herpetologists are studying the Gila monster not only to gather information on this elusive animal, but also to track their well-being in the park. The chapter includes information on citizen scientists, helping to track the Gila monster, which ties into the next chapter on the saguaro cactus, which is also being tracked by citizen scientists. This chapter includes a lot of historical information, as the study of a section of these cacti (Section 17) is "one of the longest-running annual monitoring programs for any species in the U.S. national parks.

The third park featured is the Great Smoky Mountains national park. We first meet a biologist studying salamanders, specifically red-cheeked salamanders, with attention to projections as to whether their population will survive the rapidly changing temperatures in their small habitat. The second chapter features fireflies and scientist Lynn Faust who first reported the unique phenomena of synchronized flashing, previously thought to exist only in Asian fireflies.

The book ends with a glossary of "words to know", a brief bibliography, and an index.

Verdict: I didn't feel as though I got to know the scientists as well in this volume, since there were so many different groups of them, but I definitely learned interesting things about the three national parks. This will not only appeal to kids interested in science and animals, but also to parents planning family trips to national parks. A great entry in the series that's a definite must for your library.

ISBN: 9780547792682; Published 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Purchased for the library

This week at the library; or, This is winter? Oh, there it is.

What's going on, in my head and at the library

• I finished my class on youth services management this week. It was really helpful - I learned a lot of useful things, both theoretical and practical, and I am going to be working on creating a general mission and goals as well as some concrete objectives for my department now.
• I really need to remember to just block out the end of October for outreach. I tried contacting all the teachers at the beginning of the school year, but I guess their schedules are too iffy and it seems like they all show up at the end of October at once!
• Our school district is working on an initiative called Project R.E.A.D. They had Dr. Navsaria this Tuesday as part of the program and I set up a table to promote the library as a resource. I had orange butterfly masks to decorate and lots of orange pumpkins and orange and black circles. I mostly reconnected with a lot of families I hadn't seen in a while, so that was good.
• We are lucky to have a staff work day and even luckier that it usually lands on October 31 or thereabouts so I don't have to decide whether or not to do anything for Halloween! Our big project this year was getting started on RFID. Well, it's better than the year we cleaned the basement...I was working on neighborhoods anyways. I conquered the Cs and several miscellaneous stacks! We work from 9-3, which gives us an early day. 
• Unless you're working Saturday, like me, in which case you work a 40+ hour week. I went in early after breakfast with my friend. She got breakfast, but then she had to help move tables and computers. I'm still trying for a good layout of the teen area. I also put out table tents trying to tactfully steer teens out of the children's area and adults out of the teen area.
• We also had a special...thingy...for donors on Sunday. I volunteered to give behind-the-scenes tours, as long as I wasn't expected to get dressed up and mingle with the fancy people or anything (this is why I'm not the head of a department in a larger library system. I have no social graces)
• BLOG NEWS: I've decided to simultaneously start a new feature but also cut back a little. Read, Read, Read said the Baby (my board book reviews) will now be posted on Wednesdays and alternate with Small Readers (my new easy reader series) which is a nod to some of my favorite childhood easy readers like Small Pig and Little Bear. So, my review schedule will look like this:
• Monday: Nonfiction (easy to middle grade)
• Wednesday: Read, Read, Read, Said the Baby (board books) OR Small Readers (easy readers)
• Friday: fiction (picture books, beginning chapter books, middle grade)
• Saturday: This week at the library
• Sunday: RA RA READ or other features (irregular)

Programs

• Playgroup with Pattie
• Tiny Tots
• Toddlers 'n' Books (2 sessions)
• We Explore Favorite Artist Eric Carle (2 sessions)
• October Outreach: Autumnal Animalia (1 session)
• Middle School Madness
• 1st grade school visit (2 sessions)
• Books 'n' Babies
• Messy Art Club: Monster Boxes

What the kids are reading

• Animal books for a kindergartener - yay neighborhoods!
• Uh....I know I was asked for other stuff but this week was a little exhausting, so I don't really remember...

Nest by Esther Ehrlich

When I saw the reviews mentioning things like "heartfelt" and "sings with heart and emotion" my first thought was "I bet her mom dies." However, I decided to read it anyways, because I loved the cover art.

SPOILER: Yep.

Naomi "Chirp" loves her family and their life on Cape Cod. She doesn't always get along with her older sister Rachel and her psychiatrist father doesn't understand her need for quiet and privacy with his insistence on everyone talking things out and sharing, but she is close to her mother, who loves to dance and she has her birds and the natural world that she loves to observe.

Then her mother gets sick. Everything changes and gets worse and worse. The small things that didn't matter before; being the only Jewish family in her school, her mom's more avant garde life compared to the more conservative, suburban moms, the boys next door she's supposed to stay away from, all become magnified. Her parents struggle to handle her mother's degenerative disease but her mother spirals into depression and is hospitalized. When she comes back, she doesn't seem like Mom anymore and everyone walks on eggshells, trying to preserve their fragile family. It's not enough and tragedy ultimately strikes. Chirp feels abandoned and separated from her remaining family and the friendship she thought she had with Joey next door. It takes some painful experiences before she is able to reconnect and begin the grieving process.

The historical setting of the book is referenced in mentions of the Vietnam war, occasional protests, and some pop culture, but I don't think most kids will really grasp any of those references except possibly the war. For me, the father's treatment of his wife, as he "analyzes" her issues in an extremely paternalistic fashion and eventually commits her to a mental hospital, where she undergoes electroshock therapy that radically changes her personality, was the most glaring historical note. How many kids will know about mental treatments of the 60s and 70s? Not many.

There's a secondary story line with Joey, the boy next door, who forms a friendship with Chirp and then attacks her when he feels betrayed. This story line wasn't really followed up; at the end, there's some indications that his brothers will protect him from his father's physical abuse, but nothing definite. This is not a book for kids who want a strong plot with all the ends neatly tied up; Chirp's story ends as she comes to a point where she's ready to begin grieving for her mother and coming to terms with her death and there are no easy answers to the family issues of anyone in the story.

Generally, I'm not much a fan of this type of historical fiction (or any historical fiction really) but I do try to buy a couple of these books a year for the girls who love, love, love this kind of book. This is definitely a two-kleenex box story and I have to admit that by the halfway mark I was wanting her mother to just DIE ALREADY so we could have one burst of cathartic grief. But that's just me - I feel uncomfortable with books (or any media) that I feel is trying to emotionally manipulate me.

This is a real tearjerker but also has some sharp insights into life and dealing with grief as Chirp struggles to come to terms with her mother's illness and sudden, shocking death. Her feeling of separation will definitely strike a chord with kids who are just starting to find their own identities and feel different (and what kid at that age doesn't?) from those around them.

Verdict: If, like me, you only buy a couple of this type of book every year (beautifully written historical fiction featuring girls whose mothers die and who are obsessed with the natural beauty of the world around them) this should definitely be one of them. I wouldn't be surprised to see it showing up on some award lists. 

ISBN: 9780383386074; Published 2014 by Wendy Lamb Books/Random House; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library

Small Readers: Meet Monster by Ellen Blance and Ann Cook, illustrated by Quentin Blake

As you can see, I am beginning a new feature! Small Readers will be reviews of easy readers and they will alternate with Read, Read, Read, said the Baby (board books) on Wednesday. So, I will be back to three reviews a week. As I get started, I'm going to bring back some of my older easy reader reviews for another look. Enjoy!

[Originally published in 2011. No edits have been made.]

Sometimes when we meet an old book friend, we're disappointed. The book we remembered was so much more magical, so much better-written. We look back at it with an adult's eyes and...it just doesn't measure up.

Happily, that is not the case with the reprinting of Ellen Blance and Ann Cook's beloved Monster stories. Monster is every bit as purple and his adventures are every bit as delightfully logical, with the logic of a child's mind, just as I remember.

All six easy readers are collecting in one tidy volume with each book as a chapter. In the first book, we meet Monster. He's tall and purple and has a skinny head and he looks at everything in the city. Finally, he packs his things and comes to stay. So, naturally, in the second story he must find a house that is just right for him - not too small, not too messy, not too big. Now that he has moved in, it's time for him him to clean house! Everything looks fine and he's ready for book five; finding a friend. After lots of looking, he finds a small boy who is happy to be his friend and comes to live with him. In the final chapter, he and his new friend find a lady monster and a magic umbrella.

Quentin Blake's classic illustrations are the perfect background to the stories of Monster. They have a child's logic; if you find a friend, of course he comes to live with you. If you are a monster, you need a big tall house. You don't just clean things, you clean them for a reason - so the bedroom gets cleaned so you don't have to clean it while people are sleeping. The bathtub gets cleaned so when you pour the water in it's not dirty.

The abrupt changes in plot - one minute Monster is delightedly meeting a lady monster, the next minute they are playing soccer, and then suddenly it's raining and they have a giant magic umbrella - are all a perfect blend of a child's narrational train and the gentle hand of the authors creating a readable and simply expressed story.

Verdict: I am so happy they brought these stories back into print - they are classic easy readers and would make a great choice for a beginning reader book club or springboards for writing your own Monster stories!

ISBN: 978-07614-5648-3; Published April 2011 by Marshall Cavendish; Purchased for the library

Read Scary: Nonfiction Monday: When Lunch fights back: Wickedly Clever Animal Defenses by Rebecca L. Johnson

This is awesome. It's definitely going to be on my list of "freaky weird animal books" that I take to schools in the spring.

The introduction talks briefly about the life-or-death struggle to survive and references the basic common defenses, but there's so much more out there...

Each chapter begins with a tense narrative of attack and defense, with basic information on the animal and cool photographs. The next section explains the science behind the defense with plenty of quotes from scientists and even some discussion of how the creature's defenses may be used in science.

The animals discussed include a hagfish, African hairy frog, Spanish ribbed newt, termites, hoopoe chicks, fulmar chicks, mantis shrimp, horned lizard, two-spot fish and even black mustard plants. Defenses range from slime and spurting blood to spraying poop and clever chemical ruses.

Back matter includes an author's note, bibliography, print and web sources (including videos of animal defenses in action) an index and source notes.

What sets this book apart from the usual "gross and weird animals!" books that are so popular is the emphasis on the science behind the defenses and the larger context of how the animals and their defenses fit into their habitats and affect the creatures around them. Of course, there's plenty of creepy and gross pictures, which doesn't hurt either!

Verdict: This will certainly appeal to the kids who like the "weird animals" genre, but it's got even more information that will grab science-minded kids and even adults! Highly recommended.

ISBN: 9781467721097; Published 2014 by Milbrook/Lerner; Purchased for the library

Read Scary

Welcome to my private meme, collecting all the scary books I review in October. Join me! Just post your scary book review in the comments and I'll collect them here. You can add "Read Scary" to your title and labels as well. Check out the comments for more suggestions and other blogs running similar memes.

Petrifying Picture Books

• Literally Disturbed: Tales to keep you up at night by Ben Winters (Stacking Books)
• Ten orange pumpkins by Steven Savage and Not very scary by Carol Brendler (Great Kid Books

Eerie Easy Readers

• Bramble and Maggie: Spooky Season by Jessica Haas
• You Read to me I'll read to you: Very short scary stories to read together by Mary Ann Hoberman and Monster School by Dave Keane (Great Kid Books)

Baleful Beginning Chapters

• Waiting for something scary!

Monstrous Middle Grade

• The Cryptids: The Loch Ness Monster by Jean Flitcroft
• Secrets of the Ancient Gods: Hades Speaks! By Vicky Shecter

Terrifying Teens

• Zombies Calling by Faith Erin Hicks
• My Boyfriend is a Monster: I love him to pieces by Evonne Tsang

Eerie Oddities

• Where's Boo? by Salina Yoon
• Duck and Goose find a pumpkin by Tad Hills