In short, I am busy: We Explore Artist Tom Lichtenheld

Art Project Part 1: Sketching
I encouraged the kids to sketch out their ideas with pencils and erasers. I had lots of pictures of Tom Lichtenheld's art processes from Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

Supplies

• pencils, erasers, paper

Storytime

• Sing by Joe Raposo
• Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton
• Ten rules of the birthday wish by Beth Ferry
• Exclamation point by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Art Project Part 2: Colored pencils
The kids color their drawings with colored pencils; there are also activity sheets.

Supplies

• watercolor pencils
• bleeding art tissue paper
• water, paint brushes
• paper (thick/stiff works best)

Resources

• Tom Lichtenheld's website
• Seven Impossible Things

Evaluation

• 8-19-26
• I've only done this once before - it generally works better with older kids. I just read a couple stories (Sing, Shark vs. Train, and This is a moose) and then we used watercolor pencils and bleeding art tissue paper.
• 6-28-19
• Attendance: 21
• Notes: I taped the samples of works in progress to a table for the kids to look at. I forgot to bring over toys for the little ones again. Most attendees stayed until 3 and had a great time.

STEAM Activities: Pattern Play

  Canva links to resources and posters

Specific supplies

• colored tape (thin masking tape)
• shape stickers

General supplies

• paper
• markers
• pony beads
• pipe cleaners
• beading string
• scissors

In short, I am busy: We Explore Artist Sarah S. Brannen

Books

• Collaborations with Melissa Stewart - nature journal style
• Monarch and Mourning Cloak
• Summer sleepers
• Feathers
• Seashells
• Toddler-friendly books
• A perfect day
• Bear needs help

Art Project 1: Bleeding art tissue paper

• Bleeding art tissue paper
• Paper (thick, non-absorbent paper works best if you have it)
• Water
• Paintbrushes

This is for toddlers or those who don't want to get messy. They just paint the water over the tissue and it "bleeds" onto the paper. It's sold in packs of all colors, but only the dark pink, blue, and purple actually work though. Little kids mostly just enjoy getting things wet anyways. You can either wait for the paper to dry and brush off the wet tissue paper scraps or peel off the wet ones, dying your fingers colors in the process.

Art Project 2: Liquid watercolors

• Liquid watercolors
• Watercolor paper
• Brushes

This is for older kids - these paints stain. I store them in baby food jars and occasionally they dry out - just add a little water. Every once in a while they go bad though and all you can do then is toss them. Theoretically you could add water and dilute them, but that's a little too complicated for my audience.

I had planned to pass out pencils and notebooks and go outside to sketch things the kids saw, but I had only a couple toddlers to start with and then a few older kids at the end come in to paint and it was hot and humid so I skipped that.

Picture Book Neighborhoods: Fun - Sports

 This section is one of the originals, but how I organized the books in it has changed quite a bit. I've played around a lot with the cutters of the nonfiction section but finally settled on, generally, cuttering them by sport with an additional cutter if there are more than 4 titles. I also include contemporary sports figures under 921 and historical sports figures in the US history section. (I don't have any picture book biographies of historical sports figures who are NOT from the US, and I'll cross that bridge when and if I come to it!). I'm pretty liberal in interpreting "sports" and have included some general dance titles in this section as well.

 I have a lot of nonfiction series on sports here, including titles from Creative, ABDO (those are old - I don't purchase from them anymore), Lerner, and Capstone. Overall, it's kind of a weird section, because there really isn't much interest in sports from preschoolers so this section is mostly aimed at elementary school kids.

Biographies

• Courage in her cleats: the story of soccer star Abby Wambach
• The girl who figured it out: the inspiring true story of wheelchair athlete Minda Dentler
• Tacko Fall: to new heights
• Not yet: the story of an unstoppable ice skater by Zahra Lari
• Flying high: the story of gymnastics champion Simone Biles
• I am Simone Biles
• Fearless heart: the legacy of an Olympic figure skater : an illustrated biography of Surya Bonaly
• Heroic heart: an illustrated biography of Joe Delaney
• Decoy saves Opening Day by Shohei Ohtani
• Basketball dreams by Chris Paul
• Simone Biles by Ebony Wilkins
• Sisters: Venus and Serena Williams

Previously reviewed nonfiction titles

• Tae Kwon Do by Cari Meister
• My first book of Soccer by Beth Bugler and Mark Bechtel, illustrated by Bill Hinds
• My first book of baseball by Beth Bugler and Mark Bechtel, illustrated by Bill Hinds

Previously reviewed fiction titles

• Happy like soccer by Maribeth Boelts, illustrated by Lauren Castillo
• Serafina makes waves by Matthew Burgess, illustrated by Robin Rosenthal
• Baller Ina by Liz Casal
• Better than a touchdown by Jalen Hurts, illustrated by Nneka Myers
• Goal! by Mina Javaherbin, illustrated by A. G. Ford
• Max Explains Everything: Soccer Expert by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by Deborah Hocking
• I am darn tough by Licia Morelli, illustrated by Maine Diaz
• All I want to do is swim by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Luisa Uribe
• Home base by Nikki Tate, illustrated by Katie Kath

STEAM Activities: Mapping our world

  Canva links to resources and posters

General supplies

• Paper
• Scissors
• Markers
• Crayons
• Colored pencils
• glue sticks
• old magazines

When I requested books for this project, in addition to picture books about mapping I also requested some art books about making maps and RPG fantasy map drawing books. I don't think anybody actually did it though - other than an extremely chaotic crossover with Pokemon Hangout, only a few people went in and just colored.

In short, I am Busy: We Explore Artist Julie Paschkis

Best swirly art in the style of Julie Paschkis!

Art Project Part 1: Sketching

The kids start with pencils and drawing paper and I show pictures of Paschkis' sketches for her artwork, especially P. Zonka. I encourage them not to worry about "mistakes" or extra lines.

Supplies

• Pencils and drawing paper

Storytime

During storytime I discuss Paschkis' art process and how the pictures and words are put together. Paschkis is a really easy artist for this because there are a number of interviews with her on  Seven Impossible Things' interview as well as information on her website.

Read-Alouds

• P. Zonka Lays an Egg
• Mooshka, a quilt story
• Zigzag
• Eek! by Julie Larios
• Crick Crack Crow by Janet Lord
• Vivid: Poems and notes about color
• Barking ballad
• Who put the cookies in the cookie jar by George Shannon
• Fat cat by Margaret Read Macdonald
• Magic spell (this is good to show Paschkis' earlier style)

Display books

• Making light bloom by Sandra Nickel
• Kalinka and Grakkle
• Summer birds by Margarita Engle
• Pablo Neruda by Monica Brown

Art Project Part 2: Painting

Older kids can be encouraged to mix their paints and make new colors, using biocolors. Younger children can use the no-spill paint cups. As always, we change brushes between colors so we don't need cups of water.

Supplies

• Tempera paint in no-spill cups
• Biocolor paint and styrofoam or plastic plates for mixing
• Paintbrushes, aprons, sink, paper towels

Evaluation

This month in the collection

Library Pinterest

• New for Children
• New for Juvenile readers
• New Young Teen and Young Adult

New Book Spotlight

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

Board Books

• Let's make burgers by Jamie Oliver
• Pigeon won't play with shapes
• Waiting room by Eleni Wehner

Picture Books

• Where are my massive flying wings? by Sarah Tagholm
• Kaleidoscope of Hope: How butterfly cycles reflect our world by Miranda Paul
• Buzz! Being brave around buzzy, stinging insects by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by Joe Cepeda
• Sharks in Kansas by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Becca Stadtlander
• Pog and Pickle's Great Escape by Ross Montgomery, illustrated by Sarah Warburton
• Waffles & Julius No hugs please! by Ed Vere
• I used to be a dinosaur by Casey Lyall, illustrated by Laurie Keller
• Farmer's pajamas by Ruth Paul
• Just a frog by Iga Scibek
• Farm Shark by Bill Canterbury, illustrated by Maddie Frost
• The first drum I ever heard by Randy Preston, illustrated by Tamisha Anthony
• Forty the Fortune Teller by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Kevin Cornell (replacement)
• The Mole and the Mound by Will Hamilton-Davies, illustrated by Kasia Fryza
• Finn the Floaty by Leanne Hatch
• Rafi and Rita by Jarvis and Judge
• Sounds of Trash by Tina Athaide, illustrated by Neha Rawat
• Exca-gator! by Brooke Hartman, illustrated by Michael Slack (second copy)
• Big Rig Pig by Claire Tattersfield, illustrated by Rob Sayegh Jr.
• The House by NinoCactus, illustrated by Celia Sacido
• Wonder World: Earth the science of soil by Ben Lerwill, illustrated by Xuan Le
• Let me fix you a plate: A tale of two kitchens by Elizabeth Lilly (replacement)
• All the ways we learn by Chloe Ito Ward, illustrated by Yaroslava Apollonova
• Breathe, Bunny, Breathe: A book about big feelings by Laura Lavoie, illustrated by Mike Boldt
• Sounds like Joy by Yesenia Moises

Early Readers and Transitional Chapters

• Cozy town by Ame Dyckman
• Avery and the squirrel delivery by Rowan Kingsbury
• Frankie and Friends: The missing sock by Christine Platt

Beginning Chapter Books (new series)

• Rainbow magic fairies: Graphic novels
• Super Roomies: Lake of slime by Jarrett Lerner
• Sherlock roach and the case of the missing crumb by Joe McGee
• Venus Washington and the lasagna drama by Maisha Oso
• Miles and Jones: The Anaconda Attack by Sam Smith
• Unicorn rescuers: Mermaid Land by Ana Punset
• Dog meets dog: On the loose in London! by Dan Yaccarino

Beginning Chapter Books

• Happy Birthday, Jose and Feliz by Susan Rose and Silvia Lopez, illustrated by Gloria Felix

Juvenile Graphic Novels

• Unfairies by Huw Aaron
• Monster Locker: Nine-Tail Trouble by Jorge Aguirre & Andres Vera Martinez
• Mixed feelings by Sara Amini
• Zeb and Bel by Rachel Elliott
• The girl who loved monsters by Insha Fitzpatrick, illustrated by Ashley Robin Franklin
• Pet placement society by Primo Gallanosa
• Offside by Christina Gonzalez
• Steven and Parker by James Parker
• My sister the freak by Dani Jones
• Night chef by Mika Song
• 100 cupboards the graphic novel by N. D. Wilson
• Harper Sharp by Jarrett Williams
• Haven and the fallen giants by Jen Xu

Juvenile Fiction

• Swimming into trouble by Angela Ahn
• Youngest Faircrest and the search for a sorcerer by Ollie George Clark
• The last ember by Lily Dodd
• Strays by Gia Gordon
• Friend group by Lisa Greenwald
• Renegades: The magic awakens by Erin Hunter
• Second life of snap by Erin Entrada Kelly
• Confessions of a mango by Kate Lumsden
• Pumpkin Apocalypse by M. D. Payne
• Deepa M. D. by Priya Swaminathan
• Healer and the phoenix by Linda Trinh

Juvenile Nonfiction

• Terrifying true tales by Paige Towler
• Earth by Anna Skowrońska
• Marvelous Mammals: A wild A to Z of Southeast Asia by Debby Ng, illustrated by Darel Seow
• Bat planet by Neil Griffin
• Why communities need engineers by Helen Liang
• Working boats by Tom Crestodina
• Beyond earth by Yolanda Ridge
• Crafty Dolls by Jane Bull (replacement)
• Mbappé v. Haaland by Matt Oldfield

Young Teen (Voted for by TAB)

• Night king's court by Elisa Bonnin
• My Roman summer by Bruno de Luca
• Kaya of the ocean by Gloria Huang
• Midsummer sisters by Niki Smith
• Sunflowers and Lavender by Maisy Valais

Manga (new series) (Voted for by TAB)

• Akira failing in love
• Apothecary Diaries (light novel)
• Cogs of time (light novel)
• Demon prince of Momochi house: Succession
• Betrothed to a fox demon
• Summer Hikaru died (light novel)
• Ichi the witch
• My Isekai life
• Otaku love connection
• I'm running for crown princess, but all I want is a steady paycheck!
• The weakest tamer began a journey to pick up trash
• A timid lady was turned into an ugly cat, but on the verge of fainting is picked up by the most fearsome military duke

Young Adult (Voted for by TAB)

• Be yourself and other bad advice: a teen girl's guide to unlearning the rules (nonfiction)
• 99 things to do before you finish high school (new edition) (nonfiction)
• Gilded blade by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• Rolls and Rivalry by Kristy Boyce
• Breakout by Dhonielle Clayton
• Costumes for time travelers by A. R. Capetta (new paperback edition)
• Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst
• When I was death by Alexis Henderson (review copy, reviewed by teens)
• Star Seekers by HYBE
• Release me by Tahereh Mafi
• Her hidden fire by Clíodhna O'Sullivan (review copy, reviewed by teens)

Young Adult Graphic Novels (Voted for by TAB)

• Speak of the devil by Sweeney Boo
• As I dream of you by Jennifer Lee
• Everything amplified by Sarah Lippett
• Morgana and Oz
• My gently raised beast
• Remarried empress
• Sidequested
• Milk & Mocha comics collection: Our little moments

Picture Book Neighborhoods: Fun - Play

 I originally had called this section "interactive" books and included most of the I Spy type books here as well. However, most of my patrons had no idea what "interactive" meant and it was too long, so I changed it to books meant to play with. I do have a genre sticker for I Spy books which I use in and out of this section.

Recommended/Favorite Interactive Books for Storytime

• Count the monkeys by Mac Barnett
• Let's dance by Valerie Bolling, illustrated by Maine Diaz
• Silvia Borando
• Open up, please
• Shapes, reshape
• Stomp, wiggle, clap, and tap: my first book of dance by Rachelle Burk
• Don't push the button by Bill Cotter
• If you're a monster and you know it by Rebecca Emberley
• This book is magic by Ashley Evanson
• Watch out for the lion! by Brooke Hartman, illustrated by Anna Susbauer
• I will chomp you! by Jory John and Bob Shea
• David LaRochelle
• Go and get with Rex
• Mr. Fox's game of no
• Croc-a-doodle-doo by Huw Lewis Jones
• What's next door by Nicola O'Byrne
• Bouncing Bunnies by Fiz Osborne, illustrated by Tim Budgen
• Bunny slopes by Claudia Rueda
• How to count to 1 by Caspar Salmon, illustrated by Matt Hunt
• Do you know which ones will grow? by Susan Shea
• Recess by Lane Smith
• Herve Tullet
• Press Here
• Mix it up
• Let's play
• Shake the tree by Chiara Vignocchi
• Museum of shapes by Sven Volker
• How to wake up Piggy by Xu Pingping

I Spy/Seek-and-Find Books

• Have you seen elephant? and Have you seen dinosaur? by David Barrow
• Bustletown series by Rotraut Susanne Berner
• Winter
• Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring
• Nighttime
• The Lost Christmas by b. b. cronin
• Dinosaur detective's search-and-find rescue mission by Sophie Guerrive
• I Spy series by Walter Wick/Jean Marzollo
• Find my favorite animals by by Clare Lloyd
• Spunky little monkey by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson, illustrated by Brian Won
• Welcome to the Rabbit Residence: a seek-and-find story by Haruka Nohana
• Who's hiding by Satoru Onishi
• Brown bear wood series by Rachel Piercey
• Penguin Pip's ice-cold seek-and-find book by Benten Pompen
• Where's Walrus? and Penguin? by Stephen Savage
• Spot-it challenge series by Sarah Schuette
• Look! a double book! 14 adventures to explore and discover by Bob Staake
• Look-alikes by Joan Steiner
• Where's the pair and One is not a pair by Britta Teckentrup
• Zebras in the city: seek and find! Thomas van Oostrum

Books to sing

• Baby Shark
• Monster Boogie by Laurie Berkner
• Frog trouble by Sandra Boynton
• Jane Cabrera
• Row row row your boat
• Here we go round the mulberry bush
• The itsy bitsy spider
• 5 little ducks by Denise Fleming
• Cat goes fiddle-i-fee by Paul Galdone
• Miss Mary Mack and The eensy weensy spider by Mary Ann Hoberman
• The animal song by Jonty Howley
• I'm still here in the bathtub by Alan Katz
• Babies on the bus by Karen Katz
• Wheels on the bus at Halloween by Sarah Kieley
• Sing by Joe Raposo
• All god's critters by Bill Staines
• Peanut butter and jelly by Nadine Westcott

Other titles I have reviewed

• This book is too quiet! You add the noise... by Cristina Cubells, illustrated by Joana Casals
• There's a monster in your book by Tom Fletcher, illustrated by Greg Abbot
• Danny Go's Volcano Adventure illustrated by Aleksandar Zolotic
• Watch this! a book about making shapes by Jane Godwin, Hilary Walker, and Beci Orpin
• What was it before it melted? by Kristen McCurry
• Cake for everyone by The Tjong-Khing
• Whose feet? A mix-and-match flip book by Sam Williams, illustrated by Ekaterina Trukhan
• Pet this book by Jessica Young, illustrated by Daniel Wiseman
• Play this book by Jessica Young and Daniel Wiseman

July 2026 in review, looking forward to August

The things just keep on coming. It turns out part of the reason I felt so miserable the latter half of July was because I was actually sick. Yay. The weather has also been very fun. (I am still feeling fairly miserable and very sarcastic.)

While we finished the month's programs, including several huge events with our school colleague, the last performers, and a lot of teen volunteers, I continued planning for the fall. I have already started collecting some teen feedback and will be doing a survey for families in August. I am writing a report on the space use and changes that need to be made. There are some things that need to be done that I cannot (and do not want to) DIY. I am also chronically behind on collection development projects.

In August we will continue summer reading through the 22nd. We don't have any performers or big programs and will not be doing any teen events or volunteering, but we'll do a couple storytimes each week and drop-in activities so there is still something going on every day, Monday - Friday. I will be doing storytimes, which I haven't done in a long time. We are also going to be having one last round of construction at the entrance.

I'm hoping we can start getting some of the program spaces organized, but staff will be on vacation and I am just physically and mentally exhausted. We won't be resuming programs until late September, so we can work on it then.

Summer reading overall has worked very well - there are only a couple minor updates I will make next year.

STEAM Activities: Insects

 Canva links to resources and posters

Specific supplies

• wooden cubes
• wooden beads
• pompoms
• googly eyes

General supplies

• pipe cleaners
• tissue paper
• permanent markers
• glue dots
• hot glue

I didn't really observe any of the kids who came in, although we did have a fair number. A lot of them made butterflies or necklaces with the beads.

STEAM Activities: Bubbles

 Canva links to resources and posters

Specific supplies

• droppers
• liquid soap
• paint
• straw
• paper

General supplies

• small plastic cups (donated)
• stir sticks/popsicle sticks
• platters
• water

There were a lot of bubble painting projects this week. The small plastic containers a patron donated have been very useful. We had more kids than usual participating this week and a lot of younger kids learning how to blow into straws.

Picture Book Neighborhoods: Fun - Dance

 At one point I had a section in Fun for "Arts" that this was integrated into, and I also toyed with putting it in sports. Eventually, I moved it back to its own section. It should really be labeled "ballet" because that's the primary subject of most of the books.

Highlighted Nonfiction Dance Titles

• Welcome to ballet school by Ashley Bouder
• Ballet Dancer by Phoenix Bright
• My first ballet book by Kate Castle

Highlighted Fiction Dance Titles

• B is for Ballet by John Robert Allman
• Ballerina gets ready by Allegra Kent
• Miss Lina's ballerinas (and sequels) by Grace Maccarone
• Ella Bella Ballerina (series) by James Mayhew
• Most are out of print and/or difficult to find
• Tallulah series by Marilyn Singer

Other titles I have reviewed

• Bunheads by Misty Copeland, illustrated by Setor Fiadzigbey
• The Bunny Ballet by Nora Ericson, illustrated by Elly MacKay
• My cat does ballet by Robert Heidbreder, illustrated by Matt Schu
• Ready for the spotlight! by Jaime Kim
• Emma and Julia Love Ballet by Barbara McClintock
• Swan: The life and dance of Anna Pavlova by Laurel Snyder, illustrated by Julie Morstad

STEAM activities: Jellyfish

 Canva links to resources and posters

Specific supplies

• Paper plates with a hole poked in the center
• Pipe cleaners
• Bleeding art tissue paper
• Ribbon

General supplies

• Scissors
• Small cups for water
• Paint brushes
• Hole punch

People really do not look at the posters unless I point them out. But it's fine if they just make something random too. If you haven't used bleeding art tissue paper before, it's fairly mess-free painting - you paint over the tissue with water and it "bleeds" onto the surface it's laid on.