Saturday, July 4, 2026

Collection Development: USA 250th Anniversary


 There's a lot of discussion and different perspectives in libraries around the commemoration of the United States' 250th anniversary. I have my own thoughts on this, but since I don't generally do programs with specific themes that particular aspect is not relevant. I have been looking at books on the topic of US history, geography, and in general and here I have to focus very firmly on putting on my librarian hat.

  Whatever my own thoughts and perspective, my professional responsibility is to purchase items that are of interest to my community and that include accurate information. This seems straightforward, but it's actually really tricky; if a book's information is accurate but it limits or ignores some perspectives is it truly accurate? But if I purchase books that are accurate and cover all perspectives and they don't circulate, am I really meeting the needs of my community? It does help that my library is part of a larger consortium so there is access to more materials than are just in my library.

Anyways, this is a list of US-themed materials I have purchased so far this year. I will be updating this periodically and it will be interesting to see the total at the end of the year. I actually have a lot of juvenile nonfiction that hasn't been added yet because I'm currently weeding that collection too.

Picture Books

  • 50 states of love: A celebration of America 9781836006077
  • Copland: A story about America 9780593693711
  • Make a pretty sound: A story of Ella Jenkins the first lady of Children's Music 9781452170640
  • The 50 states: Things that go 9781419779725
  • Land of the free: America's ABC 9781668979020
  • The Navajos 9780823460977
  • America the beautiful 9781836008774
  • Baseball for breakfast: A (mostly) true story 9781623545703
  • Main Street: A community story about redlining 9798217002672
  • You are the land 9798217003495
  • Once a wasteland: From toxic dump to national park 9781534113480
  • Fly rod was first: Cornelia Crosby's adventures in angling 9781534113602
  • The flag we love by Pam Munoz Ryan (new edition) 9781623548445
  • Charley's honky-tonk mission 9798217003693
  • Ghost army: the troop of artists who helped win WWII 9780593691717
  • Bald Eagles by Gail Gibbons (new edition) 9780823462889
  • Houdini's library: how books created the world's greatest magician 9780593570135

Juvenile Nonfiction

  • History Comics: Ellis Island (prebound) 9781250768780
  • My bicentennial summer by Greg Neri 9781536239577
  • If you lived during the American Revolution by Chris Newell 9781338845655
  • America's founding myths ...and what really happened! by Christy Mihaly 9798888599082
  • Red, white, blue, and Uncle who? (updated edition) 9780823464135
  • Happy birthday, America: 250 years of the United States 9798217137053
  • America celebrates 9780760398609
  • America as it happened 9781804661673
  • National parks of the USA (updated) 9781836006138
  • Explore! America's journeys 9781684645657
  • A kid's guide to New York City: let the adventure begin! 9781837585243
  • Unequal: a story of America by Eric Dyson 9780759557031
  • History Comics: Great Depression (prebound) 9781250810335
  • Twice enslaved: liberty and justice for Henrietta Wood by Selene Castrovilla 9781662680748

Juvenile Beginning Chapters

  • Where is Arizona? 9798217053407
  • Where is Florida? 9798217051373
  • Where is Michigan? 9798217053285
  • Where is New Jersey? 9798217053315
  • Where is New York? 9798217051403
  • Where is North Carolina? 9798217053254
  • Where is Tennessee? 9798217053438
  • Where is Virginia? 9798217053346
  • Where is Washington? 9798217053377
  • Where are the rocky mountains? 9780593890905
  • What is American sign language? 9798217049288
  • Journey to freedom, 1838 by Sherri Winston (replacement)

Juvenile Fiction

  • Opal Watson, private eye by Brittany Thurman 9780063326491
  • Opal Watson, a case most fowl by Brittany Thurman 9780063326545
  • Where only storms grow by Alyssa Colman 9780374392789
  • We the children by Andrew Clements (prebound) (replacement)

These are items I have read/skimmed and plan to purchase

Picture Books

  • Teaching for change by Yvonne Clark-Rhines 9780063251601
    • This is a powerful biography of a Civil Rights luminary. I'm very pleased to see more biographies of women and behind-the-scenes people from history and large-scale movements which are usually tied to a single man as leader.
  • When Paul Revere Rode by Sarah L. Thomson 9781662681387
    • A collection of poems from the different people involved in the events of "Paul Revere's Ride". Quotations from original sources and a brief explanation of each event are also included. Two enslaved men are quoted and there is an oblique mention of other riders.
  • It takes a family to serve by Lisa Wheeler 9780063283473
    • The subtitle is "A tribute to military families" and this does a really good job of showing a variety of different families and military personnel. POC and women are shown serving and a child is shown being raised by his grandfather.
  • Honor Flight by Jeff Gottesfeld 9781536230154
    • An honor flight as seen through the eyes of the author and the veteran he escorted.


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Thursday, July 2, 2026

STEAM activities: Heat Art

Canva links to resources and posters

Specific Supplies

  • Paint
  • Pastels
  • Paper
General supplies
  • Paintbrushes
  • Aprons
This was an extremely apposite choice for this week since temperatures soared putting us into an extreme heat warning. It was also a very short week, right before the July 4th holiday, so we didn't have a big turnout. This project is, essentially, painting.

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026

June 2026 in review, looking forward to July

My staff and I at the kick-off

 This month was... a lot. In some ways, it almost felt like starting over to plan summer reading and run the youth department from scratch again - except I'm a lot older, fatter, and with correspondingly less energy lol. Also, thankfully, I have amazing staff to help me out this time around!

We have had a LOT of traffic. In between frantically printing more of everything, I have been trying to keep track of which things we need to change next summer, how the spaces are being used, what's working, what's not working, and what we'll need to change going into the fall. Some things never change - evening programs, no matter how many people ask for them, do not do well for us and, despite my best efforts, I still need to scale back more in a number of areas. I had not anticipated being this busy.

I've been planning program details and ordering supplies the week before the programs themselves - I haven't done that in so many years I can't remember when I last did it! - and while it was necessary this summer due to the exigencies of the grant and renovation process and not knowing how things would work out in the new space, it definitely added to the stress and exhaustion.

One thing I did do this month that eased stress for me was to let go of some of the responsibility I was carrying for our shared consortium events. These performers are booked to visit every library in the consortium and I hold our events at the local middle school to coincide with summer school so my average attendance is ~200. In the past, I've really stressed myself trying to make sure everything fits the performer's needs, trying to help the teachers keep 200+ kids from kindergarten to 8th grade calm and attentive, and make sure I get things set up and taken down so I'm not interfering with the school schedule. This time I just... didn't. I told the school ahead of time what the performer needed, told the performer what to expect, and then just let things happen. It really was ok - sure, some performers weren't happy, but I couldn't have fixed those issues anyways. Mostly the school handled the set-up, the performers went with the flow, and honestly nothing was any worse than when I stressed myself out to try and control everything as well as constantly explain to the members of the public who joined that yes, it was a lot of kids, they could see the performer with a smaller audience at another library, I wasn't the person who booked the events and they weren't going to all be perfect for our venue and audience, etc.

I often have to stop and remind myself not to justify or explain things to patrons - "Thanks for your feedback, I'll consider it" is all one needs to say. I don't know that there's really an increase in people complaining that things are not perfectly suited specifically for their needs and those of their children, or of people who don't understand that I am planning and managing a department for everyone, not just for them, but it does feel like it sometimes.

In preparation for July (and August) I've canceled a couple programs - a drop-in family game night that had 0 attendees and a drop-in play group that was running concurrently with another event and  had low attendance. I also adjusted the times of our STEAM activities to give us more time to clean up and reset the room, especially on Fridays. A single staff member opens the youth department Monday mornings and there's too much traffic to set up the program room. I also adjusted the teen events and volunteer opportunities for July. Some of them asked if we were going to do after hours events again and I told them no (what I SHOULD have said was "sure here's the budget, you plan it". I finally managed to put in some book orders and finish one major collection development project, but there are always more waiting.

My school colleague - we moved her family storytime
to our community center. A good choice because she
had 98 people, which certainly would not have fit in
any of the youth spaces.


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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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