Graphic Novel Picks

Enjoy these humorous graphic novels for grade schoolers!  Tip: If the book you want isn't on the shelf at your library, go to the front desk and ask to fill out a request slip, and we'll have the book sent to your library as soon as possible.

Cover images from Goodreads.



Bake Sale by Sara Varon
In this delightfully quirky (yet pretty deep!) story, Cupcake learns lessons about friendship and life dreams.

Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke
Zita suddenly finds herself on a foreign planet when she rushes to rescue her best friend who was kidnapped by aliens.

Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Fiasco by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Though the Breakfast Bunch is concerned at first, Lunch Lady saves the day once again when crooks try to fleece an art museum.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Free Books- & the Gift of Reading!

*Trust me- you don’t want to miss out on this upcoming program at the library!  It’s free, will help you teach your child the joy of reading, and will earn you SEVEN picture books for your home library!  See the press release below for more details, and contact the library TODAY before registration fills up!!!*

Give Your Kids the Gift of Reading With Read From the Start and Ozark Regional Library!

Ozark Regional Youth Librarian, Shaen Mehl, announces the library will be teaming up with the Missouri Humanities Council to host two Read from the Start workshops for parents, teachers, and childcare providers (no childcare will be provided on site).  Read from the Start is based on the conviction that parents are a child’s first and most influential teachers and that the love of books and stories begins at birth.

Each workshop will introduce different picture book titles and teach adults techniques to use to engage young children in reading. 

The two-part program will be held on Tuesday, May 15, and Tuesday, May 22, from 5:30-7 pm in the Ironton Public Library’s conference room.  Each session will last for 90 minutes, and light refreshments will be provided.  Child care credits are not available for this set of workshops.

The program is free of charge, but registration is required.  Please contact Shaen Mehl at 573-546-2615 or via email at ozarkregionallibraryyouth@gmail.com, as limited spots are available.  Check out the RFTS website to see what other parents and caregivers have to say about the positive benefits of Read from the Start.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Fantasy Picks- Princesses!

Spring Story Time is on hiatus for the next two weeks (I have to wade through the piles of paper that have been gathering in my office and order all sorts of glossy, new books for our readers!), so I'm planning to post a few Book Pick Lists, similar to last fall's book lists.  Tip: If the book you want isn't on the shelf at your library, go to the front desk and ask to fill out a request slip, and we'll have the book sent to your library as soon as possible.

Today, I have a topic for our book pick list- princesses!  Revisited fairy tales are usually a popular choice for tween (aka "preteen") readers and seem to fly off the shelves.  So, enjoy the fantasy titles for this list; some are funny, some are dramatic, and all of them will keep you turning pages:

Cover images from Goodreads.


A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine
In pursuing her dream to become an actress in the city of Two Castles, twelve-year-old Elodie meets a dragon, Meenore, who enlists her help on a mission deep within the castle of a despised and feared ogre.

The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell
This clever blending of several different, well-known fairy tales finds heroine Reveka striving, at great cost, to solve the mystery of the cursed dancing princesses.

A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce
This luminous retelling of the classic Rumpelstiltskin story will leave you spellbound.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Colors- Week #5 Photos

Our blue activity table included a beanbag
toss, musical instruments, Earth eraser stacking,
and one of Mo Willem's Pigeon stories.

A couple of our favorite story time books from
the week: It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles
G. Shaw (an oldie but a goodie, first published in
1947!) and I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean
by Kevin Sherry.

Tossing blue pompoms (raindrops)
into an upturned umbrella for our game.

Coloring ocean pictures and making
cute fingerprint fish!

We had lots of fun using our imaginations
to create scenes of underwater life.

Don't forget- we're on break from story time for the next two weeks!  We'll see you back at the library to learn about the color purple the week of April 9-13.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Colors- Week #5

Spring Story Time (Week #5)

Weekly Theme: The Color Blue

Books: Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle and Jill McElmurry, Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle, It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw, I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry, and A Splendid Friend, Indeed by Suzanne Bloom 

Activity: raindrop-&-umbrella toss game

Craft: watercolor ocean pictures

Pictures of the fifth week of story time are up in the next post, so... 

Keep reading!

Shaen

Colors- Week #4 Photos

Our green activity table featured a Charlie
and Lola book about alligators, two puppets
(Franklin and our frog prince), alphabet
train cards, and green water stampers.

We used our imaginations to make
a batch of pretend green soup!

Using scissor skills for our
craft project.

Some of our completed pictures (with
bugs hiding among the grass blades),
from kiddos at our Bourbon branch.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Colors- Week #4

Spring Story Time (Week #4)

Weekly Theme: The Color Green

Books: Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox, Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberly, A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson and Joan Rankin, and Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Jen Corace

Activity: making pretend "green soup", chock-full of green veggies and fruits!

Craft: buggy cut grass pictures

Pictures of the fourth week of story time are up in the next post, so... 

Keep reading!

Shaen

Colors- Week #3 Photos

This week at story time, we learned all about the color yellow.  Our activity table was chock-full of fun items: a squeaky rubber duck, a yellow number puzzle, colored leaves to sort, and more!  Here's a peek into this week's programs:

Several of our book selections for
the week: Lemons Are Not Red by
Laura Vaccaro Seeger and Yellow:
Seeing Yellow All Around Us by
Sarah L. Schuette.

Getting ready to search for lost stars
in our yellow sensory bin.

Working on our button-wheeled school
buses.

A completed school bus, ready to roll!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Colors- Week #3

Spring Story Time (Week #3)

Weekly Theme: The Color Yellow

Books: Lemons Are Not Red by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, School Bus by Donald Crews, and Banana! by Ed Vere

Activity: searching for lost stars

Craft: button-wheeled buses

Pictures of the third week of story time are up in the next post, so... 

Keep reading!

Shaen

Colors- Week #2 Photos

Enjoy these pictures from the second week of Spring Story Time 2012!

At our orange-themed activity table, we
sorted orange glass buttons from blue
and red, counted orange crayons, and
located orange pictures in our football
board book!

A few of our book picks: Orange Socks
by Bob Shea, Orange Pear Apple Bear by
Emily Gravett, and Piggies in the Pumpkin
Patch by Mary Peterson and Jennifer Rofe.

Coloring the base for our
coffee filter Monarch butterflies.

Keep reading!

Shaen