While I absolutely enjoy singing and using music during my baby and toddler storytimes, no one could ever mistake me for Lisa Loeb. It’s a good day if I remember to clap correctly to Bingo the Dog, nevermind stay in key. I’ve often fantasized about learning the guitar and being a kind of [...]

“What was this writer thinking?!”
“Would you like to ask the writer yourself?”
Maureen Hayes knew the importance of bringing children and author/illustrator together and the impact it can have on their lives. In 2005, the Maureen Hayes Author/Illustrator Visit Award was established with funding from Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. The award honors Maureen Hayes’ life-long [...]

by Lisa Taylor
Ocean County (NJ) Library
If the inaugural session of ALSC’s new online continuing ed courses is any indication, they’re going to be a great success! In “classes” powered by the software program, Moodle, librarians gathered online to participate in Sharing Poetry with Children, Reading Instruction and Children’s Books, The Technology-Enhanced Library Professional, and in [...]

Many ALSC members not only work with children, but also with teens.  Some of you may also be members of ALA’s Young Adult Library Services Association.  Well, YALSA member, Jenine Lillian is working on a new professional resource called Cool Teen Programs on a Shoestring.  The book will consist of different programs that are fun [...]

April 19-25, 2009, is designated as the Week of the Young Child (WOYC) – but it’s time to get ready now! The Liaisons with National Organizations Serving Children and Youth Committee (LNOSCY) encourages you to contact child care centers in your area to invite them to display children’s art work in your library throughout [...]

First Book announced that they are distributing five million children’s books as giveaways inside boxes of Cheerios cereal. Be sure to display these books and others by the same authors or on the same themes in your library. The books, 3 million of which have been printed in both English and Spanish, are:

Duck for President, [...]

We’re experiencing our first major cold fronts of the season in northern Virginia.  We are ready to put away our short sleeved shirts, drag out our heavy coats, and throw on a heavy quilt or bedspread for chilly nights.  It’s also a perfect time to do a blankets and quilts themed  story time.

Many children have [...]

In November ALSC will be starting a new series on the blog entitle, “Things I Didn’t Learn in Library School…,” to give our student members a feel for what it’s like to be a new librarian.  Obviously Library School prepares you well professionally, but what about all of those “real life” situations that come up, and [...]

Jon Agee is the author/illustrator of Nothing (Hyperion), an ALSC 2008 Notable Children’s Book; Terrific (Hyperion/Michael di Capua), an ALSC 2006 Notable Children’s Book; and Milo’s Hat Trick (Michael di Capua/Hyperion), an ALSC 2002 Notable Children’s Book. He lives in San Francisco.
Check out Jon’s answers to 20 Questions on his official website.

American Libraries (AL) has launched its own blog, AL Inside Scoop. A notice sent to the ALSC Blog states, “Editor-in-chief Leonard Kniffel offers an insider’s view of goings-on at ALA headquarters and what hot topics ALA staffers are talking about in the hallways. Associate Editor Greg Landgraf offers his perspective from ‘the lower floors’ of [...]