Category: Summer Reading

Blogger Jonathan Dolce

Summer Reading Crunch Time Décor!

| Jonathan Dolce|Leave a comment

Summer Reading Crunch Time! By now, you should have a pretty good idea of what your SRP program for 2023 looks like. You’ve got your performers lined up, got your giveaway items and prizes. However, let’s say you are like me and are biting off that proverbial chew of decorating the children’s section. I am in the lucky position of having two whole small branch libraries that I get to help decorate for summer reading; that was sarcasm. That aside, it occurred to me to write a bit about the creative process. My painting students are frequently treated to it, so I thought of you, the audience at home. It’s Always a Process and Frequently Involves Cardboard This process gives a few options and rely on just a few factors. Here’s a flowchart for you to guide you! If you dawdle and or procrastinate, here is what your creative process…

Continue Reading
Blogger Jonathan Dolce

Easy Puppetry From the Shadows

| Jonathan Dolce|Leave a comment

So, coming up this Friday I’m going to be in Ocala for the 2023 TBLC KidsLit MiniCon. For the first time, I’m doing a workshop all about shadow puppetry. Of course, it’s made easy! Moreover, I’m bringing my own brand of shadow puppetry, one that combines many styles and forms of this ancient art. Taking your show on the electronic highway Shadow puppetry enjoys a history that stretches back to time immemorial. Today, we have theability to create, share and present wonderful shadow puppets and entire shows utilizing 3-D printingmethods in person and online. Shadow puppet creation used to take hours of painstaking work withscissors and exacto knives and result in workable but fragile products. The average professional handpuppet today costs upward of $30, while a 3-D printed shadow puppet costs pennies. Here are two (2) I’ve printed: Since most shadow puppet screens/theaters are big rectangles, just zoom in on…

Continue Reading
Blogger Jonathan Dolce

All Together Now 2023 SRP

| Jonathan Dolce|Leave a comment

But It’s Still Winter… Believe it or not, this is my 20th year working – as a paid employee – in Central Florida libraries. If you include volunteering…well…that’d be most of my life. From all I’ve ever experienced, you can never be fully or overly prepared for a season of summer reading programming. As a matter of fact, I am known for ALWAYS having a backup plan for each program, right down to duplicates of mission critical equipment. Sounds like a military operation, doesn’t it? So, yes, it’s January and we are talkin’ All Together Now, our 2023 Summer Reading Program! Nitty Gritty, Nuts and Bolts I always love a tool kit, a place I can have everything in one spot, like a Swiss Army knife. I’m based in Florida, but this seems to have universal appeal: CSLP 2023 Program Resources 2023 Summer Program (and beyond) Resources: Overview of popular…

Continue Reading
Blogger Jonathan Dolce

Planning for SRP 2023 STEMming Summer Slide

| Jonathan Dolce|Leave a comment

Summer slide. I know I am preaching to the choir here, but it is still a thing. Ideally, addressing summer slide should be a part of your annual goals or tasks, much like summer reading or Banned Books Week. Even more ideal, if there is such a thing, is partnering with schools and other local agencies. First, though, as my old college professor used to say, we can’t discuss a topic without defining it first. So, here we go. What is summer slide and why should I care? Summer slide, and I think Colorado Dept of Education puts it best is: (T)he tendency for students, especially those from low-income families, to lose some of theachievement gains they made during the previous school year. Why you should care Summer slide can affect almost any child. However, the children it impacts the most are the most socioeconomically disadvantaged. Here’s a thousand words…

Continue Reading
Blogger Public Awareness and Advocacy Committee

Enticing Summer Reading Alternative Programming For Kids Who “Hate” To Read

| Public Awareness and Advocacy Committee|Leave a comment

Summer is the busiest time of year for public youth services librarians across the country: we stack our calendars with programming and guest performers, bust out all the themed decorations, and break out our best book-themed t-shirts. All of this, of course, to the ultimate end of building in our young patrons a lifetime relationship with books.

Continue Reading