It's the most wonderful time...of the year! Tra-la-la!

What pops into your head when you hear the phrase "Most wonderful time of the year!"? I'm guessing 70% of adults would say "Christmas!" due to a certain massively over-played song.

I bet 90% of kids would say...

That magical, dream-like time when you can do whatever you want ALL. DAY. LONG. Play at the beach, build a clubhouse with your friends, cannonball into the pool, eat lots of ice cream. Camping, baseball games, movies under the stars, fireworks. No school, no homework, no.... WAIT! Who said no homework?

Wa-Wa-WAAAA!!! Busted. The teacher just told you that you do have homework. It's called required summer reading. And everyone in the Southern Lehigh School District from 5-12 grade has to do it.

Now hold on a minute...before you bring out the "sad face", let me tell you something. SLPL makes it so easy for your kids to complete their assignment. Meaning it's that much easier for the parents! We have multiple copies of all the summer reading books for every grade, marked by grade, pulled and available by the front desk. Get in, get out, get it done, and get back to the pool. Easy-peasy.

High School lists (grades 9-12) here.
Middle School lists (grades 7-8) here.
Grade 6 list here.
Grade 5 info here.

Explore the world...from your computer!

SLPL is very proud to present our latest and greatest resource for kids, National Geographic Kids online database!

 This database is the bee's knees...literally. It probably has an article about bee's knees. National Geographic is one of the most respected and long-standing science and nature magazines of all time, and they don't skimp when it comes to the kids version.

Now you can access books and magazine editions, explore pictures and topics, and so much more! You couldn't ask for a better resource for school reports, especially on animals.

And the best part is, pictures on the site may be used for personal, non-commercial purposes! Fancy-dancy report complete with color photos, coming right up. They even make it easy for you to have good copyright manners by linking to citation information.

Many books can be read in full on the site, with the ability to search within the text, and links to related subjects. You can browse and read full magazines by month, going back to 2009.

Give your kids a glimpse across the world...or right next door. National Geographic Kids has it all. You won't find a better, more reliable resource by searching for hours on Google, so why bother? Come here first.

Pictures!

Some people like to look at photos, some people turn and run the other way. I myself am a scrapbook fiend, and always find it strangely interesting to look through a stack of pictures. They don't even have to be of anyone I know...photos always tell a story.  When I was a kid, I used to go through my mom's photobooks and rearrange all the pictures of my family. Don't know why...it probably drove my mom absolutely crazy after she spent all her time organizing them chronologically. Sorry, Mom!

But I digress. For all you photo lovers out there, here are a couple from two great kids events SLPL held in the last few weeks.

The Harry Potter Magic Show and Balloon Sculpting Workshop w/ Abby London!
100+ kids and their families attended this super fun program!

 Kiwanis Careers program - When I Grow Up, Anything's Possible! w/ Randy Bloch from PUTT U.
It's not over yet. We still have 3 more career programs to go. Every Tuesday night in May.
Next week is Teacher/Coach... Register here!

When I Grow Up...Anything's Possible!

I fondly remember the days I spent as a child, staring into space, imagining myself in some glorious future occupation... What did I want to be when I grew up?

Being a book devourer, I had a very fertile imagination. Top runners in my mind were:

COWBOY
 (NOT a cowgirl. In my 8-year-old mind, cowgirls never got to do anything really fun, like chase bad guys or build campfires. They only rode around on well-behaved ponies wearing pretty checkered shirts. Sorry, awesome cowgirls of today!)

LIFEGUARD AT DORNEY PARK & WILDWATER KINGDOM
(I liked to swim. I liked to go on water rides. I liked red swimsuits. Seemed like a perfect match to me...and sometimes you get to ride the slide down to the bottom when you're finished working! What could be cooler?)

Oddly enough, I never considered being a librarian. Although I adored books, and spent many hours at the library, it just never popped into my head. And yet here I am today...librarian extraordinaire and wouldn't change it for the world! (or a red swimsuit)

What do your kids dream about becoming when they grow up? It may seem far-fetched to you (alien-hunter), or maybe a little scary (what do you mean "I'll have to get a job"? I'll be living with you, right?), but every kid has thought about it. Why not give them some more ideas?

Come to our When I Grow Up...Anything's Possible - Exploring Careers program. Every Tuesday in May, we will be hosting professional members of the community who will present interactive programs featuring their careers. Open to 1st-5th graders. Register here.

May 7 - Putt it/Coach it
May 14 - Virtual Teacher
May 21 - Load it/Fly it
May 28 - Money Matters & Magic

Sponsered by the Kiwanis Club of Southern Lehigh. Thanks!

Pop! Goes the Magic...

Ok, I may be mixing metaphors...or cliches...or whatever. Regardless, your kids are not going to want to miss this awesome upcoming family program at SLPL.

ABRA-CADABRA! ALOHAMORA! EXPECTO PATRONUM!...and all that.

On Tuesday, April 30th @ 6:30, magician Abby London will be coming to cast a story-licious spell over our library at the Harry Potter Magic Show & Balloon Sculpting Workshop!

Open to kids of all ages (and their parents), you can register online @ our website.

The magic show will include such fascinating feats as print magically appearing in a book, and a mystifying sword that pops out of thin air. A dragon wishes that he was a wizard and a monkey wishes that he was a gamekeeper! Potion making goes hysterically wrong, and there's a crystal ball too!

As for the balloon workshop, you won't want to "blow" you chance to see this. (har. har.)
Unicorns, phoenixes, owls and more!
YOU MUST ATTEND THE MAGIC SHOW TO ATTEND THE BALLOON WORKSHOP. AGES 7+.

If you need a Harry Potter fix now that the books and movies are all out, this is the place for you. Muggles welcome!

Potterwookiee

Yeah, that's what I said. Potterwookiee. Can you guess where this is going?

If you guessed a book about a creature who is half Harry Potter, half Chewbacca, then you're right!
What? You didn't guess that? Who could possibly come up with such a crazy idea, you say? Let's hear it for Obert Skye, author of Potterwookiee, the 2nd book in the hilarious The Creature From My Closet series! (The first book is called Wonkenstein -- a Willy Wonka/Frankenstein mash-up.)

Let me just say, this book is too funny. I kept bursting out in laughter as I read, prompting my poor husband to keep saying "What? What?!!". The hilarity mostly ensues from Skye's stick-men-like drawings, complete with speech bubbles full of nonsense. Robert Columbo Burnside, the main character, is a goofy tween who has a problem. Well, several problems, in fact. The main one being that his closet has gone crazy! Instead of cleaning his room, he just threw all his junk, his old science lab stuff, and tons of books his mom wanted him to read into the closet. Strange noises began, and eventually a bizarre creature popped out. His name is Potterwookiee, but Rob calls him Hairy for short. He smells kind of weird, and keeps waving his wand and talking in a British accent, but he seems pretty nice.

Rob's other problem is that he has a crush on his neighbor Janae. In a moment of love-struck stupidity, he told her he was going to be auditioning for the reality cooking show Average Chef that was coming to town. Now, Rob has to take care of Hairy, making sure he's not seen by any adults, destroyed by Rob's little brother Tuffin, or accidentally thrown in the trash. He has to try to learn how to cook something average and win the competition, with the help of his 5 crazy friends. Not to mention getting his bike back from that bully Wilt who stole it! Hairy the Potterwookiee is sometimes a help and sometimes a hassle, but Rob works it all out in the end somehow.

There's been a rash of hybrid chapter books/graphic novels in recent years, perhaps the most popular being the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. If your kids loved Greg Heffley, they will be delighted to meet Robert Columbo Burnside. Obert Skye has a serious funny bone, which will resound with adults as well as boys who are looking for the next awesome read.

...And April 14-20 is National Library Week!

Wow, April is a cool month. Not only is it FINALLY starting to warm up, with flowers blooming and rain coming down in sheets, but it also plays host to one of the best weeks in the library year.

I'm not even making it up. The theme from the American Library Association for National Library Week 2013 is "Communities Matter @ Your Library".

Guess what? You're a part of the Southern Lehigh Public Library community, and you matter! To show you how much we care, we are having several fun events going on all week.

Kids LOVE scavenger hunts, and we came up with a great one for this year. Forewarning, it may take 10-15 minutes, and there may be candy involved.

Parents can take a stab at our "First Lines" book trivia, or enter our raffle to win a $50 gift card to the restaurant of your choice!

Did I mention "Fine amnesty"? Now that you've starting running to your car, let me explain. Fines will be forgiven for any overdue items returned to the library during this week. Not something you returned last week, but haven't paid for yet. Not that DVD you lost and haven't paid for yet. Questions? Give us a call.