Hanging Out With a Book and an Author

Are you hanging out with a good book this summer?  Join this Parish 3rd grader who has discovered that there are millions of places to read great books.  E-mail your pictures and watch to see where and what your friends are reading this summer!

REMEMBER...The Dallas Museum of Art's BooksmART Festival offers families and children of all ages a chance to celebrate literature and the arts on Saturday, June 9, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The day will feature authors, artists, illustrators, workshops, music, gallery tours, story time, games and other activities at the Dallas Museum of Art.  Check the website for more details about these fantastic authors and illustrators who are participating. 

Children's Book Week

If you traveled through the library this week you undoubtedly witnessed a lively celebration of Children's Book Week.  Last year I was inspired by other librarians who set up a book walk, and I decided that we would try it this year.  The tables were pushed together and chairs set up around the perimeter.  Each chair had an animal or character behind it giving a hint about the book that was resting in the seat.  I chose books from all around the library.  Some were familiar favorites and others were wonderful fiction and nonfiction picture books that may have been overlooked this year.  After story time with books about books, the music began. The children walked around the chairs until the music stopped.  They sat down in the chair where they stopped and read the book in the seat until the music started again.  It was festive and fun!  I had planned to do this with PreK and Kindergarten, but the first and second graders couldn't resist browsing the books during their check out time, too! 

Poetry Month

Poetry is part of every day at Parish, but we find special ways to celebrate our poetry love during Poetry Month in April.  Poems were shared and enjoyed all around the campus on Poem in Your Pocket Day.

Recycle a Book 2012

Recycle a Book Day has become an annual event at Parish! Not only is it a great way to communicate how we can use and reuse things in our environment, it creates a real excitement about reading and books! It's so easy to organize. Everyone is invited to bring a book that they have enjoyed reading and are ready to part with. Some brought books that they had more than one copy of. A recycle box was set up in the library. On the day of the event, books were displayed on tables in the lunchroom. As students came in for lunch, they were invited to shop for a book that they would like to take home. I loved the conversation and book talk around the tables! This was a quick and easy way to give new life and audience to some great books!

Birthday E-Book Pioneers

This brother and sister are library pioneers! They're among the first to venture into and explore our new Overdrive e-book offerings, and they're the very first to choose e-books to donate as birthday books. Their super idea really put a spotlight on our new e-book collection. When we celebrated the birthdays in chapel, they showed a picture of the cover of the book that they donated. If you haven't explored our Overdrive collection, be sure to take some time to do that. You'll find some fantastic titles to check out on your computers, nooks, iPads, phones, and kindles. If you need help, feel free to stop by the library! Thanks, again, for these fun birthday donations!

International Children's Book Day

For twenty five years, International Children's Book Day
has been celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to draw attention to children's books. Mexico is the host country this year. Senora Escobar and I thought it would be fun to spotlight Rooster/Gallo. It's the perfect way to begin Poetry Month, too!

Grace Lin Visits!

Something wonderful happens when an author/illustrator visits a school! It changes the way we read. It changes the way we think about writing. Today we had the enormous pleasure of welcoming Grace Lin to our school and library. We've been reading many of her wonderful books and getting ready to meet her for weeks. I think that she could tell that we already loved her when she was met with origami "friends" that students crafted to greet her. Grace Lin told everyone all about the process of having a book published. She started with her IDEA book and took us on a publishing tour. She led everyone in a fabulous step by step drawing lesson. One group drew happy dragons and the other group learned how to draw a dog. The Grace Lin books will be flying off the shelf and into backpacks when we return from spring break. What a treat!