Some of the latest additions to our collection

In January 2012:

Adult Fiction

In Close by Brenda Novak

A Plague of Secrets by John Lescroart

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Pilgrim by Hugh Nissenson

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Drop by Michael Connelly

“V” is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton

The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis

Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson

Adult Non-Fiction

SEAL Team Six by Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

Gabby by Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly

An Irish Country Childhood by Marrie Walsh

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

The Civil War Sewing Circle by Kathleen Tracy

Junior Fiction

True (…sort of ) by Katherine Hannigan

In December 2011:

Adult Fiction
The Judgement and The Mercy by  Beverly Lewis

Tag Man by Archer Mayor

The Devil’s Light by Richard North Patterson

The Ex-Debutante by Linda Francis Lee

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman

The Night Strangers by Chris Bahjalian

The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon

Sixkill and Killing the Blues by Robert B. Parker

Ed King by David Guterson

The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland

Kill Alex Cross by James Patterson

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

The French Blue by Richard W. Wise

Adult Non-Fiction

Heaven is for REAL by Todd Burpo

A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis

Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic by Joanne B. Freeman

Bird Cloud: A Memoir of Place by Annie Proulx

Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

The Price of Civilization by Jeffery D. Sachs

The Dog Who Ate the Truffle by Suzanne Carriero

Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero by Chris Matthews

Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller

Jagger: Rebel, RockStar, Rambler, Rogue by Marc Spitz

America Dreaming How Youth Changed America in the 60’s by Laban Carrick Hill

Teach Anyone To Read:  The No-Nonsense Guide by Lillie Pope, Ph.D.

Nathaniel’s Nutmeg by Giles Milton

Young Adult

A Song of Ice and Fire (Books 1-5) by George R.R. Martin

How to Make a Bird by Martine Murray

Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler

Flightsend A summer of discovery by Linda Newbery

Taking Off by Jenny Moss

Hoppergrass by Chris Carlton Brown

The Kid Table by Andrea Seigel

Cashing In by Susan Colebank

Witch & Wizard by James Patterson

Juvenile Fiction

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney

The Warlock by Michael Scott

Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

Fetching by Kiera Stewart

Violet in Bloom by Lauren Myracle

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

These are just some of our newest titles!  In addition, we have recently acquired several juvenile picture books generously donated to us by the State Department of Libraries.  Stop in and have a look!

What fun we had at our Beach Party Finale.  We read a couple of fun beach books and then crafted our own paper crowns, paper flower leis, and shell necklaces.

We had snacks and packed goody bags with some colorful pencils and beach themed stickers.  It’s been a fun summer learning lots about watersheds, rivers, and water creatures.  Join us next summer!

We had a nice turnout today for our Make a Splash at Your Library Summer Reading Program.   Today we read books about sharks, dolphins and whales.

In addition to Cynthia Rylant’s The Whales pictured here, we also read Great Pal Dolphin by Child’s Play and illustrated by P. Adams; Dolphins by the Cousteau Society with wonderful photos, and selections from I Can Draw Sharks, Whales and Dolphins by Terry Longhurst.  We listened to music by Brent Holmes in the background (Sea Tunes for Kids).  After our reading we made mini shark books, fingerprint fish, and fingerprint ocean scenes.

Ed Emberly has some great fingerprint art books but today we used 2 Klutz Press books for our inspiration, “The Most Amazing Thumb Doodles Book” and “Fingerprint Fabulous”.  We learned a lot of fun facts about whales, sharks and dolphins and we all enjoyed getting our fingers inky and making our undersea worlds!

Shiver me timbers matey, we found treasure at the library!  We celebrated with Pirates Booty, Mango Tango Juice, and lots of shiny plastic beads for the pirate treasure bags.  We made and decorated pirate hats, wore our pirate eye patches and beards, read our pirate story and made and followed our own pirate map around the library.  Ahoy!!

Our program next week will be on Fish and Sea Creatures.  Tune in next week, Thursday, 3-4pm.

The last early literacy skill in our list of 6 is Letter Knowledge.  Letter Knowledge is knowing that letters are different from each other, have different names, and are related to sounds.  Early on it is helpful for children to learn to distinguish different shapes, as later this will help them recognize and make the letters.  Trace letters, play with magnetic letters, encourage drawing and writing, etc.  Alphabet books are fun.  You don’t even have to read the whole book.  Your child might want to stay on the first letter of their name for awhile, or the letter at the beginning of the name of an animal they like, etc.  Keep it fun but keep reading!!

Mary, Gregg and Falco from the White River Partnership were our presenters today for the Summer Reading Program.  Continuing with our theme of “Make a Splash at your Library” we learned about what is in our rivers and what that means in regards to the health of the river and the watershed.

White River Partnership

In each of those containers behind Mary are river water, rocks and water creatures.  We were able to see different water bugs, find out what likes to eat them, and how what we find tells us things about the river.

Here is Mary showing the kids the bugs from the containers.

Then Gregg showed us how people make fake water bugs, or “flies” to use to catch fish.  He made 2 flies while we watched.

This was his equipment.  Now when we are cooling off in the river we can also see what’s under those rocks and know a little bit about what that means for our river!  Thanks Mary, Gregg and Falco, and the White River Partnership!

We enjoyed another great program courtesy of the Grafton Nature Museum last Thursday.  We learned about amphibians and we got to see some live specimens.  The adults in the room enjoyed it every bit as much as the kids, I know I was so absorbed that I forgot to take pictures!

We were able to witness a toad similar to the one pictured here having its dinner.  This week’s program will take place at 3PM on Thursday, July 8th.  It will feature a representative from the White River Partnership and they will teach us how to keep our local rivers healthy.  Join us with your children between kindergarten and grade 6 for learning and fun!

We held the first of our 7 planned programs for the “Make A Splash at Your Library” Summer Reading Program this past Thursday.  Lillian from the Nature Museum at Grafton enlisted the aid of the children present to build a watershed.  The kids had a great time taking their watershed from bare land, adding rivers and tributaries and mountains, then seeing how what they created affected how they could “develop” the watershed.  Lillian talked with them about the affects of different actions and how we can all take steps to protect our real watershed.  Next week on Thursday from 3-4PM we will have a program on Amphibians.  Join us for the fun!

Another aspect of early literacy is vocabulary, or knowing the names of things.  Children need to know the meaning of the words to understand what they are reading.  If a child has heard a word before it is easier for them to sound it out when they begin to read. Children pick up vocabulary from conversation but it is also important to read to them, as books and stories use many more words than we use in regular conversation.

Join us at the library at 7PM with your portable craft.  Enjoy fun company, get help, inspiration, bring completed or in-progress work to show and tell!  We have rug-hookers, crocheters, knitters, quilters, cross stitchers, and even once, a chain mail creator!