Children's Literature @ NYPL

Introduction of Speakers

Elizabeth Bird started the Children's Literary Salon, as usual, with an introduction of the speakers: Constance Vidor, Sharon Elswit, Pnina Moed Kass, and Rebecca Linde. Linde is the director of sponsorship and marketing for the New York International Children's Film Festival. She explained that the program would be started by a presentation on the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) from Constance Vidor, who is the director of library services at the Friends Seminary.

Black Storm Comin'  by Diane Lee Wilson, 2005 

12-year-old Colton first becomes entranced by the Pony Express when travelling in the 1860 westward expansion on a wagon train. A horse and clinging boy sped past him and did not look back. Got him to wonderin' what kind of excitement it would be to taste that speed and urgency. So, he tries his luck and gets hired (even tho' the manager would have preferred if he were 14 years old). And to prove his meddle, he tames a black demon. But that demon ends up waking Colton up when he was 'bout to die of hypothermia. Horse wasn't much to look at, but Colton says the following about 

For the famous or for those aspring to be, for those who have a job to do, an assignment to finish, or for those just doing what they love, the Picture Collection has long been a valuable resource and source of inspiration.

On May 20, 1944 the Picture Collection received a thank-you letter from Louis Slobodkin.

With the upcoming NYPL exhibit Lunch Hour NYC on the horizon, we can look forward to an in-depth look at the world of cafeterias, Automats, workers' lunches, lunch at home (including tenements), school and charity lunches, and power lunches too. Kids will get a glimpse of lunch in all its myriad forms, and we've whipped together a booklist of lunch-related titles they'll really enjoy. Today, let's examine one of those books and we may as well begin with that most horrorific of all lunch-related themes: school cafeteria food! [insert dramatic music here]

At a Day of Dialog a couple of years ago, an employee of School Library Journal asked me if I wanted to review books for the journal. I did not quite get into it until I started blogging last year.

We kicked off our Family Science series at the Children’s Center at 42nd Street by building our very own “tornado” in a bottle. It was a sell-out show with 30 children and their accompanying adults in attendance. But, if you were unable to join us, you can still make your own “tornado” at home.

So, what is a tornado?  A tornado is a spinning column of air between a storm cloud and the ground. Tornadoes form inside a very strong thunderstorm cloud. When two drafts of warm air coming from opposite directions meet the cold air in a storm cloud, they are pushed upward into the cloud and start to spin around each other. A funnel shaped column of air 

Have you ever lost something?  I have.  At some point in our childhoods, we have lost a cherished possession.  Sadly, the staff of the Children's Center regularly discover an array of toys and clothing that have been left behind by mistake.  We display some of the toys at our circulation desk in hopes that the small owners will return to claim them.  Happy reunions are our mission.

Last summer, we mailed a small stuffed hedgehog to Virginia after getting an email from a mother determined to track down her daughter's favorite toy.  Humphry the Hedgehog was packed into a tiny box and sent off lickety-split.  We received a big thank you from the 

I love a lot of the topics for the Children's Literary Salons at The New York Public Library. They always seem to include discussions about cutting-edge topics in technology or children's literature. I was very excited to hear what the children's author/illustrator and employee of One Hundred Robots, an online apps for kids store, had to say about this topic. I don't have an iPad or an iPhone, but I am a little bit familiar with application software and its function. Luckily for me, the presentations, panel discussion, and audience questions elucidated this matter for me to a high degree. I went from having a fuzzy understanding of apps (I have discussed them 

On February 4, 2012, supervising librarian Elizabeth Bird hosted a meeting of the minds, bringing a school librarian, public librarian, bookseller, parental blogger, and an author/illustrator together in the Margaret Berger Forum of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

After a short hiatus, I hope to bring another joyous book recommendation! 

The Pic Pick of the day is Hugs from Pearl By Paul Schmid.

Hanging on the wall next to the clock at Webster Library is a painted figure of a girl, pointing toward the ceiling. She's unassuming; wearing muted colors. People see her, but no one ever asks why she is there or (even more intriguing) what she is pointing at. When I started working at Webster Library, that was the first thing I noticed because I knew instantly who had painted her...

How quickly 100 years pass. Seems like only yesterday the children's librarians of The New York Public Library (newly formed as of 1911) were putting together a list of the best children's books of the year. At that time they were guided by the steady hand of that most powerful of librarians, Anne Carroll Moore.

I was very happy that the Children's Literary Salon returned to the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building after about a 4-month hiatus. The salon feels like a conference on children's literature, and it is always informative and fun. On Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 2pm, we had the following program. The Children's Literary Salon is organized by the Children's Center at 42nd Street.

Children's Literary Salon - Storytelling! Its Past, Its Present, Its Future

I was drawn to Colin Meloy's Wildwood for two very superficial yet important reasons.  

The Children's Literary Salon, previously known as the Children's Literary Cafe, began in 2007. In November 2008, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building ("the library with the lions") celebrated the opening of the Children's Center at 42nd Street. You can view "Women in Comics: Female Graphic Novelists Writing with Kids and Teens in Mind," a Children's Literary Salon program held at the Children's Center on April 3, 2010, by visiting the Library's website.

As a child, I was not always happy with my red hair.  It attracted lots of attention, both good and bad.  I come from a family of brown-eyed brunettes, so I was somewhat of a surprise. I would like to blame Mary MacLean, my great-great-grandmother, for my hair color, but I know that the blame should really fall on some mutated genes. Growing up in small town Quebec, redheads were few and far between. This did not matter, however, as I always had Madeline, Pippi Longstocking and Anne Shirley to keep me company. Although I was not as adventurous as Pippi or as spunky as Anne, I loved the fact that they had red hair and saw them as "kindred spirits." 

Historians, politicians, and the man-on-the-street are still trying to grasp the events of September 11, 2001— but what of children who have been born since 2001, or the children who were too young on that day to recall ? As New Yorkers prepare to honor the memory of those who died, parents and caregivers may want to visit the WTC Tribute Center, which offers programs and tours at its 120 Liberty Street site, or stop by St. Paul's Chapel at 209 Broadway. In addition, the New-York Historical Society will be offering free admission through November 10 to a special exhibition, Remembering 9/11.

A different library and a new collection!

Elodie comes to the town of Two Castles with one goal: to become a mansioner. Her greatest hope, her only actual plan upon arriving in town, is to apprentice herself to a mansioner that she might become an accomplished performer in her own right.

When Elodie’s hope is dashed she is forced to look for another plan or starve in Two Castles with none of her family at home even knowing about her plight.

Help comes in the unusual form of a dragon named Meenore.