In this space, you can play and record music, create graphic designs, shoot, enhance and manipulate photos, and film and edit your own video recordings! The featured software includes Garageband, iMovie, Comic Life, Photobooth, iWeb, and Photoshop Elements.

You can also listen to Library staff discuss the new YSDML here!

Stop by the Youth Services Lab to get started!

Another special craft was a backyard birdfeeder to hang in the yard. The kids spread peanut butter on the outside of an ice cream cone (with a little help from their grandparents), poked a pipe cleaner through the pointy end, and then together they rolled it in birdseed and cheerios.

The afternoon wrapped with cookies, juice, and chocolate kisses for everyone. What a fun way to celebrate Valentine’s Day!

Revisit the fun or see it for the first time in our Flickr photoshow!

Come on by the Youth Services Desk to pick up a craft kit and then head over to the craft room to make your very own Akita Heart Puppet. You can make one for a Valentine’s Day gift or use it to perform a puppet show for someone special! You can also check out Lesléa Newman’s book Hachiko Waits and use your Akita puppet to help you tell the story! So make sure you stop by the Library soon to create your very own canine friend!

Also, if you missed Lesléa Newman’s visit with Retief, the Akita dog, take a look at our Flickr photoset from the event!

February is Coming Together in Skokie a Celebration of the Assyrian People. I was asked to come up with ideas for Assyrian crafts for the two drop-in Craft Studio on February 15 from 4:30 to 5:30pm. I really enjoy this work because I get to explore a different culture and their people. I’m currently reading Home Is Beyond the Mountains by Celia Barker Lottridge.  What an interesting book! It is based on a true story about the Assyrian people during World War I. An interesting thing that I learned was that ancient Assyrians had cylinder seals that they would use when they needed to sign something important. This seal was rolled into wet clay and the images told a story about that particular Assyrian family. These seals are priceless artifacts today, you can only see them in museums and you probably wouldn’t pay much attention to them because  they are so small. But, what a cool project it could be to make your own family seal. I’m still trying to figure out how we could make our own at the Library.  I have some really good cardboard cylinders. I have to find some rubber or something that I can carve into to make the different symbols and then attach them to our cylinders.

For more contemporary craft ideas I went to Lillian, one of our youth computer assistants, for ideas. Lillian is Assyrian and I thought  she would have some ideas. Lucky me, Lillian came up with some rather good ideas.

• Make an Assyrian flag, which is an important symbol to the Assyrian people
• Make bracelets with Assyrian symbols. We are going to use Shrinky Dink* material and make our own charms to put on the beaded bracelets. I’m excited about this, it is always a lot of fun to watch your art work shrink and turn into hard plastic when it is put into the oven.

Now I have to make samples before the Craft Studio programs. I am looking forward to seeing you February 15 at Craft Studio!

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*If you are curious about ShrinkyDinks watch this video. www.shrinkydinks.com/video/video_hq.html

Hachiko Waits

We love having authors visit us, but it’s even more fun when they bring a dog. Ms. Newman will be bringing an Akita dog.

Akitas are considered native to the Japanese island of Honshu. Many Japanese consider them sacred and capable of bringing good fortune to their owners and families. Often Japanese families will receive a small statue of an Akita dog upon the birth of a new baby, signifying health, happiness, and a long life.

The Akita breed was first introduced in the United States by Helen Keller who brought one over in 1937. They became more popular after World War II when many soldiers brought Akita puppies home with them from Japan. They are known to be extremely loyal and protective.

Akitas are great working dogs, acting as hunting dogs, military and police dogs as well as working in therapy settings.

Meet an Akita at the Skokie Public Library on Wednesday, February 8 at 6:00pm.

On February 8, 2012 the Youth Services Department will host author Leslea Newman who won the 2010-2011 Voice of Youth Award for her book, Hachiko Waits. This is a moving story of a dog whose loyalty and devotion touches the hearts of the Japanese people and changes the life of a young boy named Yasuo forever. If you are interested in reading this book with your students, we have a classroom set available for checkout.

In addition to numerous other books for adults and children, Ms. Newman wrote Heather Has Two Mommies, the first children’s book to portray lesbian families in a positive way, and has followed up this pioneering work with several more children’s books on lesbian and gay families.

During her visit on February 8th Newman will make presentations at East Prairie School and Fairview South School – two local schools that participated in the VOYA voting. She will also present an evening session at the Skokie Public Library from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Please encourage your students to attend this session, meet Newman, and hear her talk about her writing. Registration for the eveing program begins January 2nd and will be taken on a first–come, first–served basis. To register, sign up online or telephone the Youth Services Department at 847–324–3149. For more information contact Linda Sawyer at 847–324–2195.

We’re always excited to get news of the winners. This year, our very own Mary Michell was on the John Newbery Medal committee. If you’re curious about what it was like for Mary to be part of this very exciting moment, jump down to to Mary’s “Dispatches from Dallas” to see photos and text messages.

If you just can’t wait and want to know NOW which books won the Newbery, Caldecott, and other medals, click over to the American Library Association website to see the list of all winners.

Dispatches from Dallas…

First thing to know: Mary didn’t send any notes or pictures from inside the room where the Newbery Committee met and cast their votes. Those meetings are top secret! Mary sent messages and photos to me after meetings were over, when the voting was finished, and after the awards were announced.

This is the official sign from the official door to the official room where the Newbery Committee had their official meetings and cast their official votes…

Mary left Chicago just in time to miss Friday’s big snowstorm. I sent her a picture of our weather map showing snow over Skokie; Mary sent back a message about the beautiful weather in Dallas. So I sent Mary a picture of the chocolate chip cookies I had just baked, because there are few things better on a snowy day than warm cookies fresh from the oven! (I think I won!)

Mary and the Newbery Committee finished their voting by Sunday afternoon, but no one could breathe a word of the results until the official announcement on Monday morning. Mary didn’t get much sleep over the three days of meetings and voting, so she was pretty tired. “Really happy, but so tired.”

After Monday’s official announcement (which was broadcast live on the Web and saved here for you to watch), Mary sent some photos of the Newbery committee members and the winning books with their shiny new medal stickers on their covers.

These are the books that the 2012 Newbery Committee chose to win the Medal and Honors:

Medal: Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos.

Honor: Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai and Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin.

The next time you’re in the Library, be sure to stop by and ask Mary all about her exciting trip to Dallas and her year on the Newbery Award committee!

A highlight of the afternoon was a dramatic reading of Where the Wild Things Are. Mr. Dave, Linda, and Sue brought Max and the Wild Things to life while Mary read the story and the audience joined in the rumpus. I still giggle every time I look at this photo of them acting their parts for the audience (click here for a larger view)…

In between stories and dancing, Rumpus guests made their own Wild Thing hands and feet, followed clues to the end of a treasure hunt, and enjoyed some animated short films of Maurice Sendak’s stories. Many people put donations of food into Max’s private boat for distribution to our local food pantry.

The Reading Rumpus was just one of many programs going on at the Library to celebrate the Skokie stop of In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak, a traveling exhibit about the life and art of Maurice Sendak, on display at the Library through February 26.

If you missed the Rumpus, or if you were there and just want to relive the fun all over again, take a look at our Flickr photoset from the day. You might see yourself or someone you know!

Preschool and Child Care Centers:
Aristotle Preschool & Kindergarten, Cherry Preschool, CNE Early Head Start, Devonshire Preschool, District 65 Family Center Doorway to Learning Child Care Center, East Prairie School, Elizabeth Meyer School, Little People’s Montessori School, Mayer Kaplan JCC Children’s Center, Morton Grove Park District Preschool, Mosaic Early Childhood Center, Niles Park District Bright Beginnings Preschool, Niles Township District for Special Education, Niles West Little Wolf Pack Preschool, Oakton Community College Early Childhood Education Center, Roycemore School, St. Andrew’s Lutheran School, St. John Brebeuf School, St. Peter School, Skokie Solomon Schechter Day School, Tiny Tot Preschool & Kindergarten, T.O.P.S. Preschool Program, Tot Learning Center

Home Child Care:
A Bit of Patience Day Care, AuPairCare, Cara*lot Home Child Care, College Nannies & Tutors of Glenview, Sunny Bunny, Growing Minds Home Day Care, Little Bird Child Care, Mother’s Helpers

Child & Family Services:
A Big Blast, Illinois Action for Children, Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, Jewish United Fund Right Start, Maine-Niles Association of Special Recreation, National Lekotek Center, SHORE Early Intervention

Enrichment Programs:
Emily Oaks Nature Center, Enopi Skokie Learning & Enrichment Center, Five Hands Studio, Language Stars, Leaning Tower YMCA, Make a Messterpiece, Morton Grove Public Library, Skokie Public Library, The Studio of Rhona Reagan

Join Skokie and Morton Grove Public Libraries for this resourceful event!

But first you should know this: Staff Day is the one and only day of the year when the Library is closed for anything other than a holiday or snow day.  On this day, the people who work in the library hear about topics important to libraries, learn some new skills, and get to know other people who work in the Library. The Board of Trustees also makes us a delicious holiday lunch (they don’t cook it themselves… they have someone else cook it for us!).  This year, eight people from different parts of the Library took pictures in the morning and made them into a moving picture show in the afternoon. Their pictures tell a story without words about what we’re doing in here on Staff Day. Look closely… you’ll probably see many people you know!

P.S… Don’t be fooled by all the food. We do a lot more than eat at Staff Day!

Click here to view the embedded video.