Bobert Bougainvillea is invisible. He lives in the country of Nefaria and no matter how he tries to make friends at school, in between dodging the evil schemes that proliferate in his country, everyone seems to forget about him instantly and ignore him constantly. So when he meets two kids planning to try out the supposedly cursed gumball machine in the town square, two kids who, even though they think he's a new kid are willing to include him, he happily goes along with them. And is promptly cursed - and this time he's not just invisible, he's been completely forgotten by everyone, including ..read more

Genre: Fantasy Protagonists: Female, white Reading Level: 560 Series: Two titles Originally reviewed in 2016 Review: This new Branches series shows that even something that looks "fluffy" can be both fun and well-written. Stella is a little worried about getting new glasses - especially when her mom says she has to get a haircut too! Will anyone recognize her if she looks so different? When she stops to help a sweet but strange lady, something happens to her glasses and she starts seeing....odd things. Fairies! Soon Stella discovers where those knots in her hair are coming from and that he ..read more

Programs Paws to Read Family Storytime (sub) Music to my ears (4K annual celebration) OPtions field trip Family storytime (sub) Library on the Go outreach (1st grade, 3 classes) Volunteer Fun Meetings, Outreach, Etc. YS Social 4-H (hosting) City Council meeting Girl Scouts (hosting) Managers' meeting Notes My school colleague, the Parent Connections Outreach Coordinator, who also does our family storytimes and some other programming, runs a big library-wide party for 4K students and their families the third Wednesday in April. This is her second time running it and she does a great ..read more

 This poignant and chilling story expands the trope of "kid turned ghost" into an adventure in friendship and fear. The story opens with the original events of 1982, when a girl named Abigail flees from her bullies to the Bellwoods and never returns. Present-day, it's tradition for 6th graders to go into the Bellwoods and "play the game." If they ring the bell on the far side of the woods, they save the town for another year from the ghost of Abigail Snooks. Bailee is eager to play - she's been ostracized by her friend Fen, who blames her for tattling to the principal about a risky plan ..read more

 This is a board book, scaled down version of Scales' What a shell can tell from 2022. Simple text, giving basic information about shells, fills the board pages and a myriad of flaps can be pulled down to view shells and their interiors. Readers will see a beach scene, with shells beneath rocks, garden scene where they can find hiding snails, and a fun variety of shells and the creatures who live in them. The penultimate page gives an option to open "glass drawers" and describe the different shells pictured both on and under the flap. The final page shows a beach scene with shells t ..read more

Genre: Animal stories Protagonists: Animals, male Reading level: 500s Series: Probably complete with 7 titles Originally reviewed in 2016 Review: This is part of the rather odd trend of cutting chapter books down to beginning chapters. I find this pointless since, if they're trying to attract a previous fan base, those kids are unlikely to be familiar with the characters and if they're trying to build a new fan base the books are really quite close together in reading level and by the time the kids move on to the older chapter series they're likely to have lost interest. However, they are u ..read more

Programs Paws to Read Family storytime 4K outreach storytimes We Explore Nature Kids/Teen Dungeons and Dragons Family Storytime Fact Finders Teen Advisory Board Meetings, outreach, etc. National Library Week 4-H (hosting) Great Give-Back (sports teams volunteer day) Notes I returned to work on Wednesday the 10th, not only missing the eclipse, but also prevailing on my long-suffering associate to cover Dungeons and Dragons for me that evening, although she didn't end up needing to since only 3 kids showed. This week is very busy at school apparently. I only had one kid at Fact Finder ..read more

This blog represents my personal views and not those of my employer or of the library as an institution. To recap, last December a parent challenged over 400 books at the middle and high school libraries. This Book Riot article gives a good overview of the initial events. Because of the policies in place at the time, all the books were removed from the library shelves. In February, the principals of the two schools completed the book review. Some books were moved from the middle school to high school, all books were returned to the shelves, and a number of books were "restricted." In order to ..read more

 It's fitting that I read this beautiful picture book, celebrating the life of a tree and biodiversity, at the same time as I was reading Albert Marrin's new narrative nonfiction When Forests Burn about the history of wildfires. I'm also trying (somewhat) to restrain myself from yelling at people who are getting out their leaf blowers to remove any last vestige of leaves or dead plants that they somehow missed in the initial scouring in the fall. Ahem. The story opens with a twisted, broken pine, covered in moss and fungi. "One day this tree will fall and this story will end. Won't ..read more

 This is a beautiful, unique celebration of nature that's just right for bedtime read-alouds Pauloosie and his mom are having a peaceful pre-bedtime discussion and he asks what it would sound like if his pet rock, Miki Rock, could talk. This branches out into a gentle question and response story of the interaction of rocks with their environment, the passing seasons, and the natural beauty of the Arctic landscape. The story's rhythms, both in the text and in the passing of seasons, are pitch-perfect for calming rituals. Miki Rock listens to the animals, hears the waves on the beach, wat ..read more