Marionette Show - this Thursday!

Henny Penny's Trip to the Moon: Marionette Show

Celeste Rose and her marionettes will be performing "Henny Penny's Trip to the Moon" on Thursday, July 26, 10:00 a.m. at the Corvallis Library, Main Meeting Room for young children. Bring the family and join us for a fun Summer Reading Program!

Pick of the Week: My Snake Blake

My Snake Blake by Randy Siegel, illustrated by Serge Bloch (Roaring Book Press, 2012)

The extremely long, bright green snake a boy receives from his father as an early birthday present proves to be incredibly smart and talented. Blake is such a great pet, the story just might make you want a pet snake! There's also a great connection to letter recognition and awareness (cursive!) in this book. Hooray for another reinforcement of early literacy skills! If this one strikes your fancy, you might take a look at the classic book, Crictor by Tomi Ungerer, for another awesome snake pet.

Pick of the Week: Just One More!

Just One More! by Tracey Corderoy, illustrated by Alison Edgson (Good Books, 2012)
Little Brown Bunny always wants just one more book read to him at bedtime, so he spends all day creating a bedtime book that is so long the story will last all night.

Does your little one want to hear his or her favorite story over and over and over again? While this might be tiresome for the parent, it's serving a purpose for the child. Repetition is important in the early years - it helps build and reinforce neural pathways. As we adults recognize - something we do a lot sticks with us. Children are building their language skills and pouring over the same day after day reinforces the language pathways in their growing brains. They might be building vocabulary skills, recognizing letters on the page, building a better understanding of how the printed book works. It might also be that the plot, a certain message, or experience in that particular book really speaks to the child's experience, worries, or interests. Rest assured, your child will move along to new selections, but in the mean time she or he is enjoying a positive experience with that book and with you!

Two Events at the Library This Week

Henrik Bothe Variety Show  He walks on ladders, spins ropes, juggles without using his hands, manipulates fancy hats and rides a unicycle! Join us for a special performance from Henrik Bothe's variety show on Wednesday, July 11th at 3:30pm to help us celebrate summer reading! For children ages 5-12 years. For more information, contact Youth Services 541-766-6794.

Spanish/English Bilingual Storytime Join us for bilingual English/Spanish stories, songs, and a special craft at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, July 14th. We'll be making mouse finger puppets! Refreshments served. Free! Venga y disfrute de la fiesta de su biblioteca! Un programa bilingüe cada més en la biblioteca. ¡Gratis! Come one, come all and enjoy! Happy Summer Reading

Pick of the Week: Maudie and Bear

Maudie and Bear by Jan Ormerod & Freya Blackwood (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2012)

In this delightful, imaginative story about friendship, we meet Maudie and Bear. Maudie can be a bit bossy, but Bear is often stoic and quite gentle with a heart of gold. These five short stories are cozy, sweet and sometimes comical. The vintage-style illustrations add to the charm of this picture book. We read about two friends on bike rides ("Exercise," said Maudie, "is so good for you."), fixing afternoon snacks, making up after a small tiff, telling stories, and dancing in the moonlight.

Tongue Twisters!

Oh Say Can You Say? by Dr. Seuss

Did you know...that children hear a letter sound most easily at the beginning of a word? Remember those tongue twisters, clapping and jump-rope rhymes that we use to say as kids, like Miss Mary Mack? When several words have the same beginning sound, it's called alliteration. An easy way to help children recognize those beginning sounds of words is by saying tongue twisters. Singing those tongue twisters and rhymes actually help children develop their phonological awareness - an important early literacy skill. Phonological awareness is the ability to hear the smaller sounds in words. It helps with later reading. Go ahead, try a tongue twister now, for fun! Here are two familiar ones: 

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?
If Peter Piper Picked a peck of pickled peppers, 

How many pickled peppers were in the peck that Peter Piper picked?

 

and 

Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack 

All dressed in black, black, black 

With silver buttons, buttons, buttons 

All down her back, back, back. 

She asked her mother, mother, mother 

For 50 cents, cents, cents 

To see the elephants, elephants, elephants 

Jump over the fence, fence, fence. 

They jumped so high, high, high 

They reached the sky, sky, sky 

And they didn't come back, back, back 

'Til the 4th of July, ly, ly! 

(Early literacy tips found in The Early Literacy Kit: A Handbook and Tip Cards by Betsy Diamant-Cohen and Saroj Ghoting, copyright American Library Association, 2010.)