Our Farm: Four Seasons with Five Kids on One Family's Farm by Michael J. Rosen

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book has some really great pictures, and the text is mostly quotes from the kids on the farm, so it's fun to read too. The farm is in central Ohio, and looks a whole lot like farms you will find around here. My favorite part were the "by the numbers" pages for each season which give funny statistics like how many pounds of manure a cow produces each day.


View all my reviews.

And The Winner Is......

The winner of this year's Caldecott Medal is:

The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson and Illustrated by Beth Krommes

Over the past few months, kids in our local schools have been reading past Caldecott Winners, and looking at new books eligible for the award this year. Check out their choices below. Stop by the library to check them out for yourself.

Second Mock Caldecott

48 first grade students at Newton Falls Elementary school cast their votes today for their favorite book of 2008. They chose:





























as their Mock Caldecott Award Winner.

In October, they also chose:



Don't forget to check here on Monday to see who the next Caldecott Winner will be.

The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West by Sid Fleischman

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Fleischman's biographies always look bigger than they are, but don't be put off by the size. This book is filled with pictures, and printed in large readable type. It's also hilarious; stuffed with Twain quotes as well as some really funny descriptions by Fleischman. Honestly, I sometimes wondered whose voice I was hearing, the author, or Twain himself.


View all my reviews.

Kids Pick Their Favorite

This past Tuesday, at our Mock Caldecott Election, students were invited to view several picture books published in the last year, and pick a favorite. These are their choices:

Doggone Dogs by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by David Catrow


And Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes is not actually eligible for the Caldecott Award as neither author nor illustrator are American, but our students liked their work.



For a list of past winners of this award, check out this website.

On January 26th, the American Library Association will announce the winner of the 2009 Caldecott Award.

For any knitting club member, and anyone else who may be interested, here are a few of my favorite knitting links:

Free Knitting Patterns

Knitting Help- Great for videos, a glossary, and lots of explanations about anything knitting related. (Note, use the English videos when available, not the Continental.)

YouTube also has many knitting videos. This one shows the cast on method that we use.

This one is similar to the cast on I use for my projects.

Here is a simple knit stitch.

Here is a simple pearl stitch.

And here is a simple bind off.

And finally, for the coolest new patterns, try Knitty.com.

Family Movie: Horton Hears a Who

We're showing another hit movie on our big screen. Bring the whole family and enjoy Horton Hear a Who with us on January 15 at 5:30 PM.