King Louie

Louie did not find it particularly amusing to be forced to wear a dumb crown, even though he did look regal sitting on top of two red cushions at the front desk. He became so annoyed with Judy and me that he left the building and had to be sweet-talked into coming back.

The best kind of story time craft...

...is something good to eat! This week the children made chicks for Easter (though I bet they don't last that long). The "nest" is a cupcake, the chick is made out of two donut holes covered in yellow frosting. The beak is part of an orange gumdrop, the eyes are chocolate chips, and the grass is coconut dyed green. This recipe came from Family Fun magazine: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50116

We will be taking a three-week break from storytime and will start up again the first Wednesday in May, May 2nd. All 2-5 year olds are welcome!

Who got married??

Last week's storytime was a bit of a fiasco... I had made shakers by getting large plastic easter eggs and filling them with rice. I told the kids that we hadn't had a chance to seal them shut, so not to open them. Heh heh... Famous last words...

I don't think any of the kids purposely opened the eggs, but enthusiastic squeezing and accidental dropping meant at least half of the eggs split open and rice was everywhere. It looked like we'd had a wedding in the children's room!

This week, Judy glued the eggs shut, so it wasn't QUITE as much fun, but they make a better sound filled with rice, so musically it was a better storytime experience!

A visit from the 2nd Grade

It's always a good day when the 2nd graders come to visit. Here they are leaving with the books they chose with their teacher Mrs. Pohl (in front) and the classroom aide Jody Perry (at rear). Click on the picture to see a larger version!

It's Nice and Quiet at the Library

Matt and Olivia are worn out from vacation week, as you can see.

Squeaky's Growing Up

Meghan has stayed pretty much the same, but would you have recognized Squeaky?? (see Nov 10th blog entry when he and his siblings were only 6 weeks old). What a handsome, strong and sturdy young thing he is. Thanks for the visit, Squeaky.

Enter to win! How many pictures of Meghan have been on the blog since I started it in October 2005? Check the blog archives, submit your answer to freedomlibrary@adelphia.net with "Number of Meghans" in the subject line by April 1, 2007. If there are a lot of correct entries, we will select one winner at random. The prize will be free books from the book sale... or maybe something else if I can think of something good. Good luck!

Puppy visit

Katie and Amanda brought their 6 month old Jack Russell Terriers to visit the library today. Now that we see how cute and sweet they are, we're not too upset about the library book they tried to eat! Pictured here are Katie with Daisy & Amanda with Lilly.

Laugh, Laugh, Laugh!

The 2007 Winter Film Series, "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh!" kicked off with Harold Lloyd in "Safety Last!" A long sequence at the end where Harold climbs the outside of the 12-story department store where he works was harrowing for those of us (me) afraid of heights. I can definitely see why audiences of the time gasped and screamed at the stunts... I could barely stifle a similar reaction! It's hard to believe that that movie is 84 years old. It is terrific! I guess snow and an important Patriots game are responsible for the low turnout. People, get your priorities straight!! Our next film is the Marx Brothers in "Duck Soup" on Sunday, January 28th at 4:00 pm. See the complete schedule at our website www.freedompubliclibrary.org or come by the library to pick up a flyer.

Jonah & Yellophant

Jonah was uncharacteristically subdued at the library today when he came with his mother, Mary, and his stuffed friend Yellophant. After dumping out all the colored blocks, he stayed close by his mother as she checked her email.

Caroline visits the library

It's nice at holiday time to have the grandchildren of Freedom residents visit the library. Today we were happy to see Ellen Many's granddaughter Caroline. Caroline loves both books & Louie as you can see! As always, click on any picture to see a larger version.

Ladybug Picture Book Award Winner Announced!

On November 14th I paid a visit to the Freedom Elementary School to read all ten of the Ladybug Picture Book Award nominees to the Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders. It was a marathon session and thank goodness for school librarian Missy Bishop who read several of them or my voice would have given out! The kids were really great listeners... they had to be, because after they heard all ten books, they each got to vote for their favorite. Each child was given a ladybug sticker to put on the outside of the book they liked the most. I also read to the preschoolers that week and at storytime at the library. The favorite book by far was I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont, garnering 32% of the vote in Freedom. It's my favorite, too, because you don't just read this book, you SING it!

Today, The Center for the Book announced the winner of the 2006 Ladybug Picture Book Award.

It was....
drum roll, please...

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! which earned 21% of the 17,027 votes cast in 130 libraries and schools across New Hampshire. The voting results are as follows:

3,553 I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont & David Catrow
3,252 The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens & Susan Stevens Crummel
2,282 Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi & John Manders
1,531 Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
1,397 Mr. Tuggle's Troubles by LeeAnn Blankenship & Karen Dugan
1,349 The Dog Who Cried Wolf by Keiko Kasza
1,105 Terrific by Jon Agee
1,067 Our Tree Named Steve by Alan Zweibel & David Catrow
943 The Dancing Tiger by Malachy Doyle, Steve Johnson & Lou Fancher
548 The Best Pet of All by David LaRochelle & Hanako Wakiyama

All of these wonderful books are available to borrow at the Freedom Public Library!

And now... a puppy!

At the risk of seeming like all we do is host pets here at the library I just HAVE to publish this cute picture of Samantha and her sweet Yellow Lab puppy, Bonnie who visited last week.

Kittens!

Meghan brought their three 6-week old little kittens to the library again. They tuckered themselves out playing, then slept on her lap while she worked on the computer for a long while. They are keeping the one Meghan has her hand on and the two others will go to their new homes around Thanksgiving. Kitten visitors brighten our day. Thanks for coming, you little cuties!

A bunch of turkeys at story time

Here are today's story time kids - Connor, Kyle, Jack & Anya - with the turkeys they made during craft time.

Three little kittens

The Davis girls brought their three 4-week-old kittens to the library on Saturday in the middle of a Nor'easter and that brightened everyone's day! The kittens had just learned to walk and their hindquarters were wobbly and kept splaying out. You could see they wanted to play, but couldn't get their bodies to cooperate. Judy has picked one out to adopt when they are old enough.

Judy's cat visits the library

Poor Spooky... he spent many of his early months in a cage in New Orleans (he's a hurricane Katrina orphan) so he wasn't too keen on getting back in his cat carrier when his library visit was over. Here he is pictured with Judy's husband, Bud, and her sister-in-law Margaret.

More Pokemon Club members

Pictured with their favorite Pokemon cards above: Haden chose Ancient Mew because it's the rarest card you could ever get. Audrey chose Squirtle because h'e cute and he's powerful when he evolves. Elizabeth chose Shifty because "he's my strongest." Tucker chose Blaziken who is a Fire Pokemon that's really powerful.

Pokemon fans gather at the library

8 enthusiastic Pokemon collectors gathered last Friday for Pokemon Club. They ate popcorn and checked out each other's collections. No one actually played Pokemon yet. There's plenty of time for that! We're going to have Pokemon Club after school every Friday through the week before Thanksgiving. Pictured above the kids pick their favorite Pokemon cards to be photographed with: Hilary chose Igglybuff because "it's adorable." Liam, the club founder, chose both Aggron ex and Mightyna ex because they a both brave Pokemon, cute, and extremely dangerous. Kyle's favorites are Golem (becasue he's really strong) and Pikachu (because he's cute.) Abram chose Mew because he's cute and Umbreon because he's "so cool." Next post I will show the 4 other Pokemon Club members and their favorite Pokemon.

They've got rhythm

We have so much fun on Wednesdays. Here we are with the rhythm sticks.

(Click on image to see a larger version)

Louie, our official greeter

Here's Bryn saying hello to Louie at the library today.

Scenes from Storytime Fall 2006

Hannah and Andrew enjoy playing together after storytime.

It was Lego-City after storytime last week!

Our puppet creators

Tyler & his grandmother













Tiffany and her puppet looked quite a bit alike!









Cora is a very fashionable pirate.

Arr, it's Captn Shush!

I have received a number of wonderful photos from the parade which I will be posting over the next few days. This is one of my favorites, taken by Jennifer Molin's daughter.

Scenes from Our Book & Bake Sale

Thank you so much to all volunteers, book donors, bakers, and buyers who made our book & bake sale so very, very successful! We set a new record this year: $1100 was made from book & popcorn sales over two days and close to $500 was earned with the bake sale. The painting raffle netted $286.


The table was laden with goodies.














Meghan helped sell raffle tix.











The rain forced us to set up the book and bake sale completely in the barn, but that turned out ok... especially for kids who like puddles.














We found homes for many, many great books.

Raffle winner

The raffle for Peg Scully's watercolor netted $286. The drawing was Friday, August 4th. Peg herself drew the winning ticket: Margery Conrey won the painting. I called her and she came immediately to pick up her prize. Congrats, Margery!

We're Number One! We're Number One!

The pirate puppets that Tyler, Tiffany and Cora made turned out so great! The parade judges thought so too - The Freedom Public Library won a first place trophy! Thanks so much to Paul Mathieu for leading the puppet workshop and to Heidi Glavin who made the gorgeous professional-looking banner and who also helped with the workshop. What would the library do without great volunteers like them?? This is a question I ask myself daily. Thank you!

Click on any picture to see a larger sized version, so you can see all the details!

Jigsaw fun

Louie the cat is not that good at putting puzzles together but he's excellent at taking them apart. Despite his reputation, Martine & Pim warmly welcome Louie as he walks on the nearly completed puzzle that patrons have been working on for the last few weeks.

Pirates on Parade

Paul Mathieu has been leading a small but dedicated group of puppet-makers in creating some fabulous pirate puppets for the Freedom Old Home Week parade which will be taking place at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, July 29th.

Storytime kids at the beach

Jassmyn, Cora & Anya water the librarian to help her grow (as if she needs that!) while visiting baby Jordan looks on.

Friday night at the movies

Jack & Tanner were smart & brought their own lounge chairs to Pizza & Movie night at the library Friday. 28 adults and children enjoyed "Muppet Treasure Island" and 11 adults & teens at "Freaks & Geeks" later on that evening. Next week, everyone is invited to see "Freaky Friday." Congratulations to Patty Ferguson and Joel Rhymer (no, it wasn't rigged!!!) for winning this week's Adult Summer Reading program drawing.