Changing Lives Through the Library

The Liberal Memorial Library will be celebrating National Library Week beginning Monday, April 14.

During the week-long celebration, the Library will be holding several drawings for stuffed animals, chocolate, candy and of course, books!

We’ll also have a jelly-bean counting and coloring contests.

And since this year’s theme is “Lives change @ your library,” let us know how our Library has changed your life. We’d like to know and let others know as well. You can write it down and we’ll post it up on the wall to share with others.

Also, if you’re unfamiliar with the Library, come on down and we’ll be happy to show you around. Just ask a staffer and we’ll be happy to give you a tour of all our services.

During National Library Week and throughout April, libraries host special events to highlight the unique role libraries play in changing people’s lives.

Today’s libraries can help you and your family discover a new and exciting world. Visit your library for computer resources for teens and adults, help with your job search, access to subscription databases, library-recommended websites and homework help.

You also can obtain information about how to become a U.S. citizen, bilingual resources and neutral financial information to help you make important decisions.

Libraries are an oasis if you are looking for adult education classes, or for a recommendation on the best books or e-books to expand your horizons. Open the door to change, visit your library!

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries - school, public, academic and special - participate.

New Non-Fiction Bedtime Stories

Most people think of bedtime stories as having talking animals, princesses, tractors that can talk or a blue cat with big white shoes.  While reading every day to your youngsters is important, it doesn’t have to be the same story books over and over again.  If you have a child who doesn’t like to read or be read to, try introducing non-fiction books into your bedtime routine.  The children’s department at Liberal Memorial Library just got in a whole lot of non-fiction books, a lot of which would make the perfect bedtime story.

Every kid likes gross things, and we just got the No Way series by Michael Rosen.  Learn about disgusting foods (for example, the world’s most expensive coffee – kopi luwak, which is basically kitty litter coffee) in Strange Foods.  Or learn about strange careers in Weird Jobs.  Who knows, maybe after reading this book to your son, he will become a manure inspector when he grows up!

I love, love, love Bedtime Math (and Bedtime Math 2) by Laura Overdeck.  It is so much fun for kids.  Plus, if you have more than one kid, you can read it to all of them at one time.  It will only take a few minutes to do one or two problems a night before bed.  There are three different math problems (each for a different age group) that are accompanied by a story (something that will definitely interest kids, like sharks, teeth falling out and ice cream).  These books definitely make math fun.  Oh, and the book even has the answers, just in case your math skills are a little rusty. 

Kids who like facts, records and oddities should check out the Ripley’s Believe It or Not series.  We just got 31 new books in the series.  Learn about amazing people, animal antics, or find out whether or not that was a good idea.  Each book isn’t too long, has great pictures, and facts that your kids are going to be talking about at the breakfast table the next morning.  I just read about a prison break in Mexico where the convicts spent months digging a tunnel.  It turns out that their escape tunnel came up in the local courtroom. 

Of course, no discussion of non-fiction would be complete without mentioning the new dinosaur books.  The Discovering Dinosaurs series by Jinny Johnson would be perfect for kids who are between five and eight years old.  Big, colorful pictures and big text make the book interesting and a really fast read.  It even tells you how to pronounce the names of the dinosaurs, so you won’t stumble over “yangchuanosaurus”.

For older readers, we just got in Cold Cases by Matt Anniss.  If you’ve ever wondered about the science of crimes and how detectives can solve old crimes, this book is going to answer some of those questions. 

Ok, and if you’ve read this far, you definitely deserve a super-secret tip on non-fiction.  A lot of the fairytales and fables that you know from a kid are actually classified as non-fiction.  So, if you are looking for Goldilocks and the Three Bears or Mother Goose, check in non-fiction. 

Every time that I walk down the non-fiction rows in the library, I discover something new that I want to read.   Plus, since we are always getting new books in, I don’t think that I will ever be able to read everything that piques my interest.  From animals to cookbooks, history and biographies, the children’s non-fiction section of Liberal Memorial Library has books for every child of every age.