Blog Post
Lettering, Typography, and Design
by manz
There are some books that demonstrate the beauty and how-to of classy and fabulous hand lettering and typography, whether you’re into graphic design or not. Here are a few dandies that are worth a view.
Shadow Type: Classic three-Dimensional Lettering
This book contains a ton of images to peruse and very little text, if at all. Very visually appealing! Fantastic inspiration!
Scripts: Elegant Lettering From Design's Golden Age
By the same author as the above book, this book is done in the same way and features a plethora of images.
In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist's Sketchbook and Process, From Pencil to Vector
Switching gears, this book focuses on hand lettering and how it is used in design work. This is a beautiful book with many examples and even some how-to. The author has worked with many big clients, and you'll recognize some of her work!
For more graphic design inspiration for word lovers, here are additional books on typography and lettering that will make you bust out those Micron pens.
Blog Post
PreK Bits - "F" is for FARM Fix-It
by ryanikoglu
Ms. Rachel took Storytime to the FARM this week.
OLD MacDONALD HAD A WOODSHOP on the farm … and we used all the tools to build something.
We sang with Banjo Betsy … “Johnny Works With 1 Hammer".
TOPS And BOTTOMS ... Which side of the crop does Bear want? “The tops”? Or … “The bottoms”?
Spoiler Alert!
Bear lost!
Here are more favorite stories from the farm:
DUCK On A TRACTOR or DUCK In The TRUCK … Anyway ... Duck has great ideas.
TURKEY TOT ... when animals use tools ...
The LOOPY COOP HENS LETTING GO ... when the apples are "letting go" on their heads.
JOB WANTED ... a dog appears on the farm.
FARMER'S MARKET DAY ... when the harvest comes in.
FARMER FALGU GOES ON A TRIP ... his farm is too noisy !
Or... choose more farm stories HERE.
For fun and information ... Here are just a few spin-offs from the "Old MacDonald" traditional song:
OLD MacDONALD HAD A TRUCK
OLD MacDONALD HAD A DRAGON
OLD MIKAMBA HAD A FARM ... in Africa.
E-I-E-I-O: How Old MacDonald Got His Farm (With A Little Help From Hen)
"Old MacDonald's Farm" on the CD BABY GENIUS PRESENTS FAVORITE NURSERY RHYMES
"Old MacDonald's Vowel Farm" on the CD LITTLE PEOPLE: ABC Sing-Along
"Old MacDonald Had A Farm" on the Kit CD OLD MacDONALD HAD A FARM which includes a book too.
EEE - I - EEE - I - OoOoOoh !
Blog Post
A Look Back, a Step Forward
by Lucy S
How do you write about recent, disastrous history in a middle-grade book? And why? Jewell Parker Rhodes answers both of these questions in her new book, Towers Falling. This isn't the first book in which she has tackled hard, real life issues. Rhodes won The Coretta Scott King Award for her 2010 book, The Ninth Ward, the story of a girl braving Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In Towers Falling, Rhodes has again created a necessary and captivating book focusing, in part, on the events of September 11th. A class of fifth-graders in a Brooklyn school begins their school year by learning about the missing towers in the New York City landscape they see from their classroom window. As the year is 2016, none of these children were alive on September 11, 2001, and this towerless panorama is the only one they know. Their teacher, Ms. Garcia, uses this cityscape and its significance to begin a dialogue on interconnectedness, and the idea that history is alive. The students eventually come to realize that they are all connected to one another through this living history and therefore linked to the victims and witnesses of September 11.
At the heart of this story is fifth-grader Deja, who has recently moved into a homeless shelter, The Avalon, with her parents and two younger siblings. When asked to do a project about her home, Deja struggles, and then replicates her family instead of her physical dwelling. In so doing, she underscores Ms. Garcia’s message of affinity, the strength of relationships, and the nuanced meanings of family and home.
Deja and her two friends, Saleem and Ben, carry on this conversation and their learning outside of the classroom as they work on a homework assignment together. In creating a study of the “far past” and the “recent past” in America, these three arrive at an understanding of what it might mean to be an American, no matter where you’re from, or how or when you arrived. Deja is African-American, Saleem is Turkish and Ben has Mexican heritage. Their shared experiences make them realize that as part of the “American circle,” they are “different but still American.” “Some histories repeat; some events are unique. There is regional, statewide, and national history. We share all of it in common as Americans.”
Towers Falling is marketed towards 8 to 12 year-olds, and does, eventually provide some striking details from September 11, which are never easy to encounter. Still, this book is important for readers of all ages, teenagers and adults included, who will benefit from learning Deja's story, and grow because of the experience.
Blog Post
PreK Bits - "H" is for Happy HOME !
by ryanikoglu
Ms. Rachel's Storytime Theme this week was House and Home.
First ... WE WERE TIRED Of LIVING IN A HOUSE ... "so we moved out!"
psst! The books are wearing out ... but you can still get a copy from another Library through MelCat.
We played "Up The Hill And Down The Hill" ... a story with fingers, hands and arms.
Then I was SITTING IN MY BOX ... just Me. Folks began to knock. "May I come in?"
... well of course, I moved over!
Here are more stories of "HOME" for you to check out:
LITTLE HOME BIRD
HOME FOR A BUNNY ... a classic by Margaret Wise Brown!
The BEAR And The PIANO ... home is where you are happy.
The NOT-SO-FARAWAY ADVENTURE ... with grandfather.
WELCOME HOME BEAR: A Book Of Animal Habitats.
HOME LOVELY ... moving to a new home and making it "lovely".
LITTLE HOUSES: A Counting Book.
JULIA'S HOUSE FOR LOST CREATURES ... and everyone has a job to do to make it work well.
Blog Post
A Magical Wordsmith and a Kaleidescoping Artist
by mansii
What happens when one of the most cherished children's authors of all time gets written about by one of the most creative book illustrators of all time? You get Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White. Caldecott winning artist Melissa Sweet, who creates unique scrap-booked worlds of kaleidoscopic color, depicts the creator of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little in a biography written for the young, but treasured by all.
E.B. White is known as a wordsmith like no other, using one choice phrase to paint whole, vivid pictures. His works are fantastical, blending the impossible with the ordinary so smoothly that we might easily believe he paints the real world while we are the ones dreaming. His characters may not aggrandize wealth or change the world, but they are rich in kindness, brave in friendship, and they transform homesteads and barns into places of hope and joy. Given the stamp of approval by White’s grand-daughter Martha White, Sweet reveals how White's three novels and numerous writings for the New Yorker came to be. She pays special attention to how the details of White's "real life" shaped the fictional worlds he spun. Especially with the numerous photographs, illustrations from the original books, letter excerpts, and draft excerpts that Sweet includes, reading this book feels like meeting a friend.
Melissa Sweet's illustrations are filled with details you can linger over, and images that have an atmospheric quality that let's you immerse yourself in White's world. Her words celebrate a man who had an appreciation for the miracles of nature, a reverence for life, and a passion to tell straight what bubbles out of ones heart, without trying to please the crowds.
Blog Post
"Now all my teachers are dead except silence." William Stanley Merwin
by ballybeg
Today is the 89th birthday of poet W S Merwin. A two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, a two-time Poet Laureate of the United States (1999 & 2010), he has won almost every important prize available to a poet. His work has been hailed by every national publication of repute, and every academy and foundation for poetry, for over 60 years. If you haven’t read anything by him, try this bittersweet poem from his latest book.
Merwin, who has lived and worked all over the world, now lives on the island of Maui, and continues his 40-year endeavor to restore the rainforest surrounding his home, which had been destroyed by years of logging and agriculture. A practicing Zen Buddhist, devoted environmentalist, and erudite observer of the human condition, here are the works AADL owns by this most prolific and wise poet, essayist, and translator.
He has said:
I think there’s a kind of desperate hope built into poetry now that one really wants, hopelessly, to save the world. One is trying to say everything that can be said for the things that one loves while there’s still time.
Any work of art makes one very simple demand on anyone who genuinely wants to get in touch with it. And that is to stop. You've got to stop what you're doing, what you're thinking, and what you're expecting and just be there for the poem for however long it takes.
I have with me all that I do not know. I have lost none of it.
Blog Post
PreK BITS - Community Helpers
by ryanikoglu
When Teachers ask for help finding picture books for their "Community Helper" theme ...
Here's a bunch of help for You!
Titles are chosen especially for young children in Preschool through early Elementary School ages 3-7 years.
1. There are themed sets ready to go in the STORIES TO GO Collection. OCCUPATIONS is the best set for Community Helpers. The set includes an Activity Folder to support the theme.
2. You can also find "Fire Fighting" and "Police" in the SAFETY TOWN set ... as well as books on personal safety.
3. You can find "Doctors" and "Dentists" in the HEALTH set ... as well as more books on personal health.
4. Here is a Public List with titles related to a broad variety of CAREERS And JOBS.
Don't forget to include your job ... for helping those kids grow up!
Blog Post
PreK Bits - "C" is for CARROT
by ryanikoglu
Ms. Rachel's StoryTime theme this week was CARROTS.
You cannot have too many carrots, in Rabbit's opinion!
In the story The CARROT SEED and in Spanish Language LA SEMILLA De ZANAHORIA ... a little boy plants a carrot seed.
In the story CARROT SOUP ... Rabbit plants carrots in the spring to have carrot soup in the fall.
Then what happens? In the story TOO MANY CARROTS ... Rabbit has a social skills lesson with hoarding.
For more carrot stories try the following. Believe me! There's a carrot in each one.
WE’RE RABBITS! ... what do we like?
TUCKER’S FOUR-CARROT SCHOOL DAY ... going to school is difficult for Tucker, but after he's been there, he knows it is worth it!
The GIANT CARROT ... Oh My! We need more help!.
The RUNAWAY BUNNY, TAO JIA XIOU TU and EL CONEJITO ANDARIN ... and Mama is near.
LITTLE CHICK ... find the carrot!
BUNNY DREAMS ... you guessed it!
The RABBIT PROBLEM ... Hoo boy! What a problem!
Did you find the carrots?
There ya go.
'Cuz CARROT, CARROT, CARROT ... starts with "C".
Blog Post
Organize your clothing with The Curated Closet
by eapearce
If you’re anything like me, you often find yourself staring into an overstuffed closet while also thinking “I have nothing to wear!” Anuschka Rees is here to help with that exact problem in her brand new book The Curated Closet. Rees offers tips and tricks for building a wardrobe that is functional, fits in the space that one has to contain it, and suits the reader’s personal style. It was the style cultivation aspects of The Curated Closet that I found most helpful; for those of us who are attracted to a variety of pieces, determining what we really like and what really suits us can be a challenge. Rees offers great tips for discovering your own personal style, and explains how to productively shop for pieces that won’t end up buried in the back of your closet in a few months’ time. The Curated Closet is even complete with a “closet diagnostics” flow chart that maximizes organization and “garment assessment” advice, which teaches readers how to find out if a piece of clothing is well-made. And, what better time of year to attack your closet than now, as we put away the shorts and tank tops and bring out the sweaters?
For other books on closet and clothing organization try Shop Your Closet and Home Organizing & Closet Makeovers.
Public Event
Washtenaw Reads Book Discussion: "$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America"
Sunday February 12, 2017: 3:00pm to
4:30pm
Westgate Branch: West Side Room
Grade 9–Adult