>December 14…

>This day in history: December 14, 1799: George Washington died at his estate at Mount Vernon at the age of 67. In honor of this great leader, we recommend George Washington’s Teeth by written by Deborah Chandra & Madeleine Comora ; pictures by Brock Cole.

A rollicking rhyme portrays George Washington’s lifelong struggle with bad teeth. A timeline taken from diary entries and other nonfiction sources follows.

Enjoy!
-r

>December 13th…

>Today is National Cocoa Day!
While you’re sipping a warm cup of chocolate we invite you to take a moment to realize that today also marks that there are TWELVE DAYS left until Christmas*!

Wow!
We found a great article on the background of the song on the suite 101 website.
Can you name each present gifted in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas?
We’ll start you off:  A Partridge in a pear tree!

Today we are reading:
My Christmas safari by Fran Manushkin ; pictures by R.W. Alley.
In this fun adaption of the holiday classic, a young girl dreams up a special holiday gift: a safari trip with her father!

We also like:
Twelve gifts for Santa Claus / Mauri Kunnas with Tarja Kunnas ; translated from the Finnish by Tim Steffa.

A young elf decides to give Santa one present for each of the twelve days preceding Christmas.

*If this is the holiday you celebrate this month!

>December 9th…

>Happy Birthday Jean deBrunhoff!

Jean deBrunhoff is the author of Babar the Elephant. Babar is based on a tale that Brunhoff’s wife, Cecile, had invented for their children. It tells of a young elephant named Babar who leaves the jungle, visits a big city, and returns to bring the benefits of civilization to his fellow elephants. Then he comes back and becomes king of the elephant kingdom. He then has children and teaches them valuable lessons.

While all of the Babar series is dear and darling, we really like Babar’s yoga for elephants. During this holiday season don’t forget to take a moment to relax and keep fit.
Om!

>December 8th …

>Today is National Brownie Day!
Yum!
We have a wonderful assortment of books that feature “Brownie”
Not all are cookbooks!

The brownie and the princess : & other stories by Louisa May Alcott.

Original collection of twelve stories published under title: A round dozen:

Alice Medrich’s cookies and brownies by Alice Medrich.

A pirate’s life for me! : a day aboard a pirate ship / Julie Thompson and Brownie Macintosh ; illustrated by Patrick O’Brien.

Describes life aboard a pirate ship and provides information about famous pirates in history and literature

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

After learning that humans are headed toward his hidden home, Firedrake, a silver dragon, is joined by a brownie and an orphan boy in a quest to find the legendary valley known as the Rim of Heaven, encountering friendly and unfriendly creatures along the way, and struggling to evade the relentless pursuit of an old enemy.

Coming soon to our shelves:
The Brownie & Pearl series by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Brian Biggs!
These are sweet stories about a little girl and her cat!

Enjoy!

>December 7th…

>…WAS

National Cotton Candy Day
Yum!
What a great day to share books about CANDY!
We love Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Choclate Factory

Each of five children lucky enough to discover an entry ticket into Mr. Willy Wonka’s mysterious chocolate factory takes advantage of the situation in his own way.

Coming soon to our shelves:
Wendy Mass’s The Candymakers

It was also Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Pearl Harbor marks the day America joined War World Two. We like National Geographic remembrance: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/

>December 6th…

>Today is St. Nicholas Day!

In some countries, St. Nicholas is the fairy tale character who bestows presents on well-behaved children. His special holiday is December 6, and there are customs associated with St. Nicholas Day. Find out more about the celebration of St. Nicholas Day and other European customs at  Pastry Wiz which offers a brief outline of Christmas in several countries in Europe as well as recipes for holiday goodies. The Many Faces of Santa tells students about the various Santa Claus personas and how they developed.

Today is also Mitten Day!
Stop by and enjoy our display of decorated mittens in the Family Room! You can even decorate and add one of your own!
We also invite you to share our favorite Mitten Books:

One mitten by Kristine O’Connell George, illustrated by Maggie Smith.

One mitten can do many things, but when the second mitten is found, it is time to go outside and have fun.

Runaway mittens by Jean Roger, pictures by Rie Muñoz.

Pica’s mittens are always turning up in strange places, but when he finds them keeping the newborn puppies warm in their box, he decides to leave them where they are until spring.

Smitten  by David Gordon.

Lost and alone, a sock and a mitten team up to help each other find their other half.

The mitten : a Ukrainian folktale, adapted and illustrated by Jan Brett.

This is a very funny version of a Ukrainian folktale about a boy’s lost mitten. That small knitted object takes on gigantic proportions as more animals crowd into its warm comfort-and the ending always brings laughter.

>December 5th…

>We are sharing books about yarn! This year the Lansdowne Public Library is participating in Warm Up America by crocheting or knitting squares. We will sew the squares together to be donated to help keep someone warm.

We invite any and knitters, crocheters and crafters to join us Sunday December 19th for the event.If you can’t make it stop by the library and pick up some yarn and the pattern and complete a square.

Here are some yarn things to get you in the mood!

Grandma’s yarn written by Lynne Pickavance, illustrated by Rory Tyger.

“As Grandma sleeps, her two favorite kittens have fun with her knitting yarn. A delightful story, with a length of knitting yarn weaving its way across the charmingly illustrated pages”.

Other books we like:
Knitting Nell  by Julie Jersild Roth.

Everywhere Nell goes, she works on her knitting, quietly observing life around her, until one day she enters one of her creations in the county fair, and receives rewards beyond her dreams.

Need some help learning how to knit or crochet?
We have a plethora of resources!
Staff commented that they learned using The complete idiot’s guide to knitting and crocheting by Gail Diven and Cindy Kitchel.

For more information about Warm Up America please visit them here: http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/warmup.html
There are links to the patterns ans information about ways to help.

Have a ball!

>December 4th…

>It’s National Cookie Day!
Yum! Yum!

We love Cynthia Rylant’s The Cookie Store Cat!

A happy cat lives a wonderful life in the back of a cookie store, where the bakers take loving care of him and he receives special visitors. Includes three recipes for sweet treats.

We also like Pat Hutchins The Doorbell Rang

Each time the doorbell rings, there are more people who have come to share Ma’s wonderful cookies

Laura Numeroff’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Ruth Hershey Irion’s The Christmas Cookie Tree

Share some recipes from Cookies for Kids
Adults, we haven’t forgotten you!
We have a collection of cookbooks available for you to check out,

Today we hope you fill your houses with the wonderful smells that come with freshly baked cookies. We don’t discriminate! Home made or slice and bake, cookies are great!

Have a sweet day!

Join us December for Cookie Time!
Wednesday, December 22nd beginning at 6PM
Join us for a evening of cookie decorating and cookie themed tales!
All ages welcome, please call with questions about allergies.

>December 3rd…

>

This post is from Youth Services Coordinator, Miss Rachee:

A few weeks ago Lansdowne celebrated it’s annual tree lighting. Despite a biting wind and cold that seemed to steal into your clothes and tickle your skin it was a positive, energetic night. My mom, daughter and I attended; we sipped hot chocolate and warmed cider as we greeted friends, listened to the Penn Wood High School Band and watched the dancers from Don’s Dance World. A huge cheer went up when Mayor Jayne pulled the lights and each time I drive down Lansdowne Ave and see the beautiful sparkling tree I think of baking cookies, singing songs and hugs with my mom and daughter.

Today I wanted to share books about trees. Here are some web links if you’d like to know more about the history of Christmas Trees.

I especially liked Christmas-Tree.com and the information from ReligiousTolerance.org.  Growing up I never gave much thought about trees aside from them making the house smell great and the fun in decorating them. Now I’m a bit more interested in the why of a tree and not just how to decorate and when I’ll get it.

These books are great reads available for checkout:

One Splendid Tree by Marliyn Helmer, illustrated by Dianne Eastman

It’s World War II and Hattie and Junior’s dad is off at war. Their mom is working at a factory and they’ve moved to an apartment.  Money is tight and a Christmas tree is a luxury they cannot afford. But when Junior finds an abandoned plant he comes up with a plan to possibly have a Christmas tree after all.

This book also includes decorations for how to make your own snowman.

Tree of Cranes by Allen Say

A Japanese boy learns of Christmas when his mother decorates a pine tree with paper cranes.

Learn how to make cranes for decorating your own tree.

The Finest Christmas Tree by John and Ann Hassett

After Farmer Tuttle is unable to give his wife a Christmas hat because he can not sell his Christmas trees, he receives a mysterious letter requesting his very finest tree.

And my absolute favorite:

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond.

Taking a mouse to the movies can lead to letting him do other things, such as making a snowman, listening to Christmas carols, and decorating the Christmas tree.

My daughter and I would read this book over and over and each time would find new ornaments to share, rediscover a new love for popcorn and new of course fondly remember favorite movies.

Family Fun has a great website with easy ornaments to try.

Here is a counting activity to complete with your children from First School.

Enjoy your tree and share some of your pictures with us.

Enjoy!

-r

>December 2nd…

>Today we continue to wish our friends a very Happy Hanukkah wand we’d like to share Grandma’s Latke’s by Malka Drucker, illustrated by Eve Chwast!

Grandma explains the meaning of Hanukkah while showing Molly how to cook latkes for the holiday.

But…what is a latke?
Latkes, or potato pancakes, are a traditional Jewish dish, often served during Hanukkah. Latkes have gained popularity as a Hanukkah dish because they are fried in oil, commemorating the oil that miraculously provided light for eight days. Luckily, Jewish restaurants and delis frequently serve latkes year round, so the dish can be enjoyed at any season. Latkes are also celebrated as the means by which Judith of Holofernes was able to put the Assyrian leader into a deep sleep, and thus was able to behead him. The Assyrians ended their siege because of the death of their leader.

We invite you to visit Wisegeek to get more information about latkes. This is the site where we found wonderful information about latkes!

If you would like to make your own, check out one of our favorite sites for recipes: All Recipes.
We want to know what you like! Share with us your pictures, stories or latke tales!

Have a happy Hanukkah!