Go Away, Big Green Monster: Storytime Bravery for Grownup Anxiety
A bag full of picture books on the subject of bravery helped me stand strong in a world where the news is a constant battery of things to fear.
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Author: Amy Weir
Amy M. Weir is a public youth services librarian in SW Pennsylvania, and there’s nothing she geeks out about more. Outside of work she obsesses over music (especially rock especially psychedelic pop especially The Beatles), sews clothes, gardens when the weather’s nice, avoids housework, and generally is the poster-child for Enneatype 9, which she attempts to counteract with yoga when she remembers. Her entire family has ADHD. This includes an RPG-and-firearms-geek husband who asked her out by playing a Paladin-in-Shining-Armor devoted to serving her character in D&D; a vehicles-and-video-game-geek 14yo named after a hobbit; an art-and-animation-geek 12yo named after a SFF writer; and an Imaginary Husband named Martin Freeman, who isn’t actually aware of this relationship.
Navigating Reading Levels Without Letting Them Sink You
Told your child reads at a certain reading level? Is your child required to read books at or slightly above that level? Avoid the common pitfalls of reading level assignments that might kill a love of reading. Understand how reading levels do—and do not—work.
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‘Minecraft’ Costumes: The Box Robot Revisited!
‘Minecraft’s boxy, pixelated style lends itself to relatively simple Halloween costumes based on the classic box robot.
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That Hobbit Day Party I Threw For People Too Young to Appreciate It
The details of a Hobbit Day library storytime/party, with food, costume, decorating, craft, and game ideas. Note: it doesn’t really work for kindergarteners.
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What ELSE Can You Do With a Library Card?
It’s Library Card Sign-Up Month, so take advantage of it by checking out some of the services your library provides BESIDES books and movies (like TOYS!).
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You Never Outgrow the Children’s Museum (of Pittsburgh)
A GeekMom takes her 9- and 7-year-olds to the Children’s Museum where she used to work, and discovers that even the new ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood’ exhibit can thrill them as much as when they were preschoolers.
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Making Friends Is the Business of Childhood
You meet the eyes of another kid at a grownup party, someone you’ve never met before and might never meet again, and your eyes say, “The kid that is me recognizes and acknowledges the kid that is you: let’s play.”
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Hogwarts Party at the Library!
All the details of the Back-to-Hogwarts party Amy hosted at her public library this past weekend.
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Potions 101: Adding a Little Magic to Your Science (Or Science to Your Magic)
Here’s a textbook from a Hogwarts Potions class, which, remarkably enough, can also be used as a textbook for fun chemistry experiments in your own Muggle home.
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In Memory of Lois Duncan, Queen of Teen Horror
The lack of tributes to the recently-late Lois Duncan disturbed me, so here are my words for the woman who filled my middle-school years with delicious horror.
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Comics Vs. Superheroes: Notes From a “Fake Geek Girl”
It’s true not all comics are about superheroes. But likewise, not all superhero fans are comics fans.
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Enneagram: A Practical Personality Type System
The Enneagram personality theory groups people by basic motivations, offering insight into what makes us tick.
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A Minority-Full ‘Wrinkle In Time’ Is All Right With Me
The newest feature film adaptation of ‘A Wrinkle In Time’ is casting mixed-race and minority leads, and I for one am all for it.
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Trying to Build ‘Star Wars’ Geeks With the Help of Disney World
In which ‘Star Wars’ geeks subject their reluctant children to all the ‘Star Wars’ fun at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and everyone has a pretty decent day.
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Beverly Cleary: A Century Worth Celebrating
Celebrate legendary children’s author Beverly Cleary’s 100th birthday by Dropping Everything And Reading!
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Check It Out: Introducing Science Fiction Literature Age by Age
If you want to cultivate a sci-fi-reading geek, check out Stephanie Whelan’s age-by-age “Science Fiction Pathway” for suggestions on ages to introduce the classics and many more newer books you might not yet have discovered.
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Correcting Eyesight, Expanding Vision
Everyone knows the stereotype. Glasses are for nerds. Nerds are annoying (and all alike). But maybe, gradually, our society is getting away from those stereotypes enough that kids can greet their first pairs with enthusiasm instead of horror.
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There’s No Wrong Way to Write a Review
It’s easy to insist that your way of evaluating art is the only valid way. But different types of review have their own purposes and their own places in discussion. We run into trouble when we start judging others for their own review focus.
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RIP George Martin, the True Fifth Beatle
Late record producer Sir George Martin had a monumental impact on popular music, turning rock music into a relatively respected art form through his work with the Beatles and others.
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Letting the Oddity Live On: A Salute to Diana Wynne Jones
When I read Diana Wynne Jones, it doesn’t matter how my writing abilities compare, because I’m too busy trying to keep up with my own imagination. It’s like my own magic window to the Related Worlds defogs, and I am suddenly seeing stories everywhere I look and hearing characters come to life in my head.
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