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Kid Review from Lily: Homer Price

May 19th, 2012

Homer PriceSix episodes in the life of Homer Price including one in which he and his pet skunk capture four bandits and another about a donut machine on the rampage. Author: Robert McCloskey

Review by Lily:

I really love it! I read it for school, and I would reccamend it anyone who likes humor books (which is bacicly all kids) Homer Price is an awesome book!

If you like Homer Price you can read more of his adventures in Centerburg Tales. You also might like looking back at some of Robert McCloskey’s picture books I bet you loved when you were younger:
Centerburg Tales Make Way for Ducklings Make Way for McCloskey Blueberries for Sal
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May eLetter

May 15th, 2012


Gear up on great books at the library. Have fun reading. Earn points for every book you read. Exchange points for FREE prizes. Details

Book News

  • Watch Rick Riordan Webcast about The Kane Chronicles #3: The Serpent’s Shadow which came out May 1, 2012.
  • The passing of a giant, Maurice Sendak,  author of Where the Wild Things Are. More.
  • The Sisters Grimm #9 (final volume) The Council of Mirrors came out April 19, 2012.
  • Harry Potter eBooks Free from Amazon Prime Members Kindle Lending Library

Month Picks:

The Crowfield Demon Seeds of Rebellion The Last Council Winterling
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Winterling

May 14th, 2012

WinterlingFer lives in a cottage in the woods with her Grandmother, Grand-Jane. Grand-Jane knows a lot about the woods and the plants there – especially how the plants can heal people or ease their troubles.

One day while Fer is out in the woods she hears a snarling dog fight and sees a pack of wolves attacking a black dog. 3 against 1 plain makes her mad! She grabs a large stick and starts swinging it and yelling. Miraculously, the wolves fade back into the bushes.

Panting, Fer turned to the thing they’d been attacking. It had fallen beneath the branches of a bush; she saw its dark shape huddled there. Carefully, gripping her club in case it tried to bite, she pushed aside the branches, letting the moon’s light in. Fer blinked and set down the club. It wasn’t a dog at all. It was a boy.” (page 11)

Huh. A boy! Something strange is going on here! And when Fer takes the bleeding boy home for Grand-Jane to heal, things get stranger still, because Grand-Jane says, “No.” No? Don’t help a bleeding little boy? He does snarl like a dog. He also has yellow eyes. It turns out Grand-Jane knows some things Fer doesn’t; things about how a little boy and black dog can actually be the same thing!

A great adventure that puts Fer in a magical place where the lines between humans and animals are blurred and where questions asked three times and promises are the most powerful magic of all. I look forward to seeing what happens next. I hope there is a book two because I’m not done with Fer and the blackdog/boy and that black horse on the cover – he’s part of it too!

Don’t miss Sarah Prineas’s other OUTSTANDING series, The Magic Thief. If you liked Fer and her adventure transporting to a magical place and discovering her place in it, try The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Wildwood, or 100 Cupboards:
The Magic Thief The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe Wildwood 100 Cupboards
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SRP Kickoff: Purdue Rube Goldberg Team!

May 14th, 2012

Sign up for the 2012 Summer Reading Program Saturday, June 2, 2012 from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm at Central Library. While there, enjoy a number of special events:

  • Watch a demonstration of The Purdue University Rube Goldberg student engineering team’s national award-winning machine.
  • Enjoy YouTube sensation Andre Jefferson’s stick bomb demonstration and how-to workshop.
  • Create a digital Rube Goldberg machine using Pivot Stickfigure Animator software.
  • Design a cardboard tube to add to the chain reaction marble track on the wall.
  • Gear up like scientists and have your picture taken in a photo booth operated by Bohemian Red Images.

The Purdue Rube Goldberg machine will be on display in the Learning Curve throughout the month of June.

 

 

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Steampunk Workshops & Movies

May 13th, 2012

NOTE: if you want to find out what is going on at a particular branch on a particular day, use the Searchable Calendar of Events and check the Learning Curve at Central Library Calendar.

Summer Workshops Free for Kids & Teens Learn new skills at all 22 branches and Central Library:

  • Nitro Joe: Air in Action Schedule
  • Watch Out! There are Animals About Schedule
  • City Critter Chats – Animalia Schedule
  • Mad Science Preschool Gears Schedule
  • Pack ‘n Hike Snacking Gear Schedule
  • Automaton Creation Workshop Schedule
  • Science of Silica (Glassblowing) Workshop Schedule
  • Steampunk Inventor’s Journal Workshop (Teens Only) Schedule
  • Digital Science Mobile Lab Schedule
  • Indiana Pacer’s Fan Van Reading Tour Schedule

Summer Showtime for Families Free Box Office hits at all 22 Branches and Central Library:

  • Adventures Of Tintin (PG), 107 minutes Schedule
  • Dolphin Tale (PG), 119 minutes Schedule
  • Hop (PG), 95 minutes Schedule
  • Hugo (PG), animated, 127 minutes Schedule
  • Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom Of Doom (PG), 90 minutes Schedule
  • The Muppets (PG), 98 minutes Schedule
  • Puss In Boots (PG), 90 minutes Schedule
  • The Smurfs (PG), 103 minutes Schedule
  • Winnie The Pooh (G), 63 minutes Schedule

Summer Showtime for TEENS Free Box Office hits at all 22 Branches and Central Library:

  • Footloose (PG-13), 113 minutes Schedule
  • Joyful Noise (PG-13), 118 minutes Schedule
  • Madea’s Big Happy Family (PG-13), 105 minutes Schedule
  • The Monster Squad (PG-13), 82 minutes Schedule
  • Real Steel (PG-13), 127 minutes Schedule
  • Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (PG-13), 129 minutes Schedule
  • Stomp the Yard (PG-13), 115 minute sSchedule
  • War Horse (PG-13), 146 minutes Schedule

 

There’s more! Gear UP activities will be going on in the Learning Curve at Central Library during these hours this summer:

Monday – Friday from 10-noon and 1-4pm
Saturday: 11am, 1pm, & 3pm
Sunday: 1-4pm

Come see what’s in the works each day!

When you visit during these hours any one or more of these workshops might be going on:

Tinkerlab: Fix it! Design it! Build it!
Join us for a summer full of tinkering in the Tinkerlab @ the Curve. Legos, tools, cameras, glitter!!?? and more! We have what you need to get the job done! Ages: 5-17 Duration: 30 minutes-varies

The Art of Hugo Cabret
Take a closer look at the illustrations in The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick; then try out a computer tablet and stylus to create your own artwork, Selznick style! Ages: 8-18 Duration: 30-45 minutes

Read-Aloud with Hugo & Horten
Gear up for summer reading! Gather around for read-aloud chapters from The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, or Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms by Lissa Evans. After the story, podcast your predictions or share your favorite part! Ages: geared towards 8 and up Duration: 30-45 minutes

CodeQuest Scavenger Hunt
Families can team up to crack the code! Use an iPad to scan QR codes located in the floor portals of The Learning Curve. Solve all six clues to decode a secret message! Ages: Families Duration: 30 minutes

Steampunk Science Notebook
Make your mark on summer @ the Learning Curve! Add an activity sheet, observation, or print-out of your project to be a part of the summer showcase in our giant science notebook! Ages: Kids of all ages Duration: 10-30 minutes

Marble Madness
Build the craziest ball track you can with the provided kit and watch the marbles fly through it!  Rearrange it and come up with an even better track afterwards! Ages: 3-8 Duration: 20-30 minutes

Elemental Frenzy
Here is a safe and fun way to play with fire!  Explore the different elements and how they react to one another with the fun OE Cake software. Ages: 6+ Duration: 30-40 minutes

Pivot Rube Goldberg
Want to run a Rube Goldberg without having to set up all those steps?  Using the animation software: Pivot; animate the Rube Goldberg machine so it completes all the steps! Ages: 8+ Duration: 30-40 minutes

Paper Plane Customizer
Design the ultimate paper airplane by using a Learning Curve laptop to add special lighting effects, slick color overlay patterns, custom colors and freestyle detailing. Once you’re done, print and fold your plane so you can test it out. Ages: 8-18 Duration: 45 minutes

Domino Books
Knowledge gained from books normally comes via reading, but this time it comes from careful alignment and gravity! Discover how mass x force = fun! (e-readers not recommended for this activity) Ages: 5+ – open to families Duration: 15-30 minutes

Catapult Master
Use the power of modern technology, plus the power of real Learning Curve Catapults, to unlock the secret of one of Leonardo DaVinci’s revolutionary machines! Ages: 8-18 Duration: 30 minutes

Stick Chain Reactions
You’ve seen them on YouTube; chain reaction sensations! Come to the Learning Curve and make one yourself! Ages: 6+ – open to families Duration: 30 minutes

Marble Track Wall
You design a tube to add to the track and let gravity do the rest. Bring your camera, or use one of ours to film the marbles as they make their way down the wall. Ages: All ages – under 6 will need adult guidance Duration: varies – drop in and do during certain times (as yet unspecified)

Rube Goldberg Machines on the Think Tank Walls
We’ve got stencils. You’ve got imagination. Let’s put them together and design Rube Goldberg machines using dry erase markers on the Think Tank Walls! Ages: 6+ Duration: 30 minutes

Photo Booth – You’re the Star!
Get your picture taken posing with props. You’ll be posted on the Learning Curve blog! (Professional photographers from Bohemian Red Images will run the photo booth during our June 2nd Summer Reading Program kickoff.) June 2nd, 2:30-4:30 – drop in and do. Ages: Kids of all ages Duration: 30 minutes (as a Summer Reading Program activity with kids using cameras)

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