Sheepish Wednesday

Maybe I should call it Wet Wednesday... We've been getting some crazy weather out there - rain, high winds, tornado warnings/watches - and it doesn't sound like it's going to be stopping any time soon! I am actually kinda surprised I had as big of a group as I did - lots of kids braved the weather to come to story time!!!

I delivered with a fun story time about Sheep!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book: No Sleep for the Sheep! by Karen Beaumont


Rhyme: Little Bo Peep

Song: It's Raining, It's Pouring (a special request, for obvious reasons!)

Book: Wee Little Lamb by John Butler


Activity: Make rain
Rub hands together
Snap fingers
Clap hands
Slap knees
Slap knees and stomp feet
Slap knees
Clap hands
Snap fingers
Rub hands together

Book: Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox


Activity: Make rain (we had to do this at least 4 times, they LOVED it!)

Craft: Cotton Ball Sheep from DLTK-Kids.


I am super excited for tonight's edition of FMRNS!!! We didn't have movie night last Wednesday, because it was a travel day for me, so it's been a while!! We had a Bonus Night the weekend before I left, and watched Predator, a sci-fi movie from 1987 with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura. I wasn't terribly impressed, and after watching it again, A and I decided it was, in fact, NOT LISTWORTHY!!! It has now been removed from "The List." (p.s. The List hasn't been updated on the blog yet - I need to do that!!)

Anyway, tonight's feature will be The Big Chill, a drama from 1983 with Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, and Jeff Goldblum.

We're going to be recording American Idol so we can watch the performance show and then the results show all together - with NO BREAK!! We'll be watching ANTM in real time, which is awesome!!

I'm also really excited, because A got a copy of Whose Line is it Anyway? which is Drew Carey's improv show from the late 90's with Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, and Ryan Stiles. HI-LARIOUS!!! Should be a great evening!!!!

Hoppy Wednesday!!

Hoppy Wednesday, y'all!!! We had a marvelous time in story time today! I was a little nervous - by the time we were supposed to start, I only had 1 kid - but I ended up with a bunch! YAY!! A new book came through not too long ago, so I had to pull bunny books to round out the theme - FUN!!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book: What Does Bunny See? A book about colors and flowers by Linda Sue Park


Song: Little Bunny Foo Foo (FUN!!! The kids LOVED this song!!!)

Book: Little White Rabbit by Kevin Henkes


Song/Dance: The Freeze by Greg and Steve

Book: If You're Hoppy by April Pulley Sayre


Craft: CD Bunnies from DLTK Kids (I pre-painted the CD's before story time)



Since I am heading out of town for the Easter holiday, FMRNS is postponed until I get back. I am super excited to go home for the holiday, and to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday!! Here's a conversation I had recently with my dad...

Real Librarian: Dad!! You're gonna be celebrating the 32nd anniversary of your 28th birthday!!

Real Librarian's Dad: Hmm... I liked 29 better.

RL: Oooookay... You're gonna be celebrating the 31st anniversary of your 29th birthday!!!

RLD: Niiiiiice!

Dad has been telling people this ever since!! HAHAHA!!

Anyway, heading home after work today!! Oh, and if you happen to see my dad today, don't tell him I'm coming home, it's a surprise!!!

Another Random Monday

It's all about flexibility, isn't it? Today, I had a couple of toddlers who were quite a bit younger than what I am used to, so I thought the first book I had originally picked out might be a bit long. Luckily, I had brought an extra book!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.


Book: Ducks Like to Swim by Agnes Verboven


Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Book: Where's Spot by Eric Hill


Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Interactive Playtime

The original plan was to do a 'rain' theme, with the first book being Raindrop Plop! by Wendy Lewison, and then sing It's Raining, It's Pouring.

Bath Time Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday, y'all!! It's a sunshiny day and all is marvelous!!! This morning, we read stories about Bath Time, which was super fun. I told the kids that we were going to read stories about something I was sure they had all had before - and they might have even had one TODAY!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book: Little Bunny's Bathtime! by Jane Johnson


Song: 1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Bubbles

1 little, 2 little, 3 little bubbles
4 little, 5 little, 6 little bubbles
7 little, 8 little, 9 little bubbles
10 little bubbles go POP! POP! POP!

Book: Big Red Tub by Julie Jarman


Pretend: Blow bubbles (ok, so this isn't really bath time, but it is bubbles!)

Pretend to chew gum (I asked what flavor the gum was!)
Hold hands up to your mouth, then keep blowing the bubble bigger and bigger until POP!! - clap hands together.

Book: Bubbles Bubbles by Kathi Appelt


Craft: Soap Men from DLTK-Kids.


It's also FMRNS!!! Have I mentioned how much I love Wednesdays?? Last week, we watched the epic Elizabeth Taylor movie, Cleopatra. Seriously, that movie was written primarily to show off how beautiful she was. It was loooong, but definitely list worthy!

This week, we have a documentary from 2006 called Manufactured Landscapes. This documentary follows Edward Burtynsky as he travels through China taking pictures of the effects of their massive industrial revolution. It is always interesting to find out what is going on in other countries, and finding out what the plans are for dealing with their issues. I'm looking forward to it!!

A and I have decided to forgo watching American Idol (who else was SHOCKED that Pia was booted?!?!) on Wednesday nights in favor of watching ANTM. Since American Idol has so many commercials, and we have to record the results show on Thursday evenings anyway, we decided to record both the performance show and the results show, and watch it all at once with NO BREAK!!

And yes, I said "record" as in VCR. I am behind the times, I know, but hey, it works, and I still get to watch what I wanted to see!!

Anyway, tonight we'll be watching ANTM, then our movie. But since our feature is less than an hour and a half, I decided to bring something else to watch.

I just got into the first season of True Blood (yes, I am behind the times on this one, too!) I am about 4 episodes into it, and have the next disk of the season in my possession right now! So, we'll probably watch an episode or two of that as well!!

YAY Wednesday!!!!!

Bear of a Monday

Happy Monday!! The weather is looking like it might get a little crazy, but we still had some youngens here for our Toddler Story Time! YAY!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.


Book: Thank you Bear by Greg Foley


Rhyme: 1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little (colorful bears)


Book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See by Bill Martin Jr


Song: The Bear Went Over the Mountain

Book: 1 Teddy Bear: a Counting Book by Bernadette Ford


Interactive Playtime

And the winners are...

First, I just wanted to thank everyone again for entering my Drinking Closer to Home giveaway!! There will be two winners - the top winner will receive a signed copy from the author, Jessica Anya Blau, while the runner-up will receive my gently read and loved copy!

Also, a special thank you to Jessica Anya Blau for offering a signed copy of her novel for the top winner of this giveaway!!

Now, on with the winners!!!

Linda Kish
and
Melissa A!!!

I've sent you both an email requesting your snail mail addresses. I'll pass Linda's info on to Ms. Blau, and Melissa will be getting my copy!!

Thanks again, everyone!

Winners chosen using random.org Sequence Generator.

Ballerina Story Time

**There's still time to enter my latest giveaway!!!**

This morning, I was happy to have a real live Ballerina come to story time today!! We had an amazing turnout, and several little girls who dressed up in their little tutu's - SO CUTE!! (One little girl's tutu inspired some tutu envy from Ms. Real!! It was trimmed with pink leopard print!!)


Anyway, the Ballerina told the story of Cinderella, showed off some special moves, and even brought the kids (who wanted to!) up to dance some steps with her. Even some of the little boys got into the dancing!! The Ballerina who came to our branch was great, and we are so thankful that we were able to have this program!!!

Tonight, as always, is FMRNS!! As you may remember, we watched Burlesque last week as an "In Consideration" movie, since neither A nor I had seen it. Well, we liked the music, we liked the costumes, and it was overall an entertaining movie, however...we decided that it was, in fact, NOT LIST-WORTHY!!!! Sad. Sorry Christina, sorry Cher. Although, Cher has nothing to worry about - we've watched a couple of her movies that WERE list-worthy (such as Silkwood from 1983, Mask from 1985, If These Walls Could Talk from 1996 and Tea With Mussolini from 1999).

We decided that since Burlesque was NOT LIST-WORTHY!!! that we would incorporate Bonus Night this week. So, in honor of Elizabeth Taylor, we watched a mystery from 1980 called The Mirror Crack'd, also starring Angela Lansbury and Tony Curtis. This one was DEFINITELY list-worthy!!

We also had Bonus Night - FMRNS Revisited, where we re-watched a film that we had already watched before. Sometimes we do this in the form of "Best of" (where we scan through the movie and watch all the best parts), other times the movie requires a full screening. This was one of those full screening times where we watched the fabulous comedy, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar from 1995 starring Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo. HILARIOUS!!!

This week, we are still in RIP Elizabeth Taylor mode. We'll be watching the epic film Cleopatra from 1963, also starring Richard Burton and Rex Harrington.

Randomly themed Monday

**Don't forget to enter my current giveaway!!**

Happy Monday, y'all!! It is a crazy weather day out there! I think a lot of my regulars stayed home in anticipation of the storm!! I did get a couple of little ones, though, and we had a great time!

I didn't really have much of a theme this week, though both books had something to do with eating (sorta)...so let's go with that!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.


Book: Maybe a Bear Ate It by Robie Harris

Rhyme: Little Miss Muffet

Book: Worms for Lunch? by Leonid Gore

Pretend: Pretend to be popcorn: Scrunch up like popcorn kernels, shake while you heat up, and JUMP! as you pop!!

Interactive Playtime

A good deal!

Hey y'all! I don't normally do this, but I wanted to share this with you. In January, I reviewed an amazing novel by Lou Aronica called Blue. I loved everything about this book, the characters, the imagery, the story line, everything (read my review here!).

Well, I wanted to let you know that Lou Aronica is offering the e-book edition of this beautiful book for $2.99!! If you even thought about reading this novel, then here is an awesome opportunity!

You can tell that Mr. Aronica really poured a lot of himself into this book, and I just want to help him spread the word. Check this one out - you won't be sorry!!!

Look here to see what other reviewers are saying!! You will also find links on where to purchase this novel there, too!! Enjoy!!!

Review: Sons and Princes by James LePore

I was first introduced to James LePore when I was asked to review Blood of My Brother. I highly enjoyed that novel (read my review here!), so I was excited to have the chance to review his newest, Sons and Princes.

Book Summary

Chris Massi has been running from his world his entire life. The son of a Mafia assassin and the former son-in-law of a mob kingpin, Massi has tried to stay on the right side of the law, building a prestigious career as an attorney, and insulating his children as much as possible. But now a series of tragedies have left him without a law license and without several of his loved ones. And at the same time, his teenaged son is beginning to gravitate toward the gangster world Chris has tried so hard to protect him from. Michele Mathias has been running away from her life for more than a decade. Once a promising young woman with a future, she’s now a drug addicted street player living with the knowledge that her daughter, the only bright thing in her life, was taken away from her. When her roommate is murdered in a mob-related hit, her life intersects with Chris’s life, and their worlds change forever. For Chris, a showdown is coming. The only way for him to save his son and regain his future is to face, and maybe even embrace, the demon he’s always avoided. For Michele, her last chance at redemption has arrived. How their journeys collide with the dark New York underworld is the stuff of the kind of suspenseful, passionate drama we’ve come to expect from James LePore.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chris, who had been trying to keep out of the business of the Mafia despite his ties, gets sucked back in after the murder of his father, Joe Black Massi. He is offered a chance at revenge, and struggles with the decision to avenge his father, or stay out of the ‘life.’ A series of related events spirals around Chris, and his attempt to stay away from the Mafia is challenged beyond what he imagined.

We are introduced to a great cast of characters, from Chris’s drug addicted brother Joseph, to a tortured priest who made a major impact in Chris’s life. With the addition of Michele Mathias, the drug addict who has lost her daughter, and has been approached to star in a porn film, this book plays host to several remarkable players.

James LePore really knows his stuff. I found myself really pulling for Chris as he struggled with his dilemma, and hoping that he would find the best way to protect his family. I was also pulling for Michele, trusting that she could overcome the life that led her to lose her daughter.

If you are into a good thrilling read, then you should definitely check out Sons and Princes by James LePore. You will NOT be disappointed!!