Mad Science Workshop

Last weekend we had a mad scientist come to the library. Students of the workshop learned about electricity, and they were able to have some electrifying experiences for themselves!

Here are some pictures from the event:

MD

Pumpkin Decorating Contest: The Thrilling Finale

In youth services last weekend, we had our annual fight to the death.

The. Pumpkin. Decorating. Battle.

dum.

dum.

Dum.

From your votes both in house and online, our winner is Miss Frizzle, The Witch!

Our lucky winner gets a $20 Micheal's craft store for some continued creative fun. 

And, I had to post this:

Our runners up get these awesome grow-Halloween pieces. For example, you can put one of these Halloween pieces in water, it will expand 600% the size. 

I am envious of the kid who gets the severed hand. 

It's beautiful. 

Congrats to all who participated!

MD

"Wonderstruck" Meeting My Childhood Hero, Brian Selznick

If you are anything like me, being excited is not good for you. I am sure many people can keep their excitement to a reasonable level, but I am not one of them. When it comes to excitement, I either feel nothing, or I am 10/10 on the excitement scale, and slowly exhaling into a paper bag. 

There weren't paper bags in the bus to meet Brian Selznick. But there were lovely clouds outside the window. I hoped this was the universe's sign that I would not need a paper bag. Or, I would find a very nice paper bag in Milwaukee, the sturdy kind that can hold hoagie sandwiches. 

I was first introduced to Brian Selznick's drawings by my grade school librarian. She knew I loved to draw, and I did not take art lessons. I remember one day I came into the library and she told me she had a surprise waiting for me. I was confused, but when I opened the book, I saw it was called The Invention of Hugo Cabret. You can imagine my surprise, and my joy.

Here's what I saw:

From that moment on, I had a new art teacher. His name was Brian Selznick. My art teacher named Brian Selznick did not even know he had an art student, but it still worked all the same. I would look at his drawings for hours. I tried to recreate eyes, poses, hands, landscapes. His art taught me how to draw. After my aunt passed, he became the art teacher I so desperately needed. 

He also became a voice that told me it was okay to be different. It was okay to make your own family. 

When I met Brian Selznick, he came up to me and said, "Hi, I'm Brian."

I think I just stared at him and said, "I know...."

*Forty seconds later, my brain began to work, and we ended up having a lovely conversation. Our heroes are just people, after all. It was just a wonderful feeling to know my hero was a good person in real life.

Photo credit: @MrSchuReads--I stole this from you! 

I was able to ask him how he made his excellent dragon in his book trailer for The Marvels. I was also able to tell him that he was my art teacher when I did not have one, and that his books meant a lot to me. It felt good. It was the gift of thanks, ultimately, I wanted to give him. Books have a massive impact on the lives of kids. Somewhere, when I talked to him, I still felt like that small kid who is learning it is alright to be me. Today, I still feel like I am learning it is worthwhile to search beyond the ordinary. Why?

Well, there's extraordinary people and life experiences waiting for me.

And for you, too.

Thank you, Brian Selznick,

MD

P.S. Special thanks to Mr. Schu (@MrSchuReads) and Scholastic for this opportunity. 

*Approximately; could have been longer. Real-time does not exist on the 10/10 excitement scale. Ex: Youtube search "sloth lady on the Ellen Degeneres show."

Pumpkin Contest Voting

I cast my vote for...

"Boo" Glitter Pumpkin

Miss Frizzle, The Witch

Crying Emoji w Cane and Monocle

Valiant Knight

online polls

Fire Safety with Sparky the Fire Dog

Coming Up: This week is Fire Safety Week! 
We are teaming up this Thursday with the Oak Brook Fire Department and Sparky the Fire Dog!
Come see Firefighter Glen Washington and meet Sparky the Fire Dog for stories, games, crafts, and more!

Thursday October 8th at 4pm! Register today!

Fire Truck Craft!

Summer Reading Program: The Numbers Breakdown

At the Oak Brook Library this summer, we had a grand total of  2,027 reading hours in our "Read to the Rhythm" summer program. That's  84 and a half days of reading from our kids. This year we saw a 16% percent increase of summer reading participants. But the best is that the wall speaks for itself. Each record represents a new reading level achieved:

Just look at all of those participants!

Of the 2,027 hours completed, 1,543 of them were from our preschool to fifth graders, which we are very proud of. And last but not least, special congratulations to our raffle winners:

Jonah Kim
Rohan Shah
Nikkil Riachand

Please come in and pick up your Barnes and Noble prizes!

MD

DIY Stepping Stone Workshop (And How-To)

Today we took some concrete mix, water, some gems, seashells, and beads to make stepping stones. They came out great, and overall these stepping stones made for a really simple and unique crafting idea. 

Our recipe included a basic concrete mix (dry) purchased from a hardware store that we mixed with water in plastic buckets. We put on some masks, and kept stirring the mix until it could be poured into small aluminum pans. Once poured into pans, we allowed the concrete to sit for about before putting any decorative items on top. 

This extra sitting time allows the concrete to become more stiff, so when you put gems or beads on it, those small pieces won't sink in the muck. 

And without further ado, some pictures:

As you can see we had all age groups come out. It's a really fun craft to do, and it's surprisingly simple to do if you have extra stones, buttons, and gems lying about. But note these garden stones are largely for decoration. Anything more permanent would require broken tile. 

Other tips and suggestions: 

-Really make sure the concrete sits for an hour, or you have some method to remove access water from the concrete. (Dabbing with paper towels worked just fine.) After the surface of the concrete begins to stiffen, then apply the decorative items. 

-Press hard when applying gems, stones, beads, etc, into the mix. The more concrete they have holding them in, the more they will survive outside weather/wear and tear. 

-Let these stones dry for (at least) two days. Then, you can peel them out of the metal pans quite easily. Enjoy!

-MD

READ to a Dog: August 6th

We just wrapped up our second READ to a Dog session this summer! We were happy to see Slainte back and host dog Ginger's first appearance! Here are a few photos of the program!

 Ginger with Sue!

Slainte reading her book! 

Posted by Stephanie

READ to A Dog!

To wrap up July we hosted the READ to a Dog program with dogs Maggie and Slainte! The READ to a Dog program helps improve children's reading and communication skills by reading to registered therapy dogs. The dogs and caretakers are all wonderful teams that volunteer their time for the program.

 Slainte

Maggie

Posted by Stephanie