Mark your calendars to "Warm Up with a Good Book"!

Did Santa leave a new 2012 Calendar under your tree? If so, be sure to mark this date: Monday, January 9th is the start of Winter Reading Club 2012! Visit the library on (or after) Monday, January 9th to register for this year's Winter Reading Club and to receive your Official Reading Log! Snow is falling, and books are calling, so "Warm Up with a Good Book"!

A storytime that's for the birds...

Wondering what to do with that tall tree in your living room, now that Christmas has passed? Me too! At least, I was, until I read these wonderful winter stories:


The After Christmas Tree book inspired me to think of having an after-Christmas party with some very special guests-of-honor: our neighborhood birds! In today's books, we witnessed what happens when caring friends leave nuts and seeds outside during winter. Then we made our own "After Christmas Tree birdseed ornaments" to take home and display in our yards. On the bottom of the plates caring the special birdseed ornaments, we placed a special poem we'll recite to encourage birds to visit and feast on their treat! That is, if we can remember to save some birdseed for the birds!

See you next year at storytime!
xoxo, Miss Katie

WNEP and Wuggle Pets at the Library!

Where do you go when you're Kurt Aaron of WNEP's "Does It Really Work" and you need cute kiddos to help try out the hottest item on toy store shelves? Why, to Nancy Kay Holmes Branch Library, of course! And that's just what WNEP did recently, as several of our young patrons experimented in making "Wuggle Pets" on camera. We added stuffing, magic glitter dust, personality charms, and chanted the magic words to create these precious pets. We gave the cameras our biggest smiles and two thumbs up because we loved making the Wuggle Pets!

In case you missed our television debut, check out the link below:

http://www.wnep.com/videobeta/?watchId=b7f56a87-3284-428d-a87d-5f52ea34241a

Special THANKS to our volunteers and parents/grandparents for your time, your efforts, and your smiles! You are STARS - both ON and OFF-camera!

xoxo, Miss Katie

Book Club Meeting today!

It's our final Book Club Meeting for 2011! Join us as we recap our favorite books from the past year, and make resolutions about the books we'll read in 2012! Bring a book to share, get some great suggestions for new books to check out, enjoy a light snack, and see friends old and new! Today: 5:30-6:30pm! Open to kids in grades 3, 4, and 5! Call 207-0764 to register!

"Favorite Holiday Gift" Show & Tell Storytime at the library

Yesterday's very special edition of Show & Tell Storytime for our "Favorite Holiday Gifts" produced an interesting display of toys and presents. Friends brought cars, trucks, helicopters, nano bugs, guitars, and Smurfs to proudly present. We read one of my favorite Christmas gifts - a new copy of Mo Willems Pigeon Wants A Puppy, which was ironic because all I wanted for Christmas was - you guessed it - a puppy! We made Pigeons and predicted what he'll want for his next present!

Our next Show & Tell Storytime is scheduled for Thursday, January 26th at 5:30pm. Call 207-0764 today to register for this program!

xoxo, Miss Katie

Get ready to watch the ball drop at Drop-in Craft Today!

Hi Friends! Are you planning to stay up late on New Year's Eve to watch the Ball Drop in Times Square? Maybe you'll be participating in all of the exciting New Year's Eve celebrations right here in Scranton? No matter what your New Year's Eve plans are, be prepared to count down to midnight with this:
Visit our library today to make your own New Year's Eve Ball Drop Countdown! Drop-in Craft today from 2:00-4:00 pm. (No Registration required.) See you soon!

xoxo, Miss Katie

Holiday Storytime at the Library!

Our recent Holiday Storytime was a wonderful evening spent at the library! We read adorable and meaningful stories about Hanukkah and Christmas, we created angels for the tops of our Christmas trees (just like angel we found in our story Penguin's Special Christmas Tree) and we made handprint menorahs (much like the one we saw in our story Chanukah Lights Everywhere). Most importantly, we spent time with some old friends and many new friends too!

Digging for Dinosaurs with... COOKIES?!?

Dear Santa,

All I wanted for Christmas was a living, breathing, walking, talking, roaring, snoring DINOSAUR! But my knowledgeable friends at the library explained that dinosaurs are EXTINCT! These future paleontologists helped me understand more about these prehistoric pets as we recently read stories together about what would happen If the Dinosaurs Came Back (Bernard Most), about How Do Dinosaurs Go to School (Jane Yolen) and about Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct (Mo Willems). Apparently, I didn't know she was extinct, either, because I assumed these candy-chip cookies were baked for us by Edwina, just like in our story. My friends used these yummy cookies to demonstrate how paleontologists carefully dig for real dinosaur fossils, just as they dug out their pretend dinosaur fossils (candy chips). As you can tell by these photos, we had a terrific time digging for dinosaur fossils and making Shape-a-Saurus dinosaurs to take home!

xoxo, Miss Katie