Enjoy a delightful puppet show based on multi-cultural folk legends, fables and stories on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 6:00 pm in the Edenvale Branch Library Community Room. Local artist Edgar Zancudo Sanchez will entertain the entire family with his interactive show.   This event is made possible by the generosity of the Friends of the Edenvale Branch Library.

Teens: want to do something more imaginative than just writing a review for Summer Reading books that you have read? Create and submit a book trailer review for Summer Reading, and you could win a Kindle Fire! Upload a short clip, no longer than 4 minutes, to YouTube, providing your review of the book. Be creative!  The contest is open to all participants in the Teen Summer Reading Celebration.

How to enter:

• Create your own book trailer, reviewing a book that you read for Summer Reading. You can submit more than one video, but each video has to be for a separate book.
• Post the video on YouTube using the tag: SJPL2012SRC
• Sign up for Summer Reading here, starting in a few weeks.
• When you log the book you read on the Summer Reading website, make sure to include a link to your video in the review field.

Entries will be judged on creativity and content by a panel of library staff.

Need some examples? Check out the winning entry from last year's Book Trailer Contest, created by Nathan Verdonk.

Here are links to some professional book trailers:

- Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

- The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

Teens who submit links to their Book Trailer will automatically be entered in the contest. The top 3 winners will receive:

• 1st place: Kindle Fire
• 2nd place: $50 gift card for iTunes
• 3rd place: $25 gift card for Jamba Juice 

Entries for the contest must be submitted between June 1 and July 31, 2012.   Winners will be announced in August.

Are you looking for some books to expose your child to new places and different cultures?  Well, here are some titles/series that you may want to explore. 

The series True Book covers many countries including Egypt.  The series includes interesting facts about the country without overwhelming children with details.  It starts off with two questions about the country to which the children will find the answer reading the book.  The book has gorgeous pictures and not too much text.  I have found that this book can be read to a pre-schooler without too much editing, and for a 1st or 2nd grader, this series/title would be perfect for reports.  One caveat: this series is an old one so you need to be selective about the titles, be sure you find the newer edition.  The library owns many older editions, but the newer ones are better.

What We Wear by Maya Ajmera is a beautiful book of costumes and dress, celebrating children from around the world.  It has a map of all the nations represented in the book and pages of suggestions of what to do with your children to explore different cultures: visit a folk festival, check out a museum, or ask about clothes of the past.  The book has visually stunning photos of children from all the cultures of world, doing different things at different times.  I really recommend everyone to take a look.

D is for Down Under: an Australia Alphabet is a beautifully illustrated picture book which highlights the contributions of each country to the world.  Part of a larger alphabet series that covers democracy to baseball and Fenway Park, many of the authors are famous in their own right and requested to contribute to the series.  The books are written in verse with enormous pictures to illustrate the alphabet, and each of the alphabet letters represent one important aspect of the country/culture.  In addition, the pages includes detail about the topic which the teacher or adult can choose to elaborate upon and read.  Take a look at this series.  The only unfortunate aspect of this series is that it is not catalogued in a way so that you can find the titles of the series easily.  You must look up the title individually.  On the back of the book, there is a good representative list of the titles in the series.  Also, if you go to the website: www.discovertheworldbooks.com you will find a list of the country books.

True Books and the Discover the World series are shelved in the Countries/States area.  If you have any questions, ask the librarian to show you the section.  You can find a plethora of country books.  Browse at your leisure.

This month the Edenvale Book Club will discuss The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: the True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett.    This book is available in the following formats: print, large print, and ebook via Overdrive. 

All are welcome to join us in Meeting Room B at the Edenvale Branch Library on Wednesday May 2, 2012 at 6:00 pm. 

You can also discuss this book during the month of May in our Online Book Club.