Vertical by Janet Eoff Berend

Looking for a high interest/low level reader for teenagers? Do they love skating?

Guess what?

I have the book for you!

Vertical by Janet Eoff Berend is a wonderful novel about a teenage boy whose life revolves around skating. While the text is short with only 122 pages, the main character shows remarkable development and the book captures your attention completely.

The book opens with Josh, the main character, talking about skating. As someone who has personally never stepped on a skateboard, the text is readable without prior knowledge. However, teens who love skating will be impressed that there is a book written specifically in their language.

This book is a roller coaster. Within the first 20 pages, Josh witnesses a burglary. "No one likes a rat" though, so he keeps quiet. As the book progresses, Josh finds himself falling out of touch with his best friend who is making questionable choices, navigating the school world, and of course—skating.

Throughout the book, Josh is constantly introspective and walks the reader through each emotion and action he makes. The author does not waste time on minor details though, except when it comes to skating. In these scenes the reader feels as if they are in the skate park with Josh.

There is also a violent twist toward the end that I didn't see coming. Josh gets seriously hurt by another kid while his friend simply stands by and watches. It is a graphic scene, but it helps move the plot to a conclusion. Plus, it forces Josh to make a tough decision that he wouldn't have been able to make at the beginning of the book.


I don't think a library can ever have too many sports books for their teens. If this is an area where you are constantly getting reader's advisory questions, then definitely add this book. This would also be a great book for English teachers to add to their classroom libraries. The book includes a glossary of skateboarding terms and discussion questions at the end. 

Vertical by Janet Eoff Berend is available now!

Review copy provided by author.

Dinosaurs in the Library!

This week I presented a dinosaur themed program for ages 5+. While I adore my babies, it is nice to present to kids who can interact a little more with you.

I started the program by talking briefly about dinosaurs and giving some fun dinosaur facts. For example, no one has ever found dinosaur fossils in Wisconsin! Many kids said they were going to be the first to find them, so I tried to convince them to name their dinosaur after me. We will see if they follow through.

Next, I read "The Super Hungry Dinosaur" by Martin Waddell. My group definitely skewed younger and this was the perfect book for them. We all roared with the dinosaur and they even changed their roar as the dinosaur got more upset. It was awesome.

Then, I released them to the craft table after briefly explaining the project. Thanks to Sunflower Storytime for this great idea! I also used the template and instructions from Loving My Nest.

While we waited for the glue to dry, we read "Chalk" by Bill Thomson. I stopped the book right before the final few pages and told everyone to close their eyes and stay quiet while they thought about what they would do next with their chalk. Then, I passed out paper and markers and let them draw it out. They stayed pretty much silent throughout this whole process because they wanted to surprise their friends with their idea. The ideas ranged from making another dinosaur, to a sword, to steaks and nachos because they thought the dinosaur was probably just hungry like our last one. I had quite a few kids even guess the ending. I was very impressed with their creativity.

Then, we went back to our craft tables and sprinkled coffee on the artwork. Kids really enjoyed this part. They somehow managed to keep the floor clean, and they had a great time just smelling and feeling the coffee.

Once they were done with their art, I gave them a cookie in a small bowl with a toothpick. I instructed them to dig out the chocolate chips with a toothpick. A few older kids immediately said they were just going to eat the cookie. I told them I understood, but if they could get at least 2 chocolate chips out without breaking the cookie they would officially be a paleontologist. Surprisingly, it worked.

The program was a success with around 55 people attending. The kids were all extremely well behaved and I couldn't have asked for a better group!

Early Literacy Center: Finding Shapes!

This month I needed something quick and easy to change out in the early literacy center. Summer craziness has hit our library and I didn't want to spend too much time on something. Also, with our current amount of groups visiting I needed something durable enough to last for a month. So I decided on... Shapes!

These were super easy to make. I simply went to publisher and inserted one shape on each page. Then, I found different colors of cardstock. I did seven shapes total.
 

Next, I printed them out, and taped them to the floor. This was definitely the most time consuming part of the project. I used contact paper and clear book mending tape to reinforce it. I still expect these to come up at least once in the next month.

I then added a quick parent tip and some instructions.

Voila! A new fun activity for little ones. Best of all, it was free!

Tell A Truck Story!

In our "Play- Learn- Read" early literacy center, we have a magnetic/flannel board that we switch out every month. This month, I decided to use Emma Garcia's wonderful book "Tip Tip Dig Dig". It's a book that children know and love from storytime, plus it fits in with our summer reading theme, "Dig Into Reading" perfectly.

I found this amazing flannel already made over at Piper Loves the Library. It was so well done I basically remade the entire thing. Thank you for sharing such amazing work!

Here is what my trucks looked like. Not quite as pretty as the original, but good enough for me.

Our library's copy of Tip Tip Dig Dig is checked out and has multiple holds on it, so I am rotating different transportation books next to the flannel board until it comes back in.

I included some story starters for little ones who want to tell a story.

And of course, the early literacy tip!

Thank you again to Piper Loves the Library for the amazing flannel pieces!

I-Spy Early Literacy!

We were fortunate enough at my library to purchase a new table for our early literacy center. Our old table had a permanent puppet stage attached to it. While kids love to put on a puppet show, they had grown pretty tired of it after a year.

The glorious new table

If you are building your early literacy space-- don't make anything permanent! Unless you're absolutely positive you will always want to have X in a certain spot, don't lock yourself in. It is much easier when you have some flexibility with the furniture.

We have already made the decision to not make anything permanent on our new table. Instead we will change out the activity monthly. This will encourage our little ones to keep visiting the center and hopefully give the parents new tips each time they visit.

This month I decided to make two I-Spy Bottles. These are super easy to make and some examples can be found here, here, or here.
 

Poison free rice

Unbreakable bottles...hopefully

Since we are a very public space, I decided to use plastic Powerade bottles. They are thicker than regular water bottles, but not so thick that a little kid can't pick it up. I also hot glued and taped the lid, just in case. Finally, because I'm a little neurotic, I made the rice with vinegar instead of rubbing alcohol. Worst case scenario- if rice does end up in a little one's mouth there is nothing toxic to worry about.

I decided to make one bottle all about colors. I included different colors of buttons and pom-poms. This makes it easy for the young ones to point out and talk about what they see. I put different objects in the second bottle for the preschoolers to interact with.

I also made a sign for each bottle describing the activity.

 

And of course, an early literacy center activity wouldn't be complete without a parent tip!

 Do you change the activities in your early literacy center?