It's (Still) Christmas Time

at the library! And we're still reading piles of holiday stories. Here are the ones that have come across our collective desk lately.

Ho ho ho...

Santa isn't here yet. But these holiday books are in town at the local library!

Disclaimer: This librarian is super-picky about seasonal books. These are one person's honest opinions that are not personal in any way, and recognize that for every book there is a reader, and for every reader, a book. I appreciate all the hard work authors and illustrators put into publishing their books. We wouldn't have libraries without you!

That said, on with today's reads:

On the Third Day of Christmas...

... we read more holiday books!

The Holiday Hunt Continues!

...and I'm still reading all the holiday books. If you think I give a lot of mediocre reviews, please see my disclaimer from the last post. And remember: Most seasonal books are written to fill a gap.

Here are my recent finds and my honest opinion.

It's the Holiday Season...

... and I am busy searching for good holiday picture books!

Disclaimer: Like many librarians who work with children, I am not generally a fan of seasonal and holiday books. Most of them are written and published simply to fill a gap in the market. We read them to our kids because it's that time of year and we want to read SOMETHING related. So they don't have to be (and frequently aren't) all that high-quality. There will always be, of course, some books like The Polar Express that manage to fully capture the spirit of the season and yank everyone's heartstrings right out. And they are elevated to the status of classics and bought by the millions and read every year, as they rightfully should be. But most books will attempt the same and fall short. They still may be worth reading when you need holiday filler for your bedtime routine or your insatiable preschool student, but they also may be one in a slew of similarly interchangeable mediocre stories.

So with that in mind, here are the ones I have picked up lately and my honest opinions. 

Program: Start the Year Off Write!

We've done Bullet Journal programs for adults, cute mail, textile arts, you name it, but to add on a bit to our National Novel Writing Month programs in November, I decided that my art program this month would be to cover and decorate a journal. Because of the historical lack of library services to tweens and the need for community-level art programs, I present an artistic or creative program at least once a month targeted for this age group and open to older teens also. This program attracted a lot of adult attention as well, so we had a good mix of tweens, teens, young adults, older adults and parents making a journal alongside their kids.

Supply Purchase:
Art programs tend to be supply-heavy but they are also a great way to use up extra resources from past programs. Most of the supplies we needed were already back in the supply closet. I did have to purchase journals, of course -- we used the least expensive ones I could find, composition notebooks of varying sizes. I also purchased a few extra fabrics, some fabric paint, stencils, and some stick-on rhinestones.

Setup:

Front table setup. I love my ELMO!

Expensive supplies like fake fur and supplies in high demand but short supply like the hot glue guns, glow-in-the-dark stars, acrylic paint and stencils, I kept up front. Four people could come up at a time and work with them. Other supplies we put at the tables or on a big open-access cart at the back of the room.

Participant table setup

Each participant had a pen, a small pair of scissors and a glue stick. The rest of the table was covered with other supplies -- pom poms, fake jewels, googley eyes, white glue, sewing/fabric scissors, and sequins. I made the mistake of just tossing a lot of the craft items out across the tables. It was great for inspiration, but it was a giant mess to clean up (and sort!) -- using small containers would have been a better choice. On the cart we had fabric and puff paints, glitter paints and glues, pipe cleaners, extra of the supplies on the table, and TONS of stickers and foam stickers.

We talked a little about what journals could be used for, and each participant got a (Writers') Block Buster sheet of writing ideas and prompts to keep with their journals. The front table held the fabrics and our ELMO. I use the ELMO in Origami Club, and it is very helpful here as well. I was able to demonstrate covering the journal so that everyone could follow along, and then I moved it down under the table to give participants space to come up and work.

The program was a huge success -- we had around 25 people come and make journals -- and lots and lots of creativity! My favorite was a boy's journal covered in black fur with googley eyes and a little monster face on the front.

Tweaks to consider: I did not cut fabric ahead of time because it seemed wasteful to me. I still think that would be the case but allowing everyone to pick fabric and then wait for it to get cut did eat up quite a bit of time and made people wait. I'm not sure what the best solution would be but it might be a good idea to cut at least a few and just save them for another similar program later. I've already mentioned keeping little supplies like rhinestones and pompoms in containers instead of loose. Other than that, the program was simple to put together and run and everyone had a great time!