Monday, June 29, 2015

Summer Reading ~ Heroes of All Kinds


Grab your mask! 
         Put on your cape! 

It's Summer Reading time at the Candor Library! This year's theme is "Every Hero Has a Story".

Candor Free Library's Summer Reading program begins Monday, July 6 - that's next week. It goes six weeks, through Saturday, August 15.

 All you need to participate is a library card (free!),  a reading log (also free!) and a book bag to carry home all those literary treasures. You'll need to bring the book bag...

Each week there will be a prize or activity at the circulation desk. Summer readers can fill out a ticket for each book they read and enter the end-of-summer drawing for a Barnes & Noble Gift certificate. 

There's a category for every reader:
    
Not all heroes wear capes!
Beginning Reader - 2nd Grade
    3rd Grade - 6th Grade
    Teen through 12th Grade

So after the carnival has packed up and the smell of gunpowder has finally wafted away, after the last of the popcorn and cotton candy is gone, drop by the library to pick up your Summer Reading log and some good books. If you’re looking for inspiration about books to read, check out the lists of theme-related titles here.

For more reading lists, check out ALSC. Also, Barnes & Noble is challenging children in grades 1-6 to read eight books this summer and keep a reading journal. Readers can turn in their journals before Labor Day to receive a free book (from a selected list). More info here and here

Monday, June 8, 2015

The birds and the bees... and butterflies, bats, and more




I can’t imagine a summer picnic without watermelon. And strawberries. Both of these depend on pollinators – bees and other animals that carry pollen from one plant to another. Without bees our burgers would be tomato-less, our shortcakes strawberry-free, our deli sandwich served without pickles.

Honey bees pollinate a lot of our food. But they aren’t the only ones. Hundreds of wild bees – about 475 in New York alone – are busy buzzing from blossom to blossom. Other animals carry pollen from plant to plant, too: butterflies, hummingbirds, beetles, moths, flies.

Pollinators are so important that there is an entire week devoted to them: National Pollinator Week. Head outside and get to know our pollinators better. Check out the Science Explore Bag and take a closer look at the insects visiting flowers in your yard or hayfield.

Or check out some of these books about pollinators:



Bee 
by Karen Hartley and Chris Macro.
This picture book introduces young children to the physical characteristics, diet, life cycle, predators, habitat, and lifespan of bees.

Animals that eat nectar and honey
by Alice L. Hopf
This is a longer book that includes a diversity of nectar-eating animals: ants, flies, bats, tropical sunbirds, honey possums, and lemurs. It explains their role in the pollination of flowering plants.

 Butterfly 
by Mary Ling
This is part of the "see how they grow" series. There are other books about Monarch butterflies and some field guides with lots of photos of bees and butterflies. 

About hummingbirds : a guide for children
by Cathryn and John Sill 
Everything you wanted to know about hummingbirds and maybe some cool stuff you didn't know you wanted to know.

           
Bats : biggest! littlest! 
by Sandra Markle    
This book explores the diverse world of bats, from the giant flying fox to the tiny bumblebee bat.