Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit.  

Bedtime stories for little ones are a great way to slow down the day and calm the mind for sleep. The library has many story books, and many more are tailored just for reading at bed time.  And now the library has a new addition to the bed time stories, Hush Little Polar Bear by Jeff Mack. 

The title page shows a little girl in bed, reading the very book that is on the cover. The gentle poetry starts by hushing the little polar bear, and then begins to describe what the small bear should dream about. The little bear’s dream-time adventures span the distance between the oceans, shore, grassy pastures, caves, jungles, mountains, and even up into the starry sky. The poetry follows a similar format to the popular nursery rhyme “Hush Little Baby, Don’t Say a Word” and could be sung to the same tune. The end of the story follows the little polar bear through the sky to the bedroom window of the little girl reading the book. As the polar bear settles beside the girl the reader can see the polar bear is actually a favorite bedtime stuffed animal. 

The pictures are softly painted canvasses and this title is in a board book, so even the youngest bedtime audience can touch and feel the book.

You can get the book reviewed here and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit, on the North Campus. This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”


Hush Little Polar Bear by Jeff Mack
ISBN: 9781596439450, fully illustrated
Children's Board Books

Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit. This Thursday, January 23rd  from 7 – 8 pm the library is hosting a presentation on the many e-book options available for free through the library for any e-reader, tablet, ipad, or smartphone. If you've received an e-reader or tablet for Christmas and would like to know more about free e-book options, call the library and reserve a spot to listen to this presentation.

The stories of Spider-man have become very popular in recent years.  Many movies have been made, and the series centered around Peter Parker and his alter ego continue to be popular.  For younger readers, the library has a great introduction into the world of Spider-man and some of his more popular adventures.

5 Minute Marvel Spider-Man Stories have been completely re-illustrated in lighter colors and simplified lines for younger eyes. The book contains twelve stories, each meant to be read in 5 minutes or less. The stories start out with the creation of Spider-man, and Iron Man and the evil Vulture are introduced in the second story. The rest of the Fantastic Five superheroes make it into more stories, as do evil villains such as Mysterio and Doctor Octopus. Each story has a short (but not too violent and never bloody) fight and wraps up with a happy ending. Not much back story is given for other characters than Spider-man, so this book should really be thought of as a fun introduction to the characters for younger readers.

You can get the book reviewed here and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit, on the North Campus. This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”

5 Minute Marvel Spider-man Stories, published by Marvel
ISBN: 9781423177869, 185 pages, fully illustrated
Juvenile fiction, red section

Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit. 

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi and Ron Barrett has been a classic children’s picture book since the late 1970s.  This librarian certainly remembers reading and rereading the fanciful tale in childhood.  Recently, the famous book was made into a movie, and then a sequel! Both movies have been successful, and there is a possibility of a third movie.

The library has the first book and its sequel, Pickles to Pittsburgh, available for check out. After 35 years, a third title in the series has been published: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs III: Planet of the Pies. The first two books follow nearly the same format.  Grandpa tells a bed time story to his two grandchildren, who then fall asleep dreaming of the fantastical world Grandpa describes. It’s a world where food becomes larger than life and starts falling from the skies. Soon, the problems of precipitating pickles and tomato tornadoes become too huge to handle and just when things seem their worst, the kids wake up. In the third installment, Grandpa’s bedtime stories have perhaps gotten the better of him. He falls asleep in front of a newscast describing the first Mars landing to dream of pies falling on the alien world. Grandpa, one of the astronauts, helps the Martians come up with a solution for their spattered world just in time to awake from his nap. A little teaser in the last page’s illustration indicates maybe there’s more truth to Grandpa’s daydreams.

You can get the book reviewed here and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit, on the North Campus.  At end of the drive, look up and to the right for our new sign on the front brick face of the building.  This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”


Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs III: Planet of the Pies by Judi and Ron Barrett
ISBN: 9781442490277, fully illustrated
Children's picture books

Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit.  

James Patterson is a prolific writer. He publishes several novels a year, although now days he usually writes with a co-author.  His career started in mystery and action novels for adults, but when he discovered several years ago his teen age son didn’t like reading, Mr. Patterson took it upon himself to publish an action-oriented novel for teen boys. That series, the Dangerous Days of Daniel X, was very successful and wrapped up last year. Also for teens, James Patterson has written the Maximum Ride and Witch and Wizard series. If you know of even younger readers, James Patterson has been recently taking on the middle school set with I, Funny, the Middle School series, and now a new illustrated novel called Treasure Hunters by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein. This new novel is the first in a series, best suited to readers who like humor and adventure stories. Clocking in at nearly 450 pages, this book is certainly not the usual length of book for a 13 year old, but the illustrations and pace make it seem like a much shorter book.

The story follows four children: seventeen year old Tommy, younger sister Storm, and youngest two, the twins Bick and Beck.  All are part of the Kidd family, an adventurous group who live on a sailboat, searching for buried treasure. The story starts off with an intense storm scene where Dad goes missing! It is further explained that Mom went missing in a shady deal with pirates a few weeks earlier. It is up to the kids to continue searching for Mom and follow the buried treasure map Dad left. Normally, this would be pretty serious stuff for pre-teen and teen age readers, but the style of the writing is very humorous, and no one takes the parents’ disappearance seriously. The next in the series, King Solomon’s Mines, is advertised in the back of the book, but so far there’s no publish date.

You can get the book reviewed here and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit, on the North Campus. This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”


Treasure Hunters by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
ISBN: 9780316207560, 450 pages, illustrated.
Children's Chapter Books

Sign from Wildside Creative in Concordia, KS.