Two events are coming up this week at the library: Tuesday is Read a Book Have a Coke Day, so if you stop by the library on Tuesday for your next great book, be sure to pick up a can of Coca-Cola before you leave. And Thursday is movie night in the Schafer Room from 6-8 pm. We’ll be watching the 1942 movie Yankee Doodle Dandy starring James Cagney as George M. Cohan. Call the library by Thursday morning to sign up. The next several weeks will be devoted to books new in the children’s department, specifically picture books.

Origami boats and paper airplanes are some of the simplest and easiest toys to make for children. If you’ve forgotten how to fold them, just check the inside covers of Float by Daniel Miyares. In this wordless picture book, author Miyares shows adult hands folding a paper boat, and a young boy in a yellow raincoat and hat taking the new boat out to play in very cloudy weather. The rain soon starts and the boy quickly protects the boat inside his rain slicker. When the weather lets up there are plenty of puddles to play in! In bright active scenes he tries one puddle after another until he comes to a rushing stream in the gutter and quickly loses his boat down the street! Across streets, and down blocks the boat eventually slips down a storm drain. The boy waits on the bridge at the nearest creek. There’s his boat! Or, the soggy mess of a boat. Sadly the boy fishes it out and trudges home as the rain starts again. At home a hug from dad, plus dry clothes, hair, and hot chocolate makes him feel better. Then, it’s back to the newspapers, this time to fold an airplane. Out the front door the world isn’t grey any more, but filled with bright yellow sunshine.

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

Although the library originally had a movie night scheduled for Thursday, we goofed in scheduling it during holy week. The movie Yankee Doodle Dandy has been postponed to the following Thursday night. The next several weeks will be devoted to books new in the children’s department, specifically picture books.  

Part Goldilocks, part Little Red Riding Hood, this week’s Port Pick has less of the dark and scary life lesson and more of a gentle reminder that working together can produce wonderful results. First published in Japan in 2010, The Tea Party in the Woods by Akiko Miyakoshi is beautifully and gently rendered in charcoal, pencil, and ink illustrations. Kikko wakes to a snowy winter wonderland one morning and is enjoying breakfast when her mother discovers her father has left a pie on the table. In a rush to shovel Grandmother’s sidewalks that morning, Kikko’s father has left the gift for Grandmother, and Kikko volunteers to carry the box through the woods after her father. Separating the two houses is a snowy wood, but Kikko has no problem following her father’s footsteps. Spying someone ahead she thinks is her father, Kikko hurries ahead but drops the box in the process. When she catches up over the hill she comes upon a large house she’s never seen before. And the figure who went inside wasn’t her father at all, but a large bear in a suit! A young lamb leads Kikko inside to find a warm and welcoming tea party. Kikko introduces herself and says she’s on her way to Grandma’s with a pie. When a small rabbit asks if the crushed box is the pie, Kikko becomes upset that she ruined the gift in her haste. But the animals put together a variety of pie slices from the party and Kikko is followed the rest of the way to Grandmas’s with a noisy, happy parade.

You can get more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit.

A note to our Story Port participants: there will be no Story Port Monday, although you’re welcome to come check out books anyway. The next several weeks will be devoted to books new in the children’s department, specifically picture books. 

Wordless picture books have a way of capturing the imagination like no other story. Beautifully illustrated in ink and watercolor, Sidewalk Flowers by Jon Arno Lawson and Sydney Smith shows the simple story of a walk home from shopping. A father and his young daughter begin their walk home outside a downtown bodega. The scene is painted in black and greys except for the young girl who is wearing a bright red hooded coat. The girl is looking around carefully for something, and finally spots it after a block: bright yellow dandelions growing up through the sidewalk. She picks them, and the viewer can see the grey world around her brightens just a little bit. Later on she picks a few stray violets, daises, and then a black-eyed-susan. Her father is distractedly talking on a cell phone when the two approach a park. The little girl finds a bird who has passed on and leaves a few flowers, then more with a man sleeping on a park bench. Slowly, the world around them is coming to life in bright watercolors. They finally reach their suburban home and everything is in bright color in the backyard, which is planted with plenty of flowers for any young budding gardener.

Wordless picture books are a great way to practice critical thinking skills with the young readers in your life, and this picture book certainly deserves a second or third viewing to fully understand the story.

You can get more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit.

The next several weeks will be devoted to books new in the children’s department, specifically picture books.

Every one of us has felt left out at some point in their lives. Nerdy Birdy is no exception. He has large glasses, and small scrawny wings. To top it all off, he’s allergic to birdseed. So begins the picture book Nerdy Birdy by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Matt Davies. The reader is clearly shown with labeled pictures how cool all the other birds are. Cardinal has a glossy red pompadour, Eagle has impressively sculpted chest muscles, and Robin is the best at spotting worms. While Nerdy Birdy is good at reading, video games, and reading about video games. Nerdy Birdy tries to tell Eagle, Cardinal, and Robin about books and video games but the others aren’t interested and fly off leaving Nerdy Birdy all alone. Alone, that is, until a small bird (who looks like a canary) shows Nerdy Birdy there are LOTS of other birds out there like him! In fact, there are way more other nerdy birds than cool birds and Nerdy Birdy has found a whole group of new friends. Then along comes Vulture. When Nerdy Birdy tries to include Vulture in his new group, even the other nerdy birds want nothing to do with icky Vulture. And even though Nerdy Birdy and Vulture have nothing at all in common, the two become friends.

This title is a great book to reinforce the idea of including others to your young reader.  The illustrations are done in pen and ink, in a slightly messy sketchy style.  There are plenty of asides for the adult to enjoy while reading the regular printed text.

You can get more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit.