YouthScope is moving!

The YouthScope blog has moved!

Click here to go to straight to our brand new site, or visit http://youthscope.wordpress.com

We hope you enjoy our new look blog and keep reading with us :)

Birthdays and Dots

September is a big month for birthdays in the world of children's books.

The 8th of September is the birthday of author and reading advocate Jon Scieszka. Scieszka is well known for his twisted fairy tales; his history series The Time Warp Trio; and the Trucktown series. He has collaborated with illustrator Lane Smith on many of his works.

Scieszka writes books because he loves to make kids laugh and many of his ideas are based on things that happened to him growing up with his brothers. He's passionate about getting boys into reading and started the web based literacy program, Guys Read. He's a big favorite in our house-our young readers highly recommend his books!

September 13th is the birthday of children's book legend Roald Dahl. There's probably not much more I can add to the many words that have been written about this much loved author, who has been described as one of the greatest storytellers for children. In our house he's especially popular for reading aloud with Mom or Dad - a great way to share his books with children who aren't quite ready to read them on their own.

Finally, on September 15th, it was Tomie DePaola's birthday. De Paola has written over 200 books for children, many of which feature the wise and lovable Grandma, Strega Nona.

De Paola is widely regarded for his distinctive visual style and his great understanding of childhood. The young readers in our house love his story, Tony's Bread and there are so many other wonderful titles to choose from.

You'll find copies of stories from all our September birthday authors at Handley Library. Come and see us and we'll help you explore the wonderful work of these three great creators of literature for children. 

PS - the 15th of September is also International Dot Day - a day inspired by the wonderful book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. It's a tale for the artist in all of us and a great title to share with young readers.

Reading in the garden

There's nothing like reading outdoors, by yourself or with others, in an inspiring and beautiful setting. Handley Regional Library is thrilled to share our new outdoor reading space with you.

The Mike Foreman Rotary Reading Garden will be a location for quiet reading for people of all ages, and will be used as an outdoor location for children's programs and other events.

"Innocence" is the name of the statue you will find in the reading garden.

One of the many special things about our garden is the large chess and checkerboard with one-foot squares! We even have big chess and checker pieces which you can check out and use when the library is open - fun :)

"Let's go play in the Handley Library Reading Garden. Their pieces are much bigger than ours!"

This Wednesday, September 11, we invite you - especially children - to come and help install the plants that are really going to bring this garden to life. Experts from Lowes will be helping volunteers with the planting. Grab some gardening gloves and come and join us at 4pm on Wednesday.

The Mike Foreman Rotary Reading Garden will officially open on Wednesday September 25 at 5:30pm. we'd love for you to join us - the celebrations will include giant games of chess and checkers!!

We have so many great books about gardens and gardening at the library. Come and see us and we'll help you find just what you need for reading in our garden. Here's a few recommendations to get you started...

Looking forward to seeing you in our garden on Wednesday September 11 at 4pm. 

Learning to Read

School is well and truly back in session, and for many of the children in our community this marks the start of the journey to becoming an independent reader. In classrooms and homes all over the country, young children are developing the reading skills which will enable them to get lost in the magical world of books.

This is a very exciting time in a child's development, and as parents and caregivers we have an important part to play in supporting and encouraging our early readers. One of the easiest things that we can do to help is read aloud to children. Sharing and listening to books by reading aloud is one of the best ways to ensure a child's success in reading.

Reading aloud:

• is a great excuse to spend time with children
• allows you both to enjoy the sound and rhythm of language and explore the way words join together to create stories
• opens doors to knowledge and fantasy
• encourages a child's imagination to run wild
• continues the age old art of storytelling
• helps to grow a child's vocabulary and their ability to communicate
• sets them on the path to becoming a life-long reader
• IS FUN!

Another easy way to help support an early reader is to visit the library. Here at Handley Regional we love working with children and their caregivers at this very special time, and we have a huge range of resources available.

On our Parent Teacher shelves in the Children's Room you can find many useful titles dealing with learning to read.

And for the very important new readers themselves our shelves are full of wonderful choices - we have something for everyone! In addition to our fantastic range of picture books, the Easy Reader shelves are a great source of reading material for beginning readers.

Come and visit us at your local library and we'll help to make sure that those first steps into independent reading are full of excitement and enjoyment. And don't forget that once a child turns five they are eligible for their very own library card - a must for every reader, big and small!

I'll leave you with the words of Frederick Douglass - "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."

I Have a Dream!

Exactly fifty years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. and delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Somewhere between two hundred and three hundred thousand people gathered on Wednesday August 28th 1963, at what was to become one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States History.

The March on Washington - image courtesy of Wikipedia.

King's speech, which has been ranked by scholars as the top American speech of the 20th century, inspired millions and his words are still relevant in the twenty first century.

Here at Handley Library you can find a range of great resources about this great man and his inspiring words - books, DVDs and audio recordings.

You can find more titles on our online kids catalogue or come in and see us. We'd be happy to help you find out more about this important moment in our country's history, and if you click here you can listen to the words of one of America's greatest speakers - "I have a dream!"

Happy Birthday Handley Regional Library!

This weekend our library celebrated a wonderful milestone - one hundred years of providing library services to the citizens of Winchester, Frederick County and Clarke County.

The reading and literature needs of the area's youth was always an important part of the services offered by our library but in the early days there wasn't a dedicated space for children, or staff members on hand to run children's programs and "lead the children to good literature".

"Happy Birthday!" say the gnomes on the roam!

On June 20th, 1961 the children's room was opened. It was looked after by part time employees and summer story times were led by the Winchester Civic Club and the American Association of University Women.

In one hundred years there have been many changes at our library. One thing has not changed however - the joy and pride that comes with getting your own library card.

On the library's first day of operations, August 22nd 1913, Miss Kate McVicar was waiting patiently in line, hoping to be the first patron to receive a library card. Unfortunately for Kate it was Seddon Lacy who claimed the honor of being first to receive a card - he elbowed his way ahead of Miss McVicar and was first through the front door!

First library card and book - yay!

No need for any elbowing to get your hand on a library card!

You can read more about the history of library services for youth, and so much more about Handley Library, in the wonderful book Handley Regional Library - The First One Hundred Years. 

We hope you were able to share in the celebrations for our wonderful service. 

Happy Birthday Handley Regional! Here's to the next one hundred years!

Back to school!

It's very hard to believe but we are down to the last few days of summer vacation. Over the next couple of weeks children will be loading up their backpacks, maybe hopping onto a school bus and heading back to school. For many other children it will be the first day of preschool or kindergarten.

It's a time of year that can be both exciting and a little bit nerve wracking!

Here at Handley Regional Library we have many wonderful books that can entertain, inform and reassure all those back to schoolers out there - both experienced and new.

These are just some of our great titles focussed on starting or returning to school. Come and see us at your local library or explore the catalogue online - we'd love to help your children at this important time of the year.

And just a quick reminder to all of you who have been Digging Into Reading over the summer vacation - you still have until August 31st to keep logging your reading minutes and maybe even come and claim your prize from our book trunks.

We wish all our young readers a safe and happy start to the new school year.

Free book!

It was with great excitement last week that I took the two youngest readers in my house down to the library to choose a free book from the overflowing book trunk.

All those daily reading sessions, plus visits to pajama story time and reading to the Paws reading dogs, soon added up and my two readers had earned their precious certificates.

Congratulations - you have earned one free book!

Choosing which book to take home from the trunk was way more difficult than completing those six hours of reading time! But finally, after much discussion and poring over the range of great titles on offer, we emerged with our precious gifts in hand.

One of the books that came home with us.

I hope many of you have also had the chance to select a free book from the book trunks. It's not too late to claim your prize - our summer reading program runs right through until August 31st - still a few more weeks to log those precious reading minutes!

Happy reading everyone :)

A few more titles from the Elementary reading list.

It's all about mines, caves and tunnels today as we explore three more titles from our Elementary reading list.

Chris Mould's The Smuggler's Mine is book 5 in the Something Wickedly Weird series.

Stanley Buggles holds the key to a smuggler's map but does he dare to uncover its ancient secrets? This fast-paced story will keep you guessing right till the end.

In Penny Warner's Mystery of the Haunted Caves, join thirteen year old Becca and her scout friends as they attempt to win a gold medal for their troop at the Gold Rush Jamboree.

When a mysterious clue reveals treasure buried in the camp caves, Becca and her friends are determined to get their hands on it. This book has won several mystery writing awards...fun, exciting and full of adventure.

Roderick Gordon's New York Times bestseller,  Tunnels,  is the first installment in the Tunnels series.

When 14 year old Will Borrows' father mysteriously vanishes, Will must uncover the truth about his disappearance. His search leads him to a secret underground society, The Colony, which has existed for  one hundred years. But before Will can find his father he is taken prisoner. Multiple chases, captures, separations and escapes keep the pace moving in this page turning thriller.

We're taking a break here at YouthScope next week - time for a beach vacation - which of course means lots of time for reading :)

We look forward to seeing you back here soon for more from our summer reading programme and our readers.

Take care and keep reading! We're off to start packing and the first things going into our suitcase are...you guessed it...books!

Some more great titles from our Primary reading list.

Good morning summer readers. I hope you took advantage of National Ice Cream Day yesterday and relaxed with a cone in one hand and a book in the other!

Poor Gerald needs some help figuring out what to do with his ice cream!

Let's take a look at three more titles from our Dig Into Reading Primary list.
Heather Miller's Subway Ride is a fantastical journey that introduces young readers to subway travel.

Join a group of children as they pay their fare, pass through the gates and zip around ten subway stations from around the globe. You can find extra information on each of the stations at the end of this colorful travel tale.

Our next book is a wonderful read aloud. Denise Fleming's Underground takes us deep into the backyard world below our feet.

Explore detailed cross section pictures of a wide rage of creatures who burrow, dig and tunnel their way underneath the earth's surface.

Now for some interesting characters who live on top of the ground. In Lawn to Lawn by Dan Yaccarino, we meet four lawn ornaments who are left behind when their owners move house.

Join a lawn jockey, deer, pink flamingo and garden gnome on their hilarious journey to find the little girl that they love.

Speaking of garden gnomes, have you been keeping up with all the adventures of our own library gnomes on the roam? Make sure you like Handley Regional Library on Facebook to keep up with all their adventures this summer.

Happy reading everyone...now for more ice cream!