Bink & Gollie stole my heart

We just got a new book at the library: Best Friends Forever.  It is the third easy reader book featuring Bink & Gollie.  My son has fallen in love with these books.  Each book has three parts featuring the adventures of these two friends.  Their personalities are hilarious and loveable — the illustrations perfectly capture their emotions.  I really love the vocabulary that they use, as well.  My son learned a couple of new words in each book.  Perhaps your family will like these books as much as mine does?

The original Bink & Gollie title won the (Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award for most distinguished book for beginning readers in 2011.

Come to the Cherry Blossom Festival!

Come to the Main Library TODAY for the Cherry Blossom Festival. There is so much going on… and most of it is FREE! We will have some “make-and-take” crafts in the Children’s Services department for the kids, including Cherry Blossom Sticker Art, Chopstick Fun, and Samurai Helmets.

We’ll also have lots of books on Japan, Japanese culture, and folktales from Japan waiting for you to check out and read at home.

Some of the other activities going on include:

• Fort   Wayne Taiko, from the Fort Wayne Dance Collective       
• Minyo Japanese Folk Dancers, from Indianapolis
• Yoko Reikano Kimura,  Japanese Koto
• Hikaru Tamaki, Cello
• The Fort Wayne Guitar Quartet, lead player Dan Quinn
• Dorothy Kittaka, Soprano
• Janice Furtner, Soprano
• Irene Ator, Piano accompanist
• Suzuki Strings, conducted by Debra Graham
• Mrs. Shie Otani, Japanese Tea Ceremony
• Zentai Martial Arts, Decatur Mudokwan and Indianapolis Kendo Club
• Mike Schmid and Janice Furtner, Origami demonstration and hands-on origami activities
• Karaoke, for the public

There will also be an Arts and Crafts of Japan Marketplace featuring:

• Bethany Lee – Paper arts
• DCB Discount Comics  – Manga comics
• Hida Shashiko – Japanese embroidery
• JapaneseSaturdaySchool – Accessories, crafts and Japanese souvenir items
• Paul Griswold –Japanese-themed T-shirts
• Rei Kihara – Japanese fabric dresses, cosplay costumes, art prints, “cherry blossom” accessories
• Ronia Marie Krieg – Shibori Silk Scarves

And there will be a Taste of Japan:

• Toyko Seoul Restaurant, Sushi.
• West Coast Grill, Yakitori
• Woo’s Oriental Grocery & Mart, Japanese candies, drinks, ice cream, crackers etc.

When: Sunday, May 19, Noon to 5 p.m.

Where:  Allen County Public Library, Main Library (downtown)

Cost:   Most events are free for the public  

CLICK HERE to view or print the festival brochure that includes a complete listing of events with times, performers, vendors, and sponsors. The festival begins at noon on the library plaza. We’ll see you at the Library this afternoon!

Lego Man in Space!

Have you ever thought about sending a Lego minifig as high into the atmosphere as you could? Would you take photos of the journey? Would you plan it out, buy the materials, put it all together, and really do it? Two teens from Canada did all of that! Read the book written about the adventure (Lego Man in Space), and watch this awesome video:

If you love Legos, join us at one of the regular Lego clubs we have at our libraries.  See the schedule here.

Ballet for Kids: The Rainbow Fish

Watch this classic children’s story dance to life in a FREE mini-performance by Fort Wayne Ballet Youth Company. The performance will start at 7:00 pm tonight,  May 16th; doors open at 6:45 pm. Bring your kids!

What:  Fort Wayne Ballet Youth Company presents The Rainbow Fish

When:  Thursday, May 16 at 7:00 pm

Where:  Main Library Theater (900 Library Plaza, downtown Fort Wayne, IN)

Who: Children of all ages with their families

Cost:  FREE!

It’s Children’s Book Week!

Hooray! It’s Children’s Book Week! Sometimes this week gets buried in the school visit time for us at ACPL. This week, you may want to visit the CBW website to download the official bookmark illustrated by Grace Lin, do some puzzles, or finish some story starters (there’s one by Mo Willems!).

If you read our blog regularly, you’ll remember my post in April about the Children’s Choice Book Awards.Hopefully you were inspired to vote for your favorite book. Even if you didn’t vote, you’ll want to know the winners of this award. There are some great winners! Check here and then head over to the library’s webpage to put them on hold!

New True Books

Every day we get new books so you’ll never run out of good stuff to read!  Here are some new nonfiction titles you may enjoy.

3 More Weeks

We have just 3 more weeks, or 21 more days, or 504 more hours (approximately) until the library’s Summer Reading Program starts on June 3rd.

Right now librarians are busy visiting schools to talk about all the great things we have planned.  See you soon!