Donors Choose project fully funded!

 I created a Donors Choose project in October to help me purchase new titles for the library, and the project sat very stagnantly for a couple of months.  I received 2 or 3 small donations and didn't hold out hope for getting my full amount.  I had a couple of donors come through at the 11th hour and I was fully funded on January 15th for just over $300!  I got my Amazon list of 26 books to Miriam over at donorschoose.org and I received the books only four days later.  I started working on the pile of books to get them ready for checkout (due date slips, spine labels, book covers, etc.) and some of my "regulars" noticed the new books.  They immediately jumped into them, saying "When are these ready to go out?!  Can you hold this one for me?!"  Nothing makes me happier than seeing the kids getting excited about reading!  

My library aide Brianna was super excited about my new books!  She's usually cool as a cucumber, so this was "uber excited" for her :)

In the Library: Book Speed Dating!

 So what topic is guaranteed to entertain/embarrass/interest a bunch of middle school students??  Dating!  :)  And since February is the month of love, I designed a book speed dating activity where the students moved from table to table of different genres of fiction books.  Just like in the real world of dating, sometimes you meet a great "book" and want to get to know it better and sometimes you have to let the book know that it's not personal, you just want to be friends.  
The students got 3 minutes at each table to try and make a "connection" with a book that they would like to get to know better and maybe check it out.  Needless to say, the kids LOVED it!  I really hammed it up with lots of horrible puns and jokes, like telling the kids they had to give their chosen book all 3 minutes of its allotted time--don't be caught looking at your neighbor's book!  We don't need any cat fights in the library over a jealous library patron!  And you have to kiss a lot of frogs before finding a prince (and read a lot of books before finding one that sticks with you).  I ended up having so many books checked out that week.  It was definitely a successful activity.

The 8 tables were divided into:  scary fiction, sports fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, action/adventure fiction, realistic fiction, graphic novels, and mystery fiction.

Cousin Birthday Fun

 Wow, did I really just skip a whole month of blogging?!  Well, we did a lot of fun stuff during January, I guess I just didn't post about it :)  For starters, Brooklyn turned 6 on 1/11 and we headed up to Crofton to celebrate her birthday at the local bowling alley.  Emily and Jason have almost no experience with bowling and absolutely LOVED it.  Garrett brought his own ball (!) so that tells you his level of dedication.  Caroline was basically there to socialize and eat cupcakes.

Thank goodness for bumpers and ball ramps!

 We headed back to John and Mary's house to do presents after the party.  The kids had a great time just relaxing and playing together.  We bought Brooklyn a striped cat that goes with her Cabbage Patch doll.  The cat is "adopted" by the doll and they connect electronically. 

 The cupcakes were topped with bright rainbow frosting and Troll rings.  We had a fun time with those rings!  Lots of posing and picture-taking!