Throwback Thursday: Happy 50th Birthday, Flat Stanley!

The original cover of Flat Stanley

I realize I am completely dating myself in this Throwback Thursday post, but the original Flat Stanley book was one of my childhood favorites. This is the cover that my mind will always associate with Stanley and his family. The concept was so simple - a bulletin board map falling on Stanley one night, thus flattening him out like a pancake, led to many an adventure! I still remember marveling at the ingenuity of rolling Stanley up, and putting him into the mailbox. It was like he had superhero skills!

A few months ago, publisher HarperKids posted the most adorably funny video above commemorating the many alterations of Flat Stanley throughout the last 50 years. What happens when Flat Stanley present meets Flat Stanley past? Watch and see!

Finally, to commemorate Flat Stanley's staying power in library land and children's hearts - check out this packed website filled with resources, photos of celebrities holding Flat Stanley, the official Flat Stanley Project blog, and an exchange link where you can find other educators (librarians are educators too!) looking to host your Flat Stanley in their neck of the woods. Tell us - has your library done any Flat Stanley events? Comment below and share your ideas!

TBT: LIU American Juvenile Collection

Years ago, South Huntington Library used to host copies of children's fiction titles that had been discarded from other Suffolk County libraries as a children's archive of american fiction for children. Retired librarians Mary Lois Nichols of Smithtown, and Marjorie Rosenthal from LIU Post, curated the collection, which eventually grew too large to host permanently at South Huntington.

Enter The Archives and Special Collections at LIU University Libraries. The collection contains more than 9,000 first edition juvenile titles in Fiction, Folklore, Fairy Tales and Poetry published in the United States in the 20th Century.

It is a distinguished collection due to its major focus between 1910-1960.  Mildred Bernstein, Head of Youth Services at South Huntington, recently emailed me the following information: Jarron Jewell is the Acting Director of Special Collections at LIU - CW Post campus. They are still collecting books from 1910-1999 in the following:  Fiction including historical fiction, Folklore, Fairytales and Poetry.  She mentioned that they can pick up the boxes up books from our libraries with about 2 weeks notice. To contact Jarron, call 516.299.3407 or e-mail her at Jarron.Jewell@liu.edu

So when weeding your fiction, poetry, and folk and fairy tale collections - keep the LIU American Juvenile Collection in mind! They will also consider photos, letters, manuscripts and illustrations from that time era as well. Thanks Mildred, for reminding us of this important resource available to not only donate to, but to research from as well. If you are interested in viewing the collection in person, you can contact Jarron as well, or search on the LIU library website.

TBT: Walter Dean Myers

Walter Dean Myers: 1938 - 2014

So many people were saddened this week by the news of Walter Dean Myers passing. Myers received a bevy of awards and honors for his work, including the Margaret A. Edwards Awardfrom the American Library Association, honoring a lifetime of achievement and the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. He has written six Coretta Scott King Award/Honor books, two Newbery Honor books, and three National Book Award finalists. In 2010, he was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and in 2012, he was appointed the Library of Congress National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, a two-year position designed to raise awareness of the importance of literacy, whose predecessors were notable authors like Katherine Paterson and Jon Scieszka.
Click here for SLJ's full obituary. And here is a webcast that Walter did for the National Book Festival in 2001. Enjoy listening to his voice, immortalized now forever.

TBT: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Earlier in the week Lisa posted about her favorite children's books when she was little so I figured I would follow her lead with one of mine for this Throwback Thursday. This year Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory turns 50! How exciting that the candy man and mischief maker has held such a legacy through books and film to this day. I first came into contact with Mr. Wonka as a chubby 10-year-old who caught the movie on TV during a family gathering. My older cousins, who were kids when the movie was first released, were eager to have me experience the magic of the movie. From that second on I was obsessed with it. My parents ran out and purchased the VHS for me and I watched it about 100 times. I was watching the movie during a blackout one summer and the dying VCR ate the tape. I was heartbroken! 

It wasn't until next year's Spring break that our teacher took us to the school library to check out a book before vacation. There on the shelf was the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory pictured above. It was hard for me to fathom why the title of the book and the movie were different, but it didn't matter. I finally found the book! I devoured it on vacation. I remember sitting, laying, hanging upside down on the blue living room couch tearing through every word. This was my first experience seeing a movie and then reading the book it was based on. In the movie Veruca is a bad egg and she falls down the eggdicator, but in the book she is done in by some squirrels who crack nuts! It was all very confusing for a kid, but I still loved it. There is something about visiting a mysterious factory where candy is at your every beck and call that is very tantalizing to a kid - in movie or book form! The real question is where does one get a giant gummy bear that has fallen from a tree?

TBM: Name Your Favorite Childhood Reads

Because my post did not go as planned last Thursday, I am offering you the rare opportunity to read a Throw Back MONDAY post. Just because. Actually,I've been prepping for a children's literacy class that I will be teaching this summer, and have been thinking a lot about my younger (far, far younger!) self as a reader.

I never thought I was going to be a librarian. In fact, I was going to be a dancer. A ballerina. And star in the Nutcracker. All because of A Very Young Dancer, by Jill Krementz. I still have my black and white photo-essay style copy. When I've been on ball fields with my boys too much, I open this book up and gaze longingly at the ballet shoes. Not really. Maybe just once. Twice, tops. I also spent many a day making dolls out of acorns, twigs and leaves after reading Miss Hickory, by Carolyn Bailey. I was only slightly traumatized when I gave a copy of this book to my niece, and she didn't seem to have the same love for Miss Hickory that I did.

Another favorite that I remember reading, and probably learning to read from independently? "I Can't" Said the Ant, by Polly Cameron. In fact, this might have been one of the first titles that I purchased at school via a book club.

I went through what I like to refer to as "the Marilyn Sachs Era" in fifth grade, devouring all of her titles. Most seemed to be about girls with larger problems than my own at the time, so maybe that is why I was drawn to them. My favorite one was Dorrie's Book - about an only child whose parents go and have

(gasp) TRIPLETS! I read it over and over.

 Speaking of Dorrie, does anyone else remember that sweet little witch named Dorrie? When I wasn't plie-ing across the living room, I was sitting under the dining room table, making up spells and playing "Dorrie." Dorrie and the Blue Witch was one of my favorites from the series.

So tell us - what are YOUR favorite books that you remember from childhood? Comment below to receive a small surprise in the system bag!

TBT: Cohn & Levithan Books Get New Looks

First off I have to apologize for the quality of this photo. It was at the Random House preview last week that they debuted the new covers for these three Rachel Cohn and David Levithan titles: Naomi & Ely's No-Kiss List, Dash & Lily's Book of Dares and Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. As you can see the photo was taken in a dimly lit room, on a cell phone, by someone else (Jennifer Hubert Swan of www.readingrants.org) that I then retweeted. 'Twas a long virtual journey, but I think it was well worth it. This re-branding is showcasing these three titles by the same authors (that contain alternating chapters from different characters) as a related set of books that focus on differing teen relationships. Nothing like a little bit of revamping for some fun young adult reads. Not to mention all three titles showcase the ampersand in a fantastic way! Below are the original covers for reference.

TBT: Be a Copycat!

So for this week's TBT post -did you know that SCLS -YS has old copies of a fabulous resource for story time planning that you can borrow? Back issues of the out-of-print COPYCAT magazine, which are perfect for Pre-K - 3rd grade story times, art programs, and other fair based events (math and science fairs, anyone?) can be requested by emailing or calling us. We are going to work on getting a list on the blog of the back issues and contents to make it easy for you to browse and see which ones you would like to borrow.

Yes, I know this picture is sideways. Go ahead - I'll give you a minute to figure out what it is and why it is here in a TBT post. If you guessed "summer reading club clip art and program ideas from 1990-2013" then you would be correct! Often, well known illustrators would donate their artwork for cooperative summer reading programs. This clip art is able to be used in library programs still. So - perhaps you offer a PARP or Winter Reading Club and are looking for a great idea, theme, or art. Next time you are at SCLS for a meeting, ask Kim, Derek, or Lisa if you can peruse the old summer reading binders, and you just might find yourself a new reading club for your community. My personal favorites? "New York is Book Country" "Book Banquet" and "Make a Splash: READ"

TBT: Reading Rainbow

Yesterday a Kickstarter campaign began to raise $1,000,000 to support a new wave of  Reading Rainbow. LeVar Burton, host of Reading Rainbow, is the main face of the campaign. In just one day they have already surpassed their million dollar goal and there is still more than a month remaining! Burton explains on the website that one in four kids will grow to be illiterate in the United States. Now with the evolution of computers and tablets in every day learning Burton knows it is important for Reading Rainbow to become a staple on these devices. With this Kickstarter campaign Reading Rainbow will now have new content that can be accessed at home and in schools. The Reading Rainbow app has already taken over the iPad and the success of this initial campaign represents how much people cherish the PBS staple. Hopefully one of their "stretch goals" will be to incorporate Reading Rainbow into libraries as well.  If you want to take a look at the campaign or even donate here is the website: Reading Rainbow Kickstarter I'm singing the theme song in my head right now! Check out the originally theme song below. Butterfly in the skkkyyy!!!

TBT: Crayon Cups Up For Grabs!

I know. You are thinking to yourself: "What ARE these, and why is she posting them as a TBT tag? Well, these plastic crayon mugs are an example of what happens when you clean out big, bad closets and storage areas that you didn't know existed in your building. Or, these plastic crayon mugs are an example of items that wind up in the youth services department after the facilities manager cleans out the big, bad closets and storage areas.

For awhile - I was stumped. I've worked in Suffolk county libraries since 1999, and had never seen these mugs before. Were they old summer reading prizes? Leftovers from a preschool services grant? And, if they were from pre-1999, then just how old were they anyway? As I explored more, I noticed one of the boxes was labeled "SCLS staff picnic", so I went to talk to a staff person who had worked here far longer than me - and I found out that they were given to children of employees who had attended the staff picnic.

A nice idea - but that soft plastic straw and box that looks like it was from the 80s made me think that these should no longer be used as sippy cups.

SO - why this post? Because I happen to have 129 of these mugs in assorted colors sitting in my office. And I think that YOU should comment below with your name, library, and an amount that you would like to receive. They would make terrific crayon containers for craft programs, or glue stick holders, etc... The possibilities to recycle them in a craft program, or just to organize your department, are pretty endless actually! So make a comment already - first come, first served until all 129 are accounted for. Maybe 128. I might need to hold onto one for nostalgia sake.

TBT: Harriet the Spy turns 50!

When Nickelodeon released "Harriet the Spy" the movie I fell head-over-heals in love with it. I was the first on the block out of my group of friends to turn one of my old Composition notebooks into a spy book. I watched that movie over and over and over again. I even considered myself a spy, went around interviewing neighbors, and even made my very own spy kit. Harriet had it all: glasses, a notebook, a sharpened pencil, keen skills of observation and a voice. Harriet was a kid that could definitely be considered precocious. Just this past February she turned 50. Since my infatuation with the movie I have read the book and loved it. like many book-to-movie adaptations there were many changes, but still Harriet nonetheless. Although I was in love with a different version of the story as a child I still have a special place in my heart for Miss Harriet M. Welsch no matter how she appears before me. 

TBT - a Day Late

For our inaugural Throwback Thursday (albeit one day late!) post on Project Yawesome, I bring you a pretty awesome book from 1998:

I love virtually everything that Jack Gantos writes, and know plenty of kids that do too. So - imagine the SQUEAL that erupted from me yesterday at the Fall 2014 Macmillan Preview when I turned the page to see this jacket cover:

Yes, in September 2014, Joey Pigza returns in The Key that Swallowed Joey Pigza as a series finale. While there weren't full galleys available at the preview, I do have a special preview of chapters 1-4 that I would be happy to share with you. Comment below with your name and library to have it sent your way!