Just Life| Going Back to School

My daughter's summer vacation officially ended on August 3rd...it was such a short summer. Now, we're back to doing tons of homework and science projects.

I feel like I'm going back to school again and again and there is no end in sight. By the time my daughter graduates from high school, I will be getting my second high school diploma! Anyway...

At the library, we have got plenty of books to help you have a smooth transition into the school year.

Here are few of these useful books in your local library:

Parent's guide to the Common Core. Grade 5.

Extra math practice. Grade 3, math workbook

Extra math practice. Grade 5, math workbook

Also, keep in mind that we have home work help for kids in some of our library branches. Please click on:

Library Events And Programs for more information.

For example, at Margaret Troke Library located at 502 W. Benjamin Holt Drive in Stockton, there would be two free programs to help kids with their math and homework starting on August 25th.

• Homework helpers (K-5th grade) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays 4pm-6pm.

• Math Smart (6-12 grade) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4pm-6pm.

Welcome back to school everyone and happy learning/reading!


Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

4 Kids | Shhh....It's a Secret!

What would you do if you were out walking your dog, and all of the sudden your dog fell into a deep hole. Oh no, right? And suppose that while getting your dog out, you discovered -- in that deep hole -- a tunnel! What would you do? Would you go exploring?

That's just what Jacques and Marcel did back in 1940. And you'll never believe what they found! That tunnel led to a cave. And in that cave were a whole bunch of beautiful paintings dating back to prehistoric times. Prehistoric -- as in 17,000 years. 

Author Emily Arnold McCully explores the discovery of this cave in her book The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux. At first the boys thought they were going to find buried gold, but instead they found the most famous prehistoric art of all time, the Lascaux cave paintings. What's really cool about these paintings is that the colors had not faded. The paintings -- approximately 600 -- had a protective layer of chalk which made them watertight. That's why they lasted all those years!

Gradually the boys did share the secret of the cave and eventually people were able to visit the cave and marvel at the wonderful works of art. 

You can learn all about the discovery of this prehistoric art by reading this really great non-fiction book! 

And just a reminder, the Summer Reading Club returns to SSJCPL on June 1. Stop by anytime after that and pick up your reading log and start reading in order to win fabulous prizes. And if you complete your reading log, you'll be entered into a grand prize raffle to win a Kindle Fire! 

Teens Only | Be Careful What You Wish For

With all the great books of fiction featuring gods and goddesses, not the least of which is the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, you're no doubt very familiar with all those famous gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman legend.

 

But do you really know those gods and goddesses? There are some cool (and some cruel!) stories you might very much enjoy.

 

And so allow me to recommend A Gift From Zeus: Sixteen Favorite Myths by Jeanne and William Steig. (P.S. William Steig is the author of the first book I ever read all by myself: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.) But back to gods and goddesses.

 

The Steigs have put together 16 stories that will inform and entertain you. Seriously. You'll learn something.

 

Case in point: you've heard the warnings about opening Pandora's box, right? Bad things will happen if you do. But what was in Pandora's box, after all?

 

Be careful what you wish for.

 

Pandora was warned not to open the box, but curiosity got the best of her. She thought she could risk just one quick peek. But when she opened the box, just a crack, out flew a myriad of hideous things which were, according to the Steigs:

 

Carbuncles, Quagmires, and Jiggery-Pokery,

Colic, Depravity, Lummoxes, Louts,

Barbed Wire, Insomnia, Practical Jokery,

Treachery, Lechery, Deluge, and Droughts,

 

Truculence, Toothache, and Dandruff and Thuggery,

Blight and Sciatica, Gallstones, Tight Shoes,

Sinkholes and Nigglers and Nits and Skullduggery,

Anchovies, Avarice, Dudgeon, The Blues.

 

Hey Pandora: thanks a lot!

 

This book is a fun read. I'm so enjoying learning more about Zeus, Venus, Perseus, Orpheus and all the rest. And for those writers out there, think about writing a short story with one of these gods or goddesses living in the modern world. Can you just imagine?

 

Happy Reading...and Writing!

Teens Only | It's Probably On Your School Reading List

It being Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's 1973 memoir describing her family's experiences before, during and after their imprisonment at the Manzanar Concentration Camp. You are all aware, smart students that you are, of how the United States government imprisoned Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II because of their potential threat to national security. I'm reading it right now, which is rather fitting because the first week of May is Asian Pacific American Heritage week. This date was chosen because two important anniversaries occurred during this time: the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in America in 1843 and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad (by many Chinese laborers) on May 10, 1869.

 

But back to the book. I'll finish it today because it's only 203 pages. If it's important to you to know our history, and to develop empathy through understanding the plight of others, then I highly recommend you pick up this book. Seriously. At some point it will show up on a school reading list.

 

Jeanne's father was actually sent to an internment camp in North Dakota before being reunited with his family at Manzanar. Here is what she writes about her father's time there:

 

Papa never said more than three or four sentences about his nine months at Fort Lincoln. Few men who spent time there will talk about it more than that. Not because of the physical hardships: he had been through worse times on fishing trips down the coast of Mexico. It was the charge of disloyalty. For a man raised in Japan, there was no greater disgrace. And it was the humiliation. It brought him face to face with his own vulnerability, his own powerlessness. He had no rights, no home, no control over his own life.

 

I'll just let you think about those words for a while. And I hope that you'll join me in reading this important book.

 

Empathy through understanding.

 

And by the way, the Chavez Library is looking for teen volunteers (age 14 and older) to be part of Summer Book Buddies -- a program that helps children entering the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades with reading. Join us! You will feel really, really great about giving back to your community. Training is Saturday, June 7 from 10 am until 12 pm. Questions? Call (209) 937-7012.

 

Happy reading!

4 Kids | Let's Play Ball

It's baseball time again -- loud applause here, please -- and so for you dear readers who share my love of this sport, let's take a moment to explore what might be an unknown part of our beloved sport's history.

But first, a little explanation: many of you may be hearing things like "critical thinking," "common core," and "informational text" in school these days. There are lots of changes going on in terms of what your teachers are teaching. But the great news is that non-fiction is getting some long overdue appreciation. So every week I'll be sharing non-fiction books with you. That's right: Non-Fiction! And I promise to share really great stuff. Informational stuff that's told in such a great way you'll think you're reading fiction! But you'll actually be learning something too. Trust me: this is going to be fun!

Back to baseball.

I just read Barbed Wire Baseball by Marissa Moss and Yuko Shimizu. It's a short book that tells the story of Kenichi "Zeni" Zenimura. Zeni loved baseball. And he was really good at it. He played in the Fresno Nisei League and the Fresno Twilight League, and in fact, when the New York Yankees came to Fresno to play an exhibition game, Zeni was one of a few players asked to play with them! There's even a picture of Zeni standing with baseball greats Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

But here's where the story takes a sad turn: When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, 120,000 Japanese Americans living in the United States were sent to internment camps (think prison, not fun camp) because they were considered "possible spies." Zeni and his family were sent to just such a camp in Gila River, Arizona. It was a dry desert.

Even in these dire circumstances, Zeni did not lose his love of baseball. He decided to build a baseball field right there in the desert! Grass, bleachers, and chalk lines made out of flour -- he did it! And the first game played there was watched by 6,000 people!

It's no wonder that Zeni is considered the father of Japanese American baseball. Amazing what one person can accomplish, don't you think?

This is a non-fiction book, by the way. It reminds me of another great book on the same subject: Bat 6 by Virginia Euwer Wolfe. Although Wolfe's book is fiction, its story of girls' softball teams in Oregon in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and Japanese-Americans being sent to internment camps is very compelling.

I always look for a lesson whenever I read a book -- something I can take and apply in my everyday life.

I have a copy of Bat 6 autographed by the author. Her words: Fair play for (and from) all of us!

Play ball! And happy reading!