April Vacation Week - April 21-24

We have fun activities planned for the whole vacation week. We are closed on Monday, April 20th for Patriot's Day.
April 21, 2:30 PM - Bilingual story time in English and Hindi. We will read stories, sing songs and recite poems. All ages are welcome. No registration required.
April 22, 2:30 PM - Power point class for kids in Grades 3-7. Sign-up starts April 8th.
April 23, 2:30-4:30 - Fairy Houses with Cheryl Carlson-Perrow for children in grades 1-4. Registration begins April 9th.
April 24, 10-11 AM, Ages 4-6 - Mr. Raindrop Water Cycle Terrarium presented by The Water Department and SELCO
April 24, 2-3 PM, Ages 7-9 - Mr. Raindrop Water Cycle Terrarium presented by The Water Department and SELCO

Library Buds playing Dewey Match

 

National Library Week

The week of April 12-18 is declared as National Library Week. By coincidence, a Boys Scout student has created a Poster Contest as his Community project. The topic for the poster is Why I love the library. You have to submit your poster by April 17th and voting will take place during the Vacation week (April 21st-24th). Winners will be announced on April 24th at 4 PM. So, be creative and design fun posters!

MCBA 2009 WINNER

The Massachusetts Children's Book Award, sponsored by the Salem State College, has been awarded to The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stuart. Four titles have been named Honor Books -
Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix
H.I.V.E by Mark Walden
The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman
Miracle on 49th Street by Mike Lupica
Children across the state read at least five books and vote for their favorite title.

March Money Madness

Kids enjoying money-related activities

 

 

Book review by Nishta Krishnan

EVERY SOUL A STAR by Wendy Mass
The book is set at the Moon Shadow Campground in the days surrounding a total solar eclipse. Three narrators tell the story of how their paths come together there, just as the moon's shadow crosses the sun. There's Ally, a self-confident, home-schooled kid who has grown up at the Moon Shadow, spending her time searching for alien signals and arranging rocks in the campground labyrinth. There's Bree, firmly set in the life of a middle school butterfly until her parents say that she's moving to the middle of nowhere so they can work on a research project. And there's Jack, who flunked science class and is sentenced to a summer project at the Moon Shadow with his teacher.
I found Every soul a Star to be inspirational. It gives the reader a chance to really get engrossed into the book and really learn in an interesting way. Mass does a magnificent job of making the voices of her characters distinct. In addition, novels created like this can often be a bit repetitive as events are recurring from the viewpoint of another character, but Mass does not do this. She allows the novel to flow naturally, giving the reader a chance to infer what the other characters might be thinking. If I had one complaint about this novel, it would be that I would have liked to know what happens to Ally, Bree and Jack when the summer ends. In my opinion, I would have liked if Jack and Ally ended up in the same city and school.

Kids cooking Indian food

 

Kids showing off the rainbow fruit kabobs they made