Thanksgiving weekend is a great time to explore Washington, D.C. with family and friends. In our Children's Room, we've got a wonderful selection of books about many of the sights in our nation's capital. One good choice is On the Mall in Washington, D.C. , which talks about the various buildings and landmarks that can be found on our nation's "front lawn." Other books with general information about Washington include A Kid's Guide to Washington, D.C.; Capital!: Washington DC from A to Z, and Washington, D.C.: A Scrapbook. For a unique inside look at the White House, check out Our White House, which features text and artwork by 108 renowned authors and illustrators. We've also got several great books about the Capitol and Congress, including My Senator and Me: A Dog's Eye View of Washington, D.C. written by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Come on in and browse our collection of Washington, D.C-related books, which we've put on display on top of the far fiction shelves. Just remember that we're closed tomorrow and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday, but will be open on Saturday, from 10-5.
At Circle Time today, we learned some rhymes for Thanksgiving, taken from a book called 1001 Rhymes & Fingerplays:
Gobble Gobble
A turkey is a funny bird,
His head goes wobble, wobble.
And he says one funny word
Gobble, gobble, gobble.
My Turkey
I have a turkey, big and fat
He struts around this way and that.
His daily corn he would not miss,
And when he talks, he sounds like this:
Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!
Do the Turkey Hop
Do the turkey hop -- hop, hop, hop!
Do the turkey run -- run, run, run!
Do the turkey gobble - gobble, gobble, gobble!
It's a lot of fun.
Now flap your wings like the turkeys do.
Then run from the farmer, before he catches you!
He's currently the best-selling author in America, with his newest book,, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever, holding the No. 1 spot on Amazon.com for all books, both kids and adults. At our Library, all 20 copies of Kinney's newest book were checked out within an hour, and we've got more than a dozen reserves for it. Kinney himself is a nice, unassuming guy, who is both thrilled and bemused with his success. In my capacity as the children's book reviewer for Scripps Howard News Service, I recently got a chance to talk with Jeff Kinney and learn more about his life and plans for future books.
Today's a big day for the millions of fans of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books by Jeff Kinney. The latest book in the series, Cabin Fever, is released today, with a first printing of more than six million copies. That makes it, according to Publishers Weekly, the biggest publishing event of the year in both kids' and adult books. At our Library, we find that the books are hugely popular with all kinds of readers, including those who normally say they don't like to read. But they like Greg Heffley, the hapless narrator of Kinney's books, as well as the hybrid format, which is a blend of text and illustrations. Meanwhile, here's a look at Kinney's favorite books as a kid, from today's New York Times: Jeff Kinney's Favorite Books From Childhood - NYTimes.com
Our monthly Bedtime Stories program will take place on Monday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. (NOT Tuesday as mistakenly stated in the Newsletter calendar). Babies, toddlers, preschoolers and their grown-ups are invited to join us for this program of songs, rhymes, fingerplays and stories. No registration necessary.
Note: the online calendar was correct.
Our Community Circle Time -- both the 10 a.m. and the 11 a.m. programs -- will be canceled next Tuesday, Nov. 8 due to the city elections. Community Circle Time will resume on Tuesday, Nov. 15; on the following Tuesday, Nov. 22, the popular Mr. Gabe will join us for both Circle Times. No registration necessary.