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Greetings!
Our Summer Reading program, Paws to Read ends August 16. That is the last day to participate! Finish reading or listening to your books and come get your prizes! Parents: August 27, 2014 is the first day back to school for the Berkeley Unified School District. More Free eBooks! We have added lots of new titles to our online Overdrive eBook collection. Check out the hundreds of children's books available to download now!
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Puppet Show @South BranchSaturday, August 2, 10:30 am. Magic Moonshine Theater: The Three Little Pigs. High jinks and hilarity ensue in this family-friendly musical puppet show. Ages 3-7. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes @Central Tuesday, August 5, 4:00 - 6:30 pm. Fourth Floor. Join us for ou r annual event as we attempt to fold 1,000 origami cranes to send to Japan in the spirit of peace and solidarity. As we fold, we will listen to the story of Sadako Sasaki and hear beautiful koto music performed by Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto and Brian Mitsuhiro Wong. Ages 8-up. Busy Bee Dogs @West BranchTuesday, August 12, 3:30 pm. These formerly homeless dogs will amaze, astound, and educate audiences of all ages. If you missed seeing them last summer, be sure to come. All ages. EarthCapades! @North BranchWednesday, August 13, 3:30 pm.  EarthCapades weaves comedy, juggling and storytelling together with lessons about earth science and positive environmental choices. Ages 5-up.
Thursday, August 14, 5:00 pm.
Join us for fantastic, fantastical animated movies! Azur and Asmar, a feature by Michel Ocelot, about Azur and Asmar, who were raised as brothers, but now are adversaries, setting off together on a dangerous quest to find and free the Djinn Fairy. 99 minutes. Ages 6-up.
And Many More Events!The above are just a few of the summer children's programs. Pick up the Summer Reading Game brochure and reading log at the Library or check out the Library Calendar for all events.
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Suggestions from your Children's Librarians
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Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress
by Christine Baldacchino
Morris  loves school, painting, puzzles, and wearing the tangerine dress in his classroom's dress-up center.
Reassuring, inclusive, and gender-fluid, this picture book is for adults and children. Grades Preschool-1.
The Crossover: a Basketball Novel 
by Kwame Alexander
This excellent novel-in-verse blends the beat of basketball and the beat of Josh's heart as he navigates sibling dynamics,
family relationships, and growing up at a time when he wants everything
to stay the same. Grades 5-8.
Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain by Russell Freedman From 1910 to 1940, this tiny island in San Francisco Bay was "the Ellis Island of the West" for thousands of immi grants. Using historical photographs, primary sources, and a strong narrative, award-winning author Russell Freedman brings alive the detainees' hopes, frustrations, and despair. Grades 4 and up. |
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In Memory of Two Great Authors
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Walter Dean Myers
August 12, 1937- July 1, 2014 
The Children's book world was rocked by the news that celebrated, respected, and prolific children's and teen author Walter Dean Myers recently passed away.
He was a National Ambassador for Children's Literature, an award-winning author, and earlier this year, helped rally the cry for more diverse books with his New York Times piece, "Where are the People of Color in Children's Books?" In a review of his memoir, Bad Boy, Kirkus Reviews identified Myers as "one of the most important writers of our age."
He was known for his works featuring African American protagonists, including picture books (Looking Like Me, illustrated by his son, Christopher), biographies (The Greatest, a biography of Muhammad Ali, along with biographies of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and a biography of an African princess who became the goddaughter of Queen Victoria), his autobiography (Bad Boy - about growing up in Harlem and his love of books and writing), poetry (Here in Harlem and Blues Journey), short stories (145th Street: Stories), fiction (Scorpions; Darius and Twig; The Cruisers; and Fast Sam, Cool Clyde and Stuff), non-fiction (Jazz and Antarctica: Journeys to the South Pole) and the teen novel Monster, recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association.
Myers often stated that he wrote books for the reader he once was, books he wanted to read when he was a teen. Certainly his slogan while he was National Ambassador for Children's Literature, "Reading is not optional" is one that those of us who have clung to books for guidance and escapism, as well as for pleasure, can identify with.
Nancy Garden
May 15, 1938-June 23, 2014
Author Nancy Garden wrote three dozen books for young people, but was most well-known for writing the ground-breaking Annie on My Mind, one of the first young adult novels to feature a lesbian couple, and one of the first to have a happy ending.
Annie on My Mind was listed by School Library Journal as one of the 100 Books that Shaped the 20th Century, and Garden herself was the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award, given by YALSA to writers whose body of work has made a lasting contribution to the field of young adult literature.
She also wrote books for a wide range of ages, from Molly's Family, a picture book about a girl who starts a discussion about differences in families when a boy in school tells her she can't have a mommy and a mamma, to Dove and Sword: A Novel of Joan of Arc, and titles as diverse as My Sister, the Vampire and nonfiction books about secret codes for kids and about the city of Berlin.
Due to the censorship and book challenges that Annie on My Mind received, culminating in a court case in 1995, Garden became a staunch advocate against censorship. Still, Annie on My Mind remained one of the most frequently challenged books from the years 1990-2010, according to the American Library Association.
Garden stated in an interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith that she wrote books for children and teens because she felt they are "important, special people" and that some of the most exciting and innovative writing has been done in the children's and YA field.
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All Library locations will be closed
Monday,
September 1
for Labor Day.
All branches
will be open
Saturday, August 30
Central Library will be open
Sunday, August 31.
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As part of our Paws to Read, our Summer Reading Program, the Berkeley Public
Library is collecting donations of supplies and food for the Berkeley Humane Society through August 15th. Here is the Wish List. Please bring items to the collection bins at a Branch Library or in the Central Children's Room. |
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Sign up here for more Reading Suggestions
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Looking for something new to read with your child? Go to Berkeley Public Library's reading suggestions and sign up for as many or as few New Book Newsletters as you wish. Our librarians carefully select the books for these newsletters. (Just as with this newsletter, you can unsubscribe anytime you would like.) |
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Summer Reading Ending Soon!
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The Library now offers online reservations for our four free community meeting rooms.
[spaces] is our new reservations software that makes reserving our community meeting rooms more convenient. There is no charge to use meeting rooms.
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Gary Lapow performs in the North Branch Community Meeting Room.
Photo by David Wakeley.
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Find out more about our great online services. Just click on an icon below.
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 | Free tickets to many Bay Area museums and kids' attractions.
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 | | We have added lots of new kids' titles to download audio and eBooks. |
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 | Stream Kid Flicks
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