Watch tweens from the Super Hero Lab in action!

Hidden Gems: Alice in Many Languages

My boss just shared an article she found about the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland and how the book has been, and is being, published in multiple languages.  At the top of the article, you’ll see a slideshow of illustrations from Alice in Wonderland.

If you would like to see or hear Alice in another language, the library owns Alice in Wonderland and other Lewis Carrol stories in Spanish, including an Alice in Wonderland audiobook in Spanish.

Since Alice in Wonderland is old enough to be out of copyright, you can also find some versions online for free.  Project Gutenberg has it available in German, Esperanto, and Finnish.  manybooks.net (which is compatible with the Go Read app on our nooks) offers the story in German, Esperanto, and Italian.

There’s still time to be a part of the Summer Adventure!

You can still sign up for Fountaindale Public Library’s Summer Adventure, now through July 18!

You can record points now through July 25!

Kids have been recording points for reading, for being a hero by helping someone, for going to the park, and more.  Kids have also come up with lots of ideas for making up their own activities, like going on a family trip or practicing a musical instrument or playing a sport.

There is still plenty of time to earn 25 points and choose a super wristband and a free paperback book.  If you’re already past that, keep going to earn 50 points and earn

• a second book
• an award certificate with some coupons for free treats, and
• an entry in the Grand Prize Drawing for a chance to win a MOPS puppet show and pizza party with the bookmobile!

What’s new in children’s books? Multiplatform storytelling!

One of the new trends in children’s chapter books goes by names like transmedia or multi-platform series.  These terms usually refer to books that have a connection to an online game (although I would also includePatrick Carman’s Skeleton Creek in this category, a series that featured related online videos and slightly predated the books with online games).

An early example, which is still going strong, is The 39 Clues.  The books feature puzzles to solve and plenty of adventure, as well as some educational bits about different times and places in history.  Fountaindale owns this series in Spanish as well as in English.  The stories in this series have been written by a number of popular authors, ranging from Rick Riordan (known for the Percy Jackson series) to Jude Watson (known for Star Wars chapter books) to Linda Sue Park (known for award-winning historical fiction).

Another ongoing series, Spirit Animals, continues this method of using lots of popular authors.  In this case, the stories are more of a fantasy quest.  I had a chance to hear one of the authors (I think it was Maggie Stiefvater) talk about a reason publishers are trying multiplatform books.  She said her brother was a gamer who didn’t spend a lot of time reading.  She asked what would get him to read more, and he said if he knew a bit about a character and world (and didn’t have to spend time getting into the story and maybe deciding he wasn’t interested) he would be more willing to try something.  A series like this can be a good choice for a reluctant reader, because they can “try out” the story through the game.

TombQuest by Michael Northrup is a brand new series inspired by ancient Egypt featuring plenty of magic and danger.  The Copernicus Legacy by Tony Abbott is also pretty new, featuring an around-the-world quest.  Infinity Ring, a series that appears to have recently concluded, features time travel.  Infinity Ring offers an app that can be used on a variety of devices, something I didn’t see mentioned for the other books’ games.

If you’ve been clicking on the links, you will have noticed that most of these series come from Scholastic.  The publisher recently created a website to cover several of the series at once.  You can take a quiz to see which series you would probably enjoy, or if you’re already a big fan you can interact in a moderated forum with other fans or look at fan fiction and author videos.