It's Inspector McCrea!

Inspector Skip McCrea came to visit us today! Not only did he read the book Firefighters!: Speeding! Spraying! Saving! by Patricia Hubbell, but he showed us all of his bunker gear, how to call 911, we got to look at his cool car, and he gave us a really nice packet of coloring pages.

Inspector McCrea is from the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety - Bureau of Fire. He does lots of fire safety talks to children around the city and he was great with our groups of 4 and 5 year olds!

Guess who's coming to visit us today at KinderPrep!

I wonder who is going to sit in that empty chair?

T. rex is coming!

Can you see what's in these boxes? Take a close look... closer... closer... AUGH! Don't let the T. rex get you!

I think that the Dinosaurs In Their Time exhibit is getting ready for a new resident!

More alterations!

Here's another altered book idea from one of our patrons:

He picked up one of the many free magazines available and created his own story and characters by changing the faces on the pages with a marker!

You're very creative, Isaac!

Another artist shares his work

Informal Handmade Books: A visit with one of the artists

One of our altered books artists talks about her work.

Appreciating art, being able to talk about it, using a variety of materials, and creating art is all part of the Creative Arts Key Learning Area as identified by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Our 112 year old sink gets a workout.

We made a big mess and some beautiful books at Informal Handmade books today!

Put this on your calendar! Storytelling with Bobby Norfolk.

We want you to know about this cool community event! It's an evening of delightful, uproariously funny stories from nationally known Bobby Norfolk with Tales from Around the World.

Day: Monday
Date: March 10, 2008
Time: 7:00-8:30pm
Place: Winchester Thurston Upper School (corner of Morewood and Bayard)

Suitable for ages 4-110 1/2

Tickets? Nope, you don't need them, it's free!
For information, call Jennifer Kraar 412-578-7526

KinderPrep goes on Safari!

Zach and Dana choose instruments for the musical portion of our program!

Break on through to the other side

Here's a look into the Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibit. You can see the library stacks with their signature glass tile floors through the very large windows. That wall used to be on the outside of the building. It didn't become an inside wall until the museum wanted to expand the dinosaur exhibit and turned the outside in! Cool, huh?

We love Storytelling! We love Storytellers!

And have we got a good one for you! On Tuesday, February 26, join us in the Children's Department at 6:30pm to listen to Jackie Jonas. She'll help us celebrate Black History Month with stories from the African tradition.

Little Bears Love Dinosaurs!

Have you seen the Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibit yet? It's very cool! The museum website has several time lapse videos that show the fossils in the process of being assembled.

You can also take your little bear to the second floor of the library, sneak into the 5th stack, and peek at the dinosaurs from the window seats there!

Flotsam has a video!

Did you know that they've started making trailers for books? I didn't! Houghton Mifflin sponsored a contest and the winning video is below. More information about the video and Flotsam itself is at the publisher's website.

We've got free tickets for Wiesner!

Awesome! Free tickets for Wiesner! Thank you Carrie!!!

We'll give them away on a first come, first served basis. Give us a call at 412-622-3122 and we'll put your name on the envelope and you can pick them up at the Children's Department before the 10:30 program begins at the Lecture Hall located off of Schenley Drive. The Lecture Hall will not be accessible from the library until after the lecture. If you are wondering what to do about parking, have a look here for more information.

His appearance is part of the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures series for children called Black, White, and Read All Over.

Love is...

...matching hairbows! Thank you Kara!

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Does this baby need to be shelved?

We'll file her under "A" for adorable!

David Wiesner is coming THIS Saturday!

Bundle up and come to the Black, White, and Read All Over presentation at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Lecture Hall this Saturday at 10:30am. David Wiesner will be enthralling us with the gorgeous works of art that are his books. My favorite is his Caldecott Medal winner Flotsam, which takes you on a most imaginative journey back through time via a seemingly ordinary camera that washes up on the beach.

If you would like to get to know him a little better before coming to the program, you can have a look at an interview done by Book Page and see his website at his publisher Houghton Mifflin.

Oh, and according to the librarian watercooler gossip, he is a super nice guy to boot!

Closing at 4pm today!

We just got the official word:

"Due to weather conditions, all Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh facilities will close at 4:00 p.m. today. The administration anticipates resuming normal operating hours for all city libraries on Wednesday, February 13. "

I hope everyone stays nice and warm and safe today! I'm going to be sure to sneak home the hot chocolate mix Miss Julie gave me so that I can watch the snow with a hot drink!

Fish kisses!

Here's our craft for this week's KinderPrep, called "Guppy Love." Children can practice their fine motor skills by cutting and gluing. Getting that googly eye on there is especially good practice! They can write on the back, practice making Xs and Os, or just make up some stories and pretend with the fish! Giving a Valentine also fits in with the Interpersonal Key Learning Area identified by the State of Pennsylvania. The whole document is here.