Terrific Trick-or-Treaters!

The dress up fun begins early at the library! And marching to the music in the costume parade uses our gross motor skills, taps into the musical, kinesthetic part of our learning. Plus... it's fun!

Run, run, fast as you can to Jan Brett's 2008 Gingerbread Tour

Jan Brett’s 2008 Gingerbread Tour Bus is headed to our neighborhood. On Saturday morning, November 1st, at 10:30, Jan will be in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Lecture Hall sharing her stories and intricately detailed, culturally diverse illustrations. When her talk is over she’ll sign copies of her books in the Children’s Department. As usual, cookies and punch will be served. Visit Jan’s website for a taste of what’s in store for you on Saturday morning: http://www.janbrett.com/ For tickets or for more information contact Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures: www.pittsburghlectures.org or 412-622-8866.
Thank you to our friends at Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures for bringing our favorite children’s book authors and illustrators to town for Black White & Read All Over. Next to visit will be Mark Teague on November 22nd.
Which authors or illustrators would you like to have pay us a visit?

KinderPrep

Getting the pig over the stile is a team effort! The children are using their narrative skills and dramatic talents to demonstrate the domino effect in the folktale of The Old Woman and Her Pig.

Friendly Bats

Bat, Bat, come under my hat

and I'll give you a piece of bacon.

And when I bake, I'll give you a cake

if I am not mistaken.

At this time of the year, Halloween vampires and horror movies reinforce our cultural dislike for bats. This is sad and ironic, as these small flying mammals are extremely beneficial to us. I was fortunate to watch the awesome exodus of a colony of Mexican free-tail bats out of Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico) at dusk last summer. About 300,000 bats spiral out of the mouth of the cave then head off to spend the night eating insects. It can take up to half an hour for them to exit the cave! Insect-eating bats can eat up to half their body weight in mosquitoes and other pests. Other bats play an essential role in pollination or seed dispersal.

Come on into the library and find out more about friendly bats!

Terrific Toddlers do some cracking good counting!

I love to do this counting rhyme every week at T4! Here you go Mimi!

Potato Counting Rhyme

One potato, two potato, three potato, four! (count with your fingers)
Well, I made a batch of hot potatoes (bend forward and stir as in a big pot)
Dropped 'em on the floor!! (look shocked, and put hands on face in surprise)

Five potato, six potato, seven potato, eight! (count with your fingers)
So I stomped 'em into mashed potatoes (stomp the potatoes!)
And plopped 'em on a plate (hands out like plopping potatoes on a plate!)

Nine potato, ten potato, (count with your fingers)
Can't believe my eyes! (cover and uncover eyes in surprise)
The children ate 'em up and now they want some french fries!!!
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
French fries! (jump up and reach over head to sky on 10)


Miss Heather made a video of it for us, just in case you wish to see it in action!

Local Author Jonah Winter

We're proud of our local authors!

Pittsburgher Jonah Winter has a new book out.

"In Steel Town, it's always dark

and the street-lamps are always lit."

Does that sound like anyplace you know? It's the Pittsburgh of our grandparents or great-grandparents, lovingly and lyrically re-created in Steel Town.

Steel Town takes us into iron mill and the steel mill, where we're on the job with the Hot Blast Operator, the Monkey Boss, the Crane Man.

We see the imposing Hot Blast Furnace, and watch a river of hot pig iron gush down a gutter in the floor. Terry Widener's illustrations show us the power of molten metal flowing into the Open Hearth Furnace and the peace of a whispered prayer in an onion-domed church.

Click here to request a copy of Steel Town.

" Oddly oddly onker my first conker"

Have you ever found one of these intriguing little nuts on the ground in Autumn?

They are known as buckeyes, horse-chestnuts, or conkers. While these nuts are not suitable for humans to eat, they do have a use that is much more entertaining: the game of Conkers. The game originated in Britain but has spread throughout Europe, as well as other parts of the world.

To play the game, you first need two players and two conkers that are symmetrical with no apparent cracks. Make a hole through the middle of each conker. Take a piece of string that is about ten inches in length and thread it through the hole. Tie a knot at the end of the string to make sure that it won’t pull through. Once your conkers are ready, the fun begins. The rules of the game are simple: take turns hitting each other’s conker until one breaks.

To learn more about Conkers, take a look at the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conkers