Programs & Events for Kids
Library staff design a full schedule of engaging, entertaining, and educational programs and events for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-aged children. Various events – including options for early literacy, STEAM, gaming, and crafts – are offered year-round.
1KB4K: 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten
1KB4K is a library initiative that promotes reading 1,000 books to preschoolers before they begin Kindergarten. It’s easy to do, and the child gets a free book every time they read and report 100 books. Register and track their reading progress online with Beanstack, or visit the Youth Services Department for additional information or to register in person. You can also view the 1KB4K brochure here.
100 Club
The 100 Club is a fun way for kids to build their reading habits year-round – while earning prizes! Kids in kindergarten through 8th grade can join the club and track their progress on Beanstack. There’s no time limit for completing the challenge, but the goal is to read 100 books! The structure is simple: log books in any category and earn a prize for each 10 books read. Each month, a prize winner will be drawn from active readers, and readers who finish all 10 badges will earn a 100 Club completion prize and get to pick a free book to keep. Learn more about signing up in Beanstack at fondulaclibrary.beanstack.org/reader365 or ask a librarian for help and get your young readers involved in this awesome reading challenge!
Anytime Activities, Toys, & Games
Even when there’s not a program scheduled, there’s always something fun to do at the library! Stop by the desk in the Youth Services Department to learn more about the library’s current Anytime Activities – crafts, games, or projects kids can do whenever they visit the library. Additionally, the library offers a wide selection of board games and card games, as well as a train table, Lego table, puzzles, and a puppet theater to play with during your visit.
FDL Reads: I’m an American
I’m an American by Darshana Khiani
Reviewed By: Alice Mitchell, Youth Services Manager
Genre: Picture book
Suggested Age: Kids (4-8)
What is This Book About? A classroom of diverse children share bits of their family history and highlight ideals they value that make them American, each family working in their own way to make our country great. Some describe how their family fled hardships in their homelands, and others describe their lives in this country. Indigenous nations are also highlighted through the story of a Muscogee child. While each story describes challenges these families faced or continue to face, they each have a message of determination and hope that we can continue to improve our communities and country as a whole. For every group highlighted there is a note in the back about the impact these groups have had on our country, as well as factors effecting immigration and their lives once they arrived here.
My Review: I greatly enjoyed this story and learning more about the vast number of diverse experiences of people in this country. Presenting each story as it relates to an American ideal like determination and freedom of expression made them stories I could easily relate my own family to. The back matter taught me a great deal that I want to read more about, like how there were laws allowing Indian men but not Indian women from immigrating to the United States and how, despite immigration from other Asian countries being barred, exclusion laws didn’t apply to Filipinos because it was a U.S. territory. While not hiding the challenges and discrimination that people faced, this book still presents an optimistic outlook for the future.
Three Words that Describe this Book: patriotic, hopeful, historical
Give This A Try if You Like… Blue Sky White Stars by Sarvinder Naberhaus; The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander; America My Love, America My Heart by Daria Peoples-Riley; My Red, White, and Blue by Alana Tyson; I is for Immigrant by Selina Alko; A is for Asian-American by Virginia Loh-Hogan
Rating: 5/5
Big Fun with Big Trucks!
The Big Rig Petting Zoo may be over; however, the FDL Children’s Department has lots of great transportation books. When you are in the library, checkout the Non-Fiction Section: 629, Picture Book Section: Go, the Board Book Section, and, don’t forget online books: Hoopla, Libby, Boundless, and Tumblebooks. FDL also has a Storytime in the Box: Transportation.
Here are just a few of the many Big Rig books you can find at FDL:
Nonfiction
Dump Trucks by Aaron Frisch
Fire Trucks by Penny Glover
Humvees by John Hamilton
Big Rig on the Move by Candice Ransom
The Usborne Big Book of Big Trucks by Megan Cullis
GO Section
This Truck by Paul Collicutt
Fire Trucks in Action by Mari Schuh
Monster Bulldozers by Chris Bowman
Concrete Mixers by Ray McClellan
Grandma Drove the Snowplow by Katie Clark
I Stink! By Kate McMullan
Board Books
Trucks by Ruth Musgrave
That’s Not My Truck: It’s Too Squashy by Fiona Watts
Jonny Lambert’s Construction Site by Jonny Lambert
Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night?
by Brianna Caplan Sayers
eBooks
Trucks by Matt Mullins (Hoopla)
Bucket Trucks by Derek Zobel (Hoopla)
Heavy-duty Trucks by Joyce Milton (Boundless)
Police Cars by Amy Mcdonald (Libby)
Buses by Logan Avery (Libby)
Big Truck Little Island by Chris Van Dusen (Tumblebooks)
–Kris Tyler, Youth Services Specialist
