J.K. Rowling Birthday

J. K. Rowling 1965–, writer

Joanne Kathleen Rowling author of the best-selling Harry Potter series of books, was born in in southwest England. Her birthday, as all true Harry Potter fans know, is July 31, the same as her famous boy-wizard hero.

In fact, Rowling has said that as a child she resembled Hermione Granger, Harry's obsessively studious friend, whom she modeled after herself. Although, Rowling notes, "I was neither as clever or as annoying (I hope!)."

Rowling started writing the first Harry Potter book in 1990. The idea for Harry—a lonely, downtrodden 11-year-old orphan who learns he is actually a wizard when he is magically invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry—came to Rowling while she was stuck on a delayed train between Manchester and London.

Divorced after a brief marriage in Portugal and now with a baby, she suffered through a period of poverty and depression while she struggled to earn a living and take care of her daughter, Jessica. It was during this difficult time that she finally completed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was renamed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the U.S. edition.

Following its publication in Britain in June 1997, the book quickly became a hit with children and adults alike and won numerous awards, including the British Book Awards' Children's Book of the Year. Rowling always envisioned the book as part of a seven-volume series—one book for every year that Harry spends at Hogwarts—and a new Harry Potter book appeared every year for the next three years. These were Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000).

In February 2004, Forbes magazine estimated that Rowling had £576 million, or more than a billion dollars. This would make her the first person ever to become a billionaire from writing books.

Beatrix Potter Birthday

Beatrix Potter was born in 1866 to a weathly London family and died 1943. She was a lonely child who was educated by governesses and her only friends were her many animals. She sketched her animals and gave the sketches as gifts to friends and their children.

She believed that books for children should be easy for little hands to hold therefore small in size, printed on sturdy paper and should have a color picture every time a page was turned. She paid to have her first book Peter Rabbit published and was surprised at how quickly it sold. Potter eventually wrote 23 books.

Today her stories are just as popular as they were in the early 1900's. Here are some of her books and their covers.

Tale of Two Bad Mice

Tale of Peter Rabbit

Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

Tale of Jeremy Fisher

Grand Finale in the Park

Grand Finale in the Park

The library staff held our end of the summer reading program party for the children today at the local park. It was a bit warm but the breeze and the shade helped a lot! About 150 children played the games and spent their winnings at the library store. The children look forward to the grand finale and save up their library bucks to get merchandise from our library store. In the store we have books, school supplies, as well as mixture of other items.

Due to the generosity of the local businesses we had super prizes to give to the children that read the most for the past 2 months. We had 2- MP 3 players, a scooter, large easel, remote control cars to mention a few. All the children that read were eligible for additional prizes: 2 $50.00 savings bonds, 10 movie tickets, 2 personal pizzas, 4 sundaes, 5 Barnes and Noble gift certificates.

We would like to thank our dedicated volunteers that always been faithful about saving a day in July to come and help. Without their dedication we could not put on our party. I have included pictures of them in this blog. Tommorrow I will post more pictures.

Pets On Parade Grand Finale

The Kasson Public Library Summer Reading Program will end Wednesday, July 25 with our Grand Finale inVeteran's Memorial Park starting at 1 pm. We will also announce the winners of the grand prizes for reading. There will be many games for the children to participate including: Pinatas, Duck Pond, Musical Squares, and Hi-Low. Children will be able to spend their library bucks, that they have earned through reading and playing games, at our library store. We will have many items for sale including school supplies.

If you are not able to come to the grand finale and would like to spend your library buck we will have the library store open three nights in the library on the following dates: Thursday, August 9th 3-6 pm, Friday, August 10 2-5 pm and Monday, August 13th 3-7 pm.

Amelia Earhart Birthday

1897 Amelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas July 24th. Amelia had many accomplishments in her brief life some of them include: Completes the first transcontinental flight by a woman in 1928. She set the women's world flying speed record of 181.18 mph in 1930. Completes her first solo transcontinental flight in 1931. Becomes the first woman (and second person) to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in her single engine plane and the first person to cross the Atlantic twice by air in 1932. She started planning her around the world flight in March of 1937 and disappears July 2, 1937.

A rescue attempt commenced immediately and became the most extensive air and sea search in naval history thus far. On July 19, after spending $4 million and scouring 250,000 square miles of ocean, the United States government reluctantly called off the operation. In 1938, a lighthouse was constructed on Howland Island in her memory. Today, though many theories exist, there is no proof of her fate. There is no doubt, however, that the world will always remember Amelia Earhart for her courage, vision, and groundbreaking achievements, both in aviation and for women. In a letter to her husband, written in case a dangerous flight proved to be her last, this brave spirit was evident. "Please know I am quite aware of the hazards," she said. "I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."

Ice Cream Cone is 103 years old!

The ice cream cone became popular at the St. Louis World Fair when food vendors ran out of dishes for the ice cream. So go have a double dip, my favorite is strawberry. Enjoy

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Well, the final installment of the Harry Potter book is finally here! Lots of excitment on the part of the fans who have waited a long time for this book. So many waited in huge lines to buy the book after midnight and immediately started reading to find out how the series ends. Since I am not the type to stand in lines late at night I went to a store the next day and bought two copies for the library as we had already preordered the audio book.

I already peeked at the end of the book, but I won't tell the ending. Enjoy the book!

One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind!

Those of us who are old enough to remember this historic day can tell you exactly what they were doing. I was 18 and on my way to the stock car races in Kasson with friends and we heard the men had walked on the moon earlier in the day.

Apollo 11 crew from left to right: Neil Armstrong, Commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and , Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot.

On July 20, 1969, Commander Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon. He said the historic words, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." A camera in the Lunar Module provided live television coverage as Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder to the surface of the moon.

To walk on the moon's surface, the astronauts needed to wear a space suit with a back mounted, portable life support system. This controlled the oxygen, temperature and pressure inside the suit. On the surface, the astronauts had to get used to the reduced gravity. They could jump very high compared to on Earth. The crew spend a total of two and a half hours on the moon's surface. While on the moon's surface, the performed a variety of experiments and collected soil and rock samples to return to Earth.

An American flag was left on the moon's surface as a reminder of the accomplishment.

Pets On Parade Beading Classes

Mary Rose Mataitis Children's Librarian and Library Assistant Donna Kirchgatter have helped school age children make dog/cat collars, necklaces, anklets, and bracelets out of beads. We have held multiple classes to accommodate the great interest shown in the school age activity classes.

Book Lovers WIki

It is always great to see what libraries are doing with technology, and I think that Princeton Public Library, NJ BookLoversWiki is a great example of what a single library can do with a wiki ( Wiki is the simplest online database and is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser). It offers book reviews and is one dynamic site that draws people in, creating a book-loving community.
Check It Out! It has genre categories to choose your style of reading.

100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know

New York Public Library has compiled 100 picture books that should be read to children. When I went to the site and looked at the list of books it seemed to be a good mix of the old classics and new titles. I found it to be a pleasant walk down memory lane for me. Try and find some time today and go to the web site and see how many you remember. I have included some of my favorites to get you started.

ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY Viorst, Judith Recounts the events of a day when everything goes wrong for Alexander.

BREAD AND JAM FOR FRANCES Hoban, Russell; illustrated by Lillian Hoban Frances decides she likes to eat only bread and jam at every meal--until to her surprise--her parents grant her wish.

A CHAIR FOR MY MOTHER Williams, Vera B. A child, her waitress mother, and her grandmother save dimes to buy a comfortable armchair after all their furniture is lost in a fire.

CLICK, CLACK, MOO : COWS THAT TYPE Cronin, Doreen When Farmer Brown's cows find a typewriter in the barn they start making demands, and go on strike when the farmer refuses to give them what they want.

IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE Numeroff, Laura J. Relating the cycle of requests a mouse is likely to make after you give him a cookie takes the reader through a young child's day.

Start Your Own Blog

If you would like to start your own blog to share with family and friends, but think it is too hard or don't know what to do, go to blogger. It's free and gives you step by step instructions. You can make your blog as easy or as hi-tech as you want. When I did the library's blog, I went to other sites I liked and then borrowed their html and placed it in my template. I must admit I have learned a lot and enjoy looking for information to share.

Enjoy!

Wikipedia

The last time I checked, Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/
had close to 2 million articles and was still climbing. Contrast that with the Americana, which has roughly 100 thousand articles. Anyway, you get the point, Wikipedia will eventually hold all factual information. You can also add biographies and information on movies, plays, and even individual songs.

CHECK IT OUT!

Storytime With Sybel

Sybel Haugen was our guest reader at today's weekly storytime. Sybel is an poet and was an educator at the Kasson-Mantorville Elementary School for 30 years and throughly enjoys children as the generation of adults can tell you. We are very fortunate to have someone like Sybel donate her time and talents to the library. Sybel is very active in our Friends of the Library organization and is always happy to read to the children.

If you or anyone is interested in being one of our guest storytime readers, please contact the library at 507-634-7615.

Grandparents Minnesota Style by Mike Link & Kate Crowley

Husband-wife co-authors wrote the book with the idea of introducing their grandchildren to the fun and experiences of their youth. When Link looks back at his own childhood, he is filled with images of "picking blackberries with Grandma, playing catch with Grandpa. I was never a visitor. I felt that their house was my home. This is what we want for our grandchildren."


We have this book in the library and parents and grandparents are checking this book out and when I asked how they like it, one comment was "I had forgotten about some of these place and the fun I had."

What great thoughts. We all have our own experiences with childhood and with our own grandparents. I have found out with my own two grandchildren that being a grandparent is the best! You get to show and share the wonders of the wide world with them. This book does a good job with special places to visit in our region that include the Mystery Cave, Forestville, Wabasha, and LARK Toy Store in Kellogg.

Digging Up Information

Forget about that image of librarian as a mousy bookworm. Librarians these days must be high-tech information sleuths, helping researchers plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records. It's an underrated career. Most librarians love helping patrons dig up information and, in the process, learning new things. How many of the sites listed below have you tried? I've actually only used 8 of them.

1. eBay (great for buying and selling)

2. Wikipedia

3. Napster

4. YouTube

5. Blogger

6. Friends Reunited

7. Pandora.com (your own music station)

8. MySpace

9. Amazon

10. Slashdot

11. Salon

12. Craigslist (great for buying and selling)

13. Google

14. Yahoo!

15. EasyJet