Who: Deborah Underwood
Where:  Mrs. Dalloway's Literary & Garden Arts
2904 College Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705
When: November 3rd, 2:00pm
What: (from the site's description)
"The holidays are filled with joyful noise. But Christmas is sometimes wrapped in quiet: “Searching for presents quiet,” “Getting caught quiet,” and “Hoping for a snow day quiet.” Irresistibly cute, soft colored pencil illustrations of bunnies, bears, and more paint a magical holiday picture indeed."
More: http://www.mrsdalloways.com/events/kids-deborah-underwood

Who: Alina Chau
Where: Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925
When: November 10th, 2012 11:00am
What: (from the site's description)
"Author Alina Chau reads from her new book The Treehouse Heroes: And the Forgotten Beast ($15.95). From their treehouse headquarters come five teen titans and their wise teacher. Now they must save the "Zez," a mystical Asiatic beast, from an encroaching civilization, the menacing General Moon, and his soldiers. Using all their varied powers, can the Treehouse Heroes protect their new friend and restore the balance of nature? Written by a veteran Dark Horse comics editor and illustrated by a "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" animator, this fresh blend of adventure and lyrical art will excite young readers. "
More: http://bookpassage.com/event/alina-chau-treehouse-heroes-and-forgotten-beast

Who: Rosemary Wells
Where:  Mrs. Dalloway's Literary & Garden Arts
2904 College Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705
When: November 10th, 2012 3:00pm
What: (from the site's description)
"Follow the clues and find the treasure with Max and Ruby!
Oh no! A thunderstorm has ruined the picnic that Max and Ruby and their friends, Louise and Lily, have planned. Now the four friends have nothing to do. But Grandma saves the day with an ingenious treasure hunt. The clues are Mother Goose rhymes and jump-rope rhymes, and a missing word in each one leads the bunnies to the next clue, until they reach the prize, a treasure chest of gold-foil-wrapped chocolate coins. This interactive picture book with lift-the-flap clues will keep fans of the bunny siblings entertained for many readings. Max and Ruby star in their own popular show on Nick Jr."
More: http://www.mrsdalloways.com/events/kids-rosemary-wells-max

Who: E. Kristin Anderson, Marke Bieschke, Stacey Jay, Mike Jung, Katherine Longshore, Erika Stalder, and Mariko Tamaki
Where: Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925
When: November 15th 2012, 7:00pm
What: (from the site's description)
"Celebrate teens with Book Passage and several of the contributing authors ofDear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters To Their Teen Selves, a book of reflections and advice from nearly 70 young adult authors writing to their teen selves. Editor E. Kristin Anderson and contributors Marke Bieschke, Stacey Jay, Mike Jung, Katherine Longshore, Erika Stalder and Mariko Tamaki will talk about their letters and their experiences.
Dear Teen Me includes letters from six New York Times bestselling authors, including Lauren Oliver, Ellen Hopkins, Nancy Holder, Carrie Jones, Sara Zarr, Tom Angleberger, Robin Benway, and more, and covers a wide variety of topics including body issues, bullying, friendship, love. Some authors chose to write diary entries, some chose letters, and a few graphic novelists turned their stories into visual art, but they all offer invaluable wisdom and advice to young readers. All of the Dear Teen Me authors experienced challenging times as teens in one form or another, and now they are here to relate that it does get better!"
More: http://bookpassage.com/event/dear-teen-me-authors-write-letters-their-teen-selves

We're busy working on our costumes and gearing up for Halloween here in the LRC, but what excites me most about this holidays isn't the costumes or the candy--it's the scary stories!  If you'd like to celebrate with a ghastly ghost story, a wonderful witch tale, or a zany zombie antics stop by the LRC to grab a book from one of our displays.  

You can also find a selection of our Halloween books over at our pinterest page.

If you'd like to do more than just read scary stories, consider taking part in the new Halloween tradition of All Hallow's Read.  To celebrate just give out scary books this Halloween to delight and terrify your friends.  Author Neil Gaiman explains the tradition in the video below: 

For more information, visit the All Hallow's Read site where you can find book recommendations and extras including a mini book of the poem The Raven for you to print out.

If you don't have time to read a whole scary book, take a break to read a pulse-pumping poem!  Poets.org has a selection of Halloween poems along with poet costume ideas (Dress as William Carlos Williams and push a red wheelbarrow full of candy), poets' graves to visit, and ideas for a poetry themed haunted house.  

So this Halloween, treat your mind as well as your sweet tooth and stop by the LRC to grab a book!

Happy Ada Lovelace Day!  Today we celebrate women in science and share their stories.  The official website has more information and a roundup of stories shared by people all over the world.

I was wondering is an excellent resource from the National Academy of Sciences.  It includes biographies of women scientists, activities, and a forum where you can ask scientists questions.  Check out their page on Shirley Ann Jackson for a scrapbook, comic, and activity relating to the life of this amazing physicist.  Shirley showed an early inclination towards science and as a child she studied bees and designed fast hot rods to race.  

Geek Gurl Diaries is a series of video made by an ICT teacher in London.  They include interviews with modern women in STEM, inspirational stories, and how-to's videos like how to build a computer.  The first video even includes a bit of background information about Ada Lovelace! 

You can find more biographies of notable women in science throughout history over at Fact Monster.

Look at our Pinterest Board for Ada Lovelace Day to find books about female scientists to read.  

Ada Lovelace day is Tuesday, October 16th.  What are you doing to celebrate?  This relatively new holiday began in 2009 with a call for pledges from people all over the world to write about women in STEM.  The goal is to celebrate women in these fields to provide inspiration and role models to encourage more women to choose careers in STEM.  It's easy to participate in the celebration: just publish a blog, make a video, record a podcast, or use any medium you like to share a story about a woman in STEM.  This could be a historical or modern-day figure.  You can read stories that people published for previous Ada Lovelace days at the interactive world map on the holiday's website.

So who is Ada Lovelace, and why do people celebrate her on this day?  Ada Lovelace was the daughter of Lord Byron and Annabella Millbanke.  Her mother had a strong interest in mathematics and encouraged her daughter to study it, providing her tutors to further her education despite long bouts of illness in her childhood.  Ada had a strong female scientific role model herself in the form of Mary Somerville.  Mary introduced her to Charles Babbage, who would become close to Ada and gave her the nickname "Enchantress of Numbers."  Charles Babbage is famous for his idea for his Analytical Engine, which was never built but was a forerunner to the computer.  Ada's work conceiving of possible uses for such a machine has led many to think of her as the first computer programmer.  Ada died of cancer at 36, but left an important legacy.  Her notes would later inspire Alan Turing's work on modern computing.  For more information on Ada Lovelace, visit the holiday's website. If you are inspired by Ada's story as well, share how you plan on celebrating Ada Lovelace Day in the comments.  

We're off to a great start this year in the LRC.  There were 2,366 items checked out during the 17 school days we had in September.  The single homeroom with the most check-outs was Hickory with 199 books checked out last month.  Of the top five homerooms two were kindergarten and two were first grade.   They must have been checking out a lot of picture books because that was the area with the most check outs--507 picture books were checked out in September.  I wonder how long it will be able to hold the title of favorite section this year.  Look out for next month's infographic to see if the 700's overtakes them.  

This week our library joins others across the nation in the celebration of Banned Books Week.  It's a time to celebrate the freedom to read and highlight instances of censorship around the globe. You might be surprised at the books that have been challenged or banned.  Many books from the Library of Congress's "Books that Shaped America" exhibit have incited the ire of censors.  Books such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Call of the Wild, The Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit 451, The Great Gatsby, Grapes of Wrath, Leaves of Grass, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Where the Wild Things Are have all been challenged.  You can find out more about why people wanted to remove these books from the shelves at Banned Books Week's website.  

The American LIbrary Association also has an excellent interactive timeline highlighting the thirty year history of banned books week and stories of books that have been challenged in that time frame including The Golden Compass, And Tango Makes Three, The Giver, and the Harry Potter Series.  

To learn more about where and why book challenges happen, visit the interactive map recording bans and challenges from 2007-2011. 

 For more resources visit the Banned Books Week website or the American Library Association.  You can even become a fan of Banned Books Week on Facebook.  There are many ways to celebrate Banned Books Week, so visit your local library, speak out against censorship, and exercise your freedom to read!