Our popular Book Club in a Bag program has a new little sibling – Board Books to Go! Parents, teachers, daycare and childcare providers will enjoy this new way to share books with children. Board Books to Go allows patrons to check out a bag full of board books — 20 copies to be exact. The bag can be checked out for three weeks and the books can be used to share a choral reading experience with young children. Currently, the Board Books to Go program is being piloted at the East Grand Rapids branch. Program funding has been provided by Great Start to Quality Kent Resource Center and the Friends of the East Grand Rapids Library.

Five titles are currently available:

• Hop a Little, Jump a Little! by Annie Kubler
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman
• Silly Sally by Audrey Wood
• Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton

Stop in today to check out a Board Books to Go bag!

Are you already making plans for summer? Don’t forget about all the FREE programs available at the library! The Summer 2013 issue of the KDL Kaleidoscope program guide is now available online. You’ll find all you need to know about summer events and get some great information on library resources and staff recommendations. (Printed guides will also be available in the branches by mid-May.)

It’s sure to be an exciting summer at KDL, and you don’t want to miss a thing. Check out the KDL Kaleidoscope today!

All 18 Kent District Library branches now offer energy usage monitors available for checkout. The monitors show the energy consumption of household appliances, which can help you cut your electric bill, either by spurring decreased use, unplugging of “vampire” appliances that use energy even when they are turned off and, for example, replacing appliances or their components with energy-efficient models or parts (such as light bulbs).

The monitors were made available in February to patrons of KDL’s Englehardt branch through a partnership with Lowell Light & Power.

Consumers Energy has provided monitors for the other 17 branches in KDL’s service area.

“Libraries are a perfect connector of information and education,” said Michelle Boisvenue­‐Fox, KDL assistant director. “These kinds of partnerships are crucial to strong communities.”

Stop in at a branch today and check one out or place a hold by searching for “Kill A Watt EZ Meter” in the online catalog.

As the spring and summer months begin, vacations do too! Listening to music while traveling can be a great method to prevent boredom and entertain restless children.

Families can sing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” or “The Farmer in the Dell” when driving in rural areas. Try adding verses as you see different animals. This is engaging, fun and it also provides an opportunity for children to be creative while using their imaginations. You may end up singing about a monkey on your farm! “The Wheels on the Bus” or “Going to the Zoo” can be great songs to sing while you are driving in the city.

If you are looking for a new artist for your road trip, stop by your local KDL branch to see all the different CD options on our shelves. You can also download songs; just go to our website and browse the artists available through Freegal. If you are not sure where to begin, try Frank Leto, The Wiggles, Jim Gill and Laurie Berkner Band. They are just a few of the artists that we love to sing along with at our Storytimes. Turn on some music and enjoy singing with your child!

This article originally appeared in our Early Lit Bits eNewsletter. Read the most recent issue online or sign up to receive this monthly update highlighting early literacy tips and resources for parents and caregivers.

We’ve had a deluge of great new picture books coming through recently at KDL. Here’s a few of my favorites:

Friends by Mies van Hout offers a lovely take on one-word concepts, illustrating words like “cuddle” and “fight” with friendly, colorful monsters etched in black. Don’t miss her first book, Happy, either!

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle is striking in its use of space as it tells the delicate tale of a little ballerina and a flamingo engaged in dance. Check this one out for the illustrations and lift-the-flaps design.

The Dark by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Jon Klassen. Jon Klassen is one of my favorite illustrators, and he’s been getting much love all around after winning the 2013 Caldecott Medal for This is Not My Hat. Pair him with Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events) and you get a quirky, yet always honest tale of one little boy’s journey to co-exist with the dark. An outstanding book that tackles nighttime fears beautifully.

Bluebird by Bob Staake is another book that handles a tough concept in an innovative way. Staake’s wordless book is done almost in monochrome, with blues and grays predominating, as he tells the tale of a lonely boy who finds, and then loses, a friend in a little blue bird. Through deceptively simple illustrations, Staake demonstrates how broken the world can be, but also how we can transcend that same brokenness.

 From Bob Staake’s Bluebird (2013)

Book Bash is just around the corner! Make plans to visit the KDL Service Center (814 West River Center Dr. NE in Comstock Park) on Saturday, April 27 between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM or Sunday, April 28 between 1:00 and 4:00 PM.

Not only can you shop a giant warehouse book sale, but you can also enjoy free events for the whole family including face painting, Zumba classes, a children’s book swap, a local authors book fair and more! Proceeds will support library programs including Summer Reading @ KDL.

Find out more at www.kdlbookbash.org.

E.L. Konigsburg, author of two Newbery Medal books, died Friday at age 83. Her first Newbery Medal book from 1968 is From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a beloved children’s book. That same year, her book Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth was a Newbery Honor book. Having a medal and honor book the same year placed Konigsburg in a special category.

She received her second Newbery Medal in 1997 for The View from Saturday. Again, this made her one of the few authors to have multiple medals. Over the course of her career, she wrote 16 children’s books and illustrated three picture books.

Join us for one or more of this three-part series led by chiropractor Dr. Jessica Avery Karns. And pick up a library card for the little one while you’re there — it’s one of the best things you can do for your new baby (not to mention we’re offering a ton of perks to new and existing cardholders right now!).

Prepping Your Body to Make a Superbaby
Saturday, May 4, 10:30 AM – Kentwood (Richard L. Root) branch
Saturday, May 11, 2:00 PM – East Grand Rapids branch

Congratulations, You’re Pregnant! Let’s Make This a Great Experience!
Saturday, May 18, 10:30 AM – Kentwood (Richard L. Root) branch
Saturday, May 25, 2:00 PM – East Grand Rapids branch

The Bundle of Joy is Here: What to Do for Baby and for Momma
Saturday, June 1, 10:30 AM – Kentwood (Richard L. Root) branch
Saturday, June 1, 2:00 PM – East Grand Rapids branch (*changed from original date of Saturday, June 8)

The flood waters came close, but the Englehardt branch in Lowell remained dry this weekend! Staff will be working hard today to put all the furniture and materials back in place, and the branch will reopen at 4:00 today (Monday, April 22).

Thank you to everyone for your patience and well wishes as we dealt with this unprecedented situation.

Looking for a fun app that helps teach your child the letters of the alphabets and their shapes? Letter School is a fun and entertaining app where kids are given clear direction on how to trace letters and numbers by following the shape. They are rewarded with fun sounds and animations that will keep them entertained as they learn. Help your child trace over the letters with the index finger of their writing hand. Tracing letters using a finger is a first step in learning to write letters and helps build  tactile memory and fine motor control. This app is available in a free lite version and is $2.99 for the full version.

This article originally appeared in our Early Lit Bits eNewsletter. Read the most recent issue online or sign up to receive this monthly update highlighting early literacy tips and resources for parents and caregivers.