Children’s Book Week, sponsored by the Children’s Book Council, is May 2-8. Celebrated since 1919, this special event reminds us of the importance of early literacy and the joy reading can bring to a child. Each year, educators, librarians, booksellers, and families have celebrated children’s books and the love of reading with storytelling, parties, author and illustrator appearances, and other book-related fun! During Children’s Book Week, be sure to visit the library and take part in one of our many book-related children’s programs.

Kids, teens and parents should check out the Children’s Book Week site for great ideas on how to celebrate books and reading this week! This is also a great time to check out KDL’s Parents and Kids page for additional reading fun.

Tomorrow is the last day to submit your vote for the Michigan Thumbs Up! award teen book selection!  Email your vote to Amelia (dot) Yunker @ yahoo (dot) com or let your librarian know.  The winner and honor books will be announced soon!

• White Cat by Holly Black
• Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier
• Beat the Band by Don Calame
• Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
• The Search for WondLa by Toni DiTerlizzi
• Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
• Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan
• Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A. S. King
• Lost for Words by Alice Kuipers
• Party by Tom Leveen
• Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
• Athena by George O’Connor
• Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
• Dirty Little Secrets by C. J. Omololu
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
• Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick
• After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
• Ghostopolis by Doug TenNapel
• Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

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Casting has begun for the movie version of the popular series, The Hunger Games.  There is a great Facebook page which shows the Tributes by District.  Only three districts have been cast at this posting but they include the most well-known characters from the series.

Feel free to share your thoughts on the casting!

All Kent District Library branches will be closed Sunday, April 24 for Easter. We will resume normal operating hours on Monday, April 25. For additional 2011 holiday closing information, please view our holiday closings page.

We appreciate your patronage and wish you a Happy Easter!

Our free eBooks have been very popular, with almost 3500 titles checked out by KDL patrons last month alone! But many eBook readers have been disappointed to learn that library eBooks are currently not able to be downloaded to the Amazon Kindle, due to the proprietary file format that Amazon uses.

However, Amazon has recently announced that later this year Kindle-compatible eBooks will be available through OverDrive (the eBook service provider used by KDL and many other libraries across the country). This means that Kindle users will finally have the same access to free library eBooks that Nook and other eReader users already enjoy!

OverDrive has also assured libraries that all of our current eBooks will be available in Kindle format, with no need for us to use additional money to purchase Kindle-specific copies.

Although there is no specific launch date set yet, we’ll be sure to let you know when the new Kindle compatibility becomes available. Until then, you can browse our eBook collection (which can be read on a computer as well as a number of other popular eReader devices).

If you are interested in introducing the traditional style of Reggae music to your children, try checking out the Disney Reggae Club CD. It features many of today’s greatest Reggae artists including UB40 and Ziggy Marley.

The songs are taken from Disney movies such as The Lion King, The Jungle Book and The Little Mermaid so it will be easy to sing along!

Interested in more Reggae music for children? Check the online catalog for more listings and place a hold on your favorite today.

Celebrate El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day) with KDL. A celebration will take place from 2:30 – 4:30 pm on Friday, April 29 at the Wyoming branch. Children of all ages are invited to come enjoy traditional Mexican crafts, music, and other activities.

Children’s Day/Book Day, founded by author Pat Mora in 1996, is a daily commitment to link all children to books, languages, and cultures.

Party by Tom Leveen is one of the 20 Michigan Thumbs Up! award book selections of 2010.  The complete list and voting information is available from the MLA website or at your local library.

The big end of year senior party is happening Saturday night. Each chapter focuses on a different teen, giving their point of view of the party.  The stories merge until the reader gets a full understanding of the events leading up to the party as well as what really happened there.

This is Tom Leveen‘s first book.  The second one, titled Zero, is set for a 2012 publication.

As part of our OverDrive eBooks subscription, Kent District Library now offers you access to almost 700 Disney Digital Books. Enjoy unlimited use of new and classic Disney books with just an internet connection and KDL library card! These interactive online books are both entertaining and educational for children. Features allow readers to “Look and Listen” to hear titles read out loud, find definitions in the dictionary, and have fun with Trivia Challenges.

Check out this exciting new service today!