In Flanders Fields by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

"Any Nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure" -Abraham Lincoln

Craft Days

Primary Craft Days- (Grades 1-3 only)
Wednesday, June 22nd and July 20th from 1-3pm
No registration is required. Adult MUST accompany child.
Stop in and roam from station to station completing crafts from around the world!

Elementary Craft Day- (Grades 4 & 5 only)
Wednesday, July 27th from 1-3pm
No registration is required. Stop in and make some fun creations for your room, locker or to give someone!

Geography Bee (Grades 4 & 5 only)

Wednesday, June 29th from 1-3. No registration is required.

Do you know your geography? Practice and partner up for this 2-person trivia contest. Come prepared to play for the top spot! Prizes will be awarded.

Book Trivia (Grades 4 & 5 only)

Pick up the book list beginning June 13th. Read all 6 before July 25th and then come test your knowledge with a partner or on your own!

No registration is required. Prizes will be awarded.

Summer Reading Program 2011

The theme this year is "One World, Many Stories". Please take a look at the newly designed Children's Department website for all the details. Also, checkout the calendar at the bottom of this page!

Summer Reading Clubs

Monday, June 13th at 10am is the first day to register for a Summer Reading Club! There's a club for every age.You read over the summer for chances to earn prizes.
The first day to turn in your Reading Record is Monday, June 20th. The first time you turn in your Reading Record you will receive a packet of coupons for various Milwaukee County destinations! Each subsequent time you turn in your Reading Record, you will receive a raffle slip for a chance to win a prize.

The Reading Clubs end Friday, July 29th. Winners of the summer prizes will be called on Monday, August 1st.

Young Fredle by Cynthia Voigt

I really loved this sweet, gentle, touching story. It reminded of Charlotte's Web, Cricket in Time Square and others. I loved the voices of the raccoons and the dog, Sadie!

Secrets of a Lab Rat Series by Trudi Trueit

Scab McNally has set his sights on a new challenge--proving once and for all that his classmate, Missy Malone, is really an alien in disguise. Scab and his friends have nicknamed Missy "Never Missy" because her hand is always first in the air every time the teacher asks a question, and Missy never gets one wrong. Come on, how is that really possible? When Missy decides to run for class president, Scab sees the perfect opportunity to challenge her by running against her.

This is a funny, new series that I definitely would put in the hands of boys in grades 3-5, especially reluctant readers. I think the humor and voice of Scab is perfect!

Warped by Maurissa Guibord

When Tessa pulled the loose thread in the curious tapestry she and her father acquired at an estate sale, she freed Will de Chauncy, who was in thrall to a bitter witch known as Gray Lily. For Will, it is a second chance at life, 500 years after his imprisonment. Gray Lily has the most at stake, though; Will is the key to her eternal youth, and she will stop at nothing to retrieve the tapestry and place Will back in it. Debut author Guibord easily shifts the action between de Chauncy’s 1511 Cornwall village, the timeless and forbidding forest world of the tapestry, and Tessa’s modern-day Portland, Oregon.


This is a good light read. Fantasy mixed with mystery, adventure and wee little bit of romance. I give it a thumbs up!

Great New Trilogy

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

Kate, Michael, and Emma have suffered through ten years of odious orphanage "care"; now they have slipped into the care of the eccentric, disturbingly mysterious Dr. Pym. While exploring their new home, the children discover a magical green book. With that discovery, a decade of tedium dissolves into cascades of dangerous time travel adventures and struggles with a beautiful witch and decidedly less attractive zombielike Screechers.

I thought the book was gripping, adventurous and exciting. I definitely would recommend it!

Mice Are Creeping Around the Library

I've noticed a number of books with mice as the main character recently...

I read Nest for Celeste and enjoyed it. The other two are on my reading list.

And don't forget some of the older ones...

Tale of Despereaux
Stuart Little
Mouse and the Motorcycle
Poppy
Redwall
Geronimo Stilton