Oklahoma Librarian

What is a take home kit? A take home kit is where we put together crafts for guests to take and do at home. A library program in a bag with instructions if you will. These kits can range widely from soap-making for teens to gluing colorful streamers to a cloud for toddlers. I aim to make kits for elementary-aged kids from 6 - 11 years old. I put kits out about every other week. Below I have the poster I made to advertise and other information about the craft. I found that I rarely get feedback on kits but I'll mention it if there was any. Feel free to copy any of these! The Kits   This was my first kit that went out before the Easter holiday. I made 25 kits that included a paper plate, pink paper, cotton puffs, a pink cotton puff, and yarn to hang it up. I ran out of the pink puffs or I would have made more! This kit went very quickly largely due to the fact that no one was making kits for this age group until I was hired. It was cute, simple, and we had all the supplies I needed t...

Louise has just found out that her parents died in a car crash, but she doesn't want to go home. She'll have to leave her daughter behind with her ex and deal with her brother Mark that she hasn't talked to in years. She is the responsible sibling, so she has to go if anything is going to get done the correct way.  Going back to her childhood home brings up a lot of emotions. Not to mention, Louise didn't remember that this old house was filled to the brim with puppets that her mother made. It makes the house feel off, but she can't just throw away her mother's art and livelihood, right? She might not get a say in the matter since Mark is bulldozing his way through the legal side of things. Suddenly the house starts to protest and weird things start happening that can't be explained. Maybe this house doesn't want to be sold. This was a thrilling read with so many creepy twists. The first part of the book is told from Louise's point of view, and she e...

Daunis Fontaine has never really felt like she fit in. She lives in between her mother's Canadian heritage and her late father's Ojibwe Tribe. Daunis had to put her life plan on hold to help her mother after they experienced another family misfortune. She desperately wants to go to a college to study medicine but it's too far away. She settles to go to a nearby school with her best friend for a year. What could go wrong? It turns out, a lot and tragedy always comes in threes. When Daunis witnesses a murder, finds out the new guy isn't who he says he is, and that drugs are tearing her community apart, she has no other choice but to join a criminal investigation by going undercover to find out who started down this slope. This is a complex book that has a suspenseful story with bits of humor tossed in. The author is a member of the Sault Saint Marie Ojibwe Tribe that is featured in this story. She was able to add a lot of depth by using her life experiences as a guide. Wh...

What is Dog Man Day? Dog Man fans of all ages are invited to join the supa epic event with activities and games. We'll play Dog Man bingo, a personality test, assess your sniffers, and more. Dog Man is Go! That don't make no sense! But we like it! I first came across this idea from a post from Ontarian Librarian . She was able to get a Comic Creator booklet and some other cool items to make her event a hit. I took a few of her ideas and made them my own but she is the reason I made this event. I learned about Dog Man Day after Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea came out. Scholastic made an event kit with lots of activities. I read through them and picked the ones I knew I could do. With the power of these two sources, I was able to put together a plan for my own event. What I did to prepare I would say that reading at least one Dog Man book is a requirement for running this program. I read up to Brawl of the Wild and I can see why the series is so popular.  Staffing was simpl...

What is a book tasting? This is an event to expand a reader's palate. Guests will be able to "taste" or sample 4 - 5 books to find their next great read and maybe a book or two that they thought they'd never pick up. What I did to prepare When I first came across this idea, I was super excited. I went straight to Canva where I created a book tasting menu that was similar to a few examples I had seen. I wanted to have a different genre featured at each table so I made signs that reflected this. I purchased some tall table stands so they could easily be seen. I did some more research to flesh out my ideas and put a date in the public calendar.  I chose to do my first event with 6 different genres. I picked biography, realistic fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, and adventure. I felt that these would capture a wide range of kids' interests. The position that I recently filled at my library had been vacant for almost a year at this point so I didn't have a fram...