Starting with Wakefield’s own Beebe Library
Is what you read art?
The Seattle Library thinks so and they aren’t just focused on literary merit. The city hired visual artists to create pieces of artwork out of the titles of books being read by their patrons.
Let’s take a tour.
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The library has pre-ordered the following non-fiction books which are due to be published in November. If you’d like to be placed on an advance reserve list, contact the Reference Desk and we’ll add your name and notify you when the book arrives. You can also reserve them yourself online by clicking on the titles below to search our catalog:

Auletta, Ken.
Googled : the end of the world as we know it.

Biskupic, Joan.
American Original : The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Bloom, Howard.
The genius of the beast : a radical re-vision of capitalism.

Buckley, Steve.
Wicked good year : how the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics turned the hub of the universe into the capital of sports.

Carlin, George.
Last words.

Carlin, Peter Ames.
Paul McCartney : a life.

D’Souza, Dinesh.
Life after death : the evidence.

Ellis, Richard.
On thin ice : the changing world of the polar bear.

Epstein, Greg.
Good without god : what a billion nonreligious people do believe.

Foer, Jonathan Safran.
Eating animals.

Greene, Bob.
The best life guide to managing diabetes and pre-diabetes.

Grumdahl, Dara Moskowitz.
Drink this : wine made simple.

Hadler, Nortin M.
Stabbed in the back : confronting back pain in an overtreated society.

Holton, Woody.
Abigail Adams : a life.

Lesowitz, Nina.
Living life as a thank you.

Levitt, Steven D.
Superfreakonomics : global cooling, part-time prostitutes, and why suicide bombers should buy life insurance.

McCommons, James.
Waiting on a train : the embattled future of passenger rail service.

Morais, Fernando.
Paulo Coelho: A Warrior’s Life: The Authorized Biography.

Palin, Sarah.
Going rogue: an American life.

Passman, Donald S.
All you need to know about the music business.

Plummer, Christopher.
In spite of myself : a memoir.

Rabinowitz, Harold.
Religion in America : a comprehensive guide to faith, history, and tradition.

Ratnesar, Romesh.
Tear down this wall : a city, a president, and the speech that ended the Cold War.

Reisen, Harriet.
Louisa May Alcott : the woman behind Little Women.

Spoto, Donald.
High society : the life of Grace Kelly.

Wall, Mick.
When giants walked the earth : a biography of Led Zeppelin.

Boston Harbor Islands
Boston is wonderful place for your “staycation” but if you’re not into the urban scene, use Boston as a starting place for an island adventure. Boston Harbor Islands, a national park area, offers many islands for walking, hiking and camping explorations. Travel by ferry from Boston’s Long Wharf or EDIC Pier, from Quincy’s Fore River Shipyard, from Hingham’s Shipyard and Hull’s Pemberton Point to many of the islands. Often, free connecting service to other Harbor Islands is offered.

Georges Island stands at the mouth of Boston Harbor and includes the National Historic Landmark, Fort Warren. Fort Warren, built from 1833 to 1861, protected Boston from 1861 to the end of World War II. Continue »

Swap and share activities you have done with your preschooler, toddler, or infant that you found helped his or her interest in learning new words, rhyming, story telling, or reading aloud. Along the way, the Children’s Librarians will share web sites and activities that will hopefully motivate your children to become enthusiastics talkers, learners, and readers.

Gift Ideas for Kids: EdutainingKids has reviews of toys, books, videos and software for kids from babies through the early teens

Excellent article in New York Times on simple ways to boost early language skills.

Reading Is Fundamental– nonprofit organization dedicated to literacy.  A great resource to pick up tips on motiviating children to read and instilling the value of books and reading to youngsters of all ages.

Wakefield Adult Mentors (WAM) provides support for children in grades K-12.  Although the Early Literacy Blog addresses a younger audience, this dedicated group reaches out to kids struggling in school and provides positive mentoring within the school building, but outside the classroom.

ABC Fast Phonics Online games that underscore rhyming, sounds, letter recognition, and other early literacy skills.  This site is recommended by the Association of Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association.

The Magazine section of the Boston Globe Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009, had a fascinating article on preschool children and smart phones such as the IPhone.  Neil Swidey makes several points about the phones and preschoolers.

Parents give preschoolers their phones to hold for a variety of reasons, usually involved with amusing the child in a public place such as the airport, a restaurant or the  grocery check-out line.  Preschoolers naturally explore this new device the correct way,  they push every button and touch every screen to see what it does.   Because smart phones have small keys and are operated by touching the screen instead of using a keyboard or mouse they are quickly mastered by small children.

Mobile phones promote spontaneous opportunities for learning anywhere and anytime.  Parents can share a selection from childrenslibrary.org, the largest collection of free digitized children’s books at the doctor’s office, a restaurant or while waiting in line.

The industry knows that kids have their hands on their parent’s phones.  Games for preschoolers make up 60% of the top sellers in the education section of the iTunes App Store.

A good movie is one way to take your mind off the heat during the dog days of August, and Beebe Library’s collection includes the following recent feature film releases on DVD: Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman; Bart Got a Room, with William H. Macy and Jennifer Tilly; Coco Chanel, featuring Shirley MacLaine and Malcolm McDowell; Confessions of a Shopaholic, with Joan Cusack and Hugh Dancy; Knowing, starring Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne; and Mysteries of Pittsburg, featuring Peter Sarsgaard and Meena Suvari.
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The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama is a great novel for those readers who enjoyed The #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. Continue »

Those of you entertained and fascinated by Brunonia Barry’s The Lace Reader may want to take the tour of Salem being promoted in August by The House Of Seven Gables in Salem.

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