Book Totes

There are several library book tote ideas out there that I really love. The one for this project came from Spoonful.com (although Disney changed their urls once again, so the link does not work but I'm keeping it because it will make me feel better to link to it on here as my source. I've tried visiting their Family Fun site to search for the bag, but haven't had any luck so far.).

Oriental Trading has book totes in several sizes. I used acrylic paint (you can find it at Wal-Mart for 97 cents to two or three dollars in many colors) and adhesive buttons also from Oriental Trading. You can also dress up your tote with stickers! 

I attempted to make it as nice as the example on Spoonful, but alas, it was not to be. When the paint was dry, I wrote the names of some of my favorite books on the spines with permanent marker. I brought in my blow dryer to speed up the drying process, but also had bags where the kids could put their totes in if they weren't completely dry by the end of the program.

                                              

Here are some other great book tote ideas:
Bookish Book Totes for Kids @ BookRiot
Personalized Library Tote @ Ink and Squid
Library Tote Bags @ Occasionally Crafty

Crafts for Hispanic Heritage Month

These are great books if you are looking for crafts for Hispanic Heritage month, or to study world cultures, ancient civilizations such as the Aztec and Inca, or to celebrate holidays such as Dia de los Muertos or Cinco de Mayo.

25 Latino Craft Projects

Ana-Elba Pavon, Diana Borrego

Hispanic-American Crafts Kids Can Do!

Fay Robinson

Manualidades con cilindros de cartón

Bernadette Theulet-Luzié

Multicultural Art Activities: From the Cultures of Africa, Asia and North America

Darlene Ritter

This fall I am doing two bilingual story times and for the first time I will be adding on a craft at the end which I am very excited about.

The first craft will be a shaker made out of a toilet paper roll. Kids can put masking tape on one end, put in a little rice, cover the other end with masking tape, and then cover the roll with a colorful paper that they can pick out of a bunch I printed out. This is the example I created along with some of the colorful papers in the background.

The second story will take place at the beginning of November, so I thought a great craft would be a paper sugar skull mask. I found this awesome template over at Spoonful.com (sadly it looks like it's a little more difficult to find now).

Happy crafting!

Hispanic Heritage Month

"Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America." (hispanicheritagemonth.gov)

Check out some of these books we posted about at the library!

Also, happy 1 year anniversary to Libros Rancheros!

The Tiger's Wife

I could also call this post Review: Book that took me almost four months to finish. It wasn't that the book was bad or anything like that, for some reason I just would put it down and pick up another. But in the end, maybe a part of me foresaw that I would not want to face the day I would have to put it down for good.

I had been browsing the catalog at work and I have no idea what brought me to this book, but I read the plot and the reviews and I was really intrigued. We had a few copies and I checked one out and started to read. For some reason I found this book to be a somewhat difficult read; I had to really concentrate on what was going on. There are various stories intertwined with the main story and with one another. In a way, this book reminded me so much of another book I just read, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin, because of the small stories that connect so well and because of the legends interwoven in both.

At the beginning of the book, Natalia is on her way to provide vaccinations for orphans with her friend Zora, both are doctors. Natalia receives a call from her grandmother, who lets her know that her grandfather has died. Not only that, but he has died in Zdrevkov, in some isolated town all alone. Her grandmother tells her that he had said he was going to find Natalia to help with the inoculations, but Natalia knows that that is not true. So why was her grandfather there in Zdrevkov? What was he looking for?

The story weaves together the present, flashbacks of Natalia's life with her grandfather, and stories of her grandfather's childhood and of the people who were in his life as well as legends. Death is a major theme in the book, and one particular character who was really one of the most interesting parts of the book was the deathless man, cursed to remain alive, to never know death. There are so many beautiful parts in this book, and also so many heartbreaking ones. I began to think, when I came to the last 100 pages, that I might be disappointed in the end, and while I was slightly at first, I realized that the ending was the best ending possible. What is funny about this book is that, even though you find out in the summary and in the first few pages that Natalia's grandfather has died, your sadness about his death grows and grows as the book goes on, as you get to know him better. My heart feels a sadness, it is partly a longing to meet some of the characters in the book. I do recommend this book, if only for the wise advice Natalia's grandfather gives, for his wise actions and good heart.

The Uncommon Reader

One day while shelving books, I spotted a small thin red book and I grabbed it. It was titled The Uncommon Reader and written by Alan Bennett. I thought the cover looked very nice - it features a silhouette of a woman reading a book with a crown on her head - a silhouette of the Queen of England. She is reading very politely too, with her pinky held slightly away from the rest of her fingers.

The plot does center around the Queen of England. She one day stumbles upon a mobile library and borrows a book out of politeness. That sets off an appreciation and newfound love for reading, one that is not too welcome by other members of the staff, including the Queen's private secretary. Her love of reading grows but not everyone appreciates it, but she does manage to get across to some people, including the public. Towards the end of the story, the Queen realizes that reading will only take her so far - it is time for her to take the next step - to write.

It was at this point that I realized that the Queen's problem is my problem. There are so many books that I have that I want to read, more now that I just went to the annual book sale we go to. At the same time, I want to write, to write a book, a story, but because I spend so much time reading, I sometimes don't have time. I think I should follow the Queen's example and spend a bit more time writing now that I actually do have the time.

At the end of the story, the Queen announces her idea to write, and many of her staff and previous prime ministers are against it; the prime minister at the current time is worried that her book will reveal things (probably about him and others) that will be embarrassing to him, so he reminds the Queen that she must abdicate to write the book she is thinking about writing. She then asks them all, "Why do you think you are all here?" And like that, the story ends.

I really enjoyed this story. The writing was nice and calming and witty in many places. I loved the theme of reading and I love history, such as British History, so reading a story about The Queen was interesting to me. Something else I loved about the book was that Charles Dickens was mentioned at least three times. There were a few minor things that I didn't find too funny, but for the most part the book was a lovely read.

A Christmas Caroline

I've been reading A Christmas Caroline, by Kyle Smith, lately and I just finished it yesterday. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like - a take on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, but with a modern, hip-girl twist. Caroline is in the role of Ebenezer, but this isn't just a take on the classic by Dickens; there is more Dickens embedded into this book than I thought there would be.

For example, a few names from the beginning of the book: Ursula Heep, Arabella Allen, Caroline's roomate (who has passed away) is Carly Jacobs, Trot Copperfield, Nic Nickleby, and many others. Dickens is sprinkled all over this book, and one of the things that I most loved about this book had to do with a tie-in to a very specific Dickens book that I love in particular.

Read more, but beware of spoilers (I'll narrow the font size so it won't be so large below).

Caroline's last name is.........Havisham! And, her childhood friend whom she used to tease was nicknamed Philly, and now he is the very successful owner of ...Pip's Doughnuts...and of course his name is Philip Pirrip. I thought it was something that the author decided to keep the whole name, even though others are edited slightly. There is an obvious tie-in to Great Expectations, with Estella (Caroline) and Pip (Philip) ending up together. When I reached the end, I was so surprised (shocked, even) to find that Caroline was a Havisham, but then it fit so well, so perfectly. And her mother, La, designs....dun dun dun....wedding dresses! A lot of it is, of course, modern, but I thought it was really neat of the author to add so much Dickens to the book, not just from A Christmas Carol.