New book: The Real Spy’s Guide to Becoming a Spy by Peter Earnest with Suzanne Harper

This is the official handbook for anyone who dreams of one day becoming a spy and working in the intelligence field, written by the founding executive director of the International Spy Museum, who is also a former operative in the CIA’s Clandestine Service.  Have you ever wondered what spies really do?  What kind of training is involved? Do you have to go to a special school or take a polygraph test? How do you live your cover? How does your work life affect your relationships with your friends and family?  Is there danger involved?  This fascinating, fact-filled book answers these questions and more while providing a historical timeline, definitions of key terms, suggestions for further reading, quizzes, and exercises to see if you have the right spy stuff. 

Book Share Book Suggestions

View Full Album

Kids who attended the Dec. 30 Book Share at the main library suggested the following books:

How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor

Surprise Island by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Carnival Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

A Dog Called Grk by Joshua Doder

My Haunted House by Angie Sage

Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka

Sam & Friends by Mary Labatt

The Outlandish Adventures of Liberty Aimes by Kelly Easton

Blizzard of the Blue Moon by Mary Pope Osborne

Islington Library Book Share

Here are the books recommended at the November Grades 3 - 5 Book Share

View Full Album

Claire: My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Down Girl by Lucy Nolan

I, Jack by Patricia Finney

Three Good Deeds by Vivian Velde

Zarele: The Giver by Lois Lowry

Calvin and Hobs by Bill Watterson

Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo

Maria: Puppy Place by Ellen Milles

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Anne: Just Grace by Charise Harper

Jessica: The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

Cait: 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents by Lee Wardlaw

New Series: Jack Russell: Dog Detective

View Full Album

Jack’s Facts:

Dogs understand what humans say.

Humans think they understand what dogs say.

Therefore, dogs are smarter than humans.

This is a fact.

Jack Russell, Dog Detective, lives with his owner Sarge, a police detective.  Sarge solves crimes, but, as Jack puts it, “Sarge detects human-type crimes.  I detect important crimes.”  Each book in this series is a hilarious recounting of Jack’s discovery of, and solving of, an important crime –important to dogs, that is.  To help him in solving a crime, Jack makes a “nose map” (a way of storing information collected by the nose), which might include things like “A place under the tree where a cat sat last Thursday.”  In case you are confused, each chapter has a glossary with entries such as “Daching.  The way dachshunds move about.” 

Halloween Parade 2009

Here are some of the great costumes at our 2009 Halloween Parade!

New Books

Are You Afraid Yet? The Science behind Scary Stuff by Stephen James O’Meara

• Maggots? Severed heads? Vampires? Whatever your fear factor, you’ll find it in this compendium of murder, mayhem and monsters.  You’ll also find out what science has to say about the things that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
• Are some houses haunted or just victims of bad plumbing?
• Could a big scary ape like King Kong really exist?
• Is Bigfoot a big hoax or the descendant of a long-ago giant ape from China?
• Were the tombs of the pharaohs cursed or were they haunted by something even more deadly?

Just the Right Size: Why Big Animals Are Big and Little Animals Are Little by Nicola Davies, Illustrated by Neal Layton

Did you ever wonder why there are no high-flying, wall-climbing, tall building-leaping superheroes in real life—and why there are no giant mutant monsters for them to fight? Find out what keeps big animals (like us!) from engaging in astonishing feats of strength and agility and why there would be a downside to being tiny and all-powerful.  Whether we’re big or small, our size defines a lot more about us than we could have imagined.

Take a look at these new books!

Panorama, A Foldout Book by Fani Marceau, with illustrations by Joelle Jolivet

This 32-page book fan folds out into a single panorama that takes the reader from India to Ecuador and from Iceland to Romania. Each natural scene seamlessly runs into the next, incorporating each area’s natural beauty and indigenous wildlife. On the reverse of the fanfold, the same scenes and locations are shown at night.

Princess Collection, A Treasury of Tales from Disney Press

A royally enchanting world awaits…A moonlit waltz with the Prince.  An unforgettable ride on a magic carpet.  A kiss taht awakens a sleeping beauty.  The most magical moments from the Disney Princes sfilms are brought to life in this charming volume.  Plus, the Princesses and their friends on many other adventures, from a surprise picnic at the Dwarfs’ cottage to an underwater game of hide-and-seek with Ariel!