Planning a Birthday Party?

Is it that time of the year when your child will be saying, " My birthday is next week!"

With that special event approaching, while you are busy trying to think up various party activities, treats, cake ideas and decorations, think this: "it's time for a visit to the library." We love parties and we can help you!

Stop at the Youth Services Desk on the second floor. We can make suggestions and direct you to the exact place where you will find various resources to assist you in your party planning. If you would like music for your party, our CD collection, which is located right next to the Information Desk, has excellent choices to pick from. If you are looking to include a DVD viewing session in your party, we also have plenty to look through.

Can't get to the library until tomorrow and looking for some inspiration right now? Check out the website: Birthday Party Ideas for Kids.
Best wishes for a Happy, Happy Birthday Party!

A Courting You Can Go

Have you ever considered visiting a local court to observe and learn about our judicial system first hand? The historic nomination of the first Hispanic to the the U. S. Supreme Court has made big news, so this is a great time to take your children on a field trip. You might want to start small by visiting the Des Plaines Division of Administrative Hearings at City Hall. An Administrative Hearing is a civil hearing. Cases filed in the Division may result in the imposition of fines, costs, liens, or orders to clean or repair demolish property.You can call (847) 391-5303 for dates and times.

If you are a little more adventurous, you might want to visit the Circuit Court of Cook County to watch a trial. There are courthouses nearby in Rolling Meadows and Skokie. You will need to pass through security to enter the courthouse, then you can ask for information about the cases scheduled for the day. Some trials are very short. (I watched one in traffic court that lasted all of 4 minutes). Criminal court trials are longer. You can watch for a while, then move on to a different courtroom. You and your children may be surprised at what you learn.

Before you take your trip, you may want to learn about careers in law by reading A Day in Court With Mrs. Trinh or Lawyer.

You can learn about the federal judicial branch in United States Supreme Court and The Supreme Court and the Judicial Branch.

A couple of interesting biographies about famous judges include Thurgood Marshall and Meet my Grandmother : She's a Supreme Court Justice.

Homeschooling

If you aren't doing it already, homeschooling is a subject of great fascination and little solid knowledge.

Have you ever thought about or wanted to learn more about homeschooling? Making the decision to homeschool is often very difficult. To help answer any questions you may have, we will be hosting a seminar, "Why Are We Doing Homeschooling? Developing Your Own Educational Philosophy", with Kathy Wentz.

We will also be hosting a Homeschooling Vendor Fair so that if homeschooling is what you choose to do, you can gather information about the appropriate materials. You can even swap, bargain, and sell old materials to other homeschooling families. Determine what materials you will need, and then head up to the 2nd floor to take a look through our Homeschool Collection.

Thursday, August 20, 7 pm: Why We Do Homeschooling
Thursday, August 27, 7pm: Homeschooling Vendor Fair

Expecting a New Baby?

There are great resources available for parents and soon-to-be parents located all throughout the library. One great collection that we have created in order to help is called the Parenting Collection. This collection is made up of self-help parenting books as well as fiction and non-fiction titles for children that can be used to help.

A great example of this collection is the new baby books. Not only do we have familiar materials such as What to Expect When You're Expecting and picture books galore about incorporating a new baby into an already established family, but we also have newer books about what to expect as your child grows from birth to age 5 such as The Parents Answer Book.

Don't forget to look beyond the library's four walls, and the check out the Baby Center website. This website can help track your baby's progress even before it is born. Keep up with the development of the baby and after it is born, you can get helpful advice about the exciting things to do with your child as they grow.

Make sure to stop in and take a look at our Parenting Collection, and as always, we are more than happy to help you find what you are looking for!

"Are We There Yet?"

For many parents a common question that occurs on many a family road trip is...“Are We There Yet?” I often asked it of my parents as I was growing up while traveling to some of our destinations.

What to bring, where to eat, and how to keep children interested and happy are some of the challenges that are faced while preparing for a trip. Fortunately, these days there are many good resources available to help parents out as they plan for their family vacations.

The library has terrific stories for you to bring along to read or listen to that you can enjoy while on the road.

Booklists developed by our Youth Services Department will provide a variety of suggested titles for you to consider checking out for your trip. We also have an extensive selection of audiobooks to choose from to help make that car trip to grandma's house feel just a little bit shorter.

You might want to bring some word search puzzles along. At Puzzlemaker, you can design your own word searches online to print out and bring with on your vacation.

For further ideas on how to keep children interested while on the road, take look at Traveling with Kids or Mom's Minivan.

Have a safe and happy road trip!

Read to Your Baby

You may wonder about the benefits of reading to your baby. Clearly, an infant can't understand what you are doing or why, but you wouldn't wait until your child could understand what you are saying before you start speaking to them, right? You wouldn't pass up on singing lullabies until your baby could carry a tine, or wait until they could shake a rattle before you offer them a toy... so read away! Have fun doing it, and they will learn to love reading with you as much as you love doing it with them.

In addition to the books you own, take advantage of the books in the library in the Board Book collection. The following is a list of books in our collection. Click on any of them to be linked to the library's catalog. You can put them on hold today!

Bath Time!
Boynton, Sandra

My Very First Food Book

Carle, Eric

Look at the Animals

Linenthal, Peter

Welcome Song for Baby
Van Camp, Richard

Busy Baby(Snuggletime)
Watt, Fiona

Near and Far - Korea

Traveling to exotic locations is great fun, but can be challenging to fit into the family schedule, not to mention the family budget. Fortunately, it is possible to take a family trip to Korea in a single afternoon. I traveled to Korea recently by visiting the Assi Plasa, 8901 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Niles. This fascinating shopping center includes a grocery store, bakery, hair salon, food court and other shops that sell authentic Korean products.

Another opportunity to "visit" Korea will be on Saturday and Sunday, July 18-19, when the Northern Illinois Korean American Business Association (NIKABA) will host a major festival at Golf Mill Park. This event will feature food, family activities, and entertainment. A group of dancers originally from South Korea is scheduled to perform along with traditional Korean folk musicians and drummers. There will also be American rock, jazz, and blues acts featuring Korean-American talent. It should be fun to attend this free event.

Of course the library has some great materials that can help you learn more about Korea and its culture. Let us know how you enjoyed your "trip"

Teach Me Korean (CD) by Judy Mahoney

Ppo ppo ppo yuch'iw*on. volume 2 (CD) by Y*ong-*un, Wang

Korean Children's Favorite Stories by So-un Kim

Tigers, Frogs, and Rice Cakes: a book of Korean proverbs

The Legend of Hong Kil Dong, the Robin Hood of Korea by Anne Sibley O'Brien

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

Cooking the Korean Way by Okwha Chung

Korea

Korea by Patricia K. Kummer

Free Publications

Did you know that the library has many FREE publications for families and parents? Located along the back wall across the isle from the Parenting Collection, we have:

Chicago Parent, a monthly publication about activities and information of interest to parents in the Chicagoland area.

Oaklee's Guide, a seasonal family resource for activities and coupons for Chicagoland area attractions.

Learning to Grow, a bi-seasonal Kohl Children's Museum publication with coupons, local activities, and all museum attractions.

Tails, a pet magazine with information about care, adoption, rescue, and places to experience with your pet around Chicago.

You can also find information on on-line resources for fun activities to do with your kids at Kidwinks, a website specifically for parents about activities around Chicago with reviews and advice from parents all around the area. They have some great resources on their page, and you also just might find some of our blog posts on their web blog too!

If you are interested, back issues of the parenting magazines in our collection can be checked out for 2 weeks. We have the following magazines in our collection: Mothering, Parenting, Cookie, Parents, Family Fun, and Working Mother.

Safety Recalls

Ever wondered about how other parents know when their child's toy or furniture has been recalled? The government agency, US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), has been set up to inform the public about items that have been recalled. You can check out the list of currently recalled items on their website here.

They not only have a list of the items that are recalled, but specific information about the recall such as: why it was recalled, the date of the recall, a diagram of the item, and any information on what you can do now that the item has been recalled.

Also, in case you aren't already aware, you can actually sign up to be informed of new recalls as they happen here.