Check these out of your library today!

Step Up to the Plate @ your library®;

Maplewood Jr. Sr. High School sponsors baseball literacy contest

The Maplewood Jr. Sr. High School joins the American Library Association and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in inviting people of all ages to “Step Up to the Plate @ your library.” This year’s program celebrates the history and diversity of our national pastime.

 “Step Up to the Plate @ your library” teams up two American classics – baseball and libraries – to promote the importance of information literacy skills and increase awareness of the library as an essential information resource.

 People of all ages are encouraged to use the print and electronic resources available at their library to answer a series of trivia questions designed for their age group (10 and under, 11-13, 14-17 and 18 and over) and inspired by the history and diversity of our national pastime.

 Everyone who successfully completes the program will be eligible to win a trip for two to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. The program ends September 10, 2010.

 “Reading has always been a key skill,” explains Library Spokesperson Jeanne Rose. “But today’s literacy is about more than reading. Information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information – whether it’s in a book or online – and how apply that knowledge once it is located.”

 The “Step Up to the Plate @ your library” program is designed to test players’ information literacy skills by challenging them to answer questions like “What was the first big league team to field an African-American player in the 20^th century?” and “Who was the first Japanese player in the major leagues?”

 Unlike most contests, players are encouraged to look up the answers using both print and online sources at their library.

Players can pick up a copy of the “Step Up to the Plate” Playbook appropriate for their age group at the library or on the program’s Web site at www.ala.org/baseball. Each Playbook poses a series of baseball-related questions to test players’ information literacy skills. Players can enter the prize drawing by submitting the completed playbook to the MHS library or by completing an online entry.

 Last year our library had more entries than any other library in the nation.  We won lots of great prizes. We hope to win again this year.   In addition, two MHS students and a staff member won first place prize packages in their respective divisions.  They each won an collection of great baseball items (a batting glove, commemorative Hall of Fame booklet and baseball cards).  All 7th, 8th, and 11th  graders will enter the contest during reading or English .   Any additional staff, students and community members are encouraged to enter on their own. 

 For more information about the program, visit www.ala.org/baseball.

More information on the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is available at www.baseballhall.org. 

Play Ball!

Celebrate poetry by visiting poets.org

Read these brand new poetry books from our library:

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Locate these and other poetery books in our library.

Check out these two new titles from the Images of America Series:

Around Randolph Township and Guys Mills, by Cheryl Seber Weiderspahn and

Meadville, by Anne W. Stewart and William B. Moore

and from the Postcard History Series:

Western Pennsylvania’s Oil Heritage by Charles E. Williams

Come “Explore the Universe @ your library” for a chance to win great prizes from IMAX.  All you have to do is answer six questions about the Hubble Space Telescope for your chance to win.  The Grand Prize winner will receive 25 IMAX tickets, a telescope and a signed Hubble 3D poster.

Enter Here

Check out our science book display:

Cool Web Sites:

Secret Worlds: The Universe Within

View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons.

Scientific American

Feature articles, online exhibits, bookmarks, interviews, special topic explorations, and ask the expert are features on this companion site to Scientific American magazine. Many of the magazines articles from past issues are archived here.

Bubbles

Amaze your friends! Most bubbles pop instantly when you puncture them, but not super bubbles. With a funnel, string and super bubble solution, you can create a bubble that can be pierced with a pencil.

Casey, Susan. The Devil’s Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks. 2006. Henry Holt/Owl Books.
While studying migratory birds on the remote Farallones Islands, 30 miles off the coast of San Francisco, biologists noticed red blotches in the surrounding waters. These sightings evolve into a full blown scientific study of great white sharks revealing unknown secrets of this prehistoric beast.

Blumenthal, Karen. Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX: The Law That Changed the Future of Girls in America. 2005. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum.
This nonfiction work looks at Title IX, the 1972 legislation mandating that schools receiving federal funds could not discriminate on the basis of gender, ensuring equal treatment and opportunity for girls in sports and education. Included are period photos, a time line, “then and now” commentary, extensive source notes, and suggested resources for further reading.

View the complete 2009 list of Outstanding Books for the College Bound.

Check out the history of Valentine’s Day.

Here are some books to help with those New Year’s Resoulutions!

‘Tis the Season

Curl up with a great Christmas novel…

New This Season:

Movie Tie In:

Disney’s A Christmas Carol official web site

 Previous favorites: 

Create some beautiful decorations or tasty treats…

Or maybe you’d rather track Santa Claus on his midnight run?

Norad Tracks Santa