Ohio Library Bars Unchaperoned After-Schoolers says an ALA article. The Wickliffe Public Library has banned visits from unchaperoned children under age 14 between 2:30 and 5:30 pm.
“We regret this course of action but must protect one of Wickliffe’s most valuable resources and its patrons,” officials advised parents and their school-age children by letter in early January.”
Yikes! When I was a children’s librarian in a very popular afterschool library, we started serious programming for teens and preteens. The crowds had been out of control for some time and the librarians were tired of kicking kids out, monitoring what was happening in the stacks, and intervening in wrestling matches, so I do know how it feels. We did a two prong approach. First we created very strict noise rules where kids would be warned several times, then asked to leave, then if they returned and did the same, their parents would be contacted and if that didn’t work, then they would be banned for a week. It worked really really well. In fact, we only had to ban one kid in the two years I was there while the rules were instituted. We also created a teen space in the meeting room, filled with books, Dungeons and Dragons games, a dedicated computer, and an adult. We could close the doors when they got too rowdy, but we could also do programming and really tell the teens that they were an important part of our community.
That is my problem with barring unchaperoned kids outright. What message are we as libraries sending these future taxpayers and what message are we giving to the parents of the teens? Doesn’t seem like a very positive one.

Girl Talk is a site helping parents talk to their daughters about underage drinking. The site offers straight facts, information on the power of mothers, consequences of drinking, and answers to questions along with recommended resources.

BellaOnline has a special section on Children’s Books filled with book reviews and discussions. You can also subscribe to their RSS feed.

Survival Unit Intro from the Montain City Elementary School in Mountain City, Tennessee is a nice unit for classrooms based on Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet and Theodore Taylor’s The Cay. The unit includes questions and activities for each book, information on safety, natural disasters and survival techniques, true stories of survival, and quizzes.

Easy Kids Crafts has a great collection of basic crafts. They include making clay, sand castle molds, ornaments, party favors, and puppets. They all use supplies you will already have at home or items that are inexpensive. They are also real crafts that kids will enjoy and that you as a parent or supervisor can handle too.

I am behind in posting this, but feel it is worth posting about anyway, if you haven’t alreaday seen it. The Edublog Awards were announced in mid-December. They have great categories and wonderful blogs to add to your list of subscriptions. If you are a teacher or school librarian who works withi technology, there will be many links of interest to you.

Times Argus has an article speaking to the fact that children’s books on the bestseller list are not necessarily quality books. It talks against celebrity authors as well as “fart” books. But then the article goes on to list a few books in two categories: Books to Borrow and Books to Buy. I’m not sure what the difference is between the two categories. I was rather expecting the Books to Buy to be consumables or pop ups, but they seem to be books that could just as easily have been borrowed from libraries. I’d change it all to borrow books from the library until you are certain they are quality items and then buy them, but that’s coming from a biased librarian.

Wow. Who wouldn’t want an artist like Thacher Hurd to do a mural at their new public library. Grand!

Write4Kids calls itself the Children’s Writing Supersite and boy, are they right.  They have a very active message board, articles, tips, advice, and a newsletter.  If you are writing for children or considering starting a book, then this is the place for you.