By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Sometimes kids and adults get nervous about visiting a new place for the first time. We get it! It can be useful to know what to expect before your first visit. With that in mind, we created a social narrative—available in multiple formats—about visiting the Children’s Services Area of the Main … Read more
With Hoopla‘s new BingePass and your Oak Park library card, you can get unlimited streaming for seven days with a single borrow! Let’s get started… How do I use BingePass? Watch the video below for an overview of how to use BingePass. Please note: The video shows how to access BingePass using an iPhone. For … Read more
By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian April can be a challenging month for many autistic people. Many organizations that aren’t run with or by autistic leaders have campaigns about “lighting it up blue”—furthering stereotypes that autism only affects boys—or about curing autism. These organizations often push for autism awareness. Many autistic people, however, prefer to celebrate autism … Read more
By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian How are you doing? We’re a quarter of the way through the year. It’s a little warmer, a little sunnier. Sometimes things feel a little more manageable as the days get longer and brighter! Every week, I send a literacy tip or activity to everyone signed up for Early Bird … Read more
By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian The grasshopper chirpeth, the lamb bleateth, the owl hooteth. Animal sounds are found in so many books and songs for children, including the first-known picture book written for children, published in 1659! What makes animal sounds so important that they’ve been taught to young children for centuries? Not only are … Read more
By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” That’s a quote from my favorite book, Anne of Green Gables, and one I fully agree with. I love the colors of October, the crisp air of October, the falling temperatures of October. It all fills me with joy. … Read more
By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Welcome to the -ber months: September, October, November, and December! Most people celebrate the start of a new year in January. Not me. I graduated more than ten years ago, but the start of the school year is still the start of my personal new year. For a lot of young … Read more
By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian By now, you’re very familiar with our new Early Bird Learning video series, right? Each week we share a new video, alternating between content to watch with your kids and content just for caregivers. To help create content for these videos, we’ve partnered with our friends at Collaboration for Early Childhood, … Read more
By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Let’s take a walk through memory lane! In January 2016, Jenny (pictured above with Ruthie the camel) and I launched the Early Bird Reader program, with weekly literacy tips texted out and monthly videos for caregivers that dug a little deeper into a specific literacy topic. In March 2020, we had … Read more
By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Have you ever explored the little side yard of the Maze Branch Library (pictured above)? It’s not exactly quiet, because it’s right next to the expressway. But it can still be a cozy place to curl up with a book, do some yoga on the grass, watch for butterflies in the … Read more
