We have had a busy and adventurous week aboard the Techmobile. From geography and map literacy programs for third graders to lots of open access time where adults registered for online banking services, worked on their resumes, set up their new Kindles and learned to download free music from the Free Library's website, we are ready to help with any digital literacy need. 

We also visited a Literacy Fair at St. Christopher's Hospital, but our biggest challenged this week has been getting gas. Pumps at the first two depots we visited were out of service, but our third try was a charm. The friendly and generous firefighters at Squad 47 on Grey's Ferry Avenue helped us access their pumps so we could make sure we were rolling today with full air conditioning. 

So, a big thank you to the Philadelphia Fire Department from the Free Library's technology outreach team!

To request a visit from the Techmobile, please visit freelibrary.org/techmobile.

Tags: Hot Spots, Techmobile

It may seem obvious – but wordless picture books are books with no words!

Since there is no text, wordless picture books are a great way to share books with children -- you can even get your child “read” to you. Talk with your child about what is going on in the pictures -- describe what you think the characters are doing or thinking. Try open ended questions that start with one of the 5 w’s (who, what, where, why, when) to encourage your child to interpret what is going on in the pictures. See if you can guess what is going to happen on the next page based on what is happening on the page you are looking at. As they tells you what is happening in the story, it’s a great way for them to learn that stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. How does the story start (beginning)? What happens next (middle)? How does the story end?    

For more titles, check out this list of Fun Wordless Picture Books!

Have favorites not on the list?  Please share them in the comments!

Tags: Children's books, Pre-K, early literacy

Children's Book Week was established in 1919 and almost from the beginning the Children's Book Council enlisted an illustrator each year to design a commemorative Children's Book Week Poster and Bookmark. A complete collection of Children's Book Week Posters is always on display on the ground floor of Parkway Central. As you walk the hallway you will see the artwork of legendary illustrators including Mercer Mayer, Maurice Sendak, Lauren deBrunhof, and David Wiesner. 

Wiesner, who created the original artwork for the Free Library’s 2007 Philadelphia Book Festival, has walked down this hall and is excited to see his newest poster added to the collection.  You can listen to him describe the posters and his experience at the 21:10 mark of the 2012 Children's Choice Book Awards Red Carpet Interviews.

Everyone has a story worth sharing and hearing. Discover more about the lives of those around you at the Free Library's first "Living Library" event, which will take place at the Parkway Central branch on Wednesday, June 20 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. During this special evening, human "books" will be available for three fifteen-minute "reading" periods wherein they can be claimed by patrons interested in learning more about their particular stories. Attendees can ask the books questions about their lives, careers, passions, and interests; participants include the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, the President and Director of the Free Library, and many more! Check out the invite on the right and mark it down on your calendars- this will be a night to remember! 

Tags: Living Library

Maurice Sendak, beloved children's author/illustrator and noted curmudgeon, died today from complications suffered from a stroke at his home in Danbury, Connecticut. He was 83. Best known for his classic story, Where the Wild Things Are (for which he was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1964), Sendak wrote over a dozen books and illustrated many more. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1996 for his contributions to illustration and to children's literature. To celebrate the man and his wondrous achievements, make sure to check out his hilarious interview with Stephen Colbert from January of this year and keep these words of wisdom from the man himself in mind:

"My big concern is me and what do I do now until the time of my death. That is valid. That is useful. That is beautiful. That is creative. And also, I want to be free again...I want to see me to the end working, living for myself. Ripeness is all. Now, interpreting what ripeness is our own individual problem. … So, what is the point of it all? Not leaving legacies. But being ripe. Being ripe... In other words, you must not waste a second of this deliciousness which for [Keats] was life and being a great poet. That you savor every, everything that happened. I want to get ripe."

Check out our memorial booklist here and read a Sendak story today!