How to Talk To Children & Useful Books Following a Tradgedy - A List from WVPL

We are saddened by the tragedy that that happened in Newtown. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims.

Here are resources to help explain or on how to comfort your family.

Books

Library Books to Help Kids Cope with Newtown Tragedy From Galley  Cat
A list of books that are linked to WorldCat so that you may find the library closest to you in locating the books.

Why Did It Happen? Books to Help Kids Cope With Tragedy from  School Library Journal.
A listing of books with reviews that can help parents and educators to explain the tragedy or to offer hope to children.

Comfort Books from Shelf Awareness
About how now is the time to grab books that comfort us from old favorites to books that allow us to process what happened in our a child's own way.

Talking and Coping

What is Child Traumatic Stress? from National Child Traumatic Stress Network (via PA Department of Education)

Helping Your Children Manage Distress in the Aftermath of a School Shooting from American Psychological Assication (via PA Department of Education)

The Best Resources on Talking With Children About Tragedies from Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day (via Twitter)
A collection of links for parents and educators on talking with children.

Helping Kids Cope With Tragedy from Dr. David Walsh
This was actually published for a different tragedy (the post is now updated). The information is broken down a child's age (Preschool, Elementary, etc).

There are lots of resources available online at this time. If you see something that should be included, leave it in the comments to be evaluated for this list. Some links my overlap.

Ahoy mates! Talk Like a Pirate Day! ARR!

Ahoy there! Don't be worried today if someone talks like a pirate, or if someone just replies with "ARRR" or "Aye." It be a special day today: Talk Like a Pirate Day! It also be a very special Talk Like a Pirate Day today: 10 year anniversary!

Not sure where to start? Here's a few tips:

• Make a Pirate Hat today with these instructions from Patch.com.
• Learn Pirate Speak by using Mango Languages (a free resource)
• Stop by the Children's Ship* and check the first porthole** for books for your little pirate-in-training as well as a list of Pirate Reads to take home.

Keep on reading!
-Miss Tegan
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 *Er, Children's Area
**Display Circle

GEEK OUT AT YOUR LIBRARY - eBooks

Grab your eReader, your library card, and get to WVPL.org by computer or eReader. Click “Overdrive Ebooks” and experience a new way of reading a library book. In Overdrive you can check out books for 1, 2, or 3 weeks and make a “wishlist” to return to when you are looking for some books.

Overdrive works with the majority of eBook readers and we have a large selection. HINT: Before you browse, sign in with your library barcode number and then take a look around. Those orange “A” Advantage books are extra books, just for you. When time runs out on the book, that’s it. You’ll have to check it out again, or place a hold. Feel free to place a hold on your next favorite title. Overdrive will email you when the book is ready to “check out.”

Overdrive also features eAudio books which work with many popular devices.

GEEK OUT AT YOU LIBRARY – Test Prep

Test season is just around the corner. If you’re a junior or a senior, this resources is a must in your test taking strategies.

On our site, you’ll find an unassuming little lightbulb. That lightbulb is another addition to your test prep tool box. Learning Express Library, as the little light bulb is actually known, features a great College Preperation section with AP, ACT, and SAT practice exams. The best part of these is that you take the test and it is instant about how you did. When AP students were introduced to this last year, many were excited to have a resource to use before the test. This is probably one of our best kept secret eResources available to you.

Not taking a college prep test? There are certainly courses to help you brush up on your reading, writing, math, and science skills. You can also take some time to look at career help or GED preparation. There are eBooks available to help you study as well. Take some time to look around Learning Express Library.

GEEK OUT AT YOUR LIBRARY – Must See Homework Help

It’s the middle of the night. You have a paper due tomorrow. You need one more resource to round everything out. You need one more factoid. The library is close. In fact, a lot of stuff that could help you right now is closed. What are you going to do?

Visit WVPL.ORG and check out one of FOUR resources that are open while the library is closed. Think of this as the virtual, 24 hour library because these resources, don’t care if we’re open or closed. They are open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

eReference Books: You need one more book. Take a look at our E-Ref books available on our home page. These are virtual books, based on actual books (this should count as a book resource, but it is in eBook format). Everything is searchable, save-able, and citable with nifty citation tools (always make sure it  matches what your teacher wants). We have a variety of topics available from art to history to medicine to science. Even if you don’t have a project due, or you  just got your project, this eBook collection is a must.

Philadelphia Inquirer: A full text, searchable database of the popular Philadelphia Inquirer. You can search from 1829 to 1922 in the historical archive or you can search the full text from 1981 to present. Don’t have an assignment? Take a look for your birthday and see what happened on your day of birth.

Ambler Gazette: Search our local paper’s historical archive (1894-1945) or search present issues in this database. We admit it is a little clunky to look for and you really need a good idea of what date you are looking for, but it is fun to look around at what happened in Ambler years and years and years ago.

EBSCOHost: A searchable full-text magazine database. Simply that.

GEEK OUT AT YOUR LIBRARY – Learn a Language

Learning a language? Want to learn a language? MANGO is the resource for you.

Mango Languages is similar to another popular language computer program, but this one is online and has mobile apps. Yes, apps that you can download to your favorite devices like the iPod or iPad. All you need to do is create a username and password, log-in and start learning. Mango is a simple-to-use interface with lessons from basic to more advanced. You can also use a feature to “talk” to the computer and it’ll rate how you did.

If you need extra language help, there is a translator available on Mango as well. Type in text, tell it which way you want to translate, and you’re done! Easy (although it may not be perfect).

Mango does work both ways: Learn from English to a language or from a language to English. There are over 32 different languages to learn and many features to try.

Hey, they have Pirate.

GEEK OUT AT YOUR LIBRARY - Teen Tech Week Intro

You may have seen our poster with the words “GEEK OUT” on it. Or maybe you saw our Young Adult (Teen) book display (pictured) with science fiction and steam punk books. You may have seen the words “Teen Tech Week.”

Just what is “Teen Tech Week”? I look at Teen Tech Week, which is happening this year from March 4 to March 10, as a week long celebration of techy fiction, tech books, and the various technologies you can get from your library. For example did you know we have a test prep database or that we have eBooks? How about our learn-at-home language database? Not to mention Internet computers to use and free Wifi. Didn’t know we had this stuff?

Well, we’ll spend this next week showcasing our eResources and technology available to you at WVPL. And all you’ll need is a library card to Geek Out with our resources.