Not My Hat!

Have you ever read This is Not my Hat? Or I Want My Hat Back? Or, The Dark, Cats Night Out, or The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place? If so, you know the work of the hugely talented, Caldecott Medal-winning author and illustrator, Jon Klassen. And we're extremely excited to say that he's coming to the Newport Beach Public Library!

Please join us on Sunday, June 2 from 1-3 pm for the Making Memories for Children Program at the Central Library Friends Room. In the meantime, check out some of Jon Klassen's exceptional books from the library here. Looking forward to seeing you! 

{This event is open to kids and adults of all ages; a parent or guardian must be present. No charge; suggested $10 donation. Seating is on a first come, first-served basis. For more information, please contact events@nbplfoundation.org} 

Done!

It’s finished and ready and waiting for you. What is it?  Our brand new kids’ section that doubled in size -- with cool new sofas and chairs (perfect for curling up with a book or three) and lots of space and light from a super tall wall of windows. Come and check it out! And while you’re here, go on a hunt for all seventeen rabbits hiding in the new Civic Center Park. Two of them are eight feet tall so they’re not exactly hiding. Looking forward to seeing you at the library!

The Dutch Duck

What’s 54-feet tall, bright yellow and usually found in a bath tub?

No, it’s not a joke. It’s actually the Rubber Duck art installation currently in Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong. And who is responsible for the giant yellow duck? The answer is internationally renowned Dutch artist, Florentijn Hofman, whose art is very large, very creative and very memorable.

So what’s the deal with the duck? He’s already been to Osaka, Japan; Sydney, Australia; and Sao Paolo, Brazil –– and he’s coming to the U.S. But where he will land is a secret yet to be revealed.

Here’s what we know:
- art can be a painting, a sculpture or surprisingly, even a very large duck
- the duck makes us smile (we can’t help it)
- the Dutch artist responsible for the duck has a super cool website with other giant creatures; check out more of them here
- the duck is coming to America
- the library has books on rubber ducks here (really, we do)
- learn more about the cities the duck has visited on CultureGrams here

Here’s what we don’t know:
- what to feed a 54-foot tall duck
- when the duck is coming to America and where he will land

So keep your eyes peeled for the giant, globe-trotting, Dutch duck. And please let us know if you catch a glimpse of him!

crazy museum adventures

Long before Night at the Museum (think dinosaurs coming to life, side by side with Teddy Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart) there was an award-winning book with that same brilliant theme of night-time museum adventures. It’s called From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and some people call it the best kid book ever.  We call it pure fun.  

Curious?  Here’s a quick description of what it’s about, straight from the book’s jacket: 

Twelve-year-old Claudia Kincaid is restless -- she wants to do something different, such as running away from her comfortable suburban life in Connecticut for a while.  But not just any place will do because Claudia likes her comforts.  It needs to be a place with a bit of luxury and some good company.  And she wants to be gone just long enough to teach her parents to appreciate her.

With careful planning, Claudia stages her own secret live-in at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, taking along her nine-year-old brother, not so much for company, but mostly because he is a miser and will have money. What happens to Claudia and Jamie, and the changes that come about in this sister-brother duo, prove greater than either had bargained for. 

Check the book out at the Newport Beach Public Library here.  And many thanks to Pamela Golan for sharing the best book she ever read as a kid! We love From the Mixed-Up Files too! What is (or was) your favorite kid book ever?  Please comment below and let us know.

plastic soup

The ocean is turning into a plastic soup. What??!  Here’s what’s happening: most plastic pollution in the ocean starts out on land as litter created by us -- on beaches, streets and sidewalks. Rain or over watering flushes that litter through storm drains or directly to creeks, streams and rivers that lead to the ocean. After the plastic makes its way to the ocean, it breaks down into smaller pieces, creating a poisonous plastic soup that is killing marine life and putting our oceans at risk. So what can you do? Learn more about this important topic. Avoid single use plastics (plastic bottles, bags, etc). Recycle. And spread the word -- tell your friends and family!

This Monday, April 22 is Earth Day. What does that mean exactly? It’s a day where we talk about issues and solutions for making our earth a better place. To learn more about plastics, check out the Surfrider Foundation website here, or One World One Ocean here.

Some very important facts and figures:
• The amount of plastic produced from 2000–2010 is more than the amount produced during the entire last century.
• Plastic is the most common type of marine litter worldwide.
• An estimated 100,000 marine mammals and up to one million sea birds die every year after ingesting or being tangled in plastic marine litter
• Up to 80% of the plastic in our oceans comes from land-based sources.
• Plastics comprise up to 90% of floating marine debris.
• In 2009 about 3.8 million tons of waste plastic “bags, sacks and wraps” were generated in the United States, but only 9.4% of this total was recycled.
• Plastics do not biodegrade, but instead break down into small particles that persist in the ocean, absorb toxins, and enter our food chain through fish, sea birds and other marine life.
• It is estimated that Americans go through about 100 billion plastic bags a year, or 360 bags per year for every man, woman and child in the country.

hot-buttered toast & trouble

Can you name a pig that loves hot-buttered toast, waffles and trouble?

If you answered Mercy Watson, you’re right. Mercy the pig is just one of the many characters to come from the amazing imagination of author Kate DiCamillo. Others include best friends Bink & Gollie, a mouse called Despereaux, a rabbit called Edward Tulane, a chicken named Louise, a dog called Winn-Dixie, a magician’s elephant, and many, many more.

Check out some of the book covers from her award-winning chapter books and novels above, and a complete list of her books, audio books and DVDs at the library here. Happy reading (and listening and watching!)!

giants beware!

If you’re not familiar with Claudette, the giant slayer, here’s the skinny: she’s loyal, brave, ambitious and clearly, not afraid of giants. She and her friends live in the fortress town of Mont Petit Pierre and she’s interested in really just one thing: battling giants.

Giants Beware is an action-packed quest story with loads of surprises, funny bits, bravery, adventure and super cool illustrations. Check it out at the Newport Beach Public Library. And please email us at nbplfoundation@gmail.com with your all-time favorite book titles (and why). We’d love to share what YOU are reading with our readers!

ARTFUL DOODLES

What’s a Google Doodle? It’s the fun and creative changes made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists (see colorful examples above).

So why are we talking about them now? Because Google is holding a kid contest for a new Google Doodle. And this year, the Newport Beach Public Library is joining in. Read on for the details of this year’s contest, centering on the theme MY BEST DAY EVER.  And happy doodling!

DOODLE 4 GOOGLE AT THE NEWPORT BEACH PUBLIC LIBRARY!

• Open to: Students in grades K–12
• Theme: “My Best Day Ever”
• Create a doodle, give it a title, and write a short (no more than 50 words) supporting statement explaining how your doodle portrays the theme “My Best Day Ever…”
• Fifty state finalists will get an all-expense-paid trip to New York City for a final awards ceremony. One lucky student artist will see their artwork appear on the Google homepage, receive a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology grant for their school.
• Submissions: (ONE per student) due March 22nd
• All submissions are the responsibility of the student, and to be sent to Google at address located on official entry form, or uploaded via Google’s contest site.
• Pick up official entry forms at any Newport Beach Public Library location.
• Special Library Event: Saturday March 2nd, all library branches will host an “Open Doodle” day. No registration required.  More here.  
• For a full list of contest rules, go here.
• Link to contest entry forms, go here.

kid chefs!

Calling all kid chefs! Actually, you don’t have to be a kid chef, just a kid interesting in cooking. So what’s the scoop? A fun cooking workshop at Five Crowns restaurant in Corona del Mar -- a true kitchen adventure. The three-part series includes cooking with what you pick from the Five Crowns garden, a trip to the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano to learn about edible organics, and finally, preparing a meal for your parents at Five Crowns. Sure to be delicious and fun. Please join us!

Details for parents: for kids, ages 5-12. The Making Memories for Children Cooking Series is brought to you by the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation and Five Crowns Restaurant in Corona del Mar.Dates: Sunday, March 10, 17 and 24 from noon to 2 pm. Cost is $75 per child. Limited to 25 children. For more information or to sign up, please visit our website at: nbplfoundation.org/events.

{above photos: Five Crowns, Corona del Mar; all food photography from here} 

groovy lava

A volcano is a land form (usually a mountain) where molten rock (magma) erupts through the surface. As pressure in the molten rock builds up, it needs to escape somewhere –– so it forces its way up through fissures, which are narrow cracks in the earth’s crust. Once the magma erupts through the earth’s surface, it’s called lava. Real lava from a volcano is made up of crystals, volcanic glass, and bubbles (volcanic gases). So that’s the scoop on the real stuff.  Now let’s talk about the not-so-real stuff. Our rainy day science project has to do with lava, but lava of a different kind entirely: lava-lamp lava. And who doesn’t love a good lava lamp?!  Read on for the simple instructions.

How it works:
The secret behind the lamp’s “lava” is science. Oil is lighter, or less dense, than water, so it rises to the surface. Salt is heavier, or more dense, than water, and sinks to the bottom. When you add the salt, blobs of oil attach to the grains and sink. Then the salt dissolves, and the oil returns to the top. The result? A liquid show for the eyes. 

What you'll need:

- Clear jar with lid
- Water
- Food coloring
- Glitter
- Vegetable oil
- Salt (or Alka Seltzer for fizz!)
- Flashlight 

Instructions:

Fill the jar three-quarters full of water. Add drops of food coloring until you like the color you see. A few drops go a long way! Sprinkle in glitter for extra sparkle. Fill the jar almost to the top with vegetable oil and let the mixture separate. Pour salt into the jar until you see the cool lava lamp effect. When the bubbles stop, add more salt to see it again. Shine a flashlight behind the jar to watch your lava lamp really glow.

For more information on volcanoes and lava, check out the many books and DVDs on the subject from the library here. And for more on making your own lava lamp, go here or here. 

{Amazing lava photos above from here; lava lamp recipe from National Geographic Kids.}

why the holiday?

Imagine being treated differently simply because of the color of your skin. Imagine having to sit in the back of the bus just because of the way you look. Or use a different bathroom because of your race. That’s the way it used to be, before a man named Martin Luther King fought for equality and justice for Americans of all colors.

Just who was Martin Luther King? Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a great man who fought hard to gain rights for black people in America, when they were being treated unfairly. He believed that all people should be treated equally, regardless of their skin color.

So why the holiday? Each January, the third Monday of the month is observed as a federal holiday honoring Dr. King and celebrating his life and achievements. To learn more about him, check out this short video from National Geographic Kids here. Or check out one of the dozens of books about him from the library here.

canada and the orcas

Canada is the second largest country in the world (after Russia) and is slightly larger than the United States. It borders three oceans: the Atlantic to the east; the Pacific to the west; and the Arctic to the north.

This week, eleven killer whales were trapped in the ice, in the freezing water of Canada’s Hudson Bay. A sudden drop in temperature froze the water around them and left them with a breathing hole the size of a pickup truck -- far too small for the eleven whales, and freezing into an even smaller hole by the hour.  Each whale would take turns coming up for air, vital oxygen that they needed to stay alive.

Fortunately for the whales, the wind shifted yesterday, the ice moved and they were able to swim to freedom. A happy ending for all.

For more information on Canada, check out the Culturegrams database on the kid’s section of the library’s website here. To see footage of the trapped whales, go here. And for dozens of books and DVDs on orcas, check them out at the library.

why the ocean?

Being that we live so close to the ocean and that it’s such a big part of our lives, we thought we’d write a bit about it. So where to start? How about with a few very important facts and figures:

• 50 to 70% of our oxygen comes from the ocean. That’s more than all of the world’s rainforests combined.

• The ocean is the #1 source of protein for more than a billion people.

• The ocean regulates our climate, absorbs carbon dioxide, holds 97% of the earth’s water, and supports the greatest abundance of life on our planet.

• More than 60% of the world’s population lives on or near the coast. The ocean provides a livelihood, recreation, beauty, wonder, and untapped scientific discovery, leading to new medications, foods, and advanced technologies. Everyone, everywhere depends on a healthy sea.

But the ocean is in trouble. And that’s a huge concern for us all -- whether you live near the beach or not. Some more facts and figures:

• 90% of the big fish are gone. Tuna, swordfish, halibut, cod, and flounder populations have been devastated by overfishing.

• The average size of the remaining big fish has been cut in half or less in the last 50 years. The average weight of a swordfish caught today is 90 lbs., down from 266 lbs. in 1960.

• Discarded plastics have formed a toxic “plastic soup” that is gathering in 5 massive ocean gyres around the world. As the plastic breaks down, it is eaten by sea animals, causing illness and death. It eventually enters our diets, too.

• There are a reported 405 ocean “dead zones” — areas where there is little to no oxygen due to pollution. Dead zones are doubling every ten years.

• Our oceans account for 71% of the planet, but less than 2% of our oceans are protected. We have protections in place for nearly 12% of all land (through areas like national parks).

So how can you help? Read about it. Spread the word. And get involved. The information above is from One World One Ocean, a great organization doing lots to help save our oceans. Check out their super cool website here. And check out their Why the Ocean video here.

eBooks just for kids

The Newport Beach Central Library will be closed through January 6th due to construction (making it bigger and even better).  So if you're in the mood for a book, and until the library doors are reopened, check out TumbleBooks on the library's website.

A few new titles worth reading/viewing: Mercy Watson, Big Blue and National Geographic's Chimps and Tools.  TumbleBooks also has puzzles, games, language learning and a lot of super cool National Geographic videos.

Check out Tumblebooks here (log on with your library card number).  P.S. The branch libraries (Mariners, Balboa, Corona del Mar) will remain open.

tracking santa

Have you ever wondered where Santa might be at any given time on Christmas Eve? Well wonder no more. Check out Norad’s Santa Tracker and watch the fascinating global path that the jolly man in red takes.

A bit about NORAD: they’re the North American Aerospace Defense Command and they’ve been tracking Santa by radar every Christmas since 1958. According to Norad, “Santa’s sleigh is a versatile, all weather, multi-purpose, vertical short-take-off and landing vehicle. It is capable of traveling vast distances without refueling and is deployed, as far as we know, only on December 24th.” And about his many trips down chimneys? They say this: “Although NORAD has different hypotheses and theories as to how Santa actually gets down the chimneys, we don’t have definitive information to explain the magical phenomenon.”

For more information on everything Santa (including his whereabouts) go here. And happy tracking!

north or south: which pole is colder?

The North Pole (the Arctic) and the South Pole (the Antarctic) are extremely cold. But which is colder? Both don’t get any direct sunlight because the sun sits low on the horizon, even in the middle of the summer. And in the winter, the sun doesn’t come up at all -- kind of like permanent nighttime.

The answer to which is colder? It’s the South Pole. Why? The Arctic is ocean surrounded by land creating a slightly warmer environment than the Antarctic, which is land surrounded by ocean. Also, the Antarctic is dry and higher in elevation -- and the higher you go, the colder it gets. The average summer temperature in the North Pole is 32 degrees Fahrenheit and in the South Pole, it’s minus 18 degrees Fahrenheit. In the winter, it’s minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the North Pole and minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit in the South Pole. THAT’S COLD!

One more interesting tidbit about the North vs the South Pole is this: penguins live at the South Pole and polar bears at the North Pole. You will not find penguins in the North or polar bears in the South. For more information on this super cool (cold!) topic, check out NASA’s Climate Kids website here. Or check out the many books on the subject from the library. Happy exploring!

the secret language of dolphins

Imagine having a secret code all your own. One where you and your friends were the only ones in the know. That’s what dolphins have. They talk to each other in squawks, whistles, clicks and squeaks -- even bubble blowing. Scientists think that these dolphin conversations cover a wide range of topics including being hungry, happy, bored and more.

Dolphins are ultra smart and fascinating creatures. To learn more about their language skills, check out this National Geographic Kids article here. For more than one hundred books and DVDs on these magnificent creatures, check out the long list at the library. And for a glimpse at a pod of dolphins swimming just beyond the wave break, keep watch from our local beaches. They’re out there -- and no doubt talking up a storm.

movie weather

It's the perfect time of year for movies -- rainy days, getting dark early, holidays off from school. So check out the library's great collection of superb and SUPER fun movies -- like James and the Giant Peach, Up, The Adventures of Tin Tin, Hugo, any and all of the Harry Potters and many, many more. All at the library. Happy watching!

finally here

The waiting is over.  It’s here.  Finally.  If you’re a fan of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, the latest book, The Third Wheel, is here.  And according to our reliable kid sources, it doesn’t disappoint. “Entertaining, fun and completely hilarious,” are just some of the words used to describe it.

Check out the entire Diary of a Wimpy Kid series (books, audio recordings and DVD) at the Newport Beach Public Library.  Happy reading!

Clouds: Cool, Cooler, Coolest

Have you ever wondered what clouds are and why they form? 

The quick answer is this: they're the sky's way of moving water from one place to another. They come in many shapes and forms and all serve a different purpose. From cirrus, to cumulus, to cumulonimbus, to stratus and orographic -- the size, shape and texture of a cloud tells everything about it. Clouds bring rain, snow, sleet and hail as well as amazing sunsets. 

For more on clouds and a huge array of other science and space-related topics, check out Space Place on the children's database section of the Newport Beach Public Library website here -- a super cool resource with information from NASA.

weird but true

We’re big fans of fun facts -- especially when they’re called weird but true. Check out the new National Geographic book by that name (available at the library) to find out if any word in the English language rhymes with orange, how many pitches an average major league baseball is used for, if it’s possible to breathe and swallow at the same time, how many years of nonstop pedaling it would take to bike to the moon, and almost 1,000 more weird but true facts.  Happy reading!

my favorite author: roald dahl

{Guest post by Samia El-Erian, Grade 4, Pegasus School}

Roald Dahl is a brilliant author. He has written many books including THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX, MATILDA, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, and THE B.F.G. Even though I have not read all of his books, I have read enough to tell you he is a great author.

One of my favorite Roald Dahl books is JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. This book is about a boy who lives with his aunts, one skinny and one fat. They grow a peach, and the peach reaches such an amazing size that they put it on display. One night, James climbs inside the peach and finds a door on the pit of the peach. He opens the door and finds all sorts of insects and becomes friends with them. Immediately, they set out on an adventure of a lifetime. I read this book in second grade and fell in love with it. I recommend that you read it, too.

Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales. He had a hard time at school, but one highlight of his childhood was going to the candy store. He would stand outside the shop’s window and stare at the glass candy jars. This is how CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY began. One of Roald’s favorite candies was Sherbert Suckers. Each sucker had a cardboard tube filled with a sherbet powder that you sucked out with a licorice straw. Sounds yummy!

At one of his schools, Roald got into the habit of writing his mom once a week and continued this habit until his mother passed away 32 years later. I think all this writing helped him to become an author.

If you are interested in Roald Dahl, I recommend you go to this website, www.roalddahl.com

{From Kid News: Thank you, Samia!  Great post on Roald Dahl and his genius books!  We're big fans of his books too. And you're right, his website is completely cool.} 

halloween reading

Thrills, chills and creepy fun. Nothing says Halloween like spooky stories: Zen Ghosts; Mercy Watson, Princess in Disguise; The Best Halloween Ever; Dragonbreath -- No Such Thing as Ghosts; Who Stole Halloween; and The Witch Family, just to name a few.

Check out these haunted Halloween titles and many more at the library.

Wishing you a fun and happy Halloween!

a bit about opera

What’s an opera, you ask? It’s a play (with actors and great costumes) set to music. It includes a story, songs and an orchestra. And what’s an orchestra? It’s a group of musicians organized to perform music together -- kind of like a band but orchestras have cellos, tubas, violins and more. There are different kinds of opera, like comic opera, serious opera, operettas and more.

So why all of this opera talk? Because the Southland Opera is bringing Adventures of Song and Story to the Newport Beach Public Library this Saturday, October 20 from 11 am to noon. Perfect for kids and families -- and a fun, entertaining way to learn more about opera. Hope to see you there!

{For more event details, go to the library's website here. The above left image is by Marc Chagall and is on the ceiling of the Paris Opera House.}

CultureGrams Close Up: The Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country in Europe, bordered by Germany, Belgium and the North Sea; it's super cool and really beautiful there. A few interesting facts and figures about the Netherlands:

- The capital city of Amsterdam is home to more than 1,280 bridges (that’s a LOT of bridges!). Amsterdam is a little more than twice the size of Newport Beach.

- The official language is Dutch although the younger generation speaks English too.

- Almost every Dutch person has a bicycle. The country has twice as many bikes as cars (we LOVE that!).

- In some parts of the Netherlands, there are as many cows as people.

- There are thousands of windmills in the Netherlands which were built to pump dry hundreds of lakes and swamps and to prevent flooding.

- Many world-famous artists are Dutch -- including Rembrandt, Vermeer and van Gogh.

- Two thirds of Dutch people live below sea level. Dykes, dams and sand dunes help keep the country from being flooded by the sea.

- The word “Holland” comes from the western provinces of North and South Holland.

- The Dutch are famous for their klompen (wooden shoes). Klompen help keep a person’s feet dry and warm in the winter, cool in the summer.

- Orange carrots (like the ones we eat today) first appeared in the Netherlands in the 16th century. Before that carrots were usually white, yellow, black, or red. Orange is the official color of the Netherlands.

For more about the Netherlands, or any other country in the world, check out CultureGrams here. Happy exploring!

sports at the library

{Guest post by Isabel Gomez, third grader at Harbor Day School}

I think books are awesome because they take you to a whole new world. One of my favorite types of books is realistic sports fiction. I have three favorite authors in this category: Mike Lupica, Matt Christopher and Jake Maddox.

Mike Lupica: I like all Mike Lupica's books, but especially his first story, Summer Ball. This story is based on his son not making a special basketball team. Mr. Lupica created a new team with all the kids that got cut. The first time they played against the team that they got cut from, the other team destroyed them. But as the season continued they passed more, they put their heads up more and they got better. The second time the two teams played (last game of the season) they actually beat the team and then Mike Lupica wrote a book about it. I got to meet Mike Lupica at the library and he signed the four books of his that I own. I think you should look out for Mike Lupica's latest book True Legend.

Matt Christopher: Matt Christopher writes his books in the style of someone telling a story to you. I think that style is pretty neat especially if you're kind of tired and getting ready to go to bed. He has books about all types of sports. My favorite Matt Christopher book is Roller Hockey Radicals.

Jake Maddox: Jake Maddox writes in a style that makes a cartoon pop into your head, just like watching Looney Tunes. I like this a lot. I think Jake Maddox's books also have great morals, like being a team player. My favorite Jake Maddox book is Paint Ball Invasion.

The library has dozens of books by these writers, so go out and find them!

{From Kid News: Huge thanks, Isabel for that very interesting post on realistic sports fiction! We hear that you check out lots of books from the library, so we have two questions for you: 1) how many books do you read each week, and 2) what sports do you play?!} 

Pictured above: Isabel Gomez getting her books signed at the library by Mike Lupica.  

freaky forces of nature

A force of nature is something unstoppable affecting the structure of the universe -- a mighty force beyond human control. 

An example of a constructive force of nature is a volcano that forms new land masses as a result of eruptions. An example of a destructive force of nature is an earthquake or a tsunami (huge tidal wave).

But what about FREAKY forces of nature? Like hail the size of baseballs? Or auroras (amazing lights in the night sky) in the North and South Poles? Or giant drum-sized snowballs? Or a storm that causes the sky to rain FROGS???!

To learn more about these freaky forces, click here for National Geographic Kids. To learn more about all kinds of forces of nature, check out the kids section at the library. Happy exploring!

super cool sea turtles

{Guest post by Ethan Golan, first grader at Vista Verde School}

Sea turtles are one of the world's most ancient creatures. They've been around for more than 100 million years -- since the time of the dinosaurs. That’s old!

Sea turtles are air breathing marine mammals that live in all the world's oceans except the Arctic. Most sea turtles migrate long distances (some as far as 1400 miles) between their feeding grounds and the beaches where they nest.

One of the largest sea turtles ever known was found in the San Diego Bay. She was called Wrinklebutt and weighed a WHOPPING 550 pounds. That’s heavy!

A surprising fact about sea turtles is that they don't munch on their food. Instead, scientists found that they swallow it whole. And what do they eat? Jellyfish is a favorite. They also eat algae, seagrass and crabs.

All seven species of sea turtles are endangered. The reason for this includes people interfering in their nesting areas, pollution, getting caught in fishing nets and more.

So what can we do to help protect sea turtles? Tell your friends and spread the word. Help keep our oceans clean. Try not to use plastics (they end up in the ocean). And be kind to their nesting areas.

{From Kid News: Thanks Ethan! Important information about a gorgeous creature. To learn more about sea turtles, check out the many books and DVDs at the library.}

eating bugs

In order to make their own food, plants need sunlight, water, air, and minerals from the soil. Most plants get this from the soil in which they live. But some, due to poor soil, don’t have the minerals needed to survive.

A few exceptional plants can still grow in these conditions because they get food a different way: by eating insects. The Venus flytrap is one of these plants, attracting insects with its bright red leaves and sweet nectar. When a bug brushes by the trigger hairs of the plant, the trap snaps shut in less than half a second.

To learn more about Venus flytraps –– and about everything from animals, to sports, to inventions, art, geography and much, much more, check out Kids InfoBits on the Newport Beach Public Library’s website here. It’s under Databases for Kids. Happy exploring!

700 hundred gummy bears?!

Did you know that the average kid’s brain weighs the same as 700 gummy bears? That cats have three eyelids? Did you know that the smallest bone in your body is smaller than a grain of rice? And that a lunar eclipse lasts about one hundred minutes? 

Check out the National Geographic Kids Almanac from the Newport Beach Public Library to learn amazing facts about EVERYTHING. You can read about animals, going green, different cultures, the world billions of years ago, and even about how the world will be in the future. There's also a game section. But best of all, it’s fun, it’s smart, and you can stump your parents with great questions along the way.

join us

Do you like to write? If so, why not enter to be a guest blogger for Kid News?! What's that mean, you ask? It means that you write approximately 100 words on an interesting topic of YOUR choice.

Simply send us an email to nbplfoundation@gmail.com (with your parents help/approval), and tell us (in 3-4 sentences) what you'd like to write about and why. It could be your favorite subject, hobby, animal, faraway place or better yet, something completely new to you that you'd like to research and learn more about.

Please send us your ideas by September 15 and we'll choose two great kid topics. Looking forward to hearing from you!

fun, fun and more fun

Games, games and more games. Have you checked out the kids’ game page of the Newport Beach Public Library website? If not, click on this link here to find games from Magic Paint to I Spy to Pauly’s Playhouse to Art Zone and LOTS in between. 

Sharpen your skills, be creative, learn to speak a foreigh language, get smart and most of all, have fun!

the gigantic giganotosaurus

The giganotosaurus was the LARGEST of the meat-eating dinosaurs weighing in at 8-10 tons (about the weight of FIVE cars). They lived 97 million years ago and were ferocious hunters with teeth like scissors that measured up to eight inches long (ouch). They were forty seven feet long, a few feet bigger than a T-Rex. Their six-foot long skull was as big as a man's body. 

In a battle against a T-Rex, the gigantosaurus would most likely have won. That's one FIERCE dinosaur. For more about dinosaurs (carnviores and herbivores), check out the children's section of the library -- packed full of books, DVDs and more on these enormous and prehistoric creatures.

the world, online

If you’ve ever wondered where aardvarks live, why some plants are carnivorous or what an aorta is, check out World Book Online for Kids. With games, activities, science projects and everything you’ve ever wanted to know about anything -- from sports to art to maps to animals to places to people -- it’s a fantastic treasure trove of information, all at your fingertips.

To get there, go to the library’s site here and it’s in the children’s section under databases for kids. Happy exploring!

flip over tumble books

If you love reading on your mom’s iPad, iPhone or computer, then Tumble Books is for you. What exactly are Tumble Books, you ask? Super fun eBooks -- just for kids.

Tumble Books are created by adding animation, sound, music and narration to existing picture books to produce an electronic picture book that you can read, or have read to you. Brilliant, we think.

So ask your parents to help connect you with Tumble Books on the library's website here. And then, happy reading!

(Parents please note: Tumble Books can be found on the library's website in the children's section under databases for kids, then click on Tumble Books. http://www.newportbeachlibrary.org/kids/database)

iceland & greenland

Which one has more ice: Iceland or Greenland?

Greenland is a part of Denmark and is the world's largest island that's not a continent. Iceland is filled with glaciers and lava fields; it's a volcanic island that most recently erupted in 2010, blowing ash high into the atmosphere and snarling European air traffic for weeks.

So back to our question of which one has more ice: the answer is Greenland. It’s 81% ice and is located closer to the north pole than Iceland. It’s pictured on the right above, the icy and cold-looking one. Iceland is the green one on the left.  A bit confusing, yes.

the unfortunate garbage patch

What is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It's an island made of TRASH. Itʼs all of our plastic garbage that has ended up in the ocean, half-way between California and Hawaii. The garbage patch is very bad because: 1) it's toxic and 2) it kills fish and marine birds and animals.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not your typical island but actually a “gyre” (rhymes with tire). It looks like an island from satellites but it's really millions of bits of plastic with water in between. The fish think it’s food and eat it and die and marine mammals choke on it. 

How can we fix it? By using and buying less plastic AND by recycling. 

To learn more, go to this National Geographic article on the subject. To learn what you can do to help PATCH THE PATCH and help keep the ocean from becoming a plastic soup, check out the Surfrider Foundation’s campaign called Rise Above Plastics here. And to learn more about oceans and protecting the earth, check out all the great resources in the kid’s section of the library.

Note: the photo above shows the location of the garbage patch, plastic bags in the ocean (not jellyfish!), and sushi made of plastic.  

exceptional kid artists

creative fingerprints

What to do with your summer days now that school is out? Well, aside from the beach and swim team and soccer camp and surf camp and vacations and READING, how about a fun art project? One we love has to do with fingerprints -- and since we ALL have those, please read on.

What you’ll need: 1) ink pads in different colors, 2) paper, 3) a pen to add details, 4) your very own fingerprints, and 5) imagination.

For more on this great craft, check out Ed Emberley’s book on fingerprint art at the library, or copy some of our samples above. Happy fingerprinting!

P.S. We’d LOVE to see what you come up with. If you want to send your creations to us, email them (scanned) or drop them off at the library. (E-mail: nbplfoundation@gmail.com or drop them off to the attention of Tracy Keys, Executive Director, Newport Beach Public Library Foundation).

mad about madagascar

Madagascar is an island off the coast of East Africa (it’s a movie too but more about that later). It's the fourth largest island in the world, about the size of California.  One of the most unique things about Madagascar is its red soil. Madagascar's economy is based primarily on farming with main crops including coffee, vanilla and sugar. Our favorite thing about Madagascar is the lemurs and their wild, striped tails and golden eyes. 

You’ve probably heard of Madagascar because of the movie with the same name. That’s one crazy world traveling lion-hippo-zebra-giraffe, don’t you think? 

For more about Madagascar, check out CultureGrams on the library’s website here. Happy exploring!

P.S. 1) The tree above is a baobab. 2) To get to CultureGrams, go to the library's website here, log in and you can find it under databases for kids. 3) Challenge question: what makes the soil in Madagascar so red? Answer in the comments section below!  

great gobs of jelly

The Lion’s Mane Jellyfish is the largest jellyfish in the world. They live in the arctic waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and can grow to a size of six and a half feet wide with tentacles that are almost 50 feet long. That's huge! They have hundreds of poisonous tentacles that they use to catch fish that pass by. The Lion’s Mane Jellyfish has been around since BEFORE the dinosaurs (more than 650 million years).

Coming in a close second in size is Nomura’s Jellyfish, which lives in the seas between Japan and China. Nomura’s Jellyfish can weigh up to 450 pounds and there are so many of them that they've become a real problem for Japanese fishermen -- especially when they get caught in their fishing nets.

A few fast jellyfish facts:

- Jellyfish have been around for MILLIONS of years

- Jellyfish have tiny stinging cells in their tentacles to stun or paralyze their prey before they eat them

- Jellyfish stings can be painful to humans and sometimes very dangerous. But jellyfish don't purposely attack humans; most stings occur when people accidentally touch them

- Jellyfish digest their food very quickly. They wouldn't be able to float if they had to carry big, undigested meals around. They eat fish, shrimp, crabs, tiny plants, and even other species of jellyfish

- Sea turtles LOVE to eat jellyfish

For more information on jellyfish (or other crazy sea creatures) check out the kid's section at the library!

enormous + heavy

Easter Island is in the South Pacific. It’s a part of a country called Chile. The island is famous for large-headed statues called Moai (pronounced mo-eye), created by the Rapanui people between the years 1250 and 1500. The Moai are made out of a type of rock that comes from compressed volcanic ash. Some of the statues are more than 30 feet tall and weigh more than 80 tons (that’s the weight of more than 50 cars!). It remains a mystery as to HOW the Rapanui people moved these enormous statues around the island.

Easter Island got its name from the Dutch explorer who discovered it on Easter Sunday in 1722 -- and not because a giant egg-delivering bunny lives there. Although maybe he does. What do you think?

get creative

the mudskipper

What's a mudskipper you ask? It's a fish out of water. Let us explain.  It's a fish that can live both in the water and out. They can walk on land and breathe the air. They use their fins like feet which enables them to dig, run, climb and even (as their name suggests), skip. Crazy. 

They live in mangroves and mudflats in tropical areas of the world. Oh, and not to be mean but, they're not so pretty. Check out this really cool video about mudskippers here. And for more on crazy animals, check out books and videos on the subject at the library. Bye for now!

the adventures of tintin

Most people know about Tintin, but just in case you don't, here's the skinny: he's a boy reporter turned detective who chases villains, criminals and treasures all over the world. And he always has his faithful friend Snowy (four legged and furry) by his side.

Tintin's super great adventures can be read in books and watched on DVD and Blu Ray -- and best of all, the Newport Beach Public Library has them all. Check them out!

the gecko

Geckos are small lizards found in warm climates throughout the world. There are more than 2,000 species worldwide.  Geckos come in many colors and patterns.  The really neat thing about geckos is that they have sticky footpads that allow them to climb up walls (like Spiderman). Super cool, we say.    

once in a blue moon

Most years have twelve full moons -- one per month. But about every two to three years, a year will have one extra full moon. This extra full moon is called a Blue Moon. And just to let you know, the moon isn't actually blue. We like the name anyway, don't you?

P.S. The next Blue Moon will be on August 21, 2013. Stay tuned.