Scrap-Cracklings #12

In honor of the Portland Rose Festival, let's talk about roses. Oh, stop it. Roses can too be interesting. 85% of America says their favorite flower is the rose.
Did you know the world's largest rose bush is in Tombstone, Arizona? It was planted in 1885. It's so big that the base of it measures six feet in diameter and 150 people could stand under it at the same time.

The oldest rose bush can be found in Hildesheim, Germany. It is believed to be 1,000 years old! The cool thing about that rose is even though the cathedral it grew upon was destoyed in 1945 by an allied bomb, after the rubble was cleared, it began to grow again.
Roses are the universal symbol of love, friendship, success, and peace.

Scrap-Cracklings #11

It's Limerick Day!

It's Mother's Day!

Maybe it should be 'Write Your Mother a Limerick' Day!

A limerick is a humorous poem that has five lines. The first, second and fifth line must have seven to ten syllables and rhyme. The third and fourth lines only need five to seven syllables and must also rhyme. AABBA might be a helpful mnemonic for the format.

 

The great Edward Lear was the rock star of limericks in his day, and is still known more for his irreverent poetry than his landscape paintings. He is most known for the Owl and the Pussycat.

You've probably heard hundreds of limericks in your life. Nursery Rhymes are often limericks. Wait a second! Mother Goose wrote many nursery rhymes!

So if today is Limerick Day and Mother's Day; and nursery rhymes, which are often limericks were written by Mother Goose; maybe a more fitting term for today should be Mother Goose Day.

 

Scrap-Cracklings #10

What do you get when you cross a musical group with a performance-art bent and Rube Goldberg?
You get an amazing performance piece that begs to be watched over and over again.

OK Go
This Too Shall Pass


Enjoy!

ORCA Votes are in!

The votes have been counted state wide and Oregon kids have selected winners for each division of the Oregon Readers Choice Award! We're especially excited to see two graphic novels on the list:

Junior (Upper Elementary) Division:

In this innovative graphic novel by Jason Shiga, readers make choices and follow the paths to over 3,800 possible outcomes. Amazing!










Intermediate (Middle School) Division:

Smile by Raina Telgemeier is a graphic memoir depicting some of the dental trauma Raina experience in her middle school years. It'll make you cringe AND make you laugh.









Senior (High School) Division: 

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare is the steampunk prequel of City of Bones, which is coming soon to a theater near you. Find out more about the origin of the mysterious group of shadow hunters that protect humanity of demons of all stripes.

Scrap-Cracklings #9

What the world needs now is for someone to find googly eyes in an unexpected place.

"But I don't have any googly eyes at the ready," you say? Well if you click here, Phil Hansen, of the Tattoo a Banana fame, has created a googly eye .pdf just for you.
No excuses! Googly eye things until your heart's content.

Scrap-Cracklings #8

 

Did you know there is a giant patch of garbage practically in our own backyard? Garbage made by humans and mostly for a one time consumption. One time!?! And when I say giant, I'm talking TWICE the size of Texas!
It's called the Pacific Northwest Garbage Gyre.

Since moving to Mars isn't an option yet, let's take care of planet Earth!
Today is the day before Earth Day. But really, every day should be Earth Day. What better way to celebrate the earth every day than to make a pledge to create less garbage. Not just recycle, but opt out of making it in the first place. You might be saying, "How do I do that? Everything comes wrapped in plastic!" Well, Bea Johnson at Zero Waste Home found lots of ways to refuse packaging and buy products with low-impact on the planet and you can too!
Think about it this way.What would you rather paddle through? This:

Or this?

Scrap-Cracklings #7

At the library we love to organize. Just look at our collections. Some are arranged by author and some are arranged by number. We organize to find things. But sometimes it's fun to just organize stuff so that it's art in itself.
Here is an interesting perspective on organizing stuff.

Scrap-Cracklings #6

Let's make it rain in the house!
You will need:

Clear container. Can be a drinking glass, clear plastic cup, or a clear glass jar.
Shaving cream.
Blue food coloring

Fill the glass with water
Spray some shaving cream on top
Explain that when a cloud gets really heavy, it starts to rain.
Drip the blue food coloring on top of the shaving cream.
Did it work?
Share the results with your friendly YS librarian and receive a small but delicious prize!

Photo courtesy of Pinterest