The King has left the building...

Dick King-Smith, popular British children’s book author, died on 4 January 2011 at the age of 88.

Who's Dick King-Smith? He's perhaps best remembered for the 1995 animated film, Babe that was nominated for seven academy awards, including best picture. It was based on Dick King-Smith's book, Babe - The Gallant Pig.

Before the film, many people probably loved pigs like they loved ham sandwiches. But the film, about an adorable pig who tries his best to be a sheep-dog or rather a sheep-pig, changed all that. For some time, many of my friends swore they'd never eat pork again.


Many of us grumble from time to time, "Oh I'd like to do _______ but I'm too old." But Dick King-Smith started writing his first book, The Fox Busters at 54. It was only published 2 years later. And he went on to write over 130 books, which have sold 15 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 12 languages.

Nowadays, one often hears the catchphrase that change is the only constant. Dick King-Smith is perhaps the epitome of one who adapted and adapted, and then found his niche. As someone who adored animals he went into farming after graduation. But his love of animals did not translate into good financial or business sense. So two decades later, he was forced to sell everything and give up his passion.

A few jobs later, he became a primary school teacher. He worked at it for seven years. It was during these seven years, in the school holidays that he found time to pen an idea he had for a children's story. And two years later, his first book was published. Eventually, he became a full-time writer.

Dick wrote mostly about animals and farmyard fantasy. He liked to write about pigs, his favourite animal. During the period of 1983-1988, Dick met a television producer and appeared regularly on television in “Rub-A-Dub-Tub”, “Pob’s Programme” and “Tumbledown Farm” and became very famous.

Dick was voted Children’s Author of the Year at the 1992 British Book Awards and was widely referred to as Roald Dahl’s successor in children’s literature. In 1995, he won the Red House Children’s Book Award for his book Harriet’s Hare.In 2010, Dick was recognized for his distinguished contributions to children’s literature and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Throughout his career, Dick loved writing for children, meeting the children who read his books, and knowing that they enjoyed his stories. Dick is survived by his second wife, his three children, 14 grandchildren, four great grandchildren and a great, great grandchild.

His books can be found in the public libraries at JS KIN and J KIN. To find out more about his life, read All about Dick King-Smith by Victoria Parker (Call number: J 823 PAR).

Is Reading Boring?

For parents who have not stepped into any of the public libraries for quite a number of years, perhaps it is time to step into the one nearest to your home.

Image: English Corner Publishing Pte Ltd.

Libraries nowadays have magazines and audio-visual items that are meant for children. For instance, you may want to pick up this magazine titled ‘The young scientists. Level 1’ that is published by Young Scientists Pte Ltd. Each issue of the children magazine contains short Science comic strips that appeal to children, thereby encouraging them to read the written contents. There are also nuggets of facts about Science stated at the bottom of most pages. This allows children to increase their knowledge about Science while they enjoy reading the Science comic strips.

If you wish to view a Young Scientist Level 1 Sample, refer to the links (via website of English Corner Publishing Pte Ltd) as follows:
Level 1 (Pri 1-2): englishcorner.sg/samples/young_scientists_level_1.pdf
Level 2 (Pri 3-4): englishcorner.sg/samples/young_scientists_level_2.pdf
Level 3 (Pri 5-6): englishcorner.sg/samples/young_scientists_level_3.pdf

Note: Links were last accessed on 15 Jan 2011.

Does it mean that there are no interesting books in the libraries?

Let us put it to a test.

Image: New York : Scholastic, c2010.

Hit the shelves and look for this rebus book titled “The peculiar pumpkin thief” written by Geronimo Stilton. In fact there are many more titles under the same series titled “Geronimo Stilton”. But wait … what are rebus books? Basically these are books which have pictures in place of some of the words. They can be fun for beginning readers to explore with little assistance.

That’s not all. What about reading books about superheroes? Yes, I am talking about fiction books, and not comic books. Your nearest library should have a couple of these children fiction titles about superheroes if you search the library catalogue using search term such as “Superheroes Fiction”. One example of fiction titles about superheroes is “The shrinking city” written by Michael Dahl.

Summary (“The shrinking city”)

Thirty years ago, Brainiac shrank the city of Kandor and sealed it inside an unbreakable glass container. The evil supercomputer is still exploring the universe, collecting cities from hundreds of planets. Superman must stop Brainiac from bottling up Metropolis, and then save Kandor the last remnant of his home planet, Krypton.

Image: Minneapolis, Minn. : Millbrook Press, c2008.

Last but not least, you may want to introduce your child to books about riddles and jokes. The book titled “The laugh stand : adventures in humor” (author: Brian P. Cleary) allows children to increase their vocabulary through plays on words. I personally like the chapters as follows: “Anagram Crackers” (pp.4); “Poetry of Notes” (pp.26); and “Use Your Headlines” (pp.40).

So why hesitate any longer? Bring your child to the library in your neighbourhood NOW and ask the librarian for some interesting reads!

Posted by Wei Meng.

p.s. Have a nice day. = )

Diorama Making Workshop @ Cheng San Public Library

Kids….they have bundles of energy and parents often have tough time to keep them entertained. Well, this is one thing that you might want to try with your kids …Diorama making

Cheng San Public Library had " Diorama Making Workshop" conducted by one of our volunteers, Ms Lea. I felt that this is one of the many interesting programmes that we can do with the young ones.

It's fun, easy to do, stimulates creativity, promotes development of some of the five senses and helps family to bond together.

Our diorama making was based on folklores/fairytales. One of the books that we have used was

Attack of the swordfish and other Singapore tales / text by Charlotte Lim which is available at many of our libraries.

These are the items that were used.

Shoebox, paint brushes, poster/acrylic paint, plasticine of various colors, coloured paper, markers and glue.

Take a look at these final products created by our very own participants. Really fantastic right? We, adults, didn't really have to help them much. We only provided them with the books and materials. This activity really let their creativity flow :)

March school holidays coming up soon! Keep any shoebox you have at home and start creating your own diorama.

Let's Party in the Library...

After weeks of publicity and anticipation by our faithful young followers, IT was finally here. On the 16th of October 2010, Bedok Public Library celebrated an "Out of This World!" Birthday Bash to commemorate our 25th anniversary for children aged 5-12 years old. By simply borrowing 6 items from our library between the period of 27 September-16 October2010 , the child could register him or herself at our Customer Service Counter to secure a place in the biggest party of the year at their fantastic neighborhood library. The one and only uniquely community library of the easternly shores, the Bedok Public Library!

On that Saturday, 30 children arrived bright and early at the opening hour of 10am, raring for the Mercury Room. Yi Fei and Lionel who were number 1 and 2 to turn up were greeted by the friendly children's librarian and told to help themselves to the mountain of candies of the table. Digging into the M&Ms, Mars Bars, and Lollipops was the start of a good day for the 2 young men. It also helped them to wait patiently for the rest of their peers to come in. Some other early birds were out of their minds with excitement as they waited for the rest of their friends to settle down, as they danced energetically to the tunes of Spice Girls early hits of the 90's. Children had to be told to "stop right now thank you very much" on more than a few occasions when the librarian wanted to commence the start of the games.

When the 30 kids had all gathered, the librarian explained the very first game, the Moon Rock Hunt! Hidden in several completely unexpected places of the Mercury Room were 12 alien creature eggs. These eggs which were wrapped in newspapers to protect them from the unknown harmful vapors emitted by this strange new planet Earth were seeking owners to bring them back home to be looked after and cared for. The pet aliens bore a faint resemblance to animals such as ducks and bees. The lucky children were thrilled to find them and they were stuffed into bulging pockets where they jiggled noisily.

The next activity was the modelling contest. The children were told that they could come dressed as any space creature, planet, or astronaut they wanted. And boy did some of us arrive to shock. Two of the competitiors who were a brother and sister pair led the pack with their carefully conceived get-up. The first to run the catwalk was the "female alien" who announced that her outfit was spontaneously created and the reason for using rubber gloves, a plastic bag, and frilly frills was as yet unknown. Her brother was second to make his debut down the runway. Dressed up as Darth Vader, he confessed a love for Star Wars and anything to do with the 'darkside'. It was a brave show and the children expressed their appreciation at being entertained when they clapped for their "chosen one"- the winner of the modelling show-Darth Vader! Behind them, I think I saw their father and wardrobe designer, choking back a tear, as "Darth" was presented with his prize, a jigsaw puzzle of Space Lightyear from your nearby Toys "R US". And moving on.. the kids were told to stand up! We were going to play 3 games which were so strenuous only the toughest could survive.

'Newspaper Twin' was up next. Each team consisted of 2 players who were told to dance by the side of their newspapers but get onto it when the music stopped. The catch? The piece of newspaper would be folded into half for every subsequent round. Everyone started off comfortably. However as the game progressed some "twins" could be seen to be creeping nearer to the sides of the room where a pillar was located. One group was disqualified for not only hiding behind the pillar but also holding onto it so as to keep their balance. The librarian-moi- made it increasingly difficult by taking away more than 1 newspaper as the game got closer to the finish. The collective round of groans and sighs reverbrated the room as I did so with pleasure. Nobody could have foreseen that the reigning champions of this game would be the brother and sister duo. There were some shouts of "How come they always win! No fair!" To which the librarian shouted back at the sore losers to "Try harder!" The prizes were 2 "clapping hands" which they could use to decorate their bedrooms with.

And then, it was the game of 'Musical Newspapers'. The objective was to make sure you landed onto a newspaper when the music ended as at each turn the librarian would take away 1 of the newspapers. Every player was alone in fighting for supremacy. The game started off with 18 newspapers and ended with only 1. It was quite a fierce fight but at last it was down to 4 boys and 2 newspapers. And then 2 boys and 1 newspaper. Boy in red who was slightly bigger dominated the scene and tuesday's edition of the classified ads as he positioned his body overarching the blameless newspaper. When the music stopped boy in red tumbled onto the newspaper and boy in green tumbled onto boy in red. The newspaper was discarded into the black garbage bag glad to begin its' third life as a recycled material and not a little traumatised by its' second run. Boy in red was presented with a set of spades and pail which he could use should he decide to make a day of the beach. This was followed by a short-break of cooling ribena.

After drinking their fill of the red beverage, the children were back in action and ready to rumble. It is interesting to note that at this point, the thirty or thirsty kids finished up 7.5 litres of the ribena I had concocted for them in the morning at the pantry with my bottle of syrup, cold water, and ice. I silently congratulated myself on making this ingenious drink saturated with sugars which the children not only enjoyed but that would revive their flagging spirits and add an extra bounce to each step they took and a higher decibel to every high-pitched excited squeal which would escape their lips.

They were ready to get down to business and the next game meant war for the prizes. Over the chaotic din, I told the kids to line up in 2 straight lines in front of me. In spite of arguments over who would be the leader and stand at the very front of the 2 lines, we eventually had our 2 team: "Smartie Team" and "Universe Team". In this relay race named the "Black Hole Toss" where each side had 9 players, the person who was at the front of the line at the moment, would have a small ball in hand. He was to run to the post 3 feet away where he/she had to move around it 3 times to disorientate himself. Then he would run to where the volunteer was holding a dartboard made out of velcros and take aim with the ball. After the instructions for the game was repeated only 3 times, the children were off! Some made the mistake of only passing the post while others forgot to take the ball back after shooting it at the dartboard. Players could only compete when they had that ball in hand. The two teams were neck to neck, but at the end only one emerged victoriously. The winning team was "Universe Team!" Their prize included a box of colorful erasers courtesy of Bedok Library which would enable them to work harder when they attempted their school homework.

At 11.00am sharp, the kids were ravenous from an hour long of running, screaming, and dancing. Hunger pangs were imminent. I announced the end of games and the start of the outerspace feast! Hot breaths pressed me on as I unravelled the delectable treats for the day. In dish number one were 60 fishballs from old chang kee. In dish number two were 32 pies from pie kia. These came in different types such as roast chicken, ham and cheese, and mushroom chicken pies. And in 4 boxes lay our sweetest treats for the day- 36 of our birthday cupcakes! On to the crown of 2 special cupcakes did I place my candles each bearing a different number of "2" and "5" respectively. As the lights went out and the whole room was cloaked in darkness, I could faintly make out the silhouettes of the children who although ragged with all the activites of that day, displayed a child-like wonder at the magnificence of several lines of cream-filled, rainbow icing topped cupcakes. At the cue of the librarian, the whole room sang in unison to that familiar song. I asked a small girl to help me blow out the 2 candles when we were done to which she obliged happily. A faceless voice in the background asked me if he could bring home the candles as well. Well, my reply was in the negative. Once more the light was turned on and the children, their parents, and myself tucked into the spread before us. It was a lovely afternoon to spend in the children's section of our library. This librarian was glad to see that every morsel of food disappear.

With stomaches contented, I asked the children who were still up for it, to take part in a dance-off. With my trusty Spice Girls CD which I had bought back in the days, I told the would-be contenders to get ready for it at the "stage" or empty space at the Neptune side of the room. After all that running about and movement, 5 children between the ages of 7-12 positioned themselves for the challenge. There were 4 boys and 1 girl who were to dance to 10 different Spice Girls' songs. As the DJ for this event, I could change a song mid-way if I wanted to surprise them. Nurin, who was one of the regular patrons of storytelling and stories & crafts' session, and extremely extroverted by nature, managed to conjure up different moves at every turn. I was impressed by her exuberance! The crowd agreed that she deserved to win for best dancing and I presented her with the prize, a classic doodle etch a sketch from Toys "R us".

With that our party for that day concluded. I can say that I enjoyed the party thoroughly. The beautiful thing about working with kids is that it takes so little to make them so happy. I in turn hope that years from now, when they grow up, they will still remember that day in the library.In a quiet nook, there are books, fun, imagination and excitement when you look close enough and know where to find it.

2011 and new beginnings

Isn't it wonderful how a new year ushers in the possibilities for fresh starts and new beginnings?

Well then, welcome to the all new J Librarians blog, y'all! You may be wondering what the letter "J" stands for. Jovial, you say? Jazzy? Jumpy? None of the above. Here in Singapore, J Librarians is a term coined to refer to Children's Librarians. Our work mostly involves working with children and promoting children's programmes and services in the library. 

I did a little googling (yes, we google) to see if the term is being used anywhere else in the world and my preliminary search did not surface any hits. So yes, you could say that we are unique and made here right in Sg.

We hope that the stories that we will be sharing with you along the way will be as delightful and beneficial to you as much as it will to us...and will get you coming back for more.

So here's to the new year and happy reading!

Posted by
Raihana (on behalf of the J Librarians)