Books to Read While Physically Distancing: El Deafo by Cece Bell

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet!

Books to Read While Physically Distancing (BtRWPD) will focus on books available for checkout through Libby.


El Deafo
by Cece Bell
New York: Amulet Books, 2014

Based on the author's own experience, the main character loses her hearing at age four due to illness. She struggles to connect with her classmates and make friends while wearing bulky hearing aids with long cords (it's the 70s). In her imagination, she's 'El Deafo' and has superpowers, but these don't quite transfer over to the real world.

I found this graphic novel for older elementary kids an enjoyable evening's read. The art style works well on a Kindle, and the story absolutely rings true for the trials and tribulations of elementary school friendships. The addition of such a noticeable difference like large hearing aids makes fitting in all the more difficult.

Physical Distancing STEM Break with Ms. Meghan: Party with the Pandas

Hey everyone! How are we doing?

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet!

I'll be pairing up Libby books for GPL patrons with STEM activities, live webcams, educational programs, and citizen science projects. Are we ready to

Party with the Pandas!

Giant pandas are only found in China. In 2016 they were upgraded from 'endangered' to 'vulnerable', thanks to decades of conservation efforts.

Read:

There are a number of books on pandas that you can borrow from Libby, including The Great Panda Tale by Laura Buller, ASTOUNDING! Asian Animals by Lisa Kurkov, and A Perfect Time for Pandas by Mary Pope Osborne.

Watch:
All the giant pandas in the world belong to China, and only a few zoos in the United States have them. The National Zoo in Washington D.C. and the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee have webcams set up so you can watch the pandas in their habitats. The pandas may not be visible all the time, and may not be outside depending on the weather. The San Diego Zoo in California sent their pandas back to China last year, but you can watch archived footage here (and be guaranteed to see some panda cuteness).

Observe:
Even though they're bears, giant pandas eat bamboo, a type of grass, almost exclusively. It's not very nutritious, so they have to eat a lot of it. They also sleep a lot, since it doesn't provide them with much energy. Can you be a panda researcher and figure out what a panda does with its day? Write 'eat', 'sleep','walk', 'play', and 'other' on a piece of paper, with space next to each word to make marks. Find a panda on one of the panda cams. Have an adult help you set a timer for 20 seconds, or count 20 Mississippi's. Every 20 seconds, mark down what your panda is doing, right at that moment. Pretty soon, you should start to get an idea of how pandas spend their day. Congratulations! You just made an ethogram! Ethograms help biologists and animal keepers learn about animal behaviors.
You can also watch your pets at home, to see how they spend their time.

Everyone's Awake

Everyone's Awake
by Colin Meloy, illustrated by Shawn Harris
San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2020

My brother's staged a coup d' état
and overthrown the state
while my sister's joined the résistance
(they never got on great). 

The lead singer and songwriter of the Decemberists has produced a wonderfully silly book about a family that just won't go to sleep. The narrator is in bed, ready to doze off, when they hear the rest of their family up and about. What starts out with Grandma doing needlepoint and Dad baking swiftly progresses into delightful rhyming mayhem as the whole family (alive and dead) gets involved. The printed illustrations are fantastic, and there is so much to see on every page (when did the frogs start showing up?).  Highly recommended, and will make a fantastic book to read out loud. 

The Society of Distinguished Lemmings

The Society of Distinguished Lemmings
by Julie Colombet
Atlanta: Peachtree, 2020 

The Society of Distinguished Lemmings has many rules. Always act in a distinguished manner. No climbing. No mud. No questioning the rules. Bertie the lemming has had enough and goes outside where he meets a bear. The bear doesn't know about the rules, and Bertie finds that he likes climbing and mud and other undistinguished things. When the other lemmings meet the bear, they try to make him follow the rules. Can the bear ever be distinguished?  Does he need to be?

This delightfully illustrated book is filled with characters and side conversations that will have you re-reading pages and checking for details (and hats). It focuses on the message that you can be distinguished in any way you choose.

Ron's Big Mission

Ron's Big Mission
by Rose Blue and Corinne J. Naden, illustrated by Don Tate
New York City: Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2009

 Nine year old Ron McNair loves reading about airplanes and is the best patron at the library in Lake City, South Carolina. One day in 1959, he decides that he wants to check out the books and read them at home, not just at the library. But only white patrons are allowed to have library cards. Ron is determined to get a card.


This is the inspiring true story of a young boy who would eventually go on to become a pilot, scientist, and Challenger astronaut. Based on interviews with Ron's mother, this wonderfully illustrated book comes highly recommended. 

Miriam at the River

Miriam at the River
by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Khoa Le
Minneapolis: Kar-Ben Publishing, 2020

Seven year old Miriam takes a basket holding her baby brother down to the reeds and rushes of the Nile. With a kiss, she sends him out into the river. She has seen and dreamed what will happen next: the Pharaoh's daughter pulling him from the water and raising him as her own. One day her brother will return.

This is the beginning of the story of Moses, as told by his big sister. Jane Yolen is rightly called the Hans Christian Anderson of America and her writing shines here. This book glows in blue and terracotta illustrations by Khoa Le. I highly recommend it.

Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera

Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera
by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann
New York: Neal Porter Books, 2020

Honeybee follows 'Apis', beginning with her chewing her way out of a wax cell 'and into a teeming, trembling flurry. Hummmmm!' We see how she interacts with her sisters, and works seven different jobs in the hive. Gathering nectar is only the last stage in her life. She also cleans the hive, takes care of the larvae and the queen, and more. In her short life, she'll fly 500 miles and visit 30,000 flowers.  

This wonderful book is illustrated with superb oil paintings detailing all aspects of honeybee life. While Apis is personalized, she is never anthropomorphized, and is, in fact, a real honeybee. This is one of the best books I've read so far this year, and is definitely recommended for anyone looking to learn more about such an important creature.