The library system is now offering Tumblebooks, an animated, online collection of talking e-books for children.

The online TumbleBooks are created from existing picture books published by children’s book authors and converted into the TumbleBook format. There are over 130 TumbleBooks available from the library system’s Web site, and more books being added daily.

The collection includes animated books, language learning books in Spanish and French, audio books, educational games, quizzes, and book report outlines, Read More…

To Dana Steele books and the knowledge they hold are the key to contentment. But now that search for knowledge must include the second key needed to release three souls held captive by an evil god.

She won’t be alone, for she’s formed fast frienships with two very different women. She can’t allow herself to be distracted by the return of the man who broke her heart so long ago, for a danger beyond anyone’s imagination is determined to keep her from completing her quest.
Key of Knowledge can be found in the Romance Audio Books Category and, funnily enough it can also be found in the Horror and Suspense Category.

In fact, Smith had an interest in writing about Brooklyn apart from the book. She wrote commentary in the New York Times Magazine which included an essay “Why Brooklyn is that Way.” She became Brooklyn’s unofficial advocate, explaining that Brooklyn was like a small town that New Yorkers were trying to reject.

Indeed, the strong sense of place in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn suggests that she knew the charms and lasting benefits that came with living in a small neighborhood community. One could even say that the title reveals the importance Smith attaches to place.
After all, the novel is the story of Francie Nolan; it might have been titled after the heroine. It seems Smith would rather have her first priority be to represent time and place, and her second priority to create a character out of that setting.
Read entire extract at Sparknotes.

More about A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Tales of the past make up Cold Sassy Tree, and Burns models these tales on stories from her own life. Although Cold Sassy Tree is not a biographical account of Burns’s own family, Burns draws upon the colorful history and idiosyncrasies of her father and his family to evoke Georgia at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Read the full extract at Sparknotes.
More about Cold Sassy Tree which is now available in audio books format.

The most influential writer in all of English literature, William Shakespeare was born in 1564 to a -successful middle-class glove-maker in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Shakespeare attended grammar school, but his formal education proceeded no further. In 1582 he married an older woman, Anne Hathaway, and had three children with her. Around 1590 he left his family behind and traveled to London to work as an actor and playwright. Public and critical success quickly followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the most popular playwright in England and part-owner of the Globe Theate.
Author of King Lear…
Read more at Sparknotes.

The audios eliminate the frustration struggling readers experience with decoding, thus allowing them to focus on understanding a story. Many children use audiobooks to help them learn to read by following along in their book with the audio. They also provide opportunities to launch discussions between you and your child about what’s happening in a story, what will happen next, and how it connects to your own lives.

Brent M. Cooper, licensed educational psychologist, has a private practice and is the director of El Paseo Children’s Center for Psychological & Educational Assessment. He evaluates individuals for learning disabilities, attention deficits, and autism. Brent Cooper is also a school psychologist for CVUSD. If you have a question you’d like to see answered in this column, call 342-4900 or e-mail brent@helpmykid.us or visit www.helpmykid.us