Enoch Pratt Free Library

Did you know that when you attend storytime with your child- including the ever popular Baby Steps Mother Goose storytime- you are exposing your child to skills that will get them ready for school? 

The key components that teachers look for include: responding physically to verbal clues, muscle development and coordination appropriate to the child’s age, knowing the correct name of body parts, and syllabic awareness.  All of these skills are hidden in the fun of storytime. 

At Roland Park we offer three storytimes a week; all are free and open to the public. So join us for storytime and get a step up on school readiness for your child! 

These are some of the books we read almost every week!

"Liberty," wrote Eric Blair under his famous pseudonym, George Orwell, "is telling people what they do not want to hear." Orwell lived during the first half of the twentieth century and is best known for his novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four, which warn that the growing power of modern governments, regardless of their ideology, threatens to obliterate such widely held ideals as love of family, tolerance toward others, and the right to make up one's own mind. Convinced that human decency and common sense were the basis of a just society, the author repeatedly found himself in conflict with the ideological mass movements of his time, ranging from capitalism to fascism and communism.

Excerpted from Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2010. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC

Celebrate his birthday by reading one of his classic novels or, perhaps, watching a film!

Morgan Freeman is a consummate theater and movie actor who has earned critical accolades for his many diverse roles, and won an Academy Award in 2005 for best actor in a supporting role in Million Dollar Baby. Stanley Mieses of Premiere praised the actor's "remarkable range," noting that he has appeared in "roles in vehicles so disparate in nature, and in such a variety of disciplines, that it's difficult to imagine the same man in all of them." New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael opened a review with the question "Is Morgan Freeman the greatest actor in America today?" and proceeded to conclude that he is. Those in his field have also recognized his talents. "When professionals talk range," a director told Ross Wetzsteon of New York, "the names you hear most often are Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, and Morgan Freeman. It's that indefinable quality only the greatest actors have.

Excerpted from  "Morgan Freeman." Newsmakers 1990, Issue 4. Gale Research, 1990.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010.

Celebrate actor, director, producer and humanitarian Edward James Olmos’ 63rd birthday!  Mr. Olmos received an Independent Spirit Award, as well as an Oscar nomination, for Stand and Deliver, the story of a Peruvian math teacher in Los Angelos whose students study for the challenging AP Calculus exam in addition to an Emmy win for Miami Vice and Golden Globes for Miami Vice  and  The Burning Season.

Mr. Olmos’ altruistic concerns have taken him to the troubled Chiapas region of Mexico in 1994; to Poland to monitor elections as one of three U.S. Ambassadors for the United Nations International Children's Educational Fund (UNICEF); and to his own backyard, taking to the streets of Los Angeles with a broom to help clean up the debris after the 1992 riots. He began devoting his time to motivational speaking in 1972, disseminating his urgent testimonials of discipline, education, and success to schools and even correctional institutions.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001579/

January 10th is National Cut Your Energy Costs Day.  It is a day to educate people on the ways they can stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer while saving money on their energy bills.  By following a few easy steps, home owners and renters can put a reasonable ceiling on their heating and cooling costs and stay comfortable.   www.cutyourenergycosts.com

Consider these books, as well as others, when looking for ways to conserve energy!

Celebrate Jacob Grimm's 225th birthday with a few of these wonderful stories!

In November 1782,  Joseph Micel Montgoleir and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier, brothers living in Annonay, France, experimented with filling paper and fabric bags with smoke and hot air, leading to the invention of the hot-air balloon, man's first flight and the entire science of flight and aviation.  Learn more about the history of aviation with these books!

October is the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' (ASPCA) National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month. 

If you're thinking of adding a furry family member, consider some of these books before heading to a nearby shelter!

http://www.aspca.org/adoption/adopt-a-shelter-dog-month/

http://mdspca.org/

http://www.baltimoreanimalshelter.org/

September is National Piano Month which recognizes America's most popular instrument and its more than 20 million players; it also encourages piano study by people of all ages.  It is sponsored by the National Piano Foundation (http://pianonet.com/).

Consider some of these piano titles on your next visit to the library.

Wondering how and when to begin saving and paying for college?  During national College Savings Month, let us suggest several books that can get you started, no matter your age or your children's.     

Everyone loves the fair--the cotton candy, the ferris wheel, the horses, the rabbits, the huge pumpkins, the Midway with games of skill and chance, the pies and cakes on display after the judging.  Everyone loves the fair! 

As a new school year gets under way, consider the resources the Roland Park Branch Library has to help parents and children navigate the educational waters successfully.  We have a wide variety of online resources, many accessible from home.  Simply go the Pratt's homepage, click on Databases, chose your topic and away you go!  (Be sure to have your library card handy; you'll need to submit your card number!)

And as always we have books...lots and lots of books.  And access to many more.  Consider these!