Take Home Some Water Cinema

Wisconsin's Water Library has a large collection of DVDs on water related topics.  With a wide range of subjects, such as environmental advocacy, recycling, drinking water, the Great Lakes, oceans, shipwrecks, invasive species, and weather extremes, you're certain to find something that interests you.

So all are encouraged to check out a selection this summer!  

Browse the library catalog listings for all the DVD's in Wisconsin's Water Library's collection.

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out these DVD's or any other item, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books or DVD's through the Library Catalog.

Celebrating Arnold Lobel

Arnold Lobel

Today, May 22nd is children's author and illustrator Arnold Lobel's birthday and we choose to recognize his tremendous gifts and contributions, particularly his poignant short stories involving fast friends Frog and Toad.   Their tales highlight the magic of true friendship while they together search for a lost button, eat too many cookies, share stories, go for a swim, and enjoy countless other adventures.  Throughout these stories, the more friendly and adventurous Frog discovers ways to engage the more irritable and serious Toad.  The successful way Lobel's stories highlight the capacity for friends to support, inspire, and build lasting friendships continues to resonate with readers of all ages.

In addition to authoring and illustrating his own books, Lobel illustrated the stories of countless other children's authors including works by Millicent E. Selsam, Jack Prelutsky, and Nathaniel Benchley.  Lobel's book Fables won the 1981 Caldecott Medal recognizing the year's best-illustrated U.S. picture book.

Cover of Lobel's first book circa 1970

The Water Library has a selection of Lobel's Frog and Toad books and audiobooks for check out.
Frog and Toad are Friends (1970)
Frog and Toad Together (1972)
Frog and Toad Audio Collection
This includes the stories Frog and Toad are Friends,  Frog and Toad All Year, Frog and Toad Together, and Days with Frog and Toad all read by the author.
The Frogs and Toads All Sang (2009)
A collection of ten short stories in rhyme featuring frogs, toads, and polliwogs, colored by his daughter Adrianne.

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog.

Book Review: Boat Ride With Lillian Two Blossom

During our story time visits with the children at the Neenk Chungra Head Start program located within the Ho-Chunk Nation we have striven to include more Native American stories. On a recent outreach trip, we were able to share Patricia Polacco's wonderful  Boat Ride with Lillian Two Blossom. 

The story begins as a young boy named Will tries has hand at fishing and his sister Mabel begins asking him where the sun, wind, and rain all come from. Suddenly an elderly woman appears an promises to answer the girl's questions if she can be taken out on their boat for a ride.  What follows is a fantastical journey as they are swept up into the sky, and the woman, Lillian Two Blossom, keeps her promise and reveals the mythic sources of sun, wind, rain, and night.

The book is beautifully illustrated, full of vibrant colors, and was a real treat to share with the Neenk Chungra Head Start children.  Please consider checking it out and including it in your next story time!

If you are a Wisconsin resident and would like to check out this or any other book, please fill out our book request form. If you are a UW student, faculty or staff, please request books through the Library Catalog.

How About Building a Natural Pool?

 

Spring weather's arrival has gotten us thinking about outdoor swimming and trips to the lake, dips in the stream, or laps at the pool.  This short video (4:04) presents clear instructions on how one could build another option at home - a natural pool.  Using plants and animals to condition the water instead of chemicals, and inexpensive, readily available building products, these self sustaining wonders can be constructed at a fraction of the cost without the need for contractors and advanced engineering.  

What a great addition to your backyard! 

2013 WAPL Conference

The Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries Annual Conference is being held May 1-3 in Lake Geneva, WI.  Water Library staff will be in attendance as we attend program sessions and hear lectures following this year's theme of "5o Shades of Libraries".  Always interested in expanding our potential to provide programs of interest to public librarians throughout Wisconsin, this opportunity to meet other area librarians, discuss topics of mutual interest, and find inspiration is definitely welcomed.

For a complete listing of scheduled programs during WAPL 2013 visit here