“Playing with Story” workshop with Margaret Read MacDonald

Learn several lively audience-participation folktales and leave ready-to-tell. Plan a story time for the week following the workshop so you can put your new tales to use! The workshop will also include a brief discussion of the art of the folktale picture book and the path a folktale takes from traditional teller to published book. Bibliographies for more telling resources will be provided.

Dr. Margaret Read MacDonald is an internationally renowned and respected storyteller, folklorist, children’s librarian, and author of numerous essential story-telling books. Her workshops empower the beginning teller, quickly turning novices into eager tellers. For more information, visit: www.margaretreadmacdonald.com


Saturday, January 16, 2010 9:00 am – 4:00 pm Central Library, Greater Victoria Public Library (735 Broughton Street, Victoria, BC) Cost: IslandLink Member Libraries – no charge. All others: BCLA members - $30.00 per person, non-BCLA members - $40.00 per person.
Registration deadline: December 31, 2009



For more information, please call Katherine Anderson at 250-383-9409 or email kanderson@islandlink.bclibrary.ca

Sponsored by IslandLink Library Federation, British Columbia Library Association and Greater Victoria Public Library

Next Roundtable Meeting: Monday, January 18, 2010

Our next meeting will take place on Monday, January 18, 2010 at 7:30pm at the Nellie McClung Branch of the Greater Victoria Public Library. Our speaker will be Mike Deas.



Mike Deas is an Illustrator living and working in Victoria, British Columbia. Currently he is illustrating the graphic novel series Graphic Guide Adventures by Author Liam O’Donnell. His love for comics comes from an early age reading and drawing while growing up on Saltspring Island, British Columbia. 

Capilano Collage’s Commercial Animation Program in Vancouver helped Mike fine tune his drawing skills and imagination. Work as a concept artist, texture artist and art director in the video game industry took Mike to England and California. For More information visit him at www.deasillustration.com.

Great Books for the Children on Your List

Every year at this time, children’s staff at the Greater Victoria Public Library compile lists of recommended books in time for holiday shopping. Here are some of our favourites for 2009:

Children’s Picture Books

• The Bears We Know by Brenda Silsbe, illus. by Vlasta van Kampen (2009) CDN/BC
• The Big Elephant in the Room by Lane Smith (2009)
• Bradley McGogg: The Very Fine Frog by Time Beiser, illus. by Rachel Berman (2008) CDN/BC
• Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy, illus. by Polly Dunbar (2008)
• Chicken Little by Rebecca Emberley & Ed Emberley (2009)
• The Christmas Magic by Lauren Thompson, illus. by Jon J Muth (2009)
• Dogs Don’t Brush Their Teeth by Diane deGroat & Shelley Rotner (2009)
• Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld (2009)
• The Imaginary Garden by Andrew Larsen, illus. by Irene Luxbacher (2009) CDN
• It’s a Secret! by John Burningham (2009)
• The King’s Taster by Kennth Oppel, illus. by Steve Johnson & Lou Fancher (2009) CDN
• Lousy Rotten Stinkin’ Grapes by Margie Palatini, illus. by Barry Moser (2009)
• Molly and the Night Monster by Chris Wormell (2008)
• Mouse Was Mad by Linda Urban, illus. by Henry Cole (2009)
• Violet and Winston by Sonya Sones & Bennett Tramer, illus. by Chris Raschka (2009)
• Wombat Walkabout by Carol Diggory Shields, illus. by Sophie Blackall (2009)

Children’s Non Fiction

• Amelia Earhart: the Legend of the Lost Aviator by Shelley Tanaka (2008) CDN
• Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face And Other Poems: Some of the Best of Jack Prelutsky (2008)
• A Bear in War by Stephanie Innes & Harry Endrulat, illus. Brian Deines (2008) CDN
• Beverlie Manson's Fairies: a Celebration of the Seasons by Beverlie Manson (2008)
• The Bill Martin Jr. Big Book of Poetry edited by Bill Martin Jr. (2008)
• Button Up! : Wrinkled Rhymes by Alice Schertle (2009)
• Dr Frankenstein's Human Body Book: the Monstrous Truth About How Your Body Works by Richard Walker (2008)
• Eat it up!: Lip-Smacking Recipes for Kids by Elisabeth de Mariaffi (2009)
• FamilyFun Birthday Cakes: 50 Cute & Easy Party Treats edited by Deanna F. Cook and the experts at FamilyFun magazine (2003)
• FamilyFun Cookies for Christmas: 50 Cute & Quick Holiday Treats edited by Deanna F. Cook and the experts at FamilyFun magazine (2009)
• Dinosaurs Roar, Butterflies Soar! by Bob Barner (2009)
• Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian (2009)
• Face to Face with Gorillas by Michael Nichols with Elizabeth Carney(2009)
• Hansel and Gretel retold by Michael Morpurgo, illus. by Emma Chichester Clark (2008)
• Knucklehead : Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories of Growing Up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka (2008)
• Sleight of Hand by Joe Fullman (2008)
• Super-Duper Cupcakes: Kids Creations From the Cupcake Caboose by Elaine Cohen (2006)
• Robots by the editors of YES Mag (2008) CDN
• You are the First Kid on Mars by Patrick O’Brien (2009)

Children’s Fiction

For Younger Readers (5-8):

• Bad to the Bone (Down Girl and Sit series) by Lucy Nolan (2008)
• Dunderheads by Paul Fleischman ; illus. by David Roberts (2009)
• Horse Crazy (Silver Horse Switch series) by Alison Lester (2007)
• Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas by Cary Fagan (2009) CDN
• The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt by Megan McDonald (2009)
• Melonhead by Katy Kelly (2009)
• Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes by Kate DiCamillo (2009)
• Piper Reed: the Great Gypsy by Kimberly Willis Holt (2008)
• Uh oh, Cleo by Jessica Harper (2008)

For Intermediate Readers (9-12):

• A Christmas to Remember: Tales of Comfort and Joy (Dear Canada series) CDN
• Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko (2009)
• Alex and the Ironic Gentleman by Adrienne Kress (2007) CDN
• Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson (2008) CDN
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney (2009)
• Everything For a Dog by Ann Martin (2009)
• Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (2009)
• Faith, Hope, and Ivy June by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (2009)
• Graveyard of the Sea by Penny Draper (2008) CDN
• Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel in Words and Pictures by Brian Selznick (2007)
• Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman (2009)
• Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba by Margarita Engle (2009)
• Where the River Takes Me: The HBC Diary of Jenna Sinclair (Dear Canada series) by Julie Lawson (2009) Wild Girl by Patricia Reilly Giff (2009)
• Word Nerd by Susin Nielsen (2008) CDN

Teen Fiction

• Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen (2009)
• Another Kind of Cowboy by Susan Juby (2007) CDN
• Emily the Strange: the Lost Days by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner (2009)
• Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008) (followed by Catching Fire)
• If I Stay by Gayle Foreman (2009)
• King of the Screwups by E.L. Going (2009)
• Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (2006) (followed by Dead and Gone)
• The Lit Report by Sarah Harvey (2008) CDN
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (2008)
• Q&A by Vikas Swarup (2005)
• Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (2008)
• A Thousand Shades of Blue by Robin Stevenson (2008) CDN
• Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (2007) (followed by Fragile Eternity)
• Wounded by Eric Walters (2009) CDN