Happy New Year from Bibliopolis!

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Happy 2016! Oh-my-lanta, I didn’t realize it’s been almost a month since I posted last. I committed one of the biggest blogging no-no’s, so I suppose that puts me out of the running for the best church library blog award. Actually, Bibliopolis went dark off-line as well, since we ended 2015 with a certain Acts 2 virus in every college town.

But we’re back! For all the parents at Gracepoint Berkeley church, we have an updated Spring 2016 schedule for our after-school times, so please be sure to check if you haven’t already.

It was great to introduce a lot of our friends from various Gracepoint church plants to Bibliopolis at the end of the year. To make up for the dearth of cute kid posts, I give you a couple of good ones to start off 2016. 🙂

Ellie from Gracepoint Riverside church and Anna from Gracepoint San Diego church testing out the Bibliopolis rocking chair.

Ellie is adding to Gracepoint Riverside’s lead in the very unofficial “How Many Times Can We Be Featured on the Biblio-blog?” competition. And Anna’a appearance means Gracepoint San Diego is in it…to win it, perhaps? We’ll see…stay tuned.

We’ll end with the ones who came the furthest. That’s right, the stars of the Peng Family Reading video are back!

The kiddos had a blast hanging out, having Bibliopolis all to themselves for awhile. Listen to Isaac reading Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krause Rosenthal in Chinese! It looks bad that I’m scrolling through Flickr while the kiddos are reading, but I was leaving them to explore…yeah, that’s it!

Shameless call for content: If you have any photos or videos of goings on in Bibliopolis or other literacy practices during Auxano or winter break visits to Berkeley, please send them my way! 

Books as Gifts: Easier Said Than Done

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The most popular question I get from people at Gracepoint Berkeley church, and our church plants, is about a recommended reading list. And even more so, since it is Christmas time, and people are trying to buy gifts for nieces, nephews, cousins, and other friends and relatives.

But are you surprised by the title of my post? The reason is because it’s really hard to know if the person 1) already has the book, or 2) will like the book! So this requires you to know the person’s reading tastes and history fairly well. In fact, I have gotten several book donations to Bibliopolis from patrons who received books they already had as gifts from relatives, as well as books they received that they didn’t like.

Another thing to consider is that other people might get the same book for your friend/relative. How many of you received several copies of The Return of the Prodigal Son for your baptism? 🙂 An amazing book, but you end up with multiple copies that you feel like you can’t give away, because people have written personal notes at the front of the book!

So if you are positive person X wants a certain book because it’s on their wish list, or her mom told you, then go for it! If you’re not sure what to get for person X, but you know they don’t read all that much, so you’re pretty sure anything you buy will be new to them, then maybe you’ll find my recommended reading list as a useful starting point. I’d been working on a list, but realized it’s never going to be “ready” or finished. It is going to be forever in progress, so I decided to just share what I have so far. I invite you to help me add to it as well.

If you’re not sure what to get your person X who is an avid reader, or who has very particular reading tastes, then I really do think a gift card to a local book store, or online book seller is ok! Of course with a card from the big-A, you can’t prevent person X from buying toys or a juicer, but one can hope!

 

Do you buy books for people? Do you have go-to books you gift? Any favorite books you received? Or stories about bad book gifts? 🙂

Reading Snapshots: Car Reading Edition

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Not to be outdone by little Juliet, 10-month old Hudson’s getting into the game! He wins for the youngest reader featured thus far, and I think Gracepoint Riverside church is throwing its hat in the ring for the “most pictures featuring kiddos reading” award.

 

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Awards aside, books are a great way for kiddos of all ages to make use of time during car rides short or long. Nowadays many cars have screens so you can watch movies while on the road, but so long as you don’t get carsick, how about read a book instead? And if you do get carsick, or want some family time, how about listening to an audiobook together? I’ve heard from different kiddos that they loved listening to The Chronicles of Narnia or other books with their families. And it’s not just for kiddos! In fact, this past weekend, I listened to A Little Princess with Sarah, Elise, Michelle, and Kristen on the way up from LA.

Do you have any road trip reading memories? Did you listen to any audiobooks driving to and from Thanksgiving destinations? Creativity, Inc, perhaps? 🙂