Habla Espanol?

A staff member teaches a crowd of enthusiastic children basic Spanish speaking skills at the North Birmingham Library.

Umdabu @ Inglenook

After watching Lillie the Cow give her milk on Tuesday its already been a busy week at Inglenook, and the fun continues!!!! Please join us on Friday (07/11) at 10:30 for a performance by Umdabu.

Umdabu Comes to North Birmingham Library

Please join us Monday, July 14 at 4:00 p.m. Come and enjoy an afternoon of traditional and contemporary South African history and dance. For more information contact the Youth Services Department at 205-226-4025.

Crazy About Creepy Crawlies

Kids at North Birmingham Library had a great time getting "buggy" during show and tell provided by Shasha and David of Ruffner Mountain Nature Center. We learned about many of our six legged friends and the world they live in. Thanks Shasha and David for explaining to us that bugs can be our friends too!!

Shout Outs to New York and 95.7 JAMZ!!

On June 25, Ms. New York from the Buck Wild Morning Show presented North Birmingham Library with a story and fun door prizes. A big THANK YOU to New York and Aftan. Be sure to join us Wednesday, July 9 when 95.7 JAMZ return for our teen presentation. Big Ups to 95.7 JAMZ!!

Children's Book Review: Waiting for Wings (Baby - Preschool)

Lois Ehlert’s Waiting For Wings tells the life cycle of a butterfly through rhyme and illustration. Bright colors and whimsical drawings bring the energy and beauty of the garden alive.

“We watch them circle, land on their feet,
Unroll their tongues, and begin to eat.”

Children and adults will delight in the bright colors of the Monarch, Tiger Swallowtail as well as the Purple Coneflower, Marigolds and Zinnias. Red, orange, purple and yellow makes the garden vibrant and alive with color.

Eggs develop into caterpillars and later emerge into adult butterflies. We feel the beauty and urgency of the fluttering wings as they look for nectar. The life cycle continues.

“When it’s time, each case is torn-
wings unfold, new butterflies are born!”

Butterfly information and identification are included so you and your child can learn more about butterflies and flowers. Perhaps grow your own butterfly garden, so you too can observe the wonder and beauty of these spectacular fluttering creatures. Watch wings unfold and enter into a garden of color, movement and whimsy.

Children's Book Review: Giraffes Can't Dance (Ages 4 - 8)

Giles Andreae's Giraffes Can't Dance tells the story of Gerald, a clumsy, poorly coordinated giraffe who wants to dance so badly but simply cannot. All the other animals will be ready to shimmy and prance at the big annual jungle dance. Poor Gerald is just plain, well you know, awful is precisely the word. Or so the others say. Who listens to them anyway? You? Not me!

You know how things can change sometimes. One beautiful moonlit night, under a dramatically starry sky, a special someone helps Gerald’s dream come to life.

With a little rhino rock, baboon boogie, dramatic tango and sassy salsa, this book is sure to be a hit with the little ones. The lyrical story keeps rhythm with the lions, baboons, warthogs and rhinos as they dance, prance and leap across the page. Bright, colorful watercolor pictures are a delight and dancing animals are a treat you will not want to miss. You and your child will root for Gerald the whole way through. The rhythmic, beautiful tale proves the joy of finding and importance of listening to your inner song.

BPL@Night Cordially Invites You To the Ugly Bug Ball

Picture courtesy of children's illustrator Roberta Baird
In conjunction with the summer reading program, “Catch the Reading Bug,” BPL@Night is hosting the Children's Educational Theater as it presents The Ugly Bug Ball.

The Children's Educational Theater is an Alabama drama group dedicated to inspiring young people. They have devoted themselves by promoting and encouraging self-worth among children. Kimberly Sumerel, the executive director, founded Children’s Educational Theater in 1995, shortly after writing the award-winning play A Magical Pond. Ms. Sumeral and the theater group perform plays and events across the Southeast.

The Ugly Bug Ball is the story of Cinderella told from the perspective of insects. Bug Ella is the beautiful bug whose stepsisters, Centipede and Millipede, mistreat terribly. Bug Ella’s step-mother, Lady Tarantula, allows only her daughters to go to the Ugly Bug Ball but forces poor Bug Ella to stay at home. As fate would have it, things turn out well for Bug Ella, but not before some twists and turns in the story.

The Children's Educational Theater will use unique puppets and props to present this new twist on a well-known fairy tale. The Birmingham Public Library would like to extend an invitation to all parents and children for this exciting event.

For the schedule of summer reading programs, visit the Birmingham Public Library's Catch the Reading Bug Web page.

Event Information
Event: The Ugly Bug Ball presented by the Children's Educational Theater
Where: Arrington Auditorium at the Central Library
When: Tuesday, July 15
Time: 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Cost: Free

Light refreshments will be served.

BPL@Night is made possible, in part, by the Jefferson County Commission through the Jefferson County Community Arts Fund administered by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham, and by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

BPL thanks Compass Bank for its generous support of BPL@Night.