Welcome to Youth Services

. . . Check out the new Teen Scene web page!

Youth Services is designed to meet the needs of young people from toddler age through junior high. In addition to a growing book collection for this age group, the library offers an excellent assortment of children's magazines, recordings, filmstrips and videos.

Regularly scheduled programming includes "Toddler Time" (stories, songs and fingerlings for children three years old and under), "Preschool Story Time" (slightly longer and more advanced for older preschoolers), and reading programs meant to encourage reading for pleasure.

The Young Adult collection has materials geared toward ages 13 to 17 and is located in the Youth Services area on the first floor. There is a comfortable place for teens to hang out to study or read.

Also, the library has collected together some Internet tips for kids, as well as Internet resources for parents and teachers. In addition, we have put together a list of World Wide Web book selection tools to help parents, teachers and kids find good books for kids to read. You may also want to check out the American Library Association's "Great Web Sites for Kids," which contains lots of links to educational and fun Internet sites for kids. Feel free to take a look if you are interested.

Need a good book to pass the time away? We can help you find one! Check out one of the newest databases on our Online Databases page -- Novelist K-8 to find fiction for kids in kindergarten through 8th grade. You may also want to check out the library's Internet links for bibliophiles or use the resources in the Reader's Corner for still more good reads.

Check out Reading Rants -- Out of the Ordinary Teen Booklists for some good suggestions -- or take a look at the Children's Literature Web Guide, where you'll find lots of information and resources about reading.


One World Many Stories
Summer Reading Program

It soon will be time again for the annual Summer Reading Program for kids which runs each year from June 1st until July 31st. Our official 2011 Summer Reading Kickoff Party will be held at ALL Fort Smith Public Library locations from Noon until 5:00p.m. on Saturday, June 4th. One World Many Stories is this year's children's theme and You Are Here is this year's teen's theme. (For all you grown-up kids, our Adult Summer Reading Program's theme will be Novel Destinations.) For more information, check out our Events Page. You Are Here

The summer reading program is designed to encourage reading for pleasure; it will help young people who are able to read independently retain the valuable reading skills they developed over this past school year. Preschool children too young to read may also participate and will receive credit for the books read to them. Small rewards will be given to each child for reaching specific goals.

Registration will begin again on June 1st at all four Fort Smith Public Library locations. More information will be coming soon.

For more information, please call (479)783-0229.


Story and Toddler Time

Bouncy Tigger GIF
Storytime at Windsor Drive Branch Library is held on Mondays at 10:00a.m.
Toddler Time is held Tuesdays from 10:00 - 10:45a.m. in the Children's Department at the Main Library
Storytime at Miller Branch Library is held on Tuesdays from 2:00 - 2:45p.m.
Storytime at Dallas Branch Library is held on Wednesdays at 10:30am
Storytime at the Main Library is held on Thursdays from 10:00 - 11:00am

Award Winning Books
Newbery Medal Caldecott Medal

The movies have "Oscar," Broadway its "Tony," and the recording industry has the "Grammy," but in the field of children's literature no awards are more prestigious than the Newbery and Caldecott awards. The 2011 awards were given to the children's books published in 2010 that were judged the most distinguished. Often, additional books are designated as Newbery and Caldecott "Honor" Awards.

In addition to these awards for wonderful books for children, the American Library Association also sponsors the Coretta Scott King Awards and and the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Awards for New Talent, for books which promote an understanding and appreciation of the "American Dream". Since 2000, ALA's Young Adult Division has awarded its Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature for young adults.

For more information about the history and mission of these other ALA children's book awards, as well as previous winners, visit the Awards Page for the Association for Library Service to Children.

Moon Over Manifest

2011 Newbery Awards

Moon Over Manifest, written by Clare Vanderpool (Delacorte Press/Random House), won the 2011 Newbery Award for most distinguished children's book published in 2010 and written by an American. The Fort Smith Public Library was honored to have author Clare Vanderpool come to visit and talk about her Newbery Award-winning book in May of this year.

2011 Newbery Honor Award books include Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm; Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus; Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen; and One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia.

A Sick Day for Amos McGee

2011 Caldecott Awards

A Sick Day for Amos McGee illustrated by Erin E. Stead and written by Philip C. Stead is the winner of the 2011 Caldcott Award for most distinguished American picture book written for children.

2011 Caldecott Honor Award went to illustrators Bryan Collier for Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, written by Laban Carrick Hill, and to David Ezra Stein for illustrating and writing Interrupting Chicken.

2011 Coretta Scott King Awards

One Crazy Summer Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave The Coretta Scott King Awards honor African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults. This year the Coretta Scott King Author Award goes to Rita Williams-Garcia for One Crazy Summer.

Laban Carrick Hill won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave.

Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books include Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers, Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes, and Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri and illustrated by Randy DuBurke. Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix, illustrated by Javaka Steptoe and written by Gary Golio was a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book.

The 2011 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award was presented to Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon for Zora and Me and to Sonia Lynn Sadler (illustrator) and Jen Cullerton Johnson (author) for Seeds of Change.

Ship Breaker

2011 Michael L. Printz Awards
for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction

The Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature for young adults was given to Paolo Bacigalupi for Ship Breaker.

Four Printz Honor Awards were given this year to: Stolen by Lucy Christopher; Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King; Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick; and Nothing by Janne Teller.


2011 Pura Belpré Awards

The Dreamer Grandma's Gift The Pura Belpré Author Award is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. The award for 2011 goes to Pam Muñoz Ryan for The Dreamer, illustrated by Perter Sis.

The Pura Belpré Illustrator Award goes to Grandma's Gift illustrated and written by Eric Velasquez.

The 2011 Pura Belpré Author Honor Books are Ole! Flamenco written and illustrated by George Ancona; The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba by Margarita Engle; and 90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Flores-Galbis. 2011 Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Books are Fiesta Babies illustrated by Amy Cordova and written by Carmen Tafolia; Me, Frida, illustrated by David Diaz and written by Amy Novesky; and Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin, illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh.

Two Bobbies Help Me Mr. Mutt

2011 Arkansas Diamond Primary Award Winners

The Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award began in 1998 to encourage reading for students in Grades K-3. Winners are selected by the votes of Arkansas students (grades K-3) who have read at least three of the titles from the annual reading list. It is announced at the Arkansas Library Association Conference in the autumn.

The 2011 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award was given to Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival, written by Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery and illustrated by Jean Cassels. The 2011 Arkansas Diamond Primary Honor Book was Help Me, Mr Mutt!: Expert Answers for Dogs with People Problems, written by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel and illustrated by Janet Stevens.

Swindle Lost and Found

2011 Arkansas Diamond Primary Award Winners

The Charlie May Simon Award for children's literature has been presented annually since 1971 to an author whose book has been selected by votes of Arkansas school children in grades 4-6. The purpose of this award is to promote better reading for children and to recognize Mrs. John Gould Fletcher, an outstanding Arkansas author who wrote under the pen name, Charlie May Simon.

The 2011 Charlie May Simon Award was given to Swindle by Gordon Korman. The 2011 Charlie May Simon Honor Book was Lost and Found by Andrew Clements.

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This Page Last updated: 2 June 2011
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