Summer Reading Finale

The kids read, they weighed-in and they voted. They got exactly what they wanted. A totally ninja-themed end-of-summer party.

For some reason, I had imagined that hosting a ninja party would be a cinch. I'd planned on hitting the 99 cent store or perhaps a party goods store, going straight to the "ninja" aisle, and picking out a bunch of decorations to purchase with a donation from the library Friends' group. Alas, it was not to be so. I went to at least four different stores, and found absolutely nothing. Well, ninjas are supposed to be stealthy... I did find quite a lot of pirate decorations, though. I found Spongebob Squarepants dressed as a pirate, Mickey Mouse dressed as a pirate, sports pirates, sea pirates, party pirates. Pirates, apparently, do not lie low.

In the end I lit upon a far cheaper option than purchasing decorations... I printed out some ninja pictures from the internet and hung them up. I added some red and black crepe paper we had lying around. I think the black was left over from a black and orange set from Halloween, and the red came from a former Valentine's Day celebration.

I printed out the large ninja on the left using the rasterbator site. It creates an enlarged multi-page version of whichever image you upload. I created the flag of Japan by using an old poster. First, I hung it up with the plain back of the poster showing. Then I added a red construction paper circle. Easy.

We had the favorite food of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: pizza. And I handed out free paperback books (donated by the publisher) to all the kids who participated in the Read-a-Ton challenge this year.

I can hardly believe this was all only a week or so ago. The start of the school year is just around the corner. And! I'm now at a different branch! (but more about that in a later post...)

(My thanks to 100 Scope Notes for pointing me to bitstrips.com for the cartoon image. It really is easy, and very fun to do)

Pirates vs. Ninjas, Part III

During our most recent weekly Summer Reading Club meeting, I set our regulars to work on a puppet-making project.

For the pirates, we used this paper-bag project. I had some teen volunteers help me pre-cut the beards and mustaches. What I didn't expect was that most of the kids in our Summer Reading Club used multiple beards. These were some very hirsute pirates!

For the ninja puppets, I improvised something out of a toilet-paper tube. I wrapped it in black construction paper, added an oval for a face and a strip of white paper for a belt. The toughest part was probably the shuriken. I practiced drawing it a few times, and then cut it out. I glued it so that the pencil marks don't show.

I think he looks pretty sharp!

Pirates vs. Ninjas, Part II

We've all been having a lot of fun with the "Pirates vs. Ninjas" contest I'm having at the library this summer.

Recently, we had a little sing-a-long, with verses that I mostly made up on the spot.

We alternated between pirates and ninjas.

It's to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It"

If you're a pirate and you know it, swab the deck! (make swabbing, mop-like motions)

If you're a pirate and you know it, swab the deck!

If you're a pirate and you know it, and you really want to show it,

If you're a pirate and you know it, swab the deck!

If you're a ninja and you know it, stay alert! (make spying motions)

If you're a ninja and you know it, stay alert!

If you're a ninja and you know it, and you really want to show it,
If you're a ninja and you know it, stay alert!

more pirate verses:

...walk the plank! (make jumping while holding your nose motions)

...get the gold! (make grabbing motions)

more ninja verses:

...sneak around! (make sneaking motions)

...battle crime! (make ninja motions)

This was really a lot of fun. I suppose I even could have had the kids help me improvise some more verses.

Each week the kids bring what they've been reading so that we can weigh it and keep track of how many pounds of books everyone's been reading. So far, ninjas have a pretty healthy lead. I've been exhorting them to start voting for pirates now, if they're going to; which only seems to incite the ninja fans to read more.

Pirates vs. Ninjas

This summer, our Summer Reading Club Theme is “Treasured Islands.” The idea is that each branch is like a little island within the city – an island of culture and learning. And of course, many librarians are including pirate-themed activities as part of their summer line-up. This however, wasn’t enough for me. I decided to bring in that age-old conflict: Pirates vs. Ninjas. So, keeping with our islands theme, it’s the Caribbean Islands, vs. the Islands of Japan.

For the past couple of years I’ve done a program called Read-a-Ton. I have all our summer reading participants bring in what books they’ve been reading that week, and we weigh them on a kitchen scale. We keep track of how many pounds of books everyone in the community has been reading all summer. Last summer, I think we read 183 pounds of books! So far, everyone has been endearingly honest with their weigh-ins. I fully expected to have to fend off ridiculous claims of books read when I started doing Read-a-Ton, but that really hasn’t been the case.

This year, while brainstorming what to do for summer reading club, I decided to mix things up a bit. Children will still get all the fun of weighing their summer reading, however, now they get to vote for what kind of end-of-summer party we’ll have. Each pound of books counts as a vote that can be applied to either pirates OR ninjas. Who will emerge victorious? Will we be hosting a shindig suitable for buccaneers, or a soirée fit for martial-arts masters? Only time, (and our young readers) will tell!

(Image created by Wellington Grey under a Creative Commons license)