December 21, 2007

Cedar Lee Literacy Challenge


(Chill out and read picture)

Everyone in the community is invited to help Cedar Lee Middle School, Bealeton, reach its Literacy Challenge goal of 100,000 books read by the end of the school year. The challenge was issued earlier this school year by the school's principal, Mr. Steve Parker, and Fauquier County Public Library pledged to support the effort.

No matter what your age or interests, you can use the library to help Cedar Lee meet its Literacy Challenge goal. Don't have a Fauquier County Public Library card? It's easy to sign up online.

Find the perfect book by perusing:
accelerated reading lists
best sellers at the library
book lists for teens and adults

Write book reviews to post on the library's teen blog Library Lounging (this one!) or post in the Bealeton Library Young Adult display areas (Contact Helena Richardson to find out how.)

Not only books count - don't forget your online
research tools. Check out audio and downloadable books - they are great for traveling and they count, too. Keep track of library books you've read using the library's Reading History service - then log your titles on the Cedar Lee Literacy Challenge site.

-Books read since June 20, 2007 count.
-Accelerated Reader books, comic books, text books, magazines, newspapers
-Every 5 issues of a newspaper read typically will count as a book.
-Each 100 pages of technical text will be a book


*Above information taken from Cedar Lee Middle School Literacy Challenge information pages and Library News and Events blog. Read the original and more complete posting - Library helps community support middle school's challenge.

Click Here to enter the books read for the Literacy Challenge.

December 19, 2007

*Speedy Reader's Book Reviews


Poppy and Rye:
Poppy goes to find Ragweed’s mother, father, and family. She brings her friend Ereth with her. Ereth’s a porcupine. It was hard to find Ragweed’s family because beavers built dams and they flood the land around them. Rye, one of Ragweed’s brothers, tries to stop them from building dams. They trap Rye in a bamboo cage. Poppy makes a plan to save Rye. Will she rescue him before the river overflows? Find out in Poppy and Rye by Avi.


Tuck Everlasting:
A girl named Winnie gets kidnapped by a family named Tuck: Mae Tuck, Angus Tuck, Jesse Tuck, and Miles Tuck. They found out about a spring in Winnie’s woods. They drink from it and now live forever. Read the book for fun and entertainment. Tuck Everlasting is written by Natalie Babbitt. (This book is available in print, on audio cassette and CD, at the library).
*Speedy Reader is a Fauquier County teen writer and reader*

December 16, 2007

Holiday picture from 1930!


Check out a magazine from the library today!

December 13, 2007

* Speedy Reader's Book Reviews


Ragweed
A mouse named Ragweed gets on a train headed to a city and meets another mouse named Clutch. Clutch runs into two cats named Silversides and Graybar. Silversides and Graybar wreck their club. But they find an old, abandoned bookstore to make their new club. Will Silversides and Graybar crash their new club? Find out in the book Ragweed by Avi
178 pages


Poppy
Ragweed’s girlfriend is named Poppy. Poppy meets Ragweed at the edge of Dimwood forest. In Dimwood Forest there’s an owl named Mr. Ocax. Mr. Ocax watches everyone in Dimwood Forest. You would have to ask permission to go someplace or you will get eaten. Ragweed didn’t ask permission…for anything. So Mr. Ocax ate him right in front of Poppy. All that was left was the earring that Clutch gave him. See what happens as Poppy gets over Ragweed’s death. In the book Poppy by Avi.
147 pages


Sarah, Plain and Tall
A farmer sends a letter in the newspaper for a wife. A woman in Maine gets the ad, and wants to marry him. The woman is Sarah, Sarah, plain, and tall. Sarah moves to the farmer’s house and … you’ll have to find out in Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan.
58 pages


Skylark

Sarah tells her story living with Caleb, Anna, and the farmer (Jacob). This is the second book of the Sarah, Plain and Tall series Patricia MacLachlan.
86 pages


Caleb’s Story
Anna helps out at the doctor’s and doesn’t have time for her journals so Caleb meets his grandfather and lots of other things happen. Read Caleb’s Story by Patricia MacLachlan.
116 pages


Ghost Girl: a Blue Ridge Mountain story

A girl meets President Herbert Hoover. She lives with her teacher and has a really good story. Read Ghost Girl by Deliah Ray.
216 pages

*Speedy Reader is a Fauquier County teen writer and reader*

December 12, 2007

Mistletoe


December 10, 2007

Aromatherapy Bath Salts


Generic Bath Salt Recipe

Ingredients:
½ cup of coarse kosher salt or sea salt
½ cup of Epsom salt
1 quart-size, freezer-grade zip-lock plastic bag
Food coloring
Essential oils: chamomile, lavender, rosewood, sage

Pour the kosher/sea salt and Epsom salt in a bag. Add one drop of food coloring, zip the bag shut, and shake. Repeat until you are satisfied with the color (remember that the bath water will greatly dilute the color). Add one drop at a time; too many drops will melt the salt. Add several drops of your essential oil(s) to the bag. Zip the bag shut and shake. Repeat until you are satisfied with the scent (may take 5-10 drops).


Roll a simple paper funnel to pour the mixture into a bottle more easily.

Swirl different colors and cap with a cork.

Decorate a paper label or tie on a colorful bow. Now it's ready to use or give as a gift!

The above recipe is enough for two baths. Pour contents into hot running water. Swirl until the salts are completely dissolved. Enjoy! Use body lotion after your bath (while your skin is still damp). If you use bath salts too often, they can dry your skin.

Thanks for this great program and websites discovered by Jennifer Schultz (Kiddosphere composer)!

Aromaweb: http://www.aromaweb.com/
Pioneer Thinking: http://www.pioneerthinking.com/
Make Your Own Cosmetics: http://www.makeyourowncosmetics.com/

December 7, 2007

Aromatherapy @ libraries

This week, teens were invited to whip up aromatherapy recipes and homemade bath items at two Fauquier County Public libraries. These items are great for stress relief at exam time or to give as presents. The program was free and the library provided all supplies for fragrant bath salts.


Recipes for Natural Beauty
by Katie Spiers

"Shows women how to make their own all-natural cosmetics using natural ingredients, with recipes and planners to help readers maintain their beauty regimen"

Organic Body Care Recipes: 175 homemade herbal formulas for glowing skin & a vibrant self
by Stephanie Tourles
"Tourles, a licensed esthetician, herbalist, and aromatherapist, has developed 175 recipes that are fun, simple, and immensely satisfying to make in home kitchens. Her natural beauty treatments deliver the results promised by department store brands — skin, hair, and nails that glow with vitality and inner wellness. Lotions, scrubs, toners, balms, and masks polish and balance the skin, soothe current problems, and prevent future ones. Shampoos, rinses, and conditioners tone the scalp, boost highlights, and leave hair soft and shiny. The book's whole-body coverage also includes recipes for hand and foot care, nail treatments, shaving cream, and even popular spa treatments such as microdermabrasion exfoliants, detox and cellulite soaks, Ayurvedic oils, and herbal cold salves. Most important, there is never any doubt about the purity of these ingredients! Each formula is clearly presented in recipe style, with notes on prep time, storage, and uses. Many products can be customized according to personal needs, whim, or mood, and they all use readily available, natural ingredients. Organic Body Care Recipes is a natural treasure for every body."


Practical art of aromatherapy: create your own personalized beauty treatments and natural remedies
by Deborah Nixon



Nature's Cures: from acupressure and aromatherapy to walking and yoga, the ultimate guide to the best scientifically proven, drug-free healing methods
by Michael Castleman
"Offers an up-to-date survey of alternative healing therapies, including relaxation techniques, aroma therapy, and vitamin supplementation, explaining which therapies work, and how to use them safely" Chapter 2 Aromatherapy: when healing makes "scents" begins with a French chemist plunging his burned arm into a bowl of lavender oil. Its soothing properties began one man’s experimental journey in healing.

Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell
by Constance Classen
"The meaning and power of smell. Smell is powerful. One man who lost his sense of smell due to a head injury expressed this realization as follows: when I lost [my sense of smell]—it was like being struck blind. Some stressed the physical discomfort perfumes gave them: ‘instant headache and nausea’, said one respondent of her to be so ‘odour-blind’ that unless smell is placed right under our noses, so to speak, it usually gets lost in the shuffle. In general, men are said to smell of meat and women of fish." Can you imagine the "aromas of antiquity"? What would you smell while walking down a street during the Middle Ages? Consider "odour and power: the politics of smell" and "the commercialization of smell." Even smells are branded now. This is a serious view of olfactory issues.

December 6, 2007

Rock Salt


Library