The Halloween decorations are down, and it’s a quieter month in the library. We have a crazy schedule in November: off this Thursday and Friday for NJ Teachers’ Convention, full week next week, half days the next week for parent conferences, and then 2.5 days for Thanksgiving. Then it’s December, and the full force of holiday insanity is upon me. So I kept it low-key this month.

A Thanksgiving display in the picture book section.

High off the excitement of Viola Swamp at Halloween and the selection of several of Marshall’s fairy tales as summer reading picks this past year, I decided to do a “Spotlight On” James Marshall display this month. I thought the kids would get a kick out of his books and illustrations, since none of them really know who he is.

My school is doing a year-long, school-wide rain forest theme that’s getting tied into every subject. I pulled a range of books from actual rain forest facts to pre-k appropriate stories featuring favorite animals of the rain forest.

Keeping up with the rain forest theme the “Creature of the Month” is reptiles AND amphibians in November. Last year I just did reptiles for November, but I’m trying to boost circulation and knowledge of the range of stuff we have that fits with this school theme.