A Veritable Plethora of Inauguration Day Information

Happy Inauguration Day!  I know that if you guys are anything like us here at New York Public you’re desperately trying to find some way to watch the inauguration in real time as it happens.

The funny thing about my new children’s room is the television they installed in the back room.  It comes with cable, which I always assumed was a relatively useless addition.  No Noggin for the kiddies in the library, that’s my motto.  But for the Inauguration a convenient television is a mighty useful thing.  And there sat our cable box, hidden discretely under a pretty quilt so that roving tiny hands wouldn’t find it and stuff cookies in it (or whatever it is that small children do).  I forgot about it, but thank goodness we librarians work with clerks who are smarter that we are.  My clerks decided to see whether or not the cable worked without a hitch last week.  To our shock, the box was dead.  Apparently if you wrap a cable box within a fluffy quilt, it suffocates and dies a quick and painless death.

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Off ran our IT fellow.  Back he came with a new box.  And so today we shall be able to watch everything in its full and chilly glory.  Now here’s some information that may serve you well today:

• A fellow SLJ blogger is actually reporting from the site in question.  Bowllan’s Blog is reporting with lots of great posts on the inauguration and her own travels.

• Last week I also received this notice.  It comes from Primrose Schools.  I’m just tickled with the idea of a preschool inauguration curriculum.  Sounds pretty cute to me:

We noticed your blog posting about children’s authors supporting Obama and a Children’s Inauguration back in November. At the time, we were in the early planning stages of an event for Primrose Schools, a nationwide preschool franchise. Your posting encouraged us that we were headed in the right direction. On Sat. Primrose will donate $200,000 to Reach Out and Read and then the week following the preschool children’s curriculum will be focused on the inauguration. To celebrate, we’ve had preschool students from across the country call in to record their wishes for America’s children that we are packaging and sending to Obama, the new Secretary of Education and our state governors. The goal is to make sure early childhood literacy is at the forefront of the next education agenda. Anyway, thanks for the inspiration! We thought you would enjoy this video of the children’s wishes:

http://www.primroseschools.com/200wishes/

If the message doesn’t get you, the adorable video will.

• Jen Robinson recently reported on her blog about two new inauguration-related book programs.  She wrote:

First, as reported by The Children’s Book Review, Primrose Schools will be donating $200k to Reach Out and Read, followed by an inauguration-focused curriculum. "In celebration they have put together a wonderful video of children’s voices talking about what they want for the American children." Also, as reported on Carol Rasco’s blog, in celebration of the inauguration, "RIF has partnered with Sallie Mae and  Building Hope to provide classic books and books with a presidential theme to D.C. students. These books will go to children in kindergarten through 12th grade at public, private, and charter schools in Washington, D.C." They are accepting donations for the program.

Thanks for the information, Jen!

• Kids in D.C.  can also attend a party at Borders happening today at 2:00.

• And finally, are you having a party of your own going on today?  Maybe you wouldn’t mind checking out this Our White House Kids Inauguration Celebration Kit courtesy of the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance.  Here’s a little more information on that as well:

I have read your past blog postings about a kids’ inaugural event with great interest, and the NCBLA made a mighty effort to pull something off in DC that promoted literacy, literature, libraries, and the arts, but cost was just too challenging a factor.

Instead we had the idea to create a Our White House Kids Inauguration Celebration Kit! for parents, teachers, librarians, and youth community leaders filled with pertinent information, activities,and discussion question suggestions so that no matter where you live, you plan a great event for kids and teens to celebrate this historic moment. The information we supply is of a historic nature, and although some of the activities suggested spring from the NCBLA publication Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out– most work independent of the book.

The Our White House Kids Inauguration Celebration Kit! is available now online at:  http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/webexc.html

Pictures of Barack Obama in order of appearance: Yuyi Morales, Paul Rogers, and Kadir Nelson.

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