National Library Week: Andrew, Arthur and a Ghost!

4th - 6th Grade
Andrew Carnegie, The Builder of Libraries by Charnan Simon
Andrew Carnegie was the founder of public libraries. His life is a fascinating rags to riches story.  He was born in Scotland and his home is now a historical site.  In Scotland, his father
provided for the family by making linen with a hand loom. The Industrial Revolution was beginning and machines made his work obsolete.  He moved his family to America hoping for new opportunities for work but found no need for his sklll.  At the age of 12, Andrew stopped going to school and helped provide for his family, making only $1.20 a week.  Andrew was smart and a hard worker. He rubbed shoulders (networked) with the right people and worked in the telegraph business and was promoted quickly.  By his mid twenties he had purchased a home, quit his job and began making investments that made him extremely wealthy. He was alive at the time Abraham Lincoln was president, during the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, telegraph communication and when the transcontinental railroad joined together at Promontory Point, Utah.

Andrew Carnegie believed rich people should share their wealth.  He became a philanthropist giving away millions of dollars to worthy causes, including starting public libraries.  The idea came from memories of his childhood when he was invited to a wealthy man's home to read books with other working boys.  This wonderful recollection motivated him to make books and libraries available to everyone, not just the wealthy.  He donated over 2,000 public libraries to be built in America and other countries as long as the community promised to keep the libraries stocked with books.  Some of the Carnegie Libraries still exist today.

2nd and 3rd Grade
Locked in the Library, A Marc Brown Arthur Chapter book by Stephen Krensky
Arthur and Francine are not getting along but their third grade teacher, Mr. Ratburn assigns them to be partners on a report about heroes.  They go to the library to do research for their report in separate places in the library.  Arthur accidentally falls asleep.  When he wakes up he discovers the library is closed and he is locked in the library!

Kindergarten - 1st Grade
Library Ghost by Carole Waterford
A librarian spends the night in the library to discover who is pulling books off the shelves!  She spies a ghost in the library!






National Library Week was April 14 - 20, 2013