If you have any questions for our Youth Services staff, contact us at:

Michigan City Public Library
Youth Services
100 E. 4th St.
Michigan City, IN 46360
219-873-3045
E-mail

Youth Programs

Click here to view the Events Calendar or Events Newsletter

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten is a free reading program offered by the library. Children from birth to age 5 (or until they enter kindergarten) are invited to join. Special surprises are awarded at each 100 book level. Participants will receive a book diary to record the titles read. Books may be read more than once - repetition aids in learning. Register at the Youth Services desk and begin your child's journey to 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten. Sponsored by the Platt-Coffin Trust Fund.

Reading to your children will help them:

• Develop vocabulary skills. Research has shown children with larger vocabularies are better readers.
• Develop narrative skills. Children who are able to tell or retell a story find the story easier to understand.
• Develop letter recognition skills. Learning letter names and sounds help children to pronounce written words.
• Develop print awareness. Children familiar with the printed word feel more comfortable with books.
• Develop print motivation. Children who enjoy books want to learn how to read.
• Develop phonological awareness. Children who have difficulty reading often have trouble with phonological awareness.
  

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Story Time

An early childhood introduction to quality children's literature. Join us for stories, songs, activities and crafts. An adult must attend with with the child. Please arrive 15 minutes early to sign in and receive a name tag. For children between birth and 5 years old. Check the events calendar for storytime dates and times.

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Summer Reading Program

The 2013 Summer Reading Program "Dig into Reading"will begin in June 2013. Join us for the kick-off event on Thursday, June 13, at 10:00 a.m.for Leonardo's Surf Rockin' Family Concert. This a high energy, interactive concert with fun and colorful prop. Get ready for a pep rally, rock 'n' roll show, and beach party all on one stage!

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Teen Pages

Booklists

Click here for a teen booklist by genre

Events

Click here for a Teen Programs calendar

Links

Authors 4 Teens.com
Author website list
TeenInk.com
TeenReads.com

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Homework Helper

Looking for ebooks, articles, and encyclopedias? Check out the library's research databases, including the new Gale Virtual Reference Library!

Funk & Wagnall’s New World Encyclopedia
Includes over 25,000 entries covering an array of topics. Full text for each record may be easily accessed by double clicking on the topic from the display. The database contains various images, offers brief biographies as well as information in a variety of subject areas.

Gale Virtual Reference Library
Hundreds of non-fiction and reference books that you can read online, covering the arts, science, nature, technology, history, literature, religion, and more. Whether you're researching a topic or reading for fun, there's something here for everyone.

Kids Search
A child-friendly, graphically-rich search engine that is both powerful and fun to use. Students can easily search for their subject of interest and access accurate and authoritative information.

KidsClick!
Created by librarians at the Ramapo Catskill Library system to guide young library users to valuable and age appropriate web sites.

Middle Search Plus
Contains full text for more than 150 popular middle school magazines, including American Girl, Baseball Digest, Current Biography, Discover, National Geographic, Science News, Teen, XBox Live and more. Also includes biographies & historical essays, Essential Documents in American History, reference books, photos, maps and flags.

NoveList K-8 Plus
A comprehensive reading resource for fiction and nonfiction for young readers and listeners. Find book recommendations based on authors, titles, series, genre, or subject areas. Also includes book reviews, picture book extenders, book discussion guides, book talks, award winners, Lexile reading levels, & more!

Primary Search
Full-text from children’s magazines appropriate for elementary schools and children’s reading rooms, including 321 Contact, Cricket, Highlights, Ranger Rick, Sesame Street, Sports Illustrated for Kids, and more. Other sources include almanacs, encyclopedias, historical documents, and pamphlets.

Searchasaurus
An easy way for young researchers to look for information on a wide range of topics. Searchasaurus is an animated interface with a dinosaur theme that encourages elementary students to enhance and develop basic search skills. This interfaces search the Primary Search and Middle Search Plus databases.

TOPICsearch
This current events database allows researchers to explore social, political & economic issues, scientific discoveries and other popular topics discussed in today's classrooms. Full text for over 140,000 articles from nearly 260 diverse sources including international newspapers, periodicals, biographies, public opinion polls, book reviews, pamphlets, and government information.

Homework Helper Links

General

American FactFinder - Population, housing, economic, and geographic data
Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia e-book
Bartleby - Great Books Online, including Bartlett's Familiar Quotations and Gray's Anatomy
Citation Machine - Makes it easy to cite sources
Discovery Education - Math, Science, English, & Social Studies
Fact Monster
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Homework Help from Multnomah County Library
HomeworkSpot
How Stuff Works
Infoplease
INSPIRE - Indiana's Virtual Library
Internet Public Library
Merriam-Webster Online - Dictionary, thesaurus, medical dictionary, English-Spanish dictionary
New York Public Library Digital Image Gallery
Schoolwork Ugh!
Thesaurus.com

Art

Art ebooks from Gale Virtual Reference Library
Artcyclopedia
The Artist's Toolkit

Foreign Languages

Pronunciator
Take free self-guided lessons to learn 60 languages. Each lesson is accompanied by a native speaker, a pictogram, and a translation in your language. Score your pronunciation, have virtual conversations with native speakers, play back recordings, and take quizzes that test pronunciation, vocabulary, comprehension, and spelling.

Math and Science

African American Scientists and Inventors
Algebra Help
Ask Dr. Math
AskRose - Get live help with math and science homework from Rose-Hulman students, Sunday-Thursday, 6-9 p.m. For students in 6th-12th grades. Ask online or call 1-877-ASK-ROSE.
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Codecademy - Learn Web design and computer programming in free and easy lessons
CoolMath.com
Chem4Kids
Earth Science
Encyclopedia of Animals (through INSPIRE)
Interactive Mathematics Online - High school math topics
Khan Academy - Free online video library covering thousands of topics in K-12 math & science
Math League -- 4th through 8th grade math topics
Mathematician Biographies
NOVA
Periodic Table of Elements
Physics Classroom
Science ebooks from Gale Virtual Reference Library
Science in Context
S.O.S. Mathematics
Virtual Frog Dissection Kit
VisionLearning Library
Women Mathematicians

Reading and Writing

American English - English & American culture for new English learners
Bartleby - Great books, quotes, poetry and verse, style guides
Bibliomania - Books, poems and stories, study guides, research help
Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
Citation Machine - Makes it easy to cite sources
Contemporary Authors
CliffsNotes
EasyBib - Citation and bibliography formatting
Gale LitFinder
How to Write a Research Paper
KidsRead.com
NoveList K-8 Plus
NoveList Plus (teen and adult books)
Purdue Online Writing Lab
SparkNotes
Strunk & White's Elements of Style
Teen Booklists
TeenReads.com
A Word A Day

Social Studies

American Memory - Digital record of American history
BBC Country Profiles
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government
Biography in Context
Congress for Kids
Flags
History.com This Day in History
History e-books from Gale Virtual Reference Library
History of America - 20th Century
HyperHistory - World history timeline
Indiana History Online (through INSPIRE)
IndianaMap - maps and spatial data
Indiana Memory - Primary sources about Indiana history
Khan Academy - Free online videos featuring topics on history and humanities
National Atlas - Maps
National Geographic Printable Maps and Interactive Map Maker
Presidents of the United States
Social Studies e-books from Gale Virtual Reference Library
The World Factbook

Dial - A - Story

Hear a story anytime by calling Dial-a-Story at 219-873-3060. Nothing compares to having a story told just to you!

Science Fair

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Young Hoosier Book Award

First begun in 1974, the Young Hoosier Book Award encourages Indiana students to read for fun. Since 1992, the Award has been divided into three categories based on grade level: Kindergarten-3rd grade (picture books), 4th-6th grade (intermediate), and 6th-8th grade (middle grade).

Each year, teachers, students, parents and media specialists submit suggestions to the Young Hoosier Book Award committee, who nominate twenty books in each category. Students read the books on the list and vote for their favorites. Votes are then tallied and the winning illustrator and authors are presented the award in the spring of the following year.

2011-2012 Winners

Picture Book: Titanicat by Marty Crisp
Intermediate: 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
Middle Grade: The Compound by S.A. Bodeen

2012-2013 Nominees

Picture Books (Kindergarten-3rd Grade)
Intermediate Books (4th-6th Grade)
Middle Grade Books (6th-8th Grade)

Ellison Die - Cut

Click here for shape listing