I remember my first election.  I was ten years old and there was a long line, but the reward was an “I Voted” sticker which I proudly wore.  The next morning, I eagerly asked who won and was disappointed that it wasn’t my mom’s candidate.  That was the first time I ever took an interest in politics and all of these years later, I still remember the experience.  When you vote tomorrow, you have a chance to create similar memories.  Take your young person and talk to them about the election process.  If you’re not sure what to say, the library offers excellent resources some of which are featured below.  

“Today on Election Day” by Catherine Stier captures the excitement of voting from the point of view of several young protagonists.  On election day, one child waits to cross the street with construction workers, restaurant servers and a pilot, all of whom are heading to the polls.  Another is going with his 18 year old brother to vote in his first election.  Yet another joins his grandfather who, in all of his years of voting, has pushed down a lever, punched a card and even marked a paper ballot.  Stier successfully relates the voting experience to an early elementary audience.  Readers will finish the book with an understanding and sense of pride for our election process.

Almost 400 children gave their best guess in Salem Church Library's annual candy corn guessing contest! Each armed with a different strategy, children studied the jar, counted the layers, consulted grown-ups and just threw out a wild guess, all in order to win a jar full of candy corn. 1st grader, Joshua M. guessed 379, the exact number of pieces, and he is now the proud owner of a jar full of this favorite fall choice of sweet tooths and sugar fiends.

China's first emperor was named Qin Shi Huangdi. He brought together all the warring states and made them his subjects in 221 B. C. Qin is pronounced "Chin" and ever after the country was named China. He took the name Shi Huangdi which means "first emperor." Qin was an unusual man. He standardized writing, bureaucracy, scholarship, law, currency (money), and weights and measures. He built a capital and many roads. He connected the old walls along China's northern frontier to form the Great Wall, to protect his country from invaders. But he was also cruel. He killed and banished many people who disagreed with him and destroyed books from the past.

Children’s author and illustrator Margot Zemach was born into a show business family--her father was a theater director, and her mother was an actress. Growing up, she drew imaginatively costumed characters to retell her favorite fairy stories and folktales, something she continued to do as an adult that would lead her to worldwide fame.

As she wrote in her autobiography, Self-Portrait: Margot Zemach: "I can create my own theater and be in charge of everything. When there is a story I want to tell in pictures, I find my actors, build the sets, design the costumes and light the stage. . . . If I can get it all together and moving, it will come to life. The actors will work with each other, and the dancers will hear the music and dance. When the book closes, the curtain comes down."