Website Review: National Ice Cream Month

NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH is celebrated each July with National Ice Cream Day celebrated on the third Sunday in July.

The International Dairy Foods Association website provides a media kit with information about this special month as well as individual pages focusing on different aspects of ice cream. These pages would be useful for informational reading activities. Go to https://www.idfa.org/news-views/media-kits/ice-cream.

Go to Ben & Jerry’s How We Make Ice Cream page for a series of videos showing how ice cream moves from the farm and factory to the store. Go to http://www.benjerry.com/flavors/how-we-make-ice-cream.

To learn more about how ice cream is made, go to the How Ice Cream Works page from How Stuff Works at http://science.howstuffworks.com/…/edible-inn…/ice-cream.htm.

Explore the Ice Cream page at the Library of Congress for lots of photos and historical resources related to ice cream. Weave these into a history of ice cream project. Go to http://www.loc.gov/…/scitech/selected-internet/icecream.html.

Book Review: A Snicker of Magic

A SNICKER OF MAGIC by Natalie Lloyd is a charming story with quirky characters and a fantasy twist. Lovers of words, ice cream, and a dash of magic won’t be able to put down this potential award winner.

This heart-warming story revolves around a lovable group of characters including a 12-year-old girl, along with her quirky family and friends in Midnight Gulch, Tennessee. Felicity sees words hovering around people. Although she’s a word collector, she isn’t comfortable with the idea of sharing her love of words with an audience. Along with her new friend Jonah, Felicity learns about the magical, but also tragic history of the town.

Lovers of words including many teachers will immediately be drawn to the idea of a word collector. The idea of magical ice cream, long-kept secrets, and a family curse will all be a draw for many youth. Most readers will be cheering for Felicity to bring back the magic to her small town.

The theme of anonymous good deeds is woven throughout the story. Bring a little magic into your library. Start a “Be the Beedle” club at your school encouraging youth to participate in acts of kindness.

Download activity ideas from Scholastic at http://goo.gl/6HwKgt

A SNICKER OF MAGIC is the first novel by Natalie Lloyd. Follow her blog at http://natalielloyd.blogspot.com/.

Look for this book on many of the “best of 2014” lists.