HPL Kids
The Kidzone has programs galore as well as books, movies, and other cool stuff. Read our blog below for more information and check out our upcoming events to get an idea of what's happening at the Kidzone! Our main phone number is 205.444.7830.
Kidzone Blog
Virtual Field Trip Goes Underground
Today's virtual field trip will give you the opportunity to delve and explore deep inside the Earth. Our first stop is Sơn Đoòng Cave in Vietnam, near the Laos border. It is the world's largest cave and home to a fast-flowing subterranean river. National Geographic has put together a website that allows you to access the cave. Not only will you see the sights (with 360 degree maneuverability), but you will also hear the sounds. It is a very immersive experience. Access Sơn Đoòng 360 here.
Our next stop is a working copper mine run by Freeport-McMoRan. Get a behind-the-scenes look at various stages of the process -- from planning to mining, from processing to reclamation -- through a series of short videos. Access Dig into Mining: The Story of Copper here.
If you'd like to learn more about caving or mining, try one of these books!
Caves by Erinn Banting (2012)
Caves by Emily K. Green (2007-ebook on Hoopla)
Copper by Salvatore Tocci (2005)
Ores by Andrea Rivera (2018)
Wild Underground: Caves and Caving by Neil Champion (2013)
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
I'm Afraid Your Teddy Is in the Principal's Office by Jancee Dunn
What would happen if your teddy bear stowed away in your backpack and followed you to school? And what if your teddy convinced all your friends’ stuffed animals to come along for the party? Would you believe they might sneak into the cafeteria to play Pizza Disc, head to the band room to put bubbles in the wind instruments, make a clever glue trap for the art teacher, and roll around in finger paint as well? Luckily, the principal remembers what it was like to be young and may let the rambunctious teddy bear and crew off just this once.
Don't miss the first book about this naughty teddy bear -- I'm Afraid Your Teddy Is in Trouble Today!
Spark and the League of Ursus by Robert Repino (ebook on Overdrive, also available as book-on-CD)
Spark is not your average teddy bear. She’s soft and cuddly, sure, but she’s also a fierce warrior. At night she fulfills her sacred duty: to protect the household from monsters. But Spark’s owner Loretta is growing up and thinks she doesn’t need her old teddy anymore. When a monster unlike any other descends on the quiet home, everything changes. Children are going missing, and the monster wants Loretta next. Only Spark can stop it. She must call upon the ancient League of Ursus—a secret alliance of teddy bears who are pledged to protect their human friends. Together with an Amazon-princess doll and a timid sock monkey, the bears are all that stands between our world and the one that lies beneath. It will be a heroic chapter in the history of the League . . . if the bears live to tell the tale.
