Many years ago the American Library Association had a clever poster to encourage reading and patronage of libraries. The poster read “Free Information: Bring Your Own Container.”

The container, of course, would be your brain.

Your public library has mountains of free information to offer — books on just about every subject: fiction and nonfiction, magazines, newspapers, videos and often computers. What a great place to feed the mind, have fun and grow!

Children grow quickly, and their tastes and interests change just as rapidly. The public library can accommodate their changing interests and expand on that by offering books on all sorts of subjects and ideas.

Make the commitment to go to the library at least once every week. It's a good habit to establish and one that a child can take advantage of for the rest of their life.

The following book is available at many public libraries.<B>“A Single Shard” </B>by Linda Sue Park, Clarion Books, 148 pages; read aloud: age 9 and older; read yourself: age 9 to 10 and older.In a small Korean potter's village in the mid-12th century, an orphan boy, Tree-ear, lives with Crane-man underneath a bridge. Together they scratch out a living, barely surviving.Tree-ear dreams of being a potter some day, and when he sneaks into master potter Min's workplace to admire his work but accidentally breaks a pot, he must work for Min to repay him.Although the work is hard, it has its rewards, for Tree-ear learns a great deal — about pottery, Min, sharing and sacrifice.But Tree-ear's greatest lessons and rewards are yet to come when Tree-ear will make a long and dangerous journey to the King's Court to show the master's pottery, hopeful for a commission.Carefully refined, it is little wonder this superbly written novel is a Newbery Medal winner.

<B>Library:</B> Butler Area Public Library, 218 N. McKean St.<B>Executive director: </B>Lori Hinderliter<B>Youth Services Librarian: </B>Peter Bess<B>Choices this week: </B>“The Kissing Hand” by Audrey Penn; “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” by Beverly Cleary; “Tremendous Tractors” by Tony Mitton

The following books are available at favorite bookstores.<B>“Grandfather Gandhi” </B>by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus, illustrated by Evan Turk, Atheneum, 2014, 42 pages, $17.99 hardcover; read aloud: age 4 to 8; read yourself: age 7 to 8.Young Arun and his family have traveled from their home in South Africa to India to spend time with Arun's grandfather, Gandhi, in his village.Arun is worried; life here is very different from what he has experienced. Arun wants to impress his grandfather, but at first all Arun sees are difficulties and anger that he isn't certain he can overcome.When an altercation happens on the soccer field, Arun thinks he will explode with all of the anger that is bottled up inside of him. He knows his grandfather does not show anger, and Arun wonders how he can ever live up to being a Gandhi.But it is his grandfather who provides Arun with wise words that will change Arun's life forever.A beautifully written book perfectly complemented with striking illustrations, this selection and the afterword by the authors is an important contribution toward peace, both for the individual and the world.

<B>“Help! We Need a Title!” </B>written and illustrated by Hervé Tullet, Candlewick, 2014, 64 pages, $16.99 hardcover; read aloud: age 4 and older; read yourself: age 7 to 8.If you've ever wondered what it would be like to open a book to read and it isn't finished yet, the characters in the book are surprised to see you, and try as they might to write the story, they aren't satisfied and call for the author to get busy and give the reader a story?Well, wonder no longer, because that is exactly what you'll find in this funny selection that provides a fresh new twist on writing a story.Enormously fun and entertaining, children will want to read this one over and over again.

Nationally syndicated, Kendal Rautzhan writes and lectures on children's literature. She can be reached at kendal@sunlink.net.

“Grandfather Gandhi”

“Help! We Need a Title!”