Now for the second year, the Madison Public Library has partnered with IRIS Global Connect and the Wisconsin International Resource Consortium to bring the world to YOU through the Children’s International Story Hour!

CISH will be in Pinney Library 4-5pm on the fourth Monday of every month, September-May (except December).

This will be a time of sharing award-winning children’s literature that celebrates the diversity of arts, culture, and language across the globe. Participants will learn about global music and engage in hands-on crafts that stimulate their curiosity. Each month promises to be fun and enriching!

This event is free and designed for children ages 5-10 and their caregivers. All are welcome.

Featured Title: Little Dog Lost

by Monica Carnesi (Author, llustrator)

Country: Poland

A small dog stranded on a sheet of ice in the Vistula River in Poland—beyond the reach of people on shore—eventually ends up in the open Baltic Sea. He’s spotted by the crew of a research ship, but the dog falls off the ice floe into the water when he tries to jump into the net they lower. “Oh no! Where is Dog?” In this breathless picture book, author/illustrator Mônica Carnesi dramatizes the dog’s plight with only a few sentences of text per page and superb pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations that underscore the dog’s vulnerability in the cold winter landscape of ice and frigid water. The ship launches a small boat to try to reach the dog, who has clawed his way back onto ice. The relief when the dog is finally plucked from that ice is immense—not just for the dog and his rescuers, but for readers and listeners, too. A marvelous author’s note fills in details of this extraordinary tale based on real events that unfolded over two days during one of Poland’s “coldest winter spells” in January 2010. The sailor who was his rescuer christened the dog Baltic (there is a photo of the two of them), and the rescue ship has now become his home. “When at sea, he enjoys sitting on the bridge, watching the water and seagulls.”

©2012 Cooperative Children’s Book Center