Skokie Public Library Kids
Grades 6-8
Our place. Your place. Any place.
Your Skokie Public Library card is THE ticket to so many things at your Library and on the Web.
- Study from school or home when you're working on homework or a research project
- Hang at the Library to use computers and study rooms, join a program or activity, or look up something in a school textbook
- Explore from anywhere for book lists and recommendations, photos from Library programs, online activities, and our Schedule of Library Library Events
No card? No problem! You can get one if you live in Skokie. Just check here to see what you need to bring and then stop by the Library with your parent or legal guardian to fill out an application.
Skokie school students: If you don't know your barcode number or don't have a Skokie Public Library card, please see your teacher or school librarian.
Web resource 
Available with Skokie Public Library card 
Available in Library only
Study from School or Home
You'll need your Skokie Public Library barcode number if you're not inside the Library when you click some of these links...
Are you looking for some after-school help with math, science, English, or social studies? 
Try Live Homework Help for expert online tutoring. No, it's not a robot. It's a bunch of really smart teachers, librarians, and college students from all around the country who are available every day from 3:00 to 10:00pm Skokie time. A SkillsCenter Resource Library is open all day and night. (Yes, the SkillsCenter Resource Library is a robot.)
Encyclopedias and Research Tools
- Britannica for Kids has a little bit of everything for all kinds of homework. Britannica Global Reference Center has encyclopedias written in Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.
- Discovery Education Homework Help will help you with math, science, English, social studies, writing, and grammar; addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
- Gale Virtual Reference Library has hundreds of full text sources for studying the arts, writing biographies, learning about history, researching science, and much more.
- One Across is a search engine for solving crossword puzzles, cryptograms, and anagrams. There's a dictionary word search, too.
- World Book Online Info Finder includes all the articles from the print versions of the World Book Encyclopedia, plus thousands of additional articles, learning resources, and research tools.
- American History in Video has more than 5,000 videos about
American history. The collection includes documentaries and series from The History Channel, A&E Network, and Biography Channel. You can even make your own video
clips and link to them from a PowerPoint presentation.
- Chicago Tribune: 1849 to the present includes articles, photographs, cartoons, death notices, and advertisements from the full text of the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
- Current Biography Illustrated provides access to profiles of celebrities, politicians, business people, writers, actors, sports figures, artists, scientists, and many other notable figures and newsmakers from the 1940s to the present.
- Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago is the online version of the Encyclopedia of Chicago (available for in-Library use at the Youth Services desk). It contains articles, photos, maps, and newspapers related to the history of Chicago.
- HyperHistory Online is a collection of timelines covering 3,000 years of world history, people, events, maps, science, culture, religion, and politics.
- Who's Who on the Web features profiles of more than one million notable people. Search by name, gender, occupation, location, hobbies and interests, religion, and much more.
Language, Literature, and Poetry
- Columbia Granger's World of Poetry is an index to more than 90,000 poems, including the full text of 8,500 classic poems and quotations from 1,500 additional poems. Try the Listening Room for text, audio, and commentary about poems and short biographies of their authors.
- English Vocabulary Building Games is a fun way to practice spelling, phonics, and vocabulary skills.
- Mango Languages makes it fun to learn English and world languages. Try the Basic courses to learn simple words and phrases, or the Complete courses to learn grammar skills and more. Click the Translate button if you need to translate text from one language to another.
NEW! Try MUZZY Online
language learning. - Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet is an online guide to Shakespeare resources on the Web. This site containes the complete works of Shakespeare, biographical information, critical material, and a virtual tour of the Globe Theatre.
- MUZZY Online uses games and cartoon stories to teach English, French, Italian, German, or Spanish.
- Oxford English Dictionary Online shows the current meaning of words and their historical development through time.
- Visual Thesaurus uses word maps to show the different meanings of a word, related words, and how words are pronounced.
Magazines, News, and Current Events
- Articles from Magazines & Newspapers on our website is where you'll find links to the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune and newspapers from Skokie and around the world.
- Kids Search has news, information, articles, and pictures about animals, art and music, geography, health, language arts, math, science, social studies, and sports. Go ahead... give it a click!
- NewspaperDirect PressDisplay allows instant access to daily newspapers from more than 55 countries in 33 languages.
- Today's Front Pages provides a front page view of more than 800 newspapers worldwide.
- CAMIO Catalog of Art Museum Images Online contains photos of more than 90,000 works of art
from museums around the world. The collection includes examples of Asian, African, Latin American, and Western art; paintings, sculpture, decorative and everyday objects; prints, drawings and watercolors; jewelry and costumes; textiles, books, installations, and architecture; plus audio-video and mixed media. All of the photos can be used for school projects and presentations.
- Music Online contains thousands of music tracks for listening online. Spice up a social studies report with facts and information about music from around the world. Or browse the Historical Events collection to find a soundtrack for a class reenactment of the American Revolution!
- Naxos Music Library has classical, jazz, and world music that you can listen to at your computer. The Resources area includes a glossary of musical terms and a guide to pronunciation of composers' and performers' names. For a huge collection of jazz tracks, try Naxos Music Library Jazz.
- New York Philharmonic Kidzone is a fun place to learn about classical musicians and composers, hear the sounds of different musical instruments, listen to music written by other kids, and more!
- Citation Style for Research Papers is a color-coded guide to formatting a bibliography.
- You can download eLibrary materials and load them onto your computer, eReader, or smart phone.
- Grammar Bytes provides definitions of grammar terms, practice exercises, handouts, grammar rules, presentations, and videos.
- Literary Research 101 explains how to use Skokie Public Library print and online resources to find a summary, text, or criticism on a literary work; information about a writer; and how to cite your literary sources for a research paper.
- NoveList K-8 is a guide to fiction books for kids and students. Find your favorite books and series or discover something new by searching for similar authors, subjects, or award-winning titles. (Librarians and teachers use this one all the time!)
- Something about the Author has information about more than 12,000 authors and illustrators who write books for kids and teens. This is a great place to find what you need for that biography about your favorite author.
- TeachingBooks.net takes you behind the scenes and into the studios where books are written and illustrated. Watch a video, listen to a booktalk, or click Author Websites for links to the personal websites of your favorite authors.
- TumbleTalking Books Collection contains more than 300 full-length audiobooks which you can listen to from any computer with an Internet connection. The collection includes classics, fiction, nonfiction, new books, plays and dramas, poetry, and Spanish
language content. You can even download titles to your computer for 90-day loan!
- Atomic Training contains short videos explaining specific tasks in many of the mostpopular software applications in use today.
The videos may be watched in sequence like a course, or watched individually to learn a specific part of a program.
- Lynda.com Online Learning Library includes hundreds of video training courses for popular
software titles from Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Macromedia, Quark, Yahoo!, and more.
- Science Online contains scientific information in all areas of science: experiments, videos, diagrams, articles, and biographies of famous scientists.
- WebElements Periodic Table is a detailed guide to elements, compounds, crystal structure, and more.
- The Age of Exploration and Discovery: 1450-1700 is a Homework Helper subject guide to books, websites, and a glossary for projects and reports.
- Colonial America: 1587-1763 is a Homework Helper subject guide books, online resources, and historical fiction books about Colonial America.
- CultureGrams Online is all about customs, lifestyles, background, daily life, and culture of people in 187 countries and all 50 United States. Explore the World Edition for detailed cultural information on more than 200 countries.
- Native American Tribes of North America is a Homework Helper subject guide to books, online resources, and museums to explore in the Chicago area.
- Google Translate helps you translate text, documents, and websites from one language to another.
- Mango Languages makes it fun to learn English and world languages. Try the Basic courses to learn simple words and phrases, or the Complete courses to learn grammar skills and more. Click the Translate button if you need to translate text from one language to another.
- MUZZY Online uses games and cartoon stories to teach English, French, Italian, German, or Spanish.
Hang at the Library
You'll need your library card or school I.D. for some of these things. So bring it, OK?
Activities and programs
Reading clubs, author visits, computer classes, movies, video game tournaments, performances. Sign up online or at the Youth Services desk.- Craft Room
Space to spread out and work on gluey, glittery school projects. Try a craft or play board and card games, too. - Game computers
Two computers, lots of games. Sorry, no Internet. - Group study rooms
Up to four kids in one of four rooms for up to two hours. Grown-ups must be accompanied by a kid. Bring your library card or school ID. - Homework computers
Five computers, one printer, full access to the Library's catalog, website, and research databases. - Junior High Zone
Comfortable seating, listening stations, graphic novels, magazines. - Reference collection
Read, learn, and take good notes because you can't take these books home. - School textbooks to use in the Library
Yes, we might have yours. Check the list and come on in with your library card or school ID. We have some high school textbooks, too. - Youth Computer lab, study suite, and digital media lab
Fourteen computers with Internet and Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; a couple of color printers, and one awesome Computer Assistant at your service. Bring your Library card or school ID. The Digital Media Lab has two iMac computers, audio and video equipment, and a selection of multimedia software. Bring your Library card. Parent permission and a DML Access Card is also required for students who wish to work independently.
Explore from Anywhere
No library card required. Ever.
- Explore kids' Authors, Illustrators & Awards
- Find your next favorite book on one of our Booklists
- Join the conversation on The Explorer, Skokie Public Library's blog for kids
- See yourself or someone you know in our Flickr photostream of Library activities and events
- Find some Fun, Games & Reading on the Web for kids of all ages
- Check out the Kids' Books We Love recommended by Youth Services staff
- See what's on our Schedule of Library Events and find out how to join the fun
- Read UNDER the COVER: Book Reviews by Teens written by your Skokie friends and classmates
- Share your movie and book reviews, poetry, photography, artwork, and opinions on SkokieNet's TeenTalk
