All Posts
The Great American Read book list and half-time report
Posted in Explore and Discover on August 7, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Dana Mannino Welcome to August—a great time for a summer reading half-time report! My summer reading looked a lot like this picture of the bulletin board in the staff break room at Spokane Valley Library. Waaaay back in May, PBS launched The Great American Read, a program that highlights 100 of America’s beloved books […]
Tags: book list, books, reading, Summer reading, The Great American Read
Let’s dance, let’s play: The genius of Jim Gill
Posted in News, Parents and Teachers on August 2, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Erin Dodge If you’re a parent or caregiver of a young child, then you may already know the joyful, playful music and stories of Jim Gill. If you haven’t yet heard his music or attended an interactive performance, then you are in for a treat! Get ready to jump, dance, sing, clap, and even […]
Tags: babies, caregivers, childcare, clap, dance, early learning, family, jump, kids, learning, music, music play, parents, play, playing, preschoolers, q&a, sing, STARS Training, toddlers, young learners
The art of saving seeds
Posted in Explore and Discover on July 31, 2018 at 6:00 am
by Abra Cole In a remote vault located halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, nearly one million seed varieties are stored. The purpose of this immense storage facility is to ensure the genetic future of these seed varieties, should any of the gene banks located around the world suffer catastrophic disaster. One hundred […]
Tags: adults, books, DIY, family, food, garden, gardening, health, hobbies, kale, kale seeds, library hacks, onion seeds, onions, parents, saving seeds, seed library, seed saving, seeds, sunflower seeds, sunflowers, teens, tweens, urban farming
Microadventure: Day trip to Stonerose for fossils
Posted in Explore and Discover, kids, Parents and Teachers on July 24, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Rachel Edmondson Even though I’ve lived in the Spokane area for over 15 years now, every once in a while I find out about something and wonder how I’ve never heard about it before. This past fall I learned about the Stonerose Interpretive Center. While it’s a bit of a drive from Spokane (about […]
Tags: adults, archeology, day trip, digging, fossils, kids, life sciences, microadventure, microadventures, parents, science, shale, STEM, Stonerose, teens, tweens
Happy birthday! A reading list of authors with July birthdays
Posted in Explore and Discover on July 17, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Nathaniel Youmans This one’s for all you with summer birthdays out there. Remember in grade school when the end of the year drew close and teachers, even more burnt out than their students, had to find some reason (summon the willpower) to celebrate students with summer birthdays? At my elementary school, this took the […]
Tags: authors, birthdays, books, fiction, poetry, poets, reading
Perfect pairings: Recipes to devour while binge watching
Posted in Explore and Discover on July 10, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Susan Goertz I’m a summer person. Long summer days swimming around the lake and baking dry on the shore, hiking through the woods, picking berries, tending to my ever expanding garden—it doesn’t get much better. After a long, sun-drenched day, I want to grill up something yummy and then collapse on the couch for […]
Tags: adults, booklists, books, cookbook, cookbooks, cooking, food, hobbies, movies, recipes, television, themed cookbooks, TV series
Road trip! The quintessential American vacation
Posted in Explore and Discover on July 3, 2018 at 6:00 am
by Melissa Rhoades Have you heard of Horatio Nelson Jackson? This under-celebrated trailblazer was the first person to drive an automobile across the U.S. In 1903, ten years before Ford Motor Company began mass producing cars, Jackson left San Francisco in a two-cylinder Winton with a mechanic as his travel companion and a $50 bet […]
Tags: adults, advice, automobiles, booklists, books, family, hoopla, National Parks, nonfiction, parks and recreation, reading, road trip, road trip games, road trip tips, themed vacations, travel, travel guides, vacation
Rock summer reading: Music pairings for The Great American Read
Posted in Explore and Discover on June 28, 2018 at 6:00 am
by David Wyatt I grew up out in the country and my school days were defined by early mornings and long bus rides. These long rides were filled with listening to music on the most skip-resistant portable CD player my allowance could buy while working on homework assignments at the last minute, and when I […]
Tags: adults, booklists, books, digital library, fiction, hoopla, instrumental, metal, metal music, music, nonfiction, PBS, post-rock music, prog metal, progressive metal, punk, rock music, science fiction, teens, The Great American Read
Adult reads for Pride Month
Posted in Explore and Discover on June 21, 2018 at 6:00 am
by Caitlin Wheeler June is LGBT Pride Month in the U.S. and the time to spotlight LGBTQ artists and thinkers who might otherwise remain hidden in library stacks. As you may know, the library is an advocate for equitable access and for fundamental values that include equity, diversity, and inclusion and the protection of intellectual […]
Tags: adults, booklists, books, fantasy, fiction, graphic novel, historical fiction, horror, LGBT, LGBTQ, literary, Pride Month, reading, romance, satire, science fiction
Preschoolers get ready for school with STEM kits from the library
Posted in News, Parents and Teachers on June 20, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Mary Ellen Braks Keep your preschoolers busy this summer with hands-on activities that encourage playful learning while exploring STEM concepts and reading. Preschoolers will find lots to discover with their parents and caregivers, using our new Ready for School with STEM kits. Spokane County Library District in partnership with the Inland North […]
Tags: animals, blocks, boxes, bugs, counting, designing, dinosaurs, dirt, education, family, gears, kids, learn, LEGO bricks, magnets, magnifying glasses, measuring cups, nature, numbers, parenting, parents, patterns, planning, play, preschooler, problem solving, pulleys, ready for kindergarten, Ready for School, rulers, scales, science, shapes, sorting, STEM, STEM kits, teachers, water, weather, weights, wheels, young learners
