Explore and Discover
Road trip! The quintessential American vacation
Posted 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 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 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
Pounce-worthy feline books
Posted on June 13, 2018 at 6:00 am
by Dana Mannino Need a great book for a cat lover? You might naturally gravitate towards heartwarming nonfiction works like Dewey and Strays, or others that include fictional cats. But have you considered a picture book? The cat lover in your life may have aged out of the target demographic for picture books years ago, […]
Tags: adults, cats, felines, nonfiction, parents, picture books, reading
Confession of a librarian mom: Reading and summer slide
Posted on June 5, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley Last summer my family was busy with summer activities: camps, road trips, and camping vacations. We planned highly educational and enriching activities for our youngest daughter, but we did not make reading a high priority. When she started school in the fall, her teacher told me that she had definitely lost ground […]
Tags: online reading, online summer reading, reading, reading buddies, reading buddy, summer learning loss, Summer reading, summer reading buddies, summer reading buddy, summer slide
Children’s booklist for Pride Month
Posted on May 29, 2018 at 6:00 am
by Caitlin Wheeler June is LGBT Pride Month in the U.S. Originally a week-long festivity, it honors the 1969 Stonewall Riots that culminated in a 51-block parade march from the Stonewall Inn to Central Park in Manhattan, New York. As it has evolved and taken many forms, Pride Month continues to commemorate the men and […]
Tags: bisexual, booklists, books, family, fiction, gay, gender, kids, lesbian, LGBT Pride Month, LGBTQ, parents, Pride Month, queer, reading, transgender, young learners
What’s cooking in the mud kitchen?
Posted on May 22, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Abra Cole In the last month, my garden has gone from looking like the dark side of the moon after the zombie apocalypse to a lush green jungle of happiness. Many plants I forgot I had planted last fall have popped up to greet the sun. I already know that I want to plant […]
Tags: books, butterflies, butterfly, butterfly garden, early learning, fairies, fairy, fairy garden, family, gardening, grandparents, hobbies, kids, mud, mud kitchen, outdoor play, outdoors, parents, play, science, teens, young learners
Poetry of resistance and environmental justice
Posted on May 3, 2018 at 6:00 am
by Nathaniel Youmans Since its inauguration in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month has become perhaps the single most-celebrated global literary phenomenon of the year, making April arguably the most literate month. Sorry November, your romantic dreariness and proclivity for wool socks and chai lattes are no match for the e […]
Tags: Academy of American Poets, adults, authors, books, community, Dakota Access Pipeline, Earth Day, Handfor Nuclear Site, Hanford, Kathleen Flenniken, Layli Long Soldier, Manhattan Project, National Poetry Month, poems, poetry, poets, Standing Rock Reservation, T. S. Eliot, teens
Poetry in Spokane: Get Lit!, Tod Marshall, and Scablands Books
Posted on May 1, 2018 at 6:00 am
by Nathaniel Youmans Spokane has been a vibrating hive of activity during National Poetry Month. Eastern Washington University’s Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing program has had another smash hit year of literary programming for the 20th annual Get Lit! Festival, featuring readings, workshops, and panel discussions all across the Spokane […]
Tags: book publishing, creative writing, EWU MFA, Get Lit!, independent literary press, independent publisher, poems, poetry, poets, Sharma Shields, small press, Tod Marshall
Reading in between: Done with winter but not quite ready for spring
Posted on April 24, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Susan Goertz Winter has never been my favorite season. This one seemed to drag out endlessly—gray clouds heaped on the horizon like immobile lumps of oatmeal. The sun rarely filtered through. At last, with April’s arrival, the light is returning—the dormant season ending. Though I’ve longed for this, there is a chill reticence still […]
Tags: books, fiction, memoir, National Poetry Month, nonfiction, poetry, reading, spring reading
