Posted in kids, Parents and Teachers on June 19, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Sheri Boggs The hot, sticky afternoons of late July through August are typically called “the dog days of summer.” It’s that time when the only thing that sounds good for dinner is gazpacho, and even grownups without kids consider a visit to the neighborhood swimming pool. To the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, the dog […]
Tags: booklists, books, companion, dog, dogs, early readers, family, fiction, kids, nonfiction, parents, pets, picture books, puppies, puppy, reading, teachers, young learners
Posted in Explore and Discover 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
Posted in Parents and Teachers, Teens on June 11, 2018 at 6:00 am
by Caitlin Wheeler As I wrote about in a previous blog that spotlighted children’s books, June is LGBTQ Pride Month. You can learn more about Pride Month and LGBTQ representation in that post. For adult titles, check out my Pride Month blog on that as well. Here, I’m recommending some great young adult (YA) literature […]
Tags: booklists, books, fiction, identity, LGBTQ, literature, parents, Pride Month, reading, teens, YA, young adult
Posted in Explore and Discover, kids, Parents and Teachers 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
Posted in Explore and Discover, kids, Parents and Teachers 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
Posted in Explore and Discover 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
Posted in Explore and Discover on April 17, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Melissa Rhoades On January 1, 1818, the debut novel of a 20-year-old woman was anonymously published in London. Within five years, a second edition was released and a play based on the book premiered. The novel and its spin-offs remained a hit, and in 1910, Edison Studios created the first movie based on Mary […]
Tags: adults, books, fiction, Frankenstein, Frankenstein. Frankenstein's monster, Frankenstein's bicentennial, kids, Mary Shelley, medicine, movies, overdrive, reading, science, science fiction, technology, teens, tweens, YA
Posted in Explore and Discover on March 13, 2018 at 6:00 am
by Caitlin Wheeler In late 2016, a friend challenged everyone she knew, including me, to name one Indigenous American author, other than Sherman Alexie, off the top of their heads. As an employee of the library and an English literature major with a passion for diverse representation, I felt I should have answered quickly and […]
Tags: adults, authors, authors of color, books, diverse book list, reading, reading diversely
Posted in Explore and Discover on January 30, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Susan Goertz During my freshman year of high school, I was given the assignment to write a report on an important American. Although I had almost no exposure to her at that point—and I can’t remember what instigated the choice, except maybe the happy accident of hearing her on the radio—I selected the singer […]
Tags: adults, African American History Month, Alicia Garza, American literature, Angela Davis, Audre Lorde, authors, Bell Hooks, Billie Holiday, booklists, books, Claudia Rankine, Eve Ewing, fiction, Lady Day, Michelle Alexander, Morgan Parker, N. K. Jemisin, Nisi Shawl, Nnedi Okorafor, nonfiction, Octavia Butler, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Poet Laureate, poetry, reading, Roxanne Gay, science fiction, Sonia Sanchez, Toni Morrison, Tracy K. Smith, Zora Neale Hurston
Posted in Explore and Discover on January 10, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Stefani Miller As we start a new year, I look forward to publishers announcing the release dates for new books. Whether it’s another installment in a favorite series or a second novel from a 2017 debut author, each month in the new year is a fresh opportunity to get my hands on a brand […]
Tags: adults, booklists, books, digital library, reading, romance, romance genre, romance series