TAG: teens

Microhistories: Extremely specific knowledge (aka fun facts!) you can share with others

Posted in Explore and Discover on May 7, 2019 at 6:00 am

By Rachel Underwood I have recently discovered an intense love for nonfiction titles and it all started with a compendium of terrible medical cures through history. Those 24-karat golden face masks that are in vogue right now? They’ve already been done long before the present day (and the masks still don’t have any proven benefits; […]

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From the Library of Things: Machine sewing at your fingertips

Posted in Explore and Discover on April 2, 2019 at 6:00 am

By Melissa Rhoades Did you know you can borrow a sewing machine from the Library District? Our Library of Things offers two Elna eXplore 320 sewing machines to check out for up to seven days at a time. One is available for pick up at the Spokane Valley Library and the other can be picked […]

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Project Memory: Your old photos and home movies transferred to digital

Posted in Explore and Discover, News on March 12, 2019 at 6:00 am

By Dana Mannino Is your family history collecting dust in a closet? Have a box of slides from Grandpa’s 1978 trip to Europe? How about those little 8mm film reels in their tiny cardboard boxes? If you have photos, film reels, or slides stashed away, now is the time to pull them out! Perhaps Mom’s […]

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Gifts of experience for less stress and more joy this holiday season

Posted in Explore and Discover on December 11, 2018 at 6:00 am

By Abra Cole The holiday season is here again! I love the smells of goodies baking in the oven, the peacefulness of the fluffy snow falling outside, and the excited sounds of kids clamoring to get the best spot by the Christmas tree and all the gifts. Usually at our house, that last one is […]

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Cozy up to slow reading this winter

Posted in Explore and Discover on November 27, 2018 at 6:00 am

By Melissa Rhoades One specific morning in fourth grade still stands out in my memory. I arrived early to class, sat at my desk, and opened a novel I was midway through. I don’t remember now what book it was, but I do remember becoming completely engrossed, sinking into the world on the page. Which […]

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Fanfiction primer: Reading and writing what you love

Posted in Explore and Discover on November 13, 2018 at 6:00 am

By Caitlin Wheeler THE DETECTIVE Tired of writing serial mysteries, Arthur Conan Doyle had just unceremoniously shoved Sherlock Holmes over a cliff mid-wrestling match with a never-before-mentioned arch nemesis. Fans were incensed, devastated, or both. Many of them turned to writing apocryphal works (writings of dubious authenticity), pastiches (im […]

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Great digital reads for the whole family

Posted in Explore and Discover, kids, Parents and Teachers, Teens on November 6, 2018 at 6:00 am

BY SHERI BOGGS November marks the time of year when families start drawing close together for the holidays and you know what that means—lots and lots of family time! The Library District has got you covered with several themed booklists available on our popular OverDrive digital platform. FOR KIDS We Are Family is a handpicked […]

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Banning books silences stories: Reading a banned book celebrates your intellectual freedom

Posted in Explore and Discover, Parents and Teachers on September 18, 2018 at 6:00 am

by Melissa Rhoades Banned Books Week is September 23–29 this year. Did you know that at least 23 of the 100 books on PBS’s 2018 Great American Read book list have been banned or threatened with a ban in the United States? That means almost one-fourth of America’s “most loved” novels (as determined by popular […]

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How to Identify a Dragon

Posted in Explore and Discover, kids, Parents and Teachers, Teens on August 21, 2018 at 6:00 am

by Caitlin Wheeler When I was young, I loved C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. I especially loved The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a book that, in my eight-year-old estimation, had everything a book ought to: quests, nightmares, magic spells, enchanted islands, warrior mermaids, anthropomorphized stars, and of course, dragons. Eustace Claren […]

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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 […]

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