Monthly Archives August 2021

Back to School: Alleviating Anxiety

Last year was, to put it mildly, obviously a not-as-expected school year. While things are hopefully looking better for the coming year, you and your children may have some concerns. On Wednesday, September 1st at 7:00 p.m. a panel of childcare and School District professionals will be on-hand to answer questions and discuss what to expect in this school year. During Back to School: Alleviating Anxiety and Concerns, our panelists will cover recurring themes of questions and concerns submitted below. Note: the panel will not be able to answer questions specific to individual children or families during the program. Join
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Categories: COVID-19, Events, and Teens.

September 2021 LibraryReads

Here are the books published this month that librarians across the country love. Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune Library Catalog: Print OverDrive/Libby: eBook / audiobook “After dying of a heart attack, Wallace ends up in Charon’s Crossing Tea and Treats, a shop run by Hugo the ferryman, whose job is to help people come to terms with their death and cross over. Wallace learns and grows, becoming better in death than in life. For readers who enjoy character-driven, humorous, and heartrending stories and fans of A Man Called Ove, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance, and Less.” —Andrea
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, and Library News.

What You Need to Know About… Marvel’s Eternals

Disney is adding the Eternals into the MCU this November, but who are they? At first glance the Eternals look like souped up X-People (that’s right, I said “people” to fight our patriarchal society, deal with it), who have been around a really long time. The Eternals were created by Jack Kirby in the 70’s. Jack Kirby gave us Captain America back in the 40’s, was one of the principal authors of Marvel’s silver age, and brought X-Men (fine, I said it but only because that is the title, hence the italics). The Eternals were then brought back by Neil
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

New Movies Streaming in September

Maybe you're already familiar with our streaming services hoopla and Kanopy, but did you know that they add new content each month? Find a list below of some exciting new titles available on each platform this month. hoopla Antigone (2021 Canadian drama) Directed by Sophie Deraspe. Starring Nahéma Ricci, Rawad El-Zein, Antoine Desrochers. Writer-director Sophie Deraspe's incisive liberal adaptation of the Greek tragedy by Sophocles is the daring story of one young woman's commitment to her family, even if it means sacrificing herself. Newcomer Nahéma Ricci gives a stunning, luminous performance as Antigone, an Algerian-born teenager living in Montreal with
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Categories: Featured and Library News.

Teen Book Review: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

Title: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie Author: Jordan Sonnenblick Publisher: Scholastic Library Catalog / OverDrive & Libby Jordan Sonnenblick’s realistic fiction novel Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie is about a thirteen year old boy named Steven and his five year old little brother Jeffrey. Jeffrey’s diagnosed with leukemia and Steven wants to keep that silent because he also needs to focus on school, tries to catch up with his extra activities, and has a crush on someone. While Jeffrey is not well, Steven can’t pay attention to his studies because he’s worried of his brother and doesn’t want anything worse
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

Fall STEM Programs for Kids & Teens

Minecraft for Teens In this session, youth are invited to play Minecraft together online in a safe, learning environment. Activities will include working together to survive in a randomly generated world and/or building things collectively in creative mode. All are welcome to partake in some fun with library friends and Digital Media Specialist Austin Olney. Participants must own Minecraft (non-java) on either Windows 10, iOS, Android, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, or Oculus Rift to join a private server. Email aolney@whiteplainslibrary.org for questions and help. 9/7/2021 Tuesday 4:00-4:45 p.m. 10/5/2021 Tuesday 4:00-4:45 p.m. Fortnite with Friends Ready for some
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Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.

Tiny Tales Videos Return

We are excited to announce there will be new Tiny Tales videos by Trove Librarians starting September 7th. What are Tiny Tales? Tiny Tales are short “bite-sized” song and story videos. Watch one for a little early literacy break, or a few for a whole storytime! Tiny Tales will be available for viewing on the Library’s YouTube channel, social media (Facebook, Instagram), and will be posted here on our website. You can check out the 36 videos that were made earlier this year, right here! Tiny Tales are made possible with support from the White Plains Library Foundation.
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Categories: Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

National Novel Writing Month for Young Novelists

Have you heard about National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo? It’s a challenge that takes place each year in the month of November, where people work toward writing a book. This fall, we’re hosting a pre-planning writing series for young writers in grades 4 and up who may be interested in writing during NaNoWriMo. Each Thursday at 4:00 p.m., we’ll meet to discuss various elements that make up a novel, and work through the exercises in NaNoWriMo’s Young Novelist Workbook. By the end of the series, participants will have ideas for characters, setting, and plot ready to go, so they
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Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.

Fall Virtual Tabletop Games

Need something fun to do after school? Then join librarians Ashley and Erik from the Trove and the Edge to play virtual tabletop games! This program is for children and teens in grades 4 and up. We’ll be meeting on September 20th, October 4th, and October 18th at 4:30 p.m. Some of the games we normally play include 6 nimmt!, 7 Wonders, Solo, Sushi Go!, Go Nuts for Donuts, and Yahtzee. We use the platform boardgamearena.com to play the games while we chat on Zoom. Kids and teens that haven’t attended the program before will need to create a free
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Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.

Teen Book Review: Kindred

Title: Kindred Author: Octavia Butler Publisher: Beacon Press Library Catalog / Hoopla / OverDrive & Libby In the book Kindred, Dana, an African American woman, is transported back in time to Maryland before the Civil War to save Rufus, a young white boy. In a series of journeys that defy time, Dana faces many life-threatening scenarios. This book is an excellent read for fans of history and suspense as Dana consistently puts her life on the line to help others. This book also contains mild violence to demonstrate the inhumane treatment of slaves during this period. Overall, this book is
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

Projects on the Plaza: For Teens

In September, the Library will hold two outdoor STEM programs for teens. The programs will be on the Library Plaza, underneath the tent, on Wednesday afternoons from 4:00-5:30 p.m. September 15: Ecosystem in a Bottle Participants will learn how to take an old soda bottle and transform it into a planter. September 29: Marshmallow Launchers Participants will create marshmallow launchers using household items like toilet paper rolls and rubberbands. All participants will be expected to follow social distancing guidelines and wear a mask regardless of vaccination status.
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Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

Dive into Diversity: Happy Autumn Birthdays!

There are so many talented and diverse children’s authors and illustrators to recommend! To highlight them, I have continued with my series of celebrating their birthdays on a seasonal basis. I started with summer, and I can’t believe it, but now it’s time to celebrate Autumn birthdays! I hope you enjoy the great titles below. A great resource to find even more diverse notable titles for kids is We Need Diverse Books’ website, Where Can You Find Diverse Books? Right Here! Happy Autumn birthdays! Writer Aisha Saeed, Birthday: September 2nd Bilal Cooks Daal, illustrated by Anoosha Syed (Grades K-2) OverDrive
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Dive into Diversity: YA Mysteries

In 2021, my Dive into Diversity posts about young adult books will focus on a different genre each month. I’ll highlight books with characters that represent a range of experiences and identities. I’ll also feature authors who share an aspect of their characters’ identity as much as possible. This month I've collected a list of YA mysteries. This month, I'm happy for another opportunity to talk about Slay by Brittney Morris. We discussed this exciting mystery at our last Project LIT book club for teens in the spring, and it was unanimously declared a favorite. The main character, Kiera Johnson,
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

Dive into Diversity: School Stories

White Plains is a wonderfully diverse community! Parents, children, and teens have expressed an interest in titles that reflect the diversity in the community, and Ashley, Kathlyn, and Raquel's “Dive Into Diversity” column will spotlight noteworthy children's and teen titles that are inclusive, diverse, and multicultural to fulfill that interest. Ashley's portion is aimed at readers in grades 4-6. As inevitably happens this time of year, summer break is unfortunately coming to an end! Get in the mindset for a new school year by reading one of these awesome diverse school stories! The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson For
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Summer Reading 2021

Summer Reading at the White Plains Public Library starts Monday, June 28 and will run through Friday, August 20! Due to the impact of COVID-19 on services, Summer Reading will be completely online this year via the READsquared platform, the READsquared website, or the READsquared app, available for iOS and Android. Find information on the great lineup of programs and events for kids, teens and families in July and August here. Get Started! Register and login to READsquared. Individual youth participants can register as themselves, or parents and caregivers can register all of their children at one time. This allows
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Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.

Summer Programs for Kids & Teens

Summer Reading at White Plains Public Library: 6/28 – 8/20 Summer Reading at the Library kicks off Monday, June 28 and runs through Friday, August 20. Reading activity will be logged online with READSquared. More information on Summer Reading at White Plains Public Library can be found here. Programs for Younger Kids Information on the Library’s storytimes, guest performers and special events for younger children and families can be found here. Programs for Kids in Grades K-6 Information on programs, activities and special events for kids in Grades K-6 can be found here. Programs for Teens in Grades 7-12 Information
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Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.

Book ‘Em 2021–2022

Join us as we discuss a wide range of crime fiction. Did the critics get it right? Book ‘Em meets from 2:30-3:30 p.m. over Zoom. To request or check out a title, click on your preferred format. We hope to have more copies and formats available in the future. To request or check out a title, click on your preferred format. Click here for a printable PDF of dates & titles. September 22 Nine Elms (Kate Marshall #1) by Robert Bryndza Library Collection: Print “A compelling read with an intricate plot, a strong setting, and characters so real they are
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Categories: Authors & Books, Book Discussion, Director's Corner, Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.

Great Podcasts for Parents & Caregivers 2

In June, the first Great Podcasts for Parents & Caregivers highlighted podcasts about “Parenting & Caregiving” and “Books, Reading and KidLit.” In this entry, find recommendations in the topics of “Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Antiracism & Social Justice,” “Health & Wellness,” and “Parenting & Caregiving,” as well as featuring the local podcast, Ground Truthing, produced by the Westchester Children’s Association. In addition, be sure to check out our other Great Podcasts recommendations for kids and teens. Most of these podcasts should be available on any service you use to listen to podcasts, such as Apple Podcasts, Apple Music, Spotify, Stitcher, Google
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Categories: Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Teen Book Review: Want

Title: Want Author: Cindy Pon Publisher: Simon and Schuster Library Catalog The novel Want takes place in a futuristic dystopian society where the rich are shielded from pollution while the poor suffer. The protagonist, Jason Zhou, is determined to change this by teaming up with his friends to infiltrate and destroy the corporation responsible for the pollution. Intertwining action, love, loss, and suspense, this book is an excellent read. Additionally, many comparisons can be drawn from this book to the current state of the world. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to teens who want to be engrossed in a fast-paced
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

Grab & Go Kit: Bookbinding

Teens in grades 7-12 can pick up a kit with project supplies at the Library, then follow along with the instructional video below to make the project. Or, you can find the materials around your home and follow the video to make the project. Kits are first come, first served, and will become available on Monday, August 16th in the Library lobby. For this month’s project, we’re doing something a little different. I wanted to highlight a video from creativebug, a new library resource that offers thousands of arts and crafts video tutorials. They have everything from simple drawing lessons
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Categories: Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.