Monthly Archives May 2023

Celebrate LGBTQIA+ Pride

Join us this June in celebrating Pride Month! We’ve got a variety of events planned this month and some exciting book recommendations below for all ages. In addition to our events, we’ll be attending Westchester Pride on June 4th, so make sure to stop by our table for Grab & Go Kits and more at the corner of Main Street and Court Street! Events: Grab & Go Kits: Pride Month! Thursday, June 1st at 10:00 a.m. For grades K-3 Location: Lobby Pick up a new Grab & Go Kit at the Library, while supplies last, starting today. Kits will be
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Categories: Library News.

Teen Volunteer Opportunities – Fall 2023

We know teens need community service hours, and we’re happy to provide a few different options. Below you’ll find a list of all the current ways to contribute to the library community and earn volunteer credit through the White Plains Public Library. If you have any questions, please contact YA librarian Kathlyn Carroll at kcarroll@whiteplainslibrary.org. Ongoing Opportunities: Do Gooders: Card Making Saturdays, 2:00-4:00 p.m. Edge Media Lab Drop in and make greeting cards to donate to Meals on Wheels. On Call Crew As Needed Sometimes we need short-notice help with a task at the library, like sorting Legos or preparing
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Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

June Programs for Younger Kids

Great programs for younger children take place all month long, every month, at the Library. See our online calendar or stop in the Trove for location information. Storytimes! Thursdays, 11:00 a.m. – June 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 Tuesdays, 11:00 a.m. – June 6, 13, 20 Saturday, 2:00 p.m. – June 10 – Celebrate LGBTQIA+ Pride Month! Stories, songs and fun with a Trove Librarian. Following Storytime on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the children and caregivers are invited to Toy Time in the Story Trove – a time to play and socialize!Tiny Tots! 0 – 24 months, with a caregiver Fridays,
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Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

This Month in the Edge: June 2023

This month, we have several activities going on in the Edge. Drop-in activities have more open availability during the month. Scheduled programs take place at specific times, linked below. Please join us for one or all! Drop-in Activities: Nintendo Switch We'll have our Switch available to play during Edge hours on Tuesdays and Fridays in June. Do Gooders Need to earn some community service credit? Drop in and make some cards for Meals on Wheels. Every Saturday in June. Scheduled Programs: White Plains Teens After Hours Friday June 2 from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. The Edge Grades 9-12 We're keeping
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Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

Five Strong Female Characters in YA Fiction

This month we're celebrating strong heroines in our young adult (YA) fiction collection. Read on for YA Librarian Lilian's recommendations for books that feature capable and inspiring female protagonists. Legendborn by Tracy Deonn Grade 8 and up Library Catalog: All available formats “Sixteen-year-old Black whiz kid Bree Matthews battles grief and demonic forces on her college campus. After her mother dies in an accident, Bree begins a residential program for enterprising teens at her mother’s alma mater and, soon after her arrival, witnesses a magical attack that triggers hidden memories about the evening her mother was killed. Haunted by the
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

Graphic Novel Book Club News

Monday, June 05, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. in the Castle (in the Trove) Grades 3-6 Library catalog, ebook Registration required. Register here. Copies of the book will be on hold at the Compass desk (the Trove) to check out. Nat Enough by Marika Scrivan Natalie has never felt that she's enough — athletic enough, stylish enough, or talented enough. And on the first day of middle school, Natalie discovers that things are worse than she thought — now she's not even cool enough for her best friend, Lily! As Natalie tries to get her best friend back, she learns more
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Categories: Library News.

Short Story Film Discussion

Join White Plains Librarian and Fulbright Scholar Barbara Wenglin via Zoom to explore compelling selections from the rich anthology, Stories of Fatherhood, edited by Diana Secker Tesdell (Everyman’s Pocket Classics, c2014).  In varied settings and cultures, the collection gathers more than a century of timeless stories about having, becoming, loving and losing fathers. A copy of the book is on hold at the Hub/Reference Desk for reading in the Library with circulating copies available to borrow through the catalog. Zoom Register Here for full series and attend when you can! Thursdays from 2:00 – 4:15 p.m. June 15 Zoom Film
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Categories: Library News.

May Middle Grade Pick of the Month

Middle grade is a term that refers to books written for readers between the ages of eight and twelve. In this column, Erica will recommend great books for children in this age group! Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao Library Catalog: Print Libby: eBook and eAudiobook Zachary Ying has been struggling to fit in at school – hard to do when you’re one of the only non-white kids. But any worries about that are immediately overwhelmed when Zachary’s mother’s soul is stolen – and he gets possessed by the spirit of the first emperor of China!
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

June Book Bunch

Thursday, June 22nd at 4:30 p.m. Click here to register for our Book Bunch Join Caroline and Donna for a book discussion and trivia game for 4th through 8th graders! We will be reading Yusuf Azeem is Not A Hero by Saadia Faruqi. Yusuf Azeem just entered Middle School and is excited to join the Robotics team. This year Yusuf realizes that it is the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 which has everyone on edge. Tension rises when Yusuf begins to find hateful notes in his locker and becomes a target for a bully who tells Yusuf that the terrorist attacks
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Categories: Library News.

Board Meeting Documents for June 14, 2023

Approved Library Board Meeting Minutes 06-14-23 Combined-Agenda-06-14-23 06-14-23 Library Board Agenda Agenda Item #2 – Budget Report – May 2023 Agenda Item #3 – Claim List 10 Agenda Item #4 – Adult Services Report – May 2023 Agenda Item #4 – Assistant Directors Report – May 2023 Agenda Item #4 – Collection Management Report – May 2023 Agenda Item #4 – Community Outreach Report – May 2023 Agenda Item #4 – Digital Media Specialist Report – May 2023 Agenda Item #4 – Library System Report – May 2023 Agenda Item #4 – Media Report – May 2023 Agenda Item #4
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Categories: Trustee Documents.

May Graphic Novel Pick of the Month

In this blog, Donna will highlight graphic novels that are great reads! Graphic Novels are intended for readers ages 8 and up. graph·ic nov·el a novel in comic-strip format A first time for everything by Dan Santat Bestselling author and Caldecott Medalist (ages 10-14) Library catalog: Print Libby: ebook A school trip to Europe in the summer? Most kids would be excited, but not Dan. This graphic novel is a memoir of Dan Santat’s middle school years. Dan is seen as a pretty good kid. He stays out of trouble, listens to his teachers and parents, and tries to fly
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Books By Dads For, and About, Dads

Below please find lists curated by the Youth Services Librarians of White Plains Public Library of Nonfiction, Memoirs & Parenting Books; Picture Books, Juvenile Fiction; and Young Adult Fiction written by fathers that are for fathers and about fatherhood. Nonfiction, Memoirs, & Parenting Books Dad’s Book of Awesome Projects by Mike Adamich Library Catalog Dad’s Book of Awesome Science Projects by Mike Adamich Library Catalog Fatherhood by Papa B: a Game-changing Guide for Parents, Father Figures and Fathers-to-be by Bode Aboderin Library Catalog – Libby Made With Dad: From Wizards’ Wands to Japanese Dolls, Craft Projects to Build, Make and
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Categories: Authors & Books, Kids, and Library News.

And Then They Came For Us Screening

AAPI Month: And Then They Came For Us Documentary Screening & Discussion Thursday, May 18th, from 7:00–8:30 p.m. Location: Auditorium Register here. For Asian American Pacific Islander Month, we will show the documentary And Then They Came For Us, about the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. And as guest speaker we will have Takeshi “Tak” Furumoto (pictured left), who lived in a Japanese internment camp in California and after the war moved to Hiroshima, where he saw the effects of the atom bomb.
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Categories: Library News.

Local History: Ina Sugihara Jones

Ina Sugihara Jones was a Japanese American activist and multi-coalition builder who lived in White Plains from 1977 to her death in 2004. She was born in Las Animas, Colorado in 1919, and moved with her family to Long Beach, California in the 1930s. Educated at Long Beach Community College and the University of California, Berkeley, she was able to “voluntarily” migrate to the East Coast in 1942 and avoid internment in the War Relocation Authority Camps set up after the attack on Pearl Harbor. She was a founding member of the New York branch of the Congress of Racial
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Categories: Library News and Local History.

Picture Book Pick of the Month

Picture Books are for all children!   In this blog, Donna will highlight great picture books old and new. Noor and Bobby by Praline Gay-Para, Illustrations by Lauranne Quentric (ages 4-7) Translated from French by Alyson Waters Library catalog: Print Libby: ebook What immediately grabbed my attention was the sweet illustration of a boy holding a dog on the cover. This illustration is simplistic in nature, but the story it tells is multi-layered. There are certain subjects that are hard to discuss with younger children and that is exactly why we need books like Noor and Bobby. The author never uses
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Kids, and Library News.

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 9

LINDOS LIBROS BILINGÜES, Parte 9 The Library has a lovely collection of bilingual Spanish/English books. To celebrate reading in two languages, we will be featuring our beautiful new books in a blog – so enjoy practicing your Spanish and English skills with these books. La Biblioteca tiene una colección hermosa de libros bilingües en inglés/español. Para celebrar leyendo en dos idiomas, le estaremos presentando nuestros lindos libros aquí. Así puede disfrutar practicando sus destrezas en ambos idiomas con estos libros. Bedtime for Baby Shark / A la cama Bebé Tiburón, by John John Bajet. Library Catalog An adaptation of the
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Author Visit: Ryan Estrada, Banned Book Biographer

Ryan Estrada, Banned Book Biographer Author Visit & Book Discussion Tuesday May 9 at 6:00 p.m. VIRTUAL – a free, registered Zoom account is required to join the program. Sign into the Zoom for the Event here.   What can you do to help fight censorship and book bannings? Find out here. Reading banned books can help change your life, or even change the world. Author Ryan Estrada learned this in writing a number of graphic novels on the topic. In Occulted, he and Amy Rose wrote about how she grew up in a cult just down the road from
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Categories: Library News.

Book ‘Em 2022-2023

Join us for the return of Book ‘Em, our popular crime fiction book group. This season we'll be reading the best in crime fiction from 2022 and early 2023, ranging from traditional mysteries to thrillers to suspense. We will continue to meet on Zoom; check our online calendar for the link. Book ‘Em meets from 2:30-3:30 p.m. To request or check out a title, click on your preferred format. We hope to have more copies and formats available in the future. Some titles have yet to be published so we will add catalog links as they become available. Click here
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Categories: Book Discussion, Director's Corner, and Library News.

Local History: Police Spying

Local and State Police Spying in the 1960s and 70s Thursday, May 4th, at 7:00 p.m. Zoom Click here to register. This program will address the hidden history of how state and local police contributed to the climate of political repression and surveillance during the Vietnam era. While it mainly focuses on state police surveillance of college activists and suspected “subversives,” it also details how local police in New Rochelle, Yonkers, and Mt. Vernon monitored social movements during the 1960s and 70s. Importantly, it also talks about how civil liberties groups and concerned citizens joined together to end political investigations
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Categories: Library News.