Archives for Authors & Books

Common Ground 2022-2023

Common Ground 2022-2023

What is Common Ground? Five years ago, the White Plains League of Women Voters, the White Plains Public Library, and the YWCA collaborated to support a community conversation. Living in a community is different from supporting a community so Common Ground emerged as a place to discuss national and local issues from a local perspective. All members of the community are invited to participate as this is place to listen to each other and to learn about our community. Common Ground will meet in person this year on the third Thursday of the month from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Library.
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August 14, 2022 9:39 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: Common Ground and community conversations.

August LibraryReads

August LibraryReads

Here are the books published this month that librarians across the country love. Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood Library Collection: Print “Bee’s worked hard to get her big break leading a NASA project. However, she learns that she’ll be working with Levi, an old acquaintance who detests her. Or does he? Hazelwood’s done it again with another fantastic romance filled with the real-world struggles of being a woman in STEM. For fans of Helen Hoang and Christina Lauren.”—Brenna Timm, High Plains Library District, Greeley, COBabel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators Revolution
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August 9, 2022 4:02 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations, librarian recommendations, Library Reads, LibraryReads, and staff picks.

American Artist Appreciation Month

American Artist Appreciation Month

August is American Artist Appreciation Month. It is never too early to learn about art, creativity, and expression. Discover activities you can do with your family at home or visit a museum such as The Met. During the month of August you can also treat yourself to a biography of Mary Cassatt or Faith Ringold and learn about their passion, influences, and styles of expression. Readers can learn about the Harlem Renaissance which helped African American artists get recognition for their contributions in the art world.  An Artist’s America by Michael Albert Library Collection: Print (Grades 4-6th) Michael Albert combined
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August 9, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: American Artist Month, art, artists, books for children, children's books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

New in the Edge: August 2022

New in the Edge: August 2022

From great new books to favorite classic reads, the Edge is here to share the exciting world of young adult literature. It is with great pleasure that I get to shed light on some of the latest titles in the Edge. Come discover some of the latest and greatest YA fiction titles coming to our shelves this month.–Alain Laforest Baby Teeth by Meg Grehan Grades 10 and up Library Catalog “Immy has been in love before, but her relationships always end—because she's a vampire. She's had many lovers, and she remembers them all. Sometimes these memories are a curse: every
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August 4, 2022 4:22 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: new books, new in the Edge, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA Fiction, and YA literature.

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 2

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 2

The Library has recently purchased a lovely collection of bilingual Spanish/English books. To celebrate reading in two languages, we will be featuring our beautiful new books in a 3-part blog series – so enjoy practicing your Spanish and English skills with these board books, picture books and nonfiction titles! La Biblioteca ha adquirido recientemente una colección de hermosos libros bilingües en inglés/español. Para celebrar leyendo en 2 idiomas, estaremos presentando nuestros lindos libros en 3 partes. Así que disfrute practicando sus destrezas en ambos idiomas con estos libros en carpeta dura, ilustrados y no-ficción. Board Books / Carpeta Dura Brrum,
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July 27, 2022 2:08 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Español, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Bilingual, Bilingual books, books for children, picture books, spanish books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

DeVillo’s New Battle of White Plains Book

DeVillo’s New Battle of White Plains Book

A new book about the Battle of White Plains has come out: The Battle of White Plains: Washington and Howe in Westchester by Stephen Paul DeVillo. He is a local historian who has written books on the Bowery and the Bronx River. “I thought the Battle of White Plains deserves a much closer look,” he said in a telephone interview. “So often it’s given short shrift. It was not just a pit stop between the Fall of New York City and the Battle of Trenton.” The conventional view is that the British won the battle since they drove General George
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July 26, 2022 5:40 pm | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Library News, and Local History.
Tags: Revolutionary War, The Battle of White Plains, white plains, and white plains history.

Appreciating Nature

Appreciating Nature

Time spent outdoors is both physically and mentally healthy for all of us. Spending time in nature promotes creativity, relieves stress and is just plain fun – especially for kids. Best of all, most of us won’t need to travel far to enjoy the great outdoors – Westchester County has great places to visit and commune with nature. I found Westchester Magazine’s article, These Are the Top Outdoor Activities in Westchester to be particularly helpful in finding so many wonderful green spaces in our area. Pairing outdoor adventures with great books creates even better opportunities to enjoy the benefits of
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July 26, 2022 1:32 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, Dive into Diversity, nature books, nature books for kids, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Summer Reading 2022

Summer Reading 2022

Summer Reading at the White Plains Public Library starts Monday, June 27 and will run through Friday, August 19.  Logging reading over the summer will again be online this year via the READsquared platform through either the READsquared website or the READsquared app (available here: iOS and Android).           Lectura de Verano 2022 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
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July 17, 2022 10:00 am | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: activities for children in White Plains, books, children, children's books, children's events, children's programs, families, library programs, Library programs for teens, programs for kids, Read Squared, reading, storytime, summer 2022, summer programs, summer reading, summer reading game, teen events, teens, The Edge, and The Trove.

Delicious Summer Foods

Delicious Summer Foods

Summer brings us images of picnics, watermelons, berries, ice cream, corn on the cob, hamburgers, and more. Take a moment to enjoy these stories of friends enjoying delicious food together. Good weather, good friends and good food; who could ask for more? Watermelon day, by Kathi Appelt. Library Catalog The burger and the hot dog, by Jim Aylesworth. Library Catalog Halal hot dogs, by Susannah Aziz. Library Catalog Cheers for a dozen ears : a summer crop of counting, by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky. Library Catalog / hoopla Ice cream, by Elisha Cooper. Library Catalog The little ice cream truck, by
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July 14, 2022 11:57 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: books for children, children's books, reading list, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Peculiar Picks

Peculiar Picks

Peculiar Picks are a selection of odd, funny, interesting, curious, moving, irreverent, and otherwise wonderfully awesome, but perhaps not well known, reads. Peculiar Picks are books for younger readers and their grown-ups, handpicked by the Library's Youth Services Manager, Joshua Carlson. The characters in these stories just want to get a good night’s sleep. It’s Only Stanley by Jon Agee Library Catalog / hoopla The Wimbledon family is trying to sleep… Noises, smells, and more keep waking them up. It’s only their dog Stanley, doing increasingly strange things… but why is he doing them? Good Night Owl by Greg Pizzoli
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July 14, 2022 11:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, Peculiar Picks, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

July LibraryReads

July LibraryReads

Here are the books published this month that librarians across the country love. What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher Library Collection: Print “A retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher, Kingfisher's latest adds the creepiest of flesh to the bare-bones tale by Poe. Complete with a scary, isolated mansion and eerie behaviors of the residents, this version not only makes perfect sense within the original narrative, but adds a depth of understanding that suddenly makes all the pieces fall into place. For fans of Mexican Gothic, The Haunting of Hill House, and The Night Stranger.”—Sheri Stanley, Gulfport
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July 12, 2022 3:34 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations, librarian recommendations, Library Reads, LibraryReads, and staff picks.

August StoryWalk: These Seas Count

August StoryWalk: These Seas Count

The Trove’s Second 2022 Summer Storywalk: These Seas Count by Alison Formento and Illustrated by Sarah Snow Monday, August 1st – Wednesday, August 31st This summer the Library’s theme is “Oceans of Possibilities” and we are continuing this theme with our second StoryWalk. Take a stroll in the Garden Plaza and along your way enjoy the book, These Seas Count, written by Alison Formento and illustrated by Sarah Snow. These Seas Count is a story about a day at the beach where a community of kids, a captain, and a teacher participate in a beach clean up activity and learn
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July 12, 2022 10:23 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: storywalk, summer 2022, summer programming, The Trove, and Trove StoryWalk.

STEAM Activity: Butterfly Life Cycle

STEAM Activity: Butterfly Life Cycle

Summer is a wonderful time to learn about insects such as butterflies. This STEAM project will engage young patrons in learning about the stages of a butterfly, which include eggs, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly. This is a great opportunity for children to engage in creating a life cycle craft. You can also use the websites and books provided below to learn more about the life cycle of a butterfly. Materials Paper plates Green construction paper/marker (to create a leaf) small white cotton balls (to create the eggs) Green and yellow pipe cleaners (to create a caterpillar) Brown pipe cleaners or
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July 12, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: activities for kids, butterflies, STEAM, STEAM activities, STEAM books, and STEAM learning.

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 1

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 1

The Library has recently purchased a lovely collection of bilingual Spanish/English books. To celebrate reading in two languages, we will be featuring our beautiful new books in a 3-part blog series – so enjoy practicing your Spanish and English skills with these board books, picture books and nonfiction titles! La Biblioteca ha adquirido recientemente una colección de hermosos libros bilingües en inglés/español. Para celebrar leyendo en 2 idiomas, estaremos presentando nuestros lindos libros en 3 partes. Así que disfrute practicando sus destrezas en ambos idiomas con estos libros en carpeta dura, ilustrados y no-ficción. Board Books / Libros de carpeta
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July 1, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Español, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Bilingual, Bilingual books, books for children, picture books, spanish books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

New in the Edge: June 2022

New in the Edge: June 2022

One of the best parts of my job is ordering new books for the Edge–reading the reviews, seeing what popular authors come up with next, or finding out about an upcoming sequel to an old favorite. Read on to find out about some of the new YA fiction titles coming to our shelves this month. Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho Grades 8 and up Library Catalog “When they were 10, Elena Soo and Robbie Choi promised to go to prom together; seven years later, Robbie, now a member of world-famous K-pop group WDB, shows up on Elena’s doorstep.
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June 23, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: new books, new in the Edge, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA Fiction, and YA literature.

Traveling Through Picture Books

Traveling Through Picture Books

In Caitlin Morton’s article for Condé Nast, 29 Children's Books That Will Teach Your Kids About the World, she writes, “Aside from actually hopping on a plane, reading is the best way for children to learn about the world—and travel books for kids happen to be some of the most touching, open-minded works out there.” Travel picture books can teach us about new places, and they can also let us connect to our family’s heritage. Gathered here are picture books perfect for sharing that travel to many places and times – enjoy traveling through the pages of these notable titles!
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June 22, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: books for children, books on travel, children's books, Dive into Diversity, staff picks, staff recommendations, and travel.

Everything You Need To Know About Ms. Marvel

Everything You Need To Know About Ms. Marvel

Premieres June 8th on Disney+ Ms. Marvel is an amazing character and her comics are awesome. That being said, I am a little nervous about a live action show. Ms. Marvel has appeared in the animated series Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors (Disney+). I’m worried because Ms. Marvel is a shapeshifter, and from the previews it looks like they have pared down her powers. Ms. Marvel is Kamala Khan, a high school student in Jersey city. She has overbearing parents, an internal battle between her religion and American culture, and a crush on an older boy who works in a corner
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June 12, 2022 1:18 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Everything You Need To Know, Marvel, Marvel Studios, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Peculiar Picks

Peculiar Picks

Peculiar Picks are a selection of odd, funny, interesting, curious, moving, irreverent, and otherwise wonderfully awesome, but perhaps not well known, reads. Peculiar Picks are books for younger readers and their grown-ups, handpicked by the Library's Youth Services Manager, Joshua Carlson. No real theme today, just a selection of funny Peculiar Picks! What Animals Really Like by Fiona Robins Library Catalog / hoopla This zany picture book features a cacophonous animal chorus that fails to live up to its conductor’s expectations when the animals refuse to perform the parts expected of them, instead demonstrating what they really like to do.
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June 9, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, dragons, Peculiar Picks, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

June is Audiobook Month

June is Audiobook Month

Have you heard? June is audiobook month, and we're highlighting a few noteworthy titles here, but you'll find thousands more to choose from on our free app, Libby. Can cookbooks make good audiobooks? Yes! Learn why brilliant chef and food writer J. Kenji Lopez-Alt reaches for his Wok more than any other pan in his kitchen. Listeners can access the book's recipes and photos by typing the codeword “Sauce” on the publisher's website. Want Lily Zabar's Chicken Soup recipe? Borrow Zabar's and hear how Louis Zabar fled antisemitic persecution in Russia and went on to found a foodie's paradise and
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June 7, 2022 2:06 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books and Library News.
Tags: Audiobook month, audiobooks, digital audiobooks, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

June LibraryReads

June LibraryReads

Here are the books published this month that librarians across the country love. The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill Library Collection: Print Libby: eBook hoopla: eBook / Audiobook “Freddie is at the Boston Public Library when a murder occurs. While waiting for the police, she strikes up a conversation with others at her table. The four become friends, but could one of them be the murderer? Much misdirection and an unreliable narrator make for a tight little thriller that will have you sure you know whodunnit until you don't. For fans of The Body in the Library, Magpie
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June 7, 2022 10:53 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations, librarian recommendations, Library Reads, LibraryReads, and staff picks.