Archives for Authors & Books

Dive into Diversity: Graphic Novels

Dive into Diversity: Graphic Novels

Josh recommends some recent graphic novels featuring diverse characters and creators. Class Act by Jerry Craft OverDrive / Library Catalog This companion to Newbery Award winner New Kid finds Jordan’s friend Drew encountering discrimination and confronting privilege in his eighth grade year at the prestigious Riverdale Academy Day School. Funny, moving and thought-provoking all at the same time. Jerry Craft talks about his real-life experiences that shaped New Kid. Shirley and Jamila Save Their Summer by Gillian Goerz OverDrive / Library Catalog Jamila Waheed and Shirley Bones learn about friendship and the desire for everyone to be able to share
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October 20, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Dive into Diversity, graphic novels, 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. National Dictionary Day is celebrated on October 16. Today’s two Peculiar Picks celebrate words and vocabulary. I may have mentioned a couple times, here or there, that my daughter has an impressive vocabulary. It may seem like bragging (I’ll be honest, I like to brag about it. Just a little.), but I know exactly why her vocabulary is so
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October 15, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, Peculiar Picks, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Reads Revisited

Reads Revisited

When children or their caregivers come to the Library asking for recommendations, I often find myself suggesting some of my favorite books from when I was a kid. There’s something really comforting about rereading an old favorite! I came up with this idea for a blog post series so that our Trove and Edge librarians could recommend some of their favorite childhood stories. I hope that you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed rereading! I was the kid that was always reading – in class (when I definitely shouldn’t have been!), in the lunchroom, and I even brought
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October 12, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Cornelia Funke, Reads Revisited, staff picks, staff recommendations, and The Thief Lord.

Horror Stories: Books & Movies

Horror Stories: Books & Movies

To celebrate Halloween and a favorite genre to read and watch in October, we've put together a list of recommended reading and watching available through our catalog and digital resources. Find our curated list of frightfully creepy reads for Halloween and beyond on OverDrive here. For something a little less scary, find our list for “Halloween Treats for a Spooky Night In” list here. Books The Year of Witching by Alexis Henderson Library Catalog OverDrive and Libby: eBook “Immanuelle’s mother dies in childbirth, proclaiming, with her dying breath, that her baby is ‘a curse.' Now a teenager, Immanuelle can’t find
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October 9, 2020 3:51 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations, books, film, halloween, Halloween Books, Halloween Movies, horror, horror films, Observances and Celebrations, October, Spooktober, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Halloween Reads

Halloween Reads

Are you looking forward to Halloween as much as I am? This year we might be limited in our normal Halloween activities due to COVID, but there are still some fun things to do. You can dress up and take photos with your family! In the past two years, I have had fun dressing up as Wednesday Addams and Punk Eleven from Stranger Things Season 2, Chapter 7: “The Lost Sister.” You can also treat yourself to a movie marathon. Some of my favorites include Beetlejuice, Practical Magic, Shaun of the Dead, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and It’s the Great
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October 7, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: book recommendations, eBooks, fun, graphic novels, halloween, Halloween Books, juvenile fiction, Observances and Celebrations, October, picture books, Spooktober, staff picks, staff recommendations, and YA Fiction.

National Cookbook Month

National Cookbook Month

With the weather getting cooler, now is a good time to warm our homes with the smells of home cooking. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or an experienced cook, if you have all day or only an hour, if you have a sweet tooth or prefer something savory, here is a list of cookbooks containing recipes for everyone to enjoy. Celebrate National Cookbook Month with us and let us know what you're cooking! Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking by Toni Tipton-Martin Library Collection OverDrive and Libby It illustrates the diversity, sophistication and influence
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October 6, 2020 11:24 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: cookbooks, cooking, National cookbook month, and recipes.

She Writes: Science

She Writes: Science

This month's collection of titles for our “She Writes” series focuses on the topic of science. We're featuring nonfiction science all written by women. Below you'll find available formats, but we also have a curated list with additional titles in OverDrive that you can checkout here. Find last month's post on graphic novels here. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert Library Collection: Print OverDrive and Libby: eBook and audiobook “The charm of this book (inasmuch as a book about extinction can have charm) lies in Kolbert's hands-on approach to her subject–searching for Panamanian frogs in the dark,
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October 5, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: science, She Writes, staff picks, staff recommendations, and virtual book display.

Celebrate Eat Better, Eat Together Month

Celebrate Eat Better, Eat Together Month

Food is a delicious part of life, made even more delicious when shared with family and friends. October is Eat Better, Eat Together Month so here you’ll find books to tickle your funny bone and recipes to make you the best chef ever. Read the stories out loud while eating your favorite treats or surprise your loved ones with your new delicious recipes. Either way, may you have “good fun and good eats!” You may think that the biggest benefit of eating together as a family is to ensure everyone has food in their stomachs. However, sharing meals does more
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October 2, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, cookbooks, Eat Better Eat Together Month, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Diwali: A Celebration of Light

Diwali: A Celebration of Light

Diwali, or Dipawali, is India‘s biggest and most important holiday of the year. The festival gets its name from the row (avali) of clay lamps (deepa) that Indians light outside their homes to symbolize the inner light that protects from spiritual darkness. This festival is as important to Hindus as the Christmas holiday is to Christians. Over the centuries, Diwali has become a national festival that's also enjoyed by non-Hindu communities. For instance, in Jainism, Diwali marks the nirvana, or spiritual awakening, of Lord Mahavira on October 15, 527 B.C.; in Sikhism, it honors the day that Guru Hargobind Ji,
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October 2, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, diwali, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, and virtual book display.

Mental Illness Awareness Week: Chapter Books

Mental Illness Awareness Week: Chapter Books

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. The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller For children in grades 3-7. OverDrive: Audio & eBook Just a few months ago, seventh grader Natalie Napoli’s mother was Mom. Lately though, she’s been Not-Mom. Her mother used to be so bubbly
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September 24, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: chapter books, children's books, children's literature, Dive into Diversity, mental illness, Mental Illness Awareness Week, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Mental Illness Awareness Week: YA Fiction

Mental Illness Awareness Week: YA Fiction

The National Alliance on Mental Illness honors Mental Illness Awareness Week during the first week in October. To mark the occasion, I'm highlighting some of the many characters in YA fiction who deal with mental health challenges. I first read I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, by Erika L. Sanchez, a couple of years ago. I considered it when working on last month’s post, and decided to listen to a little bit of the audiobook to refresh my memory… and just kept listening as the story hooked me in all over again. The audiobook was excellent. The narrator really
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September 24, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: books, Dive into Diversity, Mental Illness Awareness Week, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, and teen books.

Mental Illness Awareness Week

Mental Illness Awareness Week

Mental Illness Awareness Week was established in 1990 by the U.S. Congress in recognition of efforts by the National Alliance on Mental Illness to educate and increase awareness about mental illness. It takes place every year during the first full week of October. In her Publisher’s Weekly article, “Mental Health and Middle Graders,” Shannon Maughan writes, “A 2019 article in JAMA Pediatrics cites data revealing that one in six youths ages six to 17 experience a mental health disorder in a given year, and that in 2016, 16.5% of U.S. youths ages six to 17 (7.7 million people) experienced a
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September 24, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, Dive into Diversity, mental health, Mental Illness Awareness Week, Observances and Celebrations, 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. Mr. Tiffin’s Classroom is a series of picture books written by Margaret McNamara and illustrated by G. Brian Karas. What I love about this series is that they provide educational lessons and also social emotional lessons for children. Each book follows the kids in Mr. Tiffin’s classroom as they take part in classroom learning, such as the math lessons
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September 24, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: autumn, back to school, children's literature, fall, Peculiar Picks, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Trove StoryWalk: Steamboat School

Trove StoryWalk: Steamboat School

Get ready to step back in time as you take a walk along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the Library Plaza. Follow the panels and read, The Steamboat School: Inspired by a True Story by Deborah Hopkinson. In 1847, the Missouri law stated that “No person shall keep any school for the instruction of negroes or mulattoes, reading or writing, in this State.” However, teacher, Reverend John Berry Meachum, and his students refused to accept discrimination based on skin color. Read how Reverend Meachum opened the “Floating Freedom School” on a steamboat in the middle of the Mississippi
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September 18, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: STEAM activities, Steamboat School, storywalk, The Trove, The World is Waiting for You, and Trove StoryWalk.

Talk Like a Pirate Day: Swashbuckling Reads

Talk Like a Pirate Day: Swashbuckling Reads

Ahoy, me hearties! Avast! Get yar stern to a comfy couch or deserted isle, prop up yer peg leg and get to reading some of these thar piratical reads!  Before I make ye walk the plank! Saturday, September 19th is International Talk like a Pirate Day. When you're finished reading, try one of these Seafaring Activities or else you'll have to swab the deck ye scurvy dog! Picture Books The Pirate Princess by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen Some princesses may like tea and fancy parties, but Princess Bea would prefer sailing upon the briney deep in this tale of girl power on the
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September 17, 2020 12:10 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: book recommendations, eBooks, fun, Observances and Celebrations, staff recommendations, and Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Hispanic Heritage Month: Chapter Books

Hispanic Heritage Month: Chapter Books

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. Stef Soto, Taco Queen by Jennifer Torres For children in grades 3-6. Hoopla: Audiobook OverDrive: Audiobook & eBook There’s a lot going on for seventh grader Stef Soto! She’d love for the kids at school to stop calling her Taco Queen
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September 16, 2020 10:59 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: books, children's books, children's literature, Dive into Diversity, Hispanic Heritage Month, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, The Trove, and virtual book display.

‘Virtual’ Short-Story Discussion Series Returns

‘Virtual’ Short-Story Discussion Series Returns

Barbara Wenglin’s short-story discussion series has been a mainstay at the Library for years, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 caused the format to change from in-person to virtual, via the Zoom platform. “What we lost in intimacy was made up by gaining participants from beyond White Plains. Through the Library’s website, newsletter, social media, and word of mouth, we were able to reach out around the region and around the country,” noted Librarian Wenglin. Virtual programs will continue in the 2020-2021 season, which has resulted in the choice of a new series anthology, available in
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September 16, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books and Library News.
Tags: Barbara Wenglin, book club, book discussion, short story discussion, and virtual book club.

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month!

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month!

National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated each year from September 15th to October 15th. The month-long celebration recognizes the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States.The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period. The day of September 15th is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September
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September 15, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Dive into Diversity, Hispanic Heritage Month, Observances and Celebrations, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Hispanic Heritage Month: YA Fiction

Hispanic Heritage Month: YA Fiction

Hispanic Heritage Month is observed between September 15th and October 15th. To celebrate, I had fun putting together a list of books by Hispanic authors. This month, I read American Road Trip by Patrick Flores-Scott. Surprisingly, the road trip itself is a fairly minor part of the storyline, which contains so many layers that it’s difficult to write a spoiler-free summary, but here goes… Teodoro Avila puts no effort into academics, and his family life is tense due to the absence of his older brother Manny, stationed in Iraq. In preparation for Manny’s return, Teodoro and his sister, Xochitl, make
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September 15, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: books, Dive into Diversity, Hispanic Heritage Month, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, and teen books.

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. Now, I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with the books that came before these two titles, but in both cases my daughter absolutely loved the sequel, and was sort of meh about the first one in comparison. Sometimes, I think it is that perhaps the creators have a better sense of the characters and the best story
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September 10, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's literature, Peculiar Picks, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.