Archives for Authors & Books

A Call for Antiracism: Children’s Titles

A Call for Antiracism: Children’s Titles

In her June 1, 2020 article, “Black Lives Matter Book List for Kids and Teens,” Bianca Schulze writes eloquently, “No one person’s life is worth a higher value than another. It’s time to get uncomfortable, it’s time to immerse ourselves in the stories of others so that we may know and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” I was inspired by her article, and If you would like you can read it here. We are living in deeply troubling times and sadly we are fighting the same battles for equality, human dignity, and justice that have plagued the United
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June 4, 2020 3:05 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Antiracism, Antiracism Reading List, children's books, children's literature, and Racism.

Let’s Dance! – Reading and Dance Party

Let’s Dance! – Reading and Dance Party

Join us on Thursday, June 11 at 2:00 p.m. for a fun music and dancing author program! For ages 2-7 and their families. Author Valerie Bolling virtually visits and reads from her musical, dance-filled, fun book for younger kids, Let’s Dance! Let’s Dance! is a rhythmic showcase of dances from around the world featuring children of diverse backgrounds and abilities tapping, spinning and boogying away! The reading will be followed by Q&A time, then a fun dance party! Valerie Bolling has been an educator for over 25 years and a writer since age 4. She is a graduate of Tufts
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June 4, 2020 11:35 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: author visit and events.

Summer Virtual Book Bunch Programs

Summer Virtual Book Bunch Programs

We’re excited to announce some fun virtual book discussion programs for children throughout the summer. We’re psyched to discuss these books and get some insight about them as a few of their authors join our discussions! In June, we will be reading Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm. Kids of any age who have read the book are welcome to join us but we recommend this title for those in 3rd through 7th grade. Unlimited eBook copies are available via Hoopla, but it's also available as an eBook on OverDrive and Libby. This program will take place on
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June 4, 2020 11:31 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books and Library News.
Tags: author visit, book bunch, book club, book discussion, kids book club, and virtual book bunch.

Antiracism Resources for Teens & Adults

Antiracism Resources for Teens & Adults

This may seem irrelevant to the topic of antiracism, but I want to start by saying that I’m a knitter. In January 2019, the knitting community began a moment of reckoning with racism in the fiber arts industry. If you’re interested, you can read more about those conversations here, but suffice it to say that this event brought me to a new awareness of racism. After that, I thought a lot more consciously about my privilege, my place as a white librarian working with primarily teens of color, and my responsibility to teach my young children about antiracism. By no
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June 4, 2020 11:26 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Antiracism, Antiracism Reading List, Racism, staff picks, staff recommendations, and YA books.

Virtual Book Display: Garden Week

Virtual Book Display: Garden Week

National Garden Week runs from June 7th to the 13th, 2020. Currently, The New York Botanical Garden has a great website for kids and their families filled with planting activities for indoors and outdoors and virtual trips as well. Explore their website here. To celebrate and inspire everyone’s green thumb here are noteworthy and fun titles on gardens and gardening: Picture Books: Beginning Readers/Easy Books: Chapter Books: Nonfiction:  
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June 4, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: garden, Garden Week, gardening, Observances and Celebrations, and virtual book display.

Family Month: YA Fiction

Family Month: YA Fiction

In addition to being Pride Month, June is also Family Month. I wanted to take the opportunity to showcase YA fiction that celebrates families in their many wonderful forms. I’m happy to share one of my favorite YA books, The Other F-Word by Natasha Friend: the story of four teens who share the same sperm donor. Milo Robinson-Clark has serious food allergies; after yet another doctor visit, he makes the decision to track down his sperm donor in hopes of finding medical information. Along with his one known half-sibling, Hollis Darby-Barnes, he embarks on a quest to find genetic relatives.
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June 3, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Dive into Diversity, diverse reads, Family Month, Observances and Celebrations, staff recommendations, and YA Fiction.

Edge Read Aloud

Edge Read Aloud

La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One, by Philip Pullman Young Adult Librarian will be reading short sections from La Belle Sauvage starting Monday, June 1st at 2:00 p.m. on Instagram and Wednesday, June 3 at 9:30 p.m. on Facebook. These videos will stay up for 24 hours so be sure to watch them before they are taken down. The Book of Dust is a prequel series to Pullman’s His Dark Materials books, which is now a series on HBO. Lyra Belacqua is just a baby when Malcolm Polstead finds a mysterious object with a cryptic message. Malcolm
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May 29, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Edge Read Aloud, read aloud, and videos.

Author Visit: Erika Liodice

Author Visit: Erika Liodice

On Wednesday, June 10th at 4:00 p.m., author Erika Liodice will join us for an author visit to read her book Rookie of the Year, part of the High Flyers series. Rocket’s got speed. He’s got talent, along with two blue racing stripes on his wings. There’s only one thing standing between this rookie racing pigeon and his dream of scoring a spot on the High Flyers racing team: ground school. I interviewed Erika over email, and here's what she had to say about her career: “I’ve had a curious mind and heart and wrote my first book when I
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May 28, 2020 3:17 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: author visit, Erika Liodice, events, and High Flyers.

Pride Month: Chapter Books

Pride 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. June is Pride Month! Here are some recommendations of chapter books to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community! The Best at It by Maulik Pancholy For children in grades 3-7. Hoopla: Audio OverDrive: Audio and eBook Rahul Kapoor and his best friend Chelsea
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May 28, 2020 12:58 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: chapter books, Observances and Celebrations, Pride Month, and staff recommendations.

Virtual Book Display: Celebrate Pride Month!

Virtual Book Display: Celebrate Pride Month!

LGBTQ+ Pride Month was established in the month of June to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969, and are credited as the birth of the gay civil rights movement. The month is dedicated to celebrating the achievements and contributions of LGBTQ+ people around the world. To celebrate, here are notable titles that emphasize love, respect, community, understanding, and of course, pride: Picture Books: Chapter Books: Nonfiction:  
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May 28, 2020 12:05 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: chapter books, children's literature, Observances and Celebrations, picture books, Pride Month, staff picks, staff recommendations, and virtual book display.

Pride Month: YA

Pride Month: YA

The last couple years have seen an avalanche of excellent YA fiction featuring a broad range of LGBTQIA+ characters. This made it difficult to pick one to review for Pride Month, which is a very good problem to have. I ultimately chose We Contain Multitudes by Sarah Henstra, and absolutely loved it. The story is told entirely through the letters of two high school students randomly paired up for an English assignment. At first, dedicated Walt Whitman cosplayer Jonathan Hopkins and football star Adam Kurlansky seem totally incompatible. But as the weeks pass, their lives slowly intertwine. Jo and Kurl
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May 28, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: LGBTQIA+, Observances and Celebrations, Pride Month, staff recommendations, YA Fiction, and YA literature.

Bilingual Picture Books

Bilingual Picture Books

Here are some digital titles for you and your family. Whether you enjoy traditional tales or totally new stories, we trust you can find a title for every taste in your family. Aquí le ofrecemos algunos títulos digitales para usted y su familia. Ya sea que disfrute cuentos tradicionales o cuentos totalmente nuevos, aquí podrá encontrar un título para cada gusto en su familia. Hands Are Not For Hitting / Las manos no son para pegar, by Martine Agassi. (Available as eBook on OverDrive) Baby Shark / Bebé tiburón, by John John Bajet. (Available as eBook on OverDrive) The Sad,
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May 27, 2020 2:03 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Bilingual books, children's literature, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Amazing Audiobooks for Kids

Amazing Audiobooks for Kids

I love audiobooks and I enjoy having the eBook or print version of the story in front of me while listening to the audio. It just works for me! I find that my mind occasionally wanders if I’m only listening to the audio and having the eBook or print version of it helps me to focus. I also have noticed that I tend to read too quickly if I’m just reading an eBook or print version. Whether you’re a fan of audiobooks or have never tried them before, I hope you’ll give a listen to my audiobook recommendations that you
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May 21, 2020 9:21 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: audiobooks, children's books, children's literature, digital audiobooks, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Virtual Book Club for Teens

Virtual Book Club for Teens

Due to uncertainty about large public gatherings this fall, the Battle of the Books (BOB) competition has been postponed until October 2021. We (librarians and BOB coaches Lauren and Kat) are glad this decision has been made in the interest of safety… but we worry we’ll miss our BOB team too much! So, we’re excited to begin a monthly virtual book club for teens. Each month, we’ll read and discuss a book that’s available with unlimited copies on Hoopla. We’ll also keep our BOB skills sharp with Jeopardy games, trivia questions, and maybe even drills to improve our speed on
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May 20, 2020 11:27 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: battle of the books, book club, book discussion, book group, events, and teen book club.

For the Class of 2020

For the Class of 2020

There might not be ceremonies, big parties, caps, or gowns this year, but the Class of 2020 should still be celebrated, and we've got a few things to add to your Make Your Own Graduation toolkit. You'll find commencement speeches by National Book Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward, Admiral William H. McRaven, Abby Wambach, Barack Obama, and other notables in our Libby booklist, To the Class of 2020: We Salute You! Borrow Elgar's graduation classic Pomp and Circumstance, Drew's Famous Graduation Party Music, or some newer favorites at Hoopla, such as Lizzo's Cuz I Love You, 2020 Grammy Nominees, or Drake's
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May 19, 2020 11:32 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: class of 2020 and staff recommendations.

Teen Book Review: Sparrow

Teen Book Review: Sparrow

Below you'll find a book review of a new title submitted by teens in the Edge. Sparrow by Mary Cecilia Jackson Available as an eBook on OverDrive. Review: This book is about a young ballerina who goes by Sparrow that dates a very popular kid named Tristan in school. She can not believe that this popular kid is into her and enjoys it very much. However, Tristan has a very dark side. Every time he gets angry at Sparrow, he abuses her. Not knowing that she does not deserve this kind of treatment due to the fact that she was
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May 18, 2020 9:06 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: book review, by teens for teens, Mary Cecilia Jackson, and teen book review.

Author Event: Astronomer Dr. Julia Kregenow

Author Event: Astronomer Dr. Julia Kregenow

Dr. Julia Kregenow is an astronomer and Associate Teaching Professor at Penn State University. She will be presenting two programs in May for families related to children’s books she has written and her study of astronomy. You can borrow some of Dr. Kregenow’s books in eBook format from the Library through OverDrive/Libby and Hoopla. Thursday, May 21, 2:00 p.m. Register in advance here. Dr. Kregenow will read from her book Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, I Know Exactly What You Are and lead a family sing-a-long for mixed age groups, singing several different verses from her book and giving additional scientific
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May 15, 2020 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: astronomy, author event, and author visit.

Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Chapter Books

Asian American Pacific Islander 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. Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month is celebrated during the month of May. I had been wanting to read Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly for a while now. It won the Newbery Medal in 2018! It was a potential pick
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May 13, 2020 1:10 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Observances and Celebrations, and staff recommendations.

Virtual Book Display: Jewish American Heritage Month

Virtual Book Display: Jewish American Heritage Month

President George W. Bush established May as National Jewish American Heritage Month in 2006. The month-long celebration highlights the many contributions of Jewish Americans to American history, and celebrates Jewish cultural heritage. To celebrate, here are some fun and noteworthy Children’s and Young Adult titles. Children's Picture Books: Children’s Chapter Books: Children’s Nonfiction: Young Adult Fiction:  
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May 12, 2020 3:14 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Jewish American Heritage Month, Observances and Celebrations, staff recommendations, and virtual book display.

Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Picture Books

Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Picture Books

Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, takes place in May. It celebrates the culture, traditions, and history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Stanford University’s Asian American Activities Center website states that May, “was chosen because two important anniversaries fall during this time: the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in the United States on May 7, 1843, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad by many Chinese laborers on May 10, 1869.” To explore the history, traditions, culture and arts of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the Library of Congress has put together a useful
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May 12, 2020 10:41 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Observances and Celebrations, and staff recommendations.