Archives for Authors & Books

Music-Themed Picture Book Read-Alouds on Libby

Music-Themed Picture Book Read-Alouds on Libby

Some of you may ask what is Libby? Libby is an easy-to-use app that allows you to borrow eBooks and digital audiobooks with your library card for free. Libby has thousands of Adult, Teen, and Children’s titles that you can borrow using your iPad, tablet, or phone by downloading the app from your app store. One of my favorite types of content available on Libby are the Read-Alouds that with their narration and word highlighting make them perfect to share with pre-readers and beginning readers. For fun, I have highlighted 3 of my favorite Read-Alouds that share the subject of
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March 19, 2020 2:52 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Evergreen, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: libby, music, picture books, and read-alouds.

Battle of the Books Inspired Reading List

Battle of the Books Inspired Reading List

As part of the book selection committee for Westchester’s Battle of the Books trivia competition, I spent January and February reading and considering books for the 2020 reading list. Librarians across Westchester nominated titles for the teen division and I tried to read as many as possible. While this year’s reading list hasn’t yet been finalized, I had so much fun with the nominated titles that I wanted to share a few of my favorites. These are all available in eBook format through Westchester Library System. Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan Libby: eBook only A very light summer romance
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March 19, 2020 11:53 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Evergreen, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: battle of the books, digital audiobooks, eBooks, hoopla, libby, and young adult fiction.

Dive Into Diversity: Girl Power for Grades 4-6

Dive Into Diversity: Girl Power for Grades 4-6

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. March is Women's History Month so I’ve put together a list of some books that feature diverse strong female characters that I’ve been wanting to read! Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee (Available in eBook format on Hoopla) For children in
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March 19, 2020 9:19 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Evergreen, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, Dive into Diversity, juvenile fiction, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, Women's History, and womens history month.

Reading Around the World: Irish Culture

Reading Around the World: Irish Culture

With Tata's “Reading Around the World” book picks, younger patrons and their families will enjoy reading about the different cultural celebrations around the world. Easy holiday Picture Books and easy Folklore stories will introduce young readers to the world outside the U.S. Simply click on a title or cover to place it on hold. Irish lore and traditions are cherished by all. The contributions of our Irish immigrants have carved a path into our very identity. Enjoy these titles full of wit, humor and tradition. And may we all enjoy the luck of the Irish! PICTURE BOOKS The Leprechaun Under
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March 17, 2020 1:10 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Evergreen, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations, Irish folklore, Reading Around the World, and St. Patrick's Day.

Board Book Bonanza: Women’s History Month

Board Book Bonanza: Women’s History Month

“Board Book Bonanza” highlights the wealth of excellent board books being published for babies and young preschoolers for parents and caregivers to share with their little-ones. It's never too early to have fun and learn about science, art, history, and so much more! Recently, authors and illustrators have created a variety of collective biographies and biographies for babies with age-appropriate content. Here are some notable board book biographies of women to celebrate Women’s History Month: Dream Big, Little One by Vashti Harrison “Harrison offers an uplifting celebration of black leaders from the past and present. The subjects include scientists, artists
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March 2, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: board book bonanza, board books, and womens history month.

Teen Book Review: Sick Kids in Love

Teen Book Review: Sick Kids in Love

Below you'll find a book review of new or upcoming titles submitted by teens in the Edge. If you'd like to place a hold on the book being reviewed, click on the title or cover. Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz Review: Isabel meets Sasha in a hospital. They both have illnesses. From the start Sasha is blunt about his feelings for Isabel but she has a no dating policy. Its overall seeing them develop their relationship and how their families and illnesses affect them. At points Isabel was a little annoying too much but Sasha was sweet and
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March 2, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: book review, by teens for teens, Hannah Moskowitz, and teen book review.

African Folktales

African Folktales

The African continent is home to many peoples and cultures. This sample covers only 6 diverse peoples from Africa, leaving many more to explore. Whet your appetite with these stories and visit the Trove to find many more. Enjoy! Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile, by Won-Ldy Paye “A clever chicken outwits a hungry crocodile by convincing the reptile that she is her sister. This trickster tale is smart and funny. It comes from the Dan people of Liberia and this illustrated version is perfect for a younger audience.”—School Library Journal Beautiful Blackbird, by Ashley Bryan “Because they don't have
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February 28, 2020 2:06 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Evergreen, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

African American Tradition

African American Tradition

The African American tradition of storytelling helps bring together collective experiences and wisdom through well-known characters and stories as in the ones selected here. Enjoy these stories of hope, humor, kindness, cleverness, and more. Jump! The Adventures of Brer Rabbit, by Joel Chandler Harris “The folktales collected by Harris from former slaves at the end-of-the-century constitute a valuable contribution to African American folklore. The illustrations, full-page portraits of the character and their antics, are in pen-and-ink and watercolors. They match the text in humor and vigor.”—School Library Journal The Headless Haunt and Other African-American Ghost Stories, by James Haskins “A
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February 27, 2020 4:24 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Evergreen, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: african american tradition, black history month, children's books, folk tales, ghost stories, Observances and Celebrations, and storytelling.

Girl Power in Picture Books

Girl Power in Picture 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. Raquel's portion is aimed at readers up to Grade 3. A good web resource for book ideas to celebrate Women’s History Month is the A Mighty Girl website, which “features over 3,000 girl-empowering books.” Here are a few of the great picture books for young readers to celebrate Women’s History
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February 27, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Evergreen, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: picture books and womens history month.

Peculiar Picks: Narwhal and Jellyfish Series

Peculiar Picks: Narwhal and Jellyfish Series

Peculiar picks are a selection of odd, funny, interesting, curious, moving, irreverent, and otherwise wonderfully awesome, but perhaps not well known, reads. Picture books for younger readers and their grown-ups, handpicked by the Library's Youth Services Manager, Joshua Carlson. Many of the books in this column are ones that my wife and I have read with our daughter. Our experiences of trying to find books to keep up with her insatiable love of books, while also keeping us interested in reading them, lead to a lot of the choices in this column. The Narwhal and Jellyfish books by Ben Clanton
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February 27, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Ben Clanton, book recommendations, Peculiar Picks, and picture books.

Pointers 4 Parents: The Breaking News

Pointers 4 Parents: The Breaking News

Lauren's “Pointers 4 Parents” column features tips, tricks, and resources for caregivers with a specific focus on children with special needs. In light of all the terrible news that we see daily, be it on the news, social media, or in real life, here are some resources to help you talk to your children. Caroline Knorr of Common Sense Media suggests tips for talking to kids about violence, crime, and war at different ages. Common Sense Media is an amazing online resource for parents in general, not just for this topic. It gives parents information about nearly everything media related
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February 27, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Evergreen, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations and pointers 4 parents.

New Book Group: Facts, Not Fiction

New Book Group: Facts, Not Fiction

New to the Library is “Facts, Not Fiction,” a discussion series centered around three nonfiction books. White Plains resident Mark Tracten—the U.S. representative of Great Britain’s Crown House Publishing (which he formerly headed along with Brunner/Mazel Publishers)–will lead the discussion. Here is the schedule: ♦ March 12: The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown (Penguin Books, 2013). ♦ April 9: The Lost City of the Monkey God, by Douglas Preston (Grand Central Publishing, 2017). ♦ May 14: 1776, by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster, 2005). The Thursday discussions will be in the Library’s first-floor Community Room at 6:00
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February 17, 2020 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: book discussion, book groups, and Nonfiction book group.

Short Story Discussion Resumes March 12

Short Story Discussion Resumes March 12

After a winter break, White Plains librarian Barbara Wenglin resumes her short story discussion series on Thursday, March 12, at 2:00 p.m. in the Library’s Galaxy Hall (second floor). The first selection to be explored is Barbara Kingsolver’s “Islands on the Moon” from the series anthology, Stories of Motherhood, edited by Diana Secker Tesdell (Everyman’s Pocket Classics, 2012). The theme of this story is single motherhood and pregnancy, while other aspects of what moms face will be taken up in subsequent discussions by authors Elizabeth Bowen, Tillie Olsen, Anita Desai, Louise Erdrich, and Hortense Calisher. Renowned novelist Amy Tan wraps
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February 10, 2020 5:05 pm | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Evergreen, and Library News.
Tags: book discussion, short story discussion, and Stories of Motherhood.

Dive Into Diversity: Black History Month for Grades 4-6

Dive Into Diversity: Black History Month for Grades 4-6

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. Author and educator Zetta Elliott put together this incredible list of middle grade and young adult books published in 2019 by black authors. Below are a bunch of them that I’m especially looking forward to reading! New Kid by Jerry Craft
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February 5, 2020 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, and Kids.
Tags: black history month, children's books, Dive into Diversity, juvenile fiction, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Board Book Bonanza: Celebrating Black History Month

Board Book Bonanza: Celebrating Black History Month

“Board Book Bonanza” will highlight the wealth of excellent board books being published for babies and young preschoolers for parents and caregivers to share with their little-ones. It's never too early to have fun and learn about science, art, history and so much more! The following is a list of positive and loving board books for babies available in the Trove to celebrate Black History Month: Be Boy Buzz by Bell Hooks & Christopher Raschka “Brown-skinned boys with long, curving arms and curly hair lope and leap across sienna-colored pages; bright squiggles of scribbled design add a geometric counterpoint to
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February 4, 2020 3:54 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books and Kids.
Tags: Baby Says, Be Boy Buzz, black history month, board books, book recommendations, children's books, children's literature, I Love Me, I love My Hair, and Observances and Celebrations.

Dive into Diversity: Celebrating Black History Month with Picture Books

Dive into Diversity: Celebrating Black History Month with Picture 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. Raquel's portion is aimed at readers up to Grade 3. A great resource for parents and educators looking for the newest, excellent titles for children by African-American writers and illustrators is The Brown Bookshelf’s 28 Days Later: A Black History Month Celebration of Children’s Literature at 28 Days Later. Highlighted
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February 1, 2020 10:37 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Evergreen, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: black history month, children's books, Dive into Diversity, diverse reads, Observances and Celebrations, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Pointers 4 Parents

Pointers 4 Parents

Lauren's “Pointers 4 Parents” column features tips, tricks, and resources for caregivers with a specific focus on children with special needs. As an introduction to this column, let’s start with some tips for reading to or with your child(ren). An Ohio State University study suggests that children who have five books a day read to them enter kindergarten having heard about 1.4 million more words than children who aren't read to. Listen, I understand that life happens. There are days for every parent when there’s just no time for anything you want to do. Some days you may not get
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January 30, 2020 12:24 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Evergreen, Kids, and Library News.

2020 American Library Association Youth Media Award Winners

2020 American Library Association Youth Media Award Winners

Below find a selection of this year’s ALA Youth Media Award winners which represent the year’s best works for children and teens. The full list of this year’s winners, as well as video of the award ceremony, can be found here. John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature: New Kid written and illustrated by Jerry Craft. Newbery Honor Books: The Undefeated written by Kwame Alexander and, illustrated by Kadir Nelson Scary Stories for Young Foxes written by Christian McKay Heidicker and illustrated by Junyi Wu Other Words for Home written by Jasmine Warga Genesis Begins Again
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January 29, 2020 3:10 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Evergreen, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: ALA Youth Media Awards.

Peculiar Picks: Peter McCarty

Peculiar Picks: Peter McCarty

Peculiar picks are a selection of odd, funny, interesting, curious, moving, irreverent, and otherwise wonderfully awesome, but perhaps not well known, reads. Picture books for younger readers and their grown-ups, handpicked by the Library's Youth Services Manager, Joshua Carlson. Jeremy Draws a Monster // The Monster Returns by Peter McCarty I’m starting off this series with “one” of my favorite books, the Jeremy and the Monster duology by Peter McCarty. McCarty is best known for Caldecott Honor Books, Hondo & Fabian, and New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year Henry in Love. But his Jeremy Draws a Monster
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January 24, 2020 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations, children's books, Peculiar Picks, Peter McCarty, picture books, and staff picks.

Fantastic Nonfiction for Fourth to Sixth Graders

Fantastic Nonfiction for Fourth to Sixth Graders

There are so many amazing books published for fourth to sixth graders. Each month in Ashley's column “So You Want Your Fourth to Sixth Grader to Read Fantastic Books,” recommendations of great stories will be given to caregivers that will have their kids begging to visit the library to check out more awesome books! If you'd like to place this book on hold, simply click on the title or cover. Freaking Fantastic Nonfiction: Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of “The Children's Ship” by Deborah Heiligman I’m surprised I picked a nonfiction book to start off
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January 23, 2020 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Evergreen, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: book review, Deborah Heiligman, SS City of Benares, and staff book review.