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2020 Best Book Lists

2020 Best Book Lists

In case you're as curious as we are about what different publications deem the “Best Books of 2020,” we've compiled a list below. What were your favorite reads this year? Leave us a comment letting us know. Some of the titles named the Best of 2020 are listed below; you'll find a much wider selection at Overdrive, here. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid Library Collection: Print, Large Print, and CD audiobook OverDrive and Libby: eBook and audiobook The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson Library Collection: Print, Large Print, and CD audiobook OverDrive and Libby: eBook and
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December 16, 2020 4:56 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: best books, best of 2020, book recommendations, books, and year end lists.

She Writes: Short Stories

She Writes: Short Stories

This month's collection of titles for our “She Writes” series focuses on short story collections. Too distracted by current events to focus on long reads? Try short stories. Join librarian Barbara Wenglin's Short Story Discussion Series via Zoom, featuring 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories, on Thursday 12/17, 1/7/21, and 1/14/21. Click here for details. Below you'll find short story collections all written or edited by women and their 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 historical novels here. 100 Years
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December 16, 2020 10:19 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: books, She Writes, Short stories, staff picks, staff recommendations, and women authors.

2020 Staff Favorites

2020 Staff Favorites

The White Plains Library Staff have assembled their picks for the year, featuring cookbooks, DVDs, music, audiobooks, and plenty of plain old books. It's a wonderfully wide-ranging list, full of lots of surprises, and should help with your holiday shopping or just some entertainment for yourself. Enjoy! Below you'll find a list with links to the catalog or resource where they're available as well as a blurb on why staff enjoyed it. Books: Peace Talks by Jim Butcher Library Catalog OverDrive and Libby: eBook and audiobook Harry Dresden is a wizard living in modern day Chicago. Think of this book
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December 16, 2020 9:32 am | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Director's Corner, Evergreen, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: best of 2020, book recommendations, books, music, staff picks, staff recommendations, and television.

December Daily Poetry

December Daily Poetry

Every 1st Wednesday for 16 years we Slam at the Library with an Open Mic, Open Slam, and World Famous Slam Poet Feature. We started this all on January 26, 2004. During the 2020 virus outbreak we are posting 1 poem a day from our archives until we can share our poetry in public and proximity again. December 11th: Isabella December 10th: Gustavo December 9th: Francesca December 8th: Esiyem December 7th: Cye December 6th: Brando December 5th: Anya December 4th: Adrianna December 3rd: Mikey December 2nd: Taye Vaughn December 1st: Beth
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December 2, 2020 4:57 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: COVID-19, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: daily poem, poem a day, poetry, poetry slam, slam poetry, videos, and Zork.

Local Food Pantries

Local Food Pantries

Below is a list of active local food pantries. Schedules vary and some may close temporarily due to COVID-19, so be sure to call and confirm before visiting. Greenburgh/Elmsford Cap Food Pantry Call for free food and groceries. 32 Manhattan Avenue White Plains, New York 10607 (914) 761-6605 Mt Hope AME Zion Church 65 Lake St # C, White Plains, NY (914) 948-6372 Ridgeway Alliance 465 Ridgeway, White Plains, NY 10605 (914) 949-3714 Tuesdays 4-6 p.m. Fridays 4-6 p.m. First Baptist Church 456 North Street White Plains, NY 10605 (914) 949-5207 El Centro Hispano Operating from the Post Road School
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November 24, 2020 2:33 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: COVID-19, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: food bank, food pantries, and food pantry.

It’s Cookie Time! Staff Recipes & Cookbooks

It’s Cookie Time! Staff Recipes & Cookbooks

With holidays coming up, it’s the perfect time to think about cookies. While you might not be able to hold your usual cookie swaps this year, we thought we would take the time to share some well-loved family recipes from our staff in the hopes that it would inspire you to try out new recipes. Whether you're baking for yourself, your family, or sending goodies to loved ones, let us know what recipes you're making this year. Comment below, or tag us on Instagram at @whiteplainslibrary, or use the hashtag #WPPLcooks on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Below you'll find a
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November 18, 2020 10:54 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, COVID-19, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: cookbooks, cookies, cooking, holidays, recipes, staff picks, staff recommendations, and virtual cookie swap.

She Writes: Historical Novels

She Writes: Historical Novels

This month's collection of titles for our “She Writes” series focuses on historical novels. Had it with 2020? Transport yourself to a different time and place with historical fiction 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 nonfiction science here. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Library Collection: Print OverDrive and Libby: eBook and audiobook “When the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria seceded in 1967 to form the independent nation of Biafra, a bloody,
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November 16, 2020 1:28 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations, books by women, She Writes, staff picks, staff recommendations, women authors, and women writers.

Antiracism: Next Steps

Antiracism: Next Steps

October has been a very eventful month for antiracism at the library, with the Race Consciousness workshop for parents and caregivers on October 21st, and the conversation with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi on October 28th. While these events were enlightening and motivational, the mission of antiracism work has not been accomplished. If you attended either of these events, I hope you are now energized and ready to learn-and do-more. Don’t let your antiracism work end there. With that goal in mind, I’ve gathered a collection of further resources you can use to keep the momentum of your personal antiracism work
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October 30, 2020 10:59 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: Antiracism, books, Ibram X. Kendi, podcast, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

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.

She Writes: Graphic Novels

She Writes: Graphic Novels

This week we launch the first collection of titles for our “She Writes” series. First up, we're featuring graphic novels for a variety of ages, all written and illustrated 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. For Children (and up) Phoebe and her Unicorn series by Dana Simpson Grade 4+ Library Collection OverDrive and Libby “A pink, bubble-gum bonbon of a tale spun of a likable, albeit self-centered, fourth-grader and her magical, self-obsessed, although sometimes-kind, unicorn.”–Kirkus Click series by Kayla Miller Grade 3-7
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August 27, 2020 6:35 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: books by women, comics, female authors, graphic novels, She Writes, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

medici.tv for Classical Lovers

medici.tv for Classical Lovers

If you love classical music, then you probably feel that the Library has been giving you short shrift. And you're right. As the circulation of our Classical CDs has continued to decline, we've invested less and less in that area. With the result that even fewer Classical CDs circulate. It's a vicious cycle. Fortunately, medici.tv–a streaming website–should go a long way to remedying this situation. Described as “the closest thing to a classical Netflix” by The New York Times, medici.tv offers a dazzling collection for classical music fans. Warning: it's hard not to get lost–for hours!–sampling medici.tv's holdings. There are
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August 27, 2020 4:05 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Director's Corner, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: classical music, medici.tv, and resources.

Staff Picks: IndieFlix

Staff Picks: IndieFlix

White Plains Cardholders just gained access to another video streaming resource with the addition of IndieFlix. IndieFlix brings engaging stories to movie lovers around the world. It provides access to over 7,000 high-quality shorts, features, documentaries, classic TV shows and Web series from 85 countries. You can watch movies on any Internet-enabled computer, smartphone, or tablet with a Web browser! Also available on Roku, Xbox, and Apple TV. If you're unsure where to start, check out these recommendations from Adult Services Librarians Tim Baird, Kristy Bauman, and Sharon Rothman. Valdez Goes Extreme If you love extreme skiing movies a la
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August 18, 2020 3:10 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: IndieFlix, movies, rbdigital, short films, staff picks, staff recommendations, streaming, and video.

100 Years of Suffrage: Slide Show

100 Years of Suffrage: Slide Show

On August 18, 1920, a twenty-three year old representative in the Tennessee state legislature cast the deciding vote to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Tennessee became the 25th state to ratify the amendment, giving it the three-fourths of the states needed to become the law of the land. This was the culmination of over 70 years of work by thousands of women in the U.S. to win
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August 18, 2020 1:55 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Featured, Homepage, Library News, and Local History.
Tags: local history, slide show, video, and Women's Suffrage.

Race Consciousness Workshop

Race Consciousness Workshop

If you’re a parent or caregiver of young children and you’re looking forward to Ibram X. Kendi’s upcoming event, get ready to mark your calendars for this workshop in October. Sachi Feris, of Raising Race Conscious Children, will help parents and caregivers become more comfortable discussing race with young children. The virtual workshop will take place on Wednesday, October 21st, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Register for the workshop here. Recommended Readings, Part 1 Recommended Readings, Part 2 Recommended Readings, Part 3 Recommended Readings, Part 4 A couple of years ago, I came across some racially stereotypical illustrations while reading
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August 17, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: eNewsletter, Events, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Antiracism, caregiver, children, parenting, parents, raising race conscious children, The Trove, and White Plains Library Foundation.

Staff Picks: Qello Concerts

Staff Picks: Qello Concerts

White Plains Cardholders just gained access to another exciting resource with the addition of Qello. Qello Concerts by Stingray is the world’s largest collection of full-length concerts and music documentaries streamed on-demand to just about any digital device. It’s like a never-ending concert ticket, which means it's perfect for this time when many are missing going to live shows. If you're unsure where to start, check out these recommendations from Adult Services Librarians Austin Duffy, Mariel Perez, and Kristen Thornton-De Stafeno. The Highwaymen, Live American Outlaws The Highwaymen were a country supergroup consisting of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash,
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August 10, 2020 1:31 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Evergreen, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: concerts, music, Qello, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Documenting COVID-19: Uplifting Rocks

Documenting COVID-19: Uplifting Rocks

Photo and text submitted by Ro Munns on May 30, 2020. An anonymous White Plains resident painted “uplifting rocks” and sprinkled them around WP neighborhoods. When people were out walking they could see and enjoy them. I saw this one on Mamaroneck Ave not far from my home. It certainly helped to put things back into perspective! Submit your own experience.
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July 24, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: COVID-19, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: community art, covid-19, COVID19, Documenting COVID-19, photo, and white plains.

Summer Read, Watch, & Listen List

Summer Read, Watch, & Listen List

We asked our staff to pick two books or films that they recently enjoyed or are looking forward to enjoying this summer. Below is a list of wide ranging recommendations for adults. Books American Assassin by Vince Flynn This is a fast paced book about American operatives in the Middle East and the training of a select few who become American Assassins. A great summer read because the story is intriguing while not being overly complicated. Flynn does a great job of bringing all of the characters to life. For those who like the theme of Read the Book, See
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July 15, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: staff picks, staff recommendations, and summer reading list.