Archives for Teens

Juneteenth: YA Fiction

Juneteenth: YA Fiction

I didn’t expect to have much trouble gathering some historical fiction titles telling celebratory stories about emancipation. I found one promising book that turned out to be narrated by the daughter of a Texas plantation owner complicit in concealing the news of emancipation—not at all what I was looking for. I continued searching. I found books about slavery during the Revolutionary War, time travel mysteries, and one alternate history featuring Civil War zombies, but I had a hard time finding a perfect fit for Juneteenth. I ended up reading Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. It’s told over the span
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June 17, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Juneteenth, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, and YA Fiction.

STEAM at Home: Roto Copter

STEAM at Home: Roto Copter

Learn how to build and fly a roto copter. Materials: Paper template Scissors Paper clip Masking tape Rubberband Spindle Instructions: Cut out the template, then cut along the line between boxes 2-3. Fold up along the dashed line over box one. Take a paperclip and slip it over the fold of box one, and tape the top of the paperclip, so that the bottom of the paperclip makes a loop. Next fold boxes 2 and 3 along the dashed line to make a small rectangle with a loop of the paperclip sticking out the bottom. Next cut ¼” below the
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June 15, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: STEAM, STEAM activities, STEAM at home, STEM, and videos.

Antiracism YA Fiction

Antiracism YA Fiction

Typically, when choosing books for my Dive into Diversity posts, I mostly try to avoid titles that focus on racism, police or gun violence, or other trauma. Instead, I prefer to highlight books that show a diverse range of teens dealing with everyday life. In this moment, though, it's time to feature books that demonstrate the impact of violence and oppression on teens. These stories are heavy, but they are important. Especially if you don’t identify with the protagonist, I challenge you to read and consider the character’s situation with an open mind. Let these stories be windows into another
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June 10, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Antiracism, Antiracism Reading List, Dive into Diversity, diversity, eBooks, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA Fiction, and YA literature.

Contactless Curbside Pickup Starts June 15

Contactless Curbside Pickup Starts June 15

We are excited to be offering Contactless Curbside Pickup as of Monday, June 15. This service is offered Monday-Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Every White Plains cardholder can request three items a day and pick them up during those hours. You can borrow books, movies, music, and audiobooks for yourself or your children. Here’s how to get started: Call (914) 422-1400. We’ll ask for your name, library card number, phone number, and email. Let us know what you are looking for. If you have a specific book or movie, great! If you want us to pick out items for
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June 8, 2020 1:49 pm | by | 6 Comments
Categories: Director's Corner, eNewsletter, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: curbside pickup and library services.

STEAM at Home: Build-a-Bridge Challenge

STEAM at Home: Build-a-Bridge Challenge

Try to build a bridge using only toothpicks and marshmallows. What if you don’t have toothpicks and/or marshmallows? Improvise! Use spaghetti and clay. Materials: small marshmallows toothpicks two objects that are the same height Getting Started: Set your objects 10”-12” apart. Start thinking about your bridge’s design. What shapes can you create with these materials that will hold a structure together to span the traverse between your objects? Try sketching your design on paper to see what it might look like. Does it look sturdy? Take out your marshmallows (try not to eat them all) and toothpicks and start building.
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June 8, 2020 9:56 am | by | No Comments
Categories: eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: STEAM, STEAM activities, STEAM at home, STEM, and videos.

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.

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.

National African American Music Month

National African American Music Month

I love music and it has always been a part of my life. From an early age, I have loved jazz, blues, rock n’ roll and alternative music. Now, more than ever, it is important to celebrate African American Music Appreciation Month. I have chosen artists (available on Hoopla) and a few videos that have captured my ear and heart. Black Violin: Stereotypes One of my favorite elements in art is when a musician blends different genres of music that might seem incompatible. Black Violin is a duo of artists who have successfully blended classical music with hip-hop. I had
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June 2, 2020 2:16 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: eNewsletter, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: African American Music Month, hoopla, Observances and Celebrations, and staff recommendations.

National Road Trip Day

National Road Trip Day

As spring and summer approach, it is becoming harder to stay at home. Even though the world is slowly opening up, a lot of zoos, museums, and national parks remain closed. Experiencing life to its fullest is the preferable way to live; however, we still have to be cautious about what we do. Why not celebrate National Road Trip Day (June 3rd) and try to do a virtual road trip with your family and friends? Museums, zoos, landmarks, aquariums, and national parks are all offering videos and tours that you can access from your home. This is a new reality
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May 29, 2020 1:24 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: National Road Trip Day and Observances and Celebrations.

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.

Virtual Tabletop Games

Virtual Tabletop Games

Do you miss playing board games and card games with your friends at the Library? Join Librarians Ashley and Erik on Monday, June 1 & June 15 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. to play tabletop games virtually. We use the platform boardgamearena.com to play the games, and have a conversation on Zoom. To join us, first create a free account on boardgamearena.com and login. Make a note of your username. Sign onto the Zoom link to talk to Ashley and Erik so you can tell us what games you would like to play, get instructions on how to play, and chat with
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May 28, 2020 1:03 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: eNewsletter, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: events and tabletop games.

Coming Soon: Curbside Pickup

Coming Soon: Curbside Pickup

We are working at getting the Library in order— reconfiguring our work spaces to create a better experience for staff—but we are excited that we have two milestones coming up. On Monday, June 8 our book drop will open (24/7) and we're ready for you to return materials. There will be no fines on material returned now until 30 days after the building opens to the public. Please note that all material will be quarantined for 72 hours before being checked in and reshelved, following the latest guidelines from the CDC and best practices around sanitizing surfaces. So be patient
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May 28, 2020 12:34 pm | by | 7 Comments
Categories: Director's Corner, eNewsletter, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: curbside pickup and library update.

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.

Pandemic Paraphernalia Photos

Pandemic Paraphernalia Photos

Calling all photographers — professional and amateur — of all ages: to celebrate National Photography Day on June 15th, we’re asking for your submissions and have provided prompts for you below. Photographs submitted will be shared in our weekly newsletters (adult submissions in This Week on Martine and kids and teen submissions in What’s the Story?), and they will be added to our Documenting COVID-19: White Plains Experiences collection. So please, take a look at our prompts, or get creative and submit your photos below. Ideas: Empty White Plains streets COVID cleaning supplies Work from home work area Home Schooling
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May 28, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: COVID-19, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: covid-19, COVID19, Documenting COVID-19, photography, photography prompt, and white plains.

STEAM at Home: Storm in a Glass

STEAM at Home: Storm in a Glass

Make a really cool looking storm in a glass, and learn a little about clouds. Materials: Tall Glass Water Shaving Cream Food Coloring Small Bowl Spoon Instructions: Fill the glass half full with water. Add a thick layer of shaving cream on top so that the glass is about ¾ full. Smooth down the top of the shaving cream so that it is nice and flat. Mix the food coloring with a half cup of water in a small bowl. Using a spoon, pour the food coloring and water mixture on top of the shaving cream. Keep going one spoonful
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May 22, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: STEAM, STEAM activities, STEAM at home, STEM, and videos.

May-June Family Wellness

May-June Family Wellness

In addition to our ongoing wellness programs for adults, the Library is happy to start offering some wellness programs for children, teens and families together. To attend a program, access Zoom with the link for the specific date you wish to attend below. Parent-Child Mindfulness and Meditation – Tuesday, May 26, 3:30 p.m. Learn to reduce stress, lessen anxiety and insomnia, stay calmer, focus better, and feel more resilient. Direct, practical and easy techniques and strategies that you can use anywhere presented by Daniel Lauter, a Wellness Educator, Mindfulness Instructor, and Integrative Sound Specialist. This program, supported by the White
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May 20, 2020 3:05 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Wellness and Wellness programs.

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.

Bullet Journaling

Bullet Journaling

A few years ago when I returned to work after maternity leave, I found myself struggling to balance my new full-time jobs: mom and librarian. I’ve kept a bullet journal ever since, allowing me to keep my calendar, to-do list, a running list of questions for my pediatrician, and meeting notes all in the same place. My bullet journal has helped me prioritize work tasks, remember funny things my kids say, and train for a half marathon. While my bullet journal is plain and practical, for many it’s an opportunity to incorporate artistic expression and even mindfulness into daily life.
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May 20, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Teens, and Teens.
Tags: Bujo, Bullet journal, bullet journaling, how-to, journaling, and planners.

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.