Archives for children’s literature

Reads Revisited: Little Women

Reads Revisited: Little Women

For my ninth birthday, my beloved grandparents gave me a beautiful hardcover illustrated copy of Louisa May Alcott’s, Little Women (Library Catalog / OverDrive). I was ecstatic as I was an avid reader and my grandmother told me specifically about how much she loved the book as a young girl. I will never forget that I ran through those 643 pages in only three days. My memories of it are nothing but fond. As I sat down to reread it for this column, I had a very different experience. First, I happened to be at work, so I grabbed a
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March 16, 2021 10:00 am | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's literature, Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, and Reads Revisited.

International Transgender Day of Visibility

International Transgender Day of Visibility

Each year, March 31st is celebrated as the International Transgender Day of Visibility. This is a day to honor the experiences and contributions of transgender and gender nonconforming people, and to recognize the discrimination they face. We’ve collected a bunch of children’s and YA books that reflect and celebrate a variety of transgender and gender nonconforming people. Find a collection of related titles on OverDrive here. The Human Rights Campaign Organization’s Welcoming Schools Project has a wealth of curriculum resources for teachers and parents. For further reading, I highly recommend their booklist: Great Diverse Children's Books with Transgender, Non-Binary and
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March 16, 2021 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, International Transgender Day of Visibility, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA books, and YA Fiction.

Long Live Pi

Long Live Pi

Pi Day is on March 14th, and any day that combines fun, education, and pie is a day worth celebrating! Pi, also known by the Greek letter “π,” is a constant value used in math that represents the ratio of a circumference of a circle to its diameter, which is just about 3.14….15…9265359… (and so on). Not only that, but the fourteenth of March is also Albert Einstein’s birthday, so all together it’s nothing short of a mathematician’s delight. Celebrate Pi Day with some of the titles below, and with our Grab & Go Kit for K-3 that is available
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March 12, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, math, Observances and Celebrations, Pi day, and STEAM.

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. I really enjoy meta-fictional books for younger readers. By this I mean books that are “aware” of their book-ness, or that actively reinforce their book-ness to the reader. For example, characters may interact with the physicality of the book, provide commentary on themselves and their world within the book, or break the fourth wall and address the reader. I’ve
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March 11, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, goldilocks, Peculiar Picks, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year

Celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year

Please join us on Friday, March 19th for a cultural spring program celebrating the Persian New Year. This year, White Plains Public Library is hosting a reading of The Phoenix of Persia, written by Sally Pomme Clayton and Amin Hassanzadeh Sharif. Afterwards we will work on coloring eggs for the Haftseen. Grab & Go spring bags for our Nowruz program will be available on March 15th. If you are unable to register or pick up a kit, please feel free to join us. You will need white vinegar, eggs, and food coloring or washable markers. Nowruz, or the Persian New
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March 10, 2021 9:25 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, Nowruz, Observances and Celebrations, Persian new year, spring, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Parenting: Great Books for Emerging Readers

Parenting: Great Books for Emerging Readers

Read Across America day, March 2nd, has already passed. But with all the media attention it and Dr. Seuss received this year, I wanted to address it. First, some history: Read Across America is the National Education Association’s (NEA) celebration of reading. Since its inception in 1998, it has focused on motivating children and teens to read, emphasizing that reading is about everyone and for everyone. So what is the big deal this year? Read Across America has long been associated with Dr. Seuss. The NEA had a partnership with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to help draw attention to reading. While
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March 9, 2021 9:46 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, Dr. Seuss, easy readers, emerging readers, and Read Across America.

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. Like so many folk and fairy tales, such as The Three Little Pigs, there are many versions of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. For a traditional telling, check out this bilingual version on Hoopla by Candice Ransom or this version by James Marshall on Kanopy. However, since this is Peculiar Picks, here are three of my
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February 24, 2021 11:40 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, goldilocks, Peculiar Picks, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Perfect Picture Book Biographies for Women’s History Month!

Perfect Picture Book Biographies for Women’s History Month!

Congress first designated March as Women’s History Month in 1987 to honor and celebrate women’s achievements and contributions to American history. The beginnings of the March celebration of women and their important accomplishments started much earlier, however. Kate Hannigan writes in her blog, “Like any great creation, Women’s History Month traces its roots to the tiniest seed of an idea—or in this case, a single date on the calendar: National Woman’s Day. First observed on February 28, 1909, it was organized by the Socialist Party of America to call for equal rights for women on the job and at the
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February 24, 2021 10:00 am | by | 4 Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, Observances and Celebrations, picture book biographies, picture books, staff picks, staff recommendations, and womens history month.

Dive into Diversity: Girl Power

Dive into Diversity: Girl Power

To celebrate Women’s History Month, I have gathered together ten diverse titles with feisty and loving girl protagonists. Most are recently published titles and all are available as eBooks on OverDrive, or can be obtained by placing holds on the titles through the library catalog and picked up at the Library. For further reading, I also recommend: “55 Multicultural Picture Books About Strong Female Role Models”, a “Girl Power” booklist from Colours of Us (a website dedicated to multicultural children’s books) as a good resource for both nonfiction and fictional picture books to celebrate Women’s History Month. With all these
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February 23, 2021 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, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, and womens history month.

Reads Revisited

Reads Revisited

Reads Revisited is a blog series where Trove and Edge Librarians revisit some of their favorite childhood stories. In today's column, Trove Librarian Raquel Cavalcanti revisits From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (OverDrive; Library Catalog) by E. L. Konigsberg. Originally published in 1967, the story of the adventures of Claudia and Jamie was already a bit dated when I read it as a geeky art-loving child. It reads now, quite clearly as historical fiction, but I still greatly enjoyed hearing the audiobook of the story of the two young protagonists running away to hide out at the
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February 16, 2021 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, Reads Revisited, 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. I just love how time travel opens up possibilities for zany storytelling, but also some exploration of deeper ideas, such as cause and effect and the consequences of actions. Oh No! Not Again! (Or How I Built a Time Machine to Save History) (Or at Least My History Grade) by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Dan Santat Library Catalog Sequel
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February 11, 2021 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, picture books, staff picks, staff recommendations, and time travel.

African American Trailblazers

African American Trailblazers

During Black History Month, let’s celebrate some of the African Americans who left their marks on America. Ms. Tata has curated a list of biographies that highlight the achievements of some of these stars. These books feature people who worked in diverse fields while breaking barriers, inventing, discovering, and creating — leaving a better world for us as a result. Enjoy their experiences below. She Was the First!: the Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm, by Katheryn Russell-Brown Library Catalog Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight, by Karyn Parsons Library Catalog Misty Copeland: Ballet Star, by Sarah Howden Library
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January 28, 2021 11:29 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: black history month, children's books, children's literature, 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. Today’s two Peculiar Picks have one thing in common – hungry monsters on a rampage. Hangry by Drew Brockington OverDrive / Library Catalog A small, Godzilla-like monster arrives in a big city on a train, food guide in hand, looking for a particular highly-rated hot dog restaurant. Only when he arrives, calamity strikes: the restaurant is closed! He’s not
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January 28, 2021 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, Peculiar Picks, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

ALA Youth Media Awards

ALA Youth Media Awards

Each winter at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting, ALA honors outstanding books and authors with a variety of awards for excellence. You’ve probably heard of the Newbery and the Caldecott, but did you know that there’s also an award for debut authors writing for teens? Or an award for a children’s book written in a foreign language and published in a foreign country, and later translated into English for publication in the US? Each January, we look forward to seeing which authors and books are honored in these ALA awards. It’s so exciting to see a favorite book
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January 27, 2021 2:12 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: ALA awards, ALA Youth Media Awards, awards, children's books, children's literature, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA books, and YA literature.

Dive Into Diversity: Let’s Get Cooking!

Dive Into Diversity: Let’s Get Cooking!

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. During this time of the year when it’s so cold out, one of my favorite things to do is relax on the sofa with a cup of hot cocoa, cookies, and a good book. With these stories that have elements of
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January 26, 2021 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, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Reads Revisited: Charmed Life

Reads Revisited: Charmed Life

Reads Revisited is a blog series where Trove and Edge Librarians revisit some of their favorite childhood stories. In today's column, Edge Librarian Erik Carlson revisits book one of the Chrestomanci series, Charmed Life (Catalog) by Diana Wynne Jones. Did you ever wonder where J.K. Rowling got all of her ideas from? Charmed Life has magical castles, powerful necromancers, bad witches and wizards, and an orphaned boy who has no idea that he has magical powers. I have always been a big fantasy fan. Diana Wynne Jones and Ursula K. LeGuin were two of my favorite authors growing up. When
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January 19, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Charmed Life, children's books, children's literature, Reads Revisited, 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. Ben Hatke is best known for his excellent graphic novel series, Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl, but he’s done a number of other works that are absolutely worth reading. Two of these are his picture books, Nobody Likes a Goblin and Julia’s House for Lost Creatures, which feature his signature art style and have amusing, heartfelt, stories. My
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January 14, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Ben Hatke, children's books, children's literature, Peculiar Picks, picture books, staff picks, staff recommendations, and The Trove.

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. Mary Wears What She Wants by Keith Negley Library Catalog My wife and I read a lot of books with positive messages for girls to our daughter – books that show girls and women accomplishing amazing things in every field; emphasizing self-determination; promoting equality (and showing the wrongness of inequality); body/image positivity; being heroes in real-life and fantasy; and
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December 31, 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, picture books, staff picks, staff recommendations, and The Trove.

Reads Revisited: The Last Unicorn

Reads Revisited: The Last Unicorn

Reads Revisited is a blog series where Trove and Edge Librarians revisit some of their favorite childhood stories. In today's column, Trove Librarian Caroline Reddy revisits The Last Unicorn (OverDrive; Catalog) by Peter S. Beagle. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle, is one of my favorite fantasy novels. In this timeless tale, a unicorn discovers that she is the last of her kind. She sets on a quest to find out what has happened to all of the other unicorns. In her hero’s journey, she must first free herself from the sorcerer, Mommy Fortuna, who collects magical creatures for
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December 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, Reads Revisited, staff picks, staff recommendations, and The Last Unicorn.

Celebrate Kwanzaa with Books!

Celebrate Kwanzaa with Books!

Kwanzaa, celebrated yearly from December 26th to January 1st, is a holiday that focuses on the importance of family and community for African Americans and Africans around the world. Founder of the holiday, Dr. Maulana Karenga writes, “As an African American and Pan-African holiday celebrated by millions throughout the world African community, Kwanzaa brings a cultural message which speaks to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense.” Kwanzaa – a Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, the title of the official Kwanzaa organization website, is a great place to learn about Dr.
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December 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, Kwanzaa, Observances and Celebrations, Observances and Holidays, staff picks, and staff recommendations.