In 2021, my Dive into Diversity posts about young adult books will focus on a different genre each month. I’ll highlight books with characters that represent a range of experiences and identities. I’ll also feature books written by authors who share an aspect of their characters’ identity, as much as possible. This month, with the Fourth of July approaching, I'm highlighting some great YA books in the historical fiction genre. Not all of them are set in the United States, but many of the titles below examine events in U. S. history from a perspective that's different from the dominant
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Archives for staff picks
Dive Into Diversity: Summer Reads
Summer is here! To celebrate the season, I have gathered together some great, diverse books about summertime. Parents might also like checking out Rebekah Gienapp’s blog, Summer Reading: 15 Diverse Picture Books Kids Will Love. Listed below are books for both younger and older children available as eBooks and audiobooks on OverDrive, Hoopla, and also in the Westchester Libraries. Enjoy! For Younger Readers: Bowwow Powwow by Brenda J. Child, Gordon Jourdain & Jonathan Thunder (Grades K-2) Library Catalog “Ojibwe protagonist Windy Girl and her new dog, Itchy Boy, enjoy many good times, but none are so good as when they
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Great Podcasts for Parents & Caregivers Pt. 1
I recently highlighted some staff recommendations for Great Podcasts for Kids, in this post, however, you'll find some Great Podcasts for Parents and Caregivers! We will highlight below some excellent podcasts in the topics of Parenting & Caregiving and Books, Reading and KidLit. You can find all of our published podcast related posts here – more to come! If you have some great podcast recommendations, leave them in the comments below! Most of these should be available on any service you use to listen to podcasts, such as Apple Podcasts, Apple Music, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, etc. PARENTING & CAREGIVING
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New Movies Streaming in June
Maybe you're already familiar with our streaming services hoopla and Kanopy, but did you know that they add new content each month? Find a list below of some exciting new titles available on each platform this month. hoopla Mr. Jones (2020 action / suspense) Directed by Agnieszka Holland. Starring James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard, Joseph Mawle. 1933. An ambitious young journalist, Gareth Jones, travels to Moscow to uncover the truth behind Stalin's Soviet propaganda that pushes their “utopia” to the Western world. When he gets a tip that could expose an international conspiracy, Jones' life and the lives of
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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. As mentioned in the first Peculiar Picks about Song Books, music is a constant in our household. All kinds of music. Here are some more books based on songs that are absolutely full of positive vibes, as well as some links to the music that inspired the books. Note: I recommend caregivers listen to the music for themselves before
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LGBTQIA+ Pride Month Picks
Each June we celebrate LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and all of the other sexualities, sexes, and genders that aren't included in these few letters) Pride Month to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City. The purpose of this month is to both celebrate and recognize the impact and legacy of LGBTQIA+ individuals. To help celebrate, we've collected a variety of fiction and nonfiction titles and themed films available through our catalog and on our streaming services. If you'd like to take part in local Pride Month events, we recommend checking out the LOFT LGBTQ+
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National Dinosaur Day
Dinosaurs roamed our planet sixty-five million years ago and children are fascinated by these ancient creatures. Whether it’s because of their size, movie lore, or epic extinction, dinosaurs have always been popular among children. To celebrate International Dinosaur Day on June 1, we put together some Grab & Go kits for a fun dino egg experiment. The project is geared toward children in kindergarten through third grade, but older kids might find it fun as well. The Experiment: The kit includes a plastic dinosaur, a balloon, and instructions for how to create and hatch your own dinosaur! Around the house,
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Great Podcasts for Kids: Part 1
With the long Memorial Day Weekend coming up, and summer vacation on the horizon, perhaps you’re going to be taking a long car trip. Podcasts are great for that time, or any time! Here’s a selection of excellent podcasts for kids and families selected by Josh Carlson, Manager of Youth Services. All of these should be available on any service you use to listen to podcasts, such as Apple Podcasts, Apple Music, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, etc. If you have some additional great podcast recommendations, leave them in the comments below! Podcast Potpourri Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl Forget the annoying,
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Celebrate Pride 2021 with Children’s & YA Books!
LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and all of the other sexualities, sexes, and genders that aren't included in these few letters) Pride Month is celebrated annually in June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots, which took place in New York City. The Stonewall riots marked the beginning of a movement to abolish discriminatory laws and practices against LGBTQIA+ persons in the United States, which continues to our present day. Pride celebrates the achievements of LGBTQIA+ Americans, and it highlights the work that continues in order to achieve equal justice and equal opportunity for those in the LGBTQIA+
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The Fight for Voting Rights
The fight for the right to vote has been an ongoing struggle in the United States since this country's founding, and continues to this day. Right now, we are living in the midst of an important historical moment in our country’s fight for democracy, and I hope this blog can offer parents and students resources for understanding the past and our present history. I found The Georgia Public Broadcasting’s “Things Explained: The History of U.S. Voting Rights” video to be a helpful, condensed kid-friendly video that explains this country’s voting rights struggles (especially the struggles of our country’s Black citizens).
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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. Robots may be machines, but these stories about robots teach us a lot about being human. Here are some robot books filled with humor, joy, kindness, empathy, and heart. Ultrabot’s First Playdate by Josh Schneider Library Catalog A young girl and the giant robot next door is the basic premise of this awesomely illustrated book. Ultrabot is worried and
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New Movies Streaming in May
Maybe you're already familiar with our streaming services Hoopla and Kanopy, but did you know that they add new content each month? Find a list below of some exciting new titles available on each platform this month. Hoopla Another Round (2020 Danish drama/comedy) Directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Milland. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Four friends, all teachers at various stages of middle age, are stuck in a rut. Unable to share their passions either at school or at home, they embark on an audacious experiment from an obscure
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film recommendations, films, hoopla, Kanopy, movies, staff picks, staff recommendations, and streaming.
Twilight Zone Day
Celebrated each year on May 11, Twilight Zone Day is a fun way to enter a dimension where dolls protect those they love, aliens can be deceiving, and a man who loves to read never has any time to do so. The Twilight Zone was created, written, and narrated by Rod Sterling. The show premiered on October 1, 1959, and ended its run in 1964. Watching a marathon of The Twilight Zone has become a New Year’s Eve tradition for many fans; however, this wacky, and wonderful show can be viewed and enjoyed at any time of the year. The
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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. Reading these fun pictures books about Vikings lead to my daughter becoming interested in learning more about Vikings and Norse Mythology. The Three Vikings by Adam Auerbach Library Catalog A red Viking, a blue Viking, and a wee green Viking set off on adventures seeking entry to the fabled Valhalla. Red is super strong, Blue is very brave, but
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Celebrate Cinco de Mayo and Mexican-American Heritage!
Cinco de Mayo marks the unlikely defeat of a large, well-trained French invading force by an undermanned Mexican army in the Battle of Puébla on May 5,1862. The victory against the French forces prevented Emperor Napoleon III from helping the Confederacy win the American Civil War. Dave Roos, on the History Channel’s webpage, “How Cinco de Mayo Helped Prevent a Confederate Victory in the Civil War,” writes,“Napoleon figured if he could get his hands on Mexico, it could become the first colony in a new French stronghold in North America. Abraham Lincoln was busy fighting the Civil War, so the
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Goodbye AcornTV
I hope you got plenty of use out of AcornTV, because effective May 14 we will no longer offer it. The decision wasn't ours; apparently Acorn decided they no longer wanted to be in the library market. This is one of the downsides of the digital world. Unlike a print book, or a DVD, libraries don't own the eBooks and streaming content they offer. Typically, we can only lease them. Which makes us vulnerable to whatever decision a vendor might make. If you were a fan of AcornTV, this is a good time to get to know another streaming service,
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AcornTV, hoopla, staff picks, staff recommendations, television, and tv.
May the Fourth Be with You!
Happy Star Wars Day! For additional reads and activities to celebrate, check out our previous May the Fourth Be With You blog posts! Below find some newer Star Wars books, along with some fun activities. Stars Wars Books for Younger Readers Star Wars Galactic Storybook by Calliope Glass, illustrated by Katie Cook eBook / Library Catalog A fun retelling of Skywalker Saga for younger readers with exceedingly cute illustrations. A Jedi You Will Be by Preeti Chhibber, illustrated by Mike Deas eBook / Library Catalog Experience training with Luke Skywalker on Dagobah and receive Jedi wisdom from Master Yoda in
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Hoopla Bonus Borrows for May
Hoopla Bonus Borrows are back from May 1 – 31! Choose from hundreds of titles in Hoopla's Bonus Borrows collection. Find some staff highlights below or see the full list here. Adult Materials Books Heiress for Hire (Part 1 of the Duke's Heiress series) by Madeline Hunter eBook Minerva Hepplewhite has learned the hard way how to take care of herself. When an intruder breaks into her home, she doesn't swoon or simper. Instead she wallops the rogue over the head and ties him up-only to realize he is Chase Radnor, the man who nearly got her convicted of her
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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. While putting together last week’s Peculiar Picks for Earth Day, I noticed I had several tree-centric books. It only made sense, then, with Arbor Day on April 30, to compile an Arbor Day list. On the last Friday each April, National Arbor Day celebrates planting trees and what that tree will provide into the future: “clean air and water,
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Celebrate Moms & Grandmas Around the World!
This year, Mother’s Day is celebrated on Sunday, May 9th. Moms and grandmas are special the world-over! Scholastic has put together a nice article on Mother’s Day traditions around the world which I thought would be worthwhile sharing here: “Mother's Day Traditions Around the World”. I also recommend taking a look at Charnaie’s diverse and inclusive booklist on her Here Wee Read blog, “I'll Always Love My Mama – 25 Picture Books to Celebrate Mom on Mother's Day or Any Day”. Celebrating the moms and grandmas in your life this year may be challenging, but hopefully this booklist of picture
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