Archives for staff picks

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.

Amazing Audiobooks for Kids: Part 2

Amazing Audiobooks for Kids: Part 2

I love audiobooks and I enjoy having the eBook or print version of the story in front of me while listening to the audio. It just works for me! I find that my mind occasionally wanders if I’m only listening to the audio and having the eBook or print version of it helps me to focus. I also have noticed that I tend to read too quickly if I’m just reading an eBook or print version. Whether you’re a fan of audiobooks or have never tried them before, I hope you’ll give a listen to my audiobook recommendations that you
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July 8, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: audiobooks, children's books, children's literature, digital audiobooks, 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. Baby Monkey, Private Eye by Brian Selznick and David Serlin Also available as an eBook on Overdrive. Brian Selznick is very well-known for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which was a National Book Award Finalist and winner of the 2008 Caldecott Medal. Baby Monkey, Private Eye, however, is both an Amazon and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year,
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July 2, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations, Brian Selznick, children's books, Peculiar Picks, picture books, and staff picks.

International Day of Friendship: YA Fiction

International Day of Friendship: YA Fiction

In honor of the International Day of Friendship on July 30, I read When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk, a new release that I’d been looking for an excuse to read. Somewhat ironically, the friendship at the heart of this book actually goes up in flames… but its true value becomes painfully clear through its absence. High school sophomores Cleo and Layla have been best friends for years. But when Layla realizes her dream of joining the school choir and gains a new group of friends, Cleo’s left behind. Flashbacks reveal the initially subtle rift in the girls’ friendship
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June 30, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: children, children's literature, Dive into Diversity, International Friendship Day, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, teens, and YA Fiction.

International Day of Friendship: Chapter Books

International Day of Friendship: Chapter Books

International Friendship Day is celebrated every year on July 30th. This day is for thinking about your friendships that are really important to you and cherishing those individuals. Friends come in all shapes and sizes – they can be classmates or family members. Take some time this summer to read about friendships and hopefully find a chance to reconnect with some of your friends! To Night Owl From Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer For children in grades 4-6. OverDrive: Audiobook and eBook Avery Bloom and Bett Delvin are two extremely different twelve-year-olds. Avery is bookish as well
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June 30, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: books, children, children's literature, Dive into Diversity, International Friendship Day, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, and The Trove.

What to Watch This Weekend

What to Watch This Weekend

Here are just a few highlighted films you can stream on Hoopla this weekend. Just Mercy (2019) Drama Starring Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, and Brie Larson A powerful true story that follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson and his battle for justice as he defends a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence. Available as a Bonus Borrow through June 30th. Give Me the Banjo (2011) Documentary The banjo has been an emblem of American culture for centuries, yet few realize the instrument's complicated, checkered past. Narrated by Steve Martin and featuring such banjo masters as Pete Seeger,
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June 26, 2020 3:26 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: films, hoopla, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Summersgiving

Summersgiving

Summersgiving is a new holiday that can be celebrated the first Saturday after the summer solstice. To make this tradition a special holiday, you can try cooking a meal that welcomes the summer solstice, such as an old family recipe or a meal that celebrates a different culture. Here is my vegetarian interpretation on the Persian split pea soup- Khoresh Gheymeh. Hoopla Resources: Salsa, written by Jorge Argueta, and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh, is a bilingual treat. The book is poetic and introduces children to Latin American culture and vocabulary words such as molcajetes (an authentic lava stone used in
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June 24, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, and Summersgiving.

eBooks to Help with the Job Hunt

eBooks to Help with the Job Hunt

Looking for a new job or interested in job training assistance? We're regularly adding new eBooks to our OverDrive and Libby collections on job hunting, careers, entrepreneurship, programming languages most often required by employers, Word, Excel, and more. When we're open, some of the most frequently requested titles are Passbooks Study Guides, but did you know many are available as eBooks? Below are just some examples of the titles we've recently added to our collection. Modernize Your Resume Modernize Your Job Search Letters by Wendy Enelow Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC), Mathematics Passbooks Study Guide Admission Test by National Learning
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June 23, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations, CSEA, eBooks, job help, job training, passbooks, and staff picks.

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.

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.

Great Graphic Novels for Kids

Great Graphic Novels for Kids

What’s not to love when it comes to graphic novels? They’re a ton of fun and I’ve noticed that the majority of kids absolutely adore reading them! From Dog Man by Dav Pilkey to Smile by Raina Telgemeier, I am constantly being asked if we have some of the most popular graphic novels currently in the library. The kids get this look of pure joy when they find out that we do! Our graphic novel section is a well loved area and I enjoy recommending various books to eager readers. Without further ado, enjoy some of these great graphic novel
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June 9, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: graphic novels, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Best Friends Day

Best Friends Day

June 8 celebrates National Best Friends Day, a day to honor that one special person you call your “best friend.” This day is a time to show your best friend how much you appreciate them, how special and important they are to you, and how you cherish their friendship. To help you celebrate your friendships, I’ve compiled a list of books and craft ideas below. My Friend Suhana: A Story of Friendship and Cerebral Palsy, by Shaila & Aanyah Abdullah. (Available as eBook on OverDrive) The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate. (Available as eBook & Audiobook on OverDrive
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June 8, 2020 10:21 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Best Friends, Best Friends Day, Friends, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, and virtual book display.

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.

Virtual Book Display: Celebrate Pride Month!

Virtual Book Display: Celebrate Pride Month!

LGBTQ+ Pride Month was established in the month of June to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969, and are credited as the birth of the gay civil rights movement. The month is dedicated to celebrating the achievements and contributions of LGBTQ+ people around the world. To celebrate, here are notable titles that emphasize love, respect, community, understanding, and of course, pride: Picture Books: Chapter Books: Nonfiction:  
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May 28, 2020 12:05 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: chapter books, children's literature, Observances and Celebrations, picture books, Pride Month, staff picks, staff recommendations, and virtual book display.

Bilingual Picture Books

Bilingual Picture Books

Here are some digital titles for you and your family. Whether you enjoy traditional tales or totally new stories, we trust you can find a title for every taste in your family. Aquí le ofrecemos algunos títulos digitales para usted y su familia. Ya sea que disfrute cuentos tradicionales o cuentos totalmente nuevos, aquí podrá encontrar un título para cada gusto en su familia. Hands Are Not For Hitting / Las manos no son para pegar, by Martine Agassi. (Available as eBook on OverDrive) Baby Shark / Bebé tiburón, by John John Bajet. (Available as eBook on OverDrive) The Sad,
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May 27, 2020 2:03 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Bilingual books, children's literature, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Amazing Audiobooks for Kids

Amazing Audiobooks for Kids

I love audiobooks and I enjoy having the eBook or print version of the story in front of me while listening to the audio. It just works for me! I find that my mind occasionally wanders if I’m only listening to the audio and having the eBook or print version of it helps me to focus. I also have noticed that I tend to read too quickly if I’m just reading an eBook or print version. Whether you’re a fan of audiobooks or have never tried them before, I hope you’ll give a listen to my audiobook recommendations that you
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May 21, 2020 9:21 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: audiobooks, children's books, children's literature, digital audiobooks, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Hoopla Staff Picks: Folk Music

Hoopla Staff Picks: Folk Music

Possibly our most dynamic resource offered is Hoopla, as it includes a variety of different formats from books to movies and music. In order to highlight some of these, we've written up recommendations of just a few formats you can stream and download with your library card. Below are some folk music recommendations from Adult Services librarian Kristen Thornton-De Stafeno. One of my favorite genres to browse on Hoopla is folk as it encompasses so many styles (there are well over 4,000 titles grouped under the genre); that and I used to host a folk-themed radio show. Below I highlight
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May 12, 2020 12:07 pm | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: hoopla, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Hoopla Staff Picks: American Songbook & Broadway

Hoopla Staff Picks: American Songbook & Broadway

Possibly our most dynamic digital resource, Hoopla includes a variety of different formats from books to movies and music. In order to highlight some of these, we've gathered staff recommendations of just a few formats you can stream and download with your library card. Below are some album recommendations from Adult Services & Local History Librarian Austin Duffy and Adult Services Librarian Sharon Rothman. The Great American Songbook picks from Austin: Bing Crosby. Bing Sings the Great American Songbook. Short, breezy covers of classics like “Manhattan” and “I’ve Got A Crush On You.” Nancy Wilson. The Great American Songbook. Elegant,
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May 6, 2020 11:20 am | by | No Comments
Categories: eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: hoopla, music, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Hoopla Staff Picks: Grown Up Comics

Hoopla Staff Picks: Grown Up Comics

Possibly our most dynamic digital resource, Hoopla includes a variety of different formats from books to movies and music. In order to highlight some of these, we've gathered staff recommendations of just a few formats you can stream and download with your library card. Below are some graphic novel recommendations from Manager of Youth Services, Josh Carlson. These titles are all phenomenal, but are definitely not for kids. Did you just binge watch The Boys, Locke and Key, The Witcher, or Watchmen? These comics are where those, and other great shows, came from: The Witcher Locke and Key The Umbrella
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April 30, 2020 12:54 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: comics, comics for adults, Free Comic Book Day, graphic novels, hoopla, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Arab-American Heritage Month

Arab-American Heritage Month

April is Arab-American Heritage Month! To celebrate, I invite you to read or listen to some of the following picture and chapter books on either Hoopla or OverDrive! The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story by Aya Khalil and illustrated by Anait Semirdzhyan For children in kindergarten to grade 2. Hoopla: Audio OverDrive: eBook “The story highlights the role of a supportive and creative teacher and the importance of instilling acceptance in children…The story ends with a powerful poem with a compelling message of taking pride in one’s mother tongue.” –School Library Journal Yo Soy Muslim: A Father's Letter to His
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April 22, 2020 3:41 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Arab-American Heritage Month, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, and staff recommendations.