Archives for staff picks

New Books in the Edge

New Books in the Edge

One of the best parts of my job is ordering new books for the Edge–reading the reviews, seeing what popular authors come up with next, or finding out about an upcoming sequel to an old favorite. Read on to find out about some of the new YA fiction titles coming to our shelves this month. The Davenports by Krystal Marquis Grades 8 and up Library Catalog “Set in 1910, this novel offers readers a glimpse inside the lives of a wealthy Black family from Chicago, the titular Davenports. This novel centers around three teens in the family: Olivia, John, and
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January 24, 2023 10:40 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: new books, new in the Edge, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA Fiction, and YA literature.

January Middle Grade Pick of the Month

January Middle Grade Pick of the Month

Middle grade is a term that refers to books written for readers between the ages of eight and twelve. In this column, Erica will recommend great books for children in this age group! Broken Strings by Eric Walters and Kathy Kacer Library Catalog: Print Libby: eBook Shirli Berman is so excited for her school’s play this year, Fiddler on the Roof. She has high hopes for the female lead role, but those hopes are dashed – she’s playing the role of the older mother character instead. Shirli is soon distracted from her discontent with the role when she discovers secrets
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January 19, 2023 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: middle grade, middle grade fiction, Middle Grade Pick of the Month, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 5

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 5

The Library has a lovely collection of bilingual Spanish/English books. To celebrate reading in two languages, we will be featuring our beautiful new books in a blog – so enjoy practicing your Spanish and English skills with these books. La Biblioteca tiene una colección hermosa de libros bilingües en inglés/español. Para celebrar leyendo en dos idiomas, le estaremos presentando nuestros lindos libros aquí. Así que disfrute practicando sus destrezas en ambos idiomas con estos libros. A Movie in My Pillow / Una película en mi almohada, by Jorge Argueta. All available formats Un niño describe sus experiencias entre dos mundos:
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January 12, 2023 9:26 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Español, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Bilingual, Bilingual books, books for children, picture books, spanish books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

December Middle Grade Pick of the Month

December Middle Grade Pick of the Month

Middle grade is a term that refers to books written for readers between the ages of eight and twelve. In this column, Erica will recommend great books for children in this age group! A Duet for Home by Karina Yan Glaser Library Catalog: Print Libby: eBook June Yang, her sister, and her mother have been evicted from their apartment and landed in Huey House, a homeless shelter. She’s ashamed of their new circumstances – until she begins to make friends, especially with longtime Huey House resident Tyrell. Tyrell helps June learn the ins-and-outs of the House, while June gets Tyrell
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December 21, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: middle grade, middle grade fiction, Middle Grade Pick of the Month, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

What’s New in the Edge: December 2022

What’s New in the Edge: December 2022

As the end of the year approaches, I like to share the books in our YA fiction collection that have been most popular during the year. I've gathered the top ten most popular books in our collection that were published in 2022. After that, you'll see a few older titles that were also very popular among White Plains readers this year. YA Fiction's most popular titles published in 2022: Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber Grades 9 and up Library Catalog / Libby “Wren Greenrock's parents were the king and queen of Eana before they were murdered. While
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December 20, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: A fiction, new books, new in the Edge, staff picks, staff recommendations, and YA literature.

2022 Staff Favorites

2022 Staff Favorites

The White Plains Library Staff have assembled their picks for the year, featuring mystery, audiobooks, fantasy, and more. 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. Fiction Murder at the Savoy by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. Library Catalog This is the sixth novel in the Martin Beck series, Beck being the go-to detective in Sweden's National Homicide Squad
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December 14, 2022 10:00 am | by | 6 Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Local History.
Tags: staff favorites, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 4

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 4

The Library has a lovely collection of bilingual Spanish/English books. To celebrate reading in two languages, we will be featuring our beautiful new books in a blog – so enjoy practicing your Spanish and English skills with these picture books. La Biblioteca tiene una colección hermosa de libros bilingües en inglés/español. Para celebrar leyendo en dos idiomas, le estaremos presentando nuestros lindos libros aquí. Así que disfrute practicando sus destrezas en ambos idiomas con estos libros ilustrados. El niño de maíz / The Boy of Maize, by Mario Bencastro. Library Catalog Inspirado en el mito maya de la creación, este
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December 14, 2022 9:20 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Bilingual, Bilingual books, books for children, picture books, spanish books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

New in the Edge

New in the Edge

One of the best parts of my job is ordering new books for the Edge–reading the reviews, seeing what popular authors come up with next, or finding out about an upcoming sequel to an old favorite. Read on to find out about some of the new YA fiction titles coming to our shelves this month. How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow Grades 9 and up Library Catalog “Queer Jewish love stubbornly blooms despite the cold of a Washington, D.C., winter. Fresh off a cataclysmic first semester of college, Shani is determined to pass her winter break internship
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November 22, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: new books, new in the Edge, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA Fiction, and YA literature.

Native American Heritage Month

Native American Heritage Month

Celebrate Native American Heritage Month this November by reading one of these selected titles written by Indigenous authors and about Indigenous people and history. Find our Libby list here. As Long as Grass Grows by Dina Gilio-Whitaker Library Collection: Print Libby: eBook The story of Native peoples resistance to environmental injustice and land incursions, and a call for environmentalists to learn from the Indigenous community's rich history of activism Through the unique lens of Indigenized environmental justice, Indigenous researcher and activist Dina Gilio-Whitaker explores the fraught history of treaty violations, struggles for food and water security, and protection of sacred
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November 13, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books.
Tags: Indigenous authors, Native American Heritage Month, Native American writers, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

November Middle Grade Pick of the Month

November Middle Grade Pick of the Month

Middle grade is a term that refers to books written for readers between the ages of eight and twelve. In this column, Erica will recommend great books for children in this age group! Windswept by Margi Preus Library Catalog: Print Windswept is a story within a story, regaling the reader with a story fit for a fairy tale about the journey of a young girl in search of her lost siblings. In a future of our world, when stories are banned, anyone under the age of fifteen is forbidden from going outside for fear of the wind sweeping them away.
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November 1, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: middle grade, middle grade fiction, Middle Grade Pick of the Month, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

New in The Edge: October 2022

New in The Edge: October 2022

Nothing beats waking up to a crisp autumn breeze and the aroma of cider filling your room. There isn’t a more perfect time to curl up with a great book. Fall is officially here, and with it, a bounty of new books for you to browse! When you visit the Edge where you’ll find something for every kind of reader.–Alain Laforest Big Lies: From Socrates to Social Media by Mark Kurlansky Grades 7 and up Library Catalog “In this noteworthy guide to media literacy, Kurlansky (Bugs in Danger) details events occurring over the past 300 years to break down the
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October 1, 2022 4:39 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: book recommendations, new books, new in the Edge, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA Fiction, and YA literature.

October Middle Grade Pick of the Month

October Middle Grade Pick of the Month

Middle grade is a term that refers to books written for readers between the ages of eight and twelve. In this column, Erica will recommend great books for children in this age group! Valentina Salazar is NOT a Monster Hunter by Zoraida Córdova Library Catalog: Print Libby: eBook As the title makes clear, the main character of this novel is not a monster hunter – she’s a monster protector! …Or at least she used to be. For all of Valentina’s life, the Salazar family has protected the “monsters” who show up in our world and sent them back where they
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October 1, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: middle grade, middle grade fiction, Middle Grade Pick of the Month, 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. My last Peculiar Picks featured the title Yeti, Turn Out the Light! Here’s a big list featuring bigfoots (bigfeet?), sasquatch(es?), and yeti(s?). The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot by Scott Magoon Library Catalog / hoopla In this variation on the classic “Boy Who Cried Wolf” tale, young Ben regularly tells tall tales of seeing bigfoot, and when no one believes
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September 26, 2022 9:27 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Bigfoot, children's books, children's literature, Peculiar Picks, picture books, Sasquatch, staff picks, staff recommendations, and Yeti.

September Middle Grade Pick of the Month

September Middle Grade Pick of the Month

Middle grade is a term that refers to books written for readers between the ages of eight and twelve. In this column, Erica will recommend great books for children in this age group! Definitely Dominguita: Knight of the Cape by Terry Catasús Jennings Library Catalog: Print Libby: Digital Audiobook Knight of the Cape is the first book in the Definitely Dominguita series about a young Cuban-American girl who goes on adventures in her neighborhood, inspired by the classic books she reads and rereads to feel close with her abuela, who has moved to Florida. In the first book, Knight of
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September 25, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: middle grade, middle grade fiction, Middle Grade Pick of the Month, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

September LibraryReads

September LibraryReads

Here are the books published this month that librarians across the country love. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell Library Collection: Print / Large Print Libby: eBook / Audiobook In 16th-century Italy, teen Lucrezia de Medici passes from her father's control to her husband's, with neither considering her a person with a right to her own life. O'Farrell's poetic writing pulls you into this tale based on the likely subject of Robert Browning's poem “My Last Duchess.” For fans of Geraldine Brooks, Isabel Allende, and Hillary Mantel.”—Diana Armstrong, Multnomah County Library, Portland, ORThe American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas Library
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September 12, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations, librarian recommendations, Library Reads, LibraryReads, and staff picks.

New Books in the Edge: September 2022

New Books in the Edge: September 2022

Fall weather is reading weather! Whether you're searching for avant-garde science-fiction, true stories of perseverance, or spooky tales, here are a few of titles coming to the Edge shelves this month.–Alain Laforest Three Kisses, One Midnight by Roshani Chokshi, Sandhya Menon, Evelyn Skye Grades 7 and up Library Catalog “The book is set during the Halloween season in Moon Ridge, a town with a mysterious legend tied to the holiday. This legend tells of a young lady who, once a century, haunts the area on Halloween night, granting romantic wishes. Familiar with the local lore, teens Onny, Ash, and True
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September 1, 2022 11:58 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: new books, new in the Edge, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA Fiction, and YA literature.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Talk Like a Pirate Day

AVAST ME HEARTIES! September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, celebrated annually since 1995. Stop by the Trove and grab a piratical read or check out our list of Swashbuckling Reads! Need some help with that scurvy pirate lingo or want some ideas for things to do to get into the scallywag spirit? Check out our blog post on Seafaring Activities!
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September 1, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Observances and Celebrations, pirate books, staff picks, staff recommendations, and Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 3

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 3

The Library has recently purchased a lovely collection of bilingual Spanish/English books. To celebrate reading in two languages, we will be featuring our beautiful new books in a 3-part blog series – so enjoy practicing your Spanish and English skills with these board books, picture books and nonfiction titles! La Biblioteca ha adquirido recientemente una colección de hermosos libros bilingües en inglés/español. Para celebrar leyendo en dos idiomas, estaremos presentando nuestros lindos libros en 3 partes. Así que disfrute practicando sus destrezas en ambos idiomas con estos libros en carpeta dura, ilustrados y no-ficción. Board Books / Carpeta Dura With
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August 25, 2022 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Español, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Bilingual, Bilingual books, books for children, picture books, spanish books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Back to School

Back to School

It's time to start gearing up for the Back to School season. Here are some books to get kids excited for the new school year! Isabel and her Colores go to school, by Alexandra Alessandri. Library Catalog / Libby / hoopla Ollie’s school day: a yes-and-no book, by Stephanie Calmenson. Library Catalog / Libby Biscuit goes to school, by Alyssa Satin Capucilli. Library Catalog / Libby / hoopla Bizcocho va a la escuela, by Alyssa Satin Capucilli. (SPANISH) Library Catalog / Libby We want to go to school!: the fight for disability rights, by Maryann Cocca-Leffler & Janine Leffler. Library
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August 19, 2022 1:06 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: back to school, children's books, pictures books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Women’s Equality Day

Women’s Equality Day

On August 26th, 1920, U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the 19th Amendment and that date became known as “Women’s Equality Day.” The National Constitution Center’s article, Why is August 26 Known As Women's Equality Day? writes, “In 1971, Representative Bella Abzug championed a bill in the U.S. Congress to designate August 26 as ‘Women’s Equality Day.’ The bill says that ‘the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation annually in commemoration of that day in 1920, on which the women of America were first given the right to vote.’” Unfortunately, women’s equality and voting rights are
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August 16, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: 19th Amendment, children's books, Dive into Diversity, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, Women's Equality, and Women's Equality Day.