Archives for staff recommendations

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 21

BEAUTIFUL BILINGUAL BOOKS, Part 21 LINDOS LIBROS BILINGÜES, Parte 21 The Library has a lovely collection of bilingual Spanish/English books. To celebrate reading in two languages, we are featuring our beautiful new books in a monthly 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 presentamos nuestros lindos libros aquí. Así que disfrute practicando sus destrezas en ambos idiomas con estos libros ilustrados. ¡Hola, cara! = Hello, Face!, by Aya Khalil Library Catalog From laughing to cooing,
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

New Books in the Edge: June 2024

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. Trajectory by Cambria Gordon Grades 7 and up Library Catalog  “Seventeen-year-old Eleanor is recruited for her math prowess to support U.S. efforts during World War II. It’s 1942, and Eleanor, who’s Jewish, lives with her family in Jenkintown, just outside Philadelphia. The Schiffs anxiously await
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

New Books in the Trove: June 2024

We have new books coming in all the time with them on display right as you enter the Trove. Here’s some of our recent favorite new titles! For Wee Ones Flora and Friends ABC by Molly Idle (Birth to 3 years-old) Library Catalog “Molly Idle has GOT to stop being as good at her job as she is. Seriously, this is beginning to become a problem. To the best of my knowledge, there are only three Caldecott Honorees that regularly pour their hearts and souls into their original board book creations. One you’ve already seen in Juana Martinez-Neal and her
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

June 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! Eli Over Easy by Phil Stamper All available formats here After a move to New York City and the sudden death of his mother, Eli has been left reeling. His father has become anxious and overprotective, but refuses to talk about his – or Eli’s – grief, instead working long hours. But then he discovers that his mom left behind recipe videos, and the cute boy next
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Good Trouble: LGBTQ Icons

This installment of Good Trouble features a few books about the activists and icons of the fight for LGBTQ rights. The first six titles in this month’s Good Trouble are collections of short biographies of LGBTQ activists and icons.  While there is some overlap, these six books do a wonderful job of introducing a wide variety of more and less well-known, historical and contemporary, individuals – such as Ian McKellan, Krsiten Stewart, Freddy McConnell, Laverne Cox, Bayard Rustin, Jonathan Van Ness, Jazz Jennings, Francisco Manicongo, We’Wha, Alla Nazimova, George Michael, Leonard Bernstein, James Baldwin, Virginia Woolf, Alvin Ailey, Larry Kramer,
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Gayathri Waring LGBTQIA+ Pride Month Storytime

Celebrate LGBTQIA+ Pride Month In June! Author Visit & Family Storytime Off to Nana and Grandma’s Home written by Gayathri R. Waring & illustrated by Hallie Guidry Saturday, June 22nd at 11:00 a.m. For Families Location: Galaxy Hall Come join us to celebrate LGBTQIA+ Pride Month! Enjoy a Special Author Storytime with Gayathri R. Waring who will be reading her book, Off to Nana and Grandma's Home. The storytime will also include a fun craft activity! In the book Off to Nana and Grandma’s Home, explore the heartwarming relationship between a child and his two lesbian grandparents. Each expresses her
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Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

New Books in the Trove: May 2024

We have new books coming in all the time with them on display right as you enter the Trove.  Here’s some of our recent favorite new titles! For Wee Ones DJ Baby by DJ Burton & Andy J. Pizza (Birth to 3 years-old) Library Catalog “While some may say that babies do not need to learn how to do a record scratch, I for one disagree heartily! These are important skills and, happily, we finally have an interactive board book to go along with this need. Now if I were handing out awards for the most creatively constructed board books
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

New Books in the Edge: May 2024

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. Vanishing Station by Ana Ellickson Grades 9 and up Library Catalog “Ellickson delivers an ambitious, fast-paced fantasy crackling with complicated family dynamics and forbidden love in this simmering debut. Since her mother’s death, 18-year-old Ruby Santos and her father have been forced to rent out
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

Creepy Chronicles: May 2024

For the kids looking for more dark and twisted tales, Erika is here to bring you a middle grade scare! The Clackity by Lora Senf All available formats here Ghosts are real in Blight Harbor, the 7th most haunted town in America and where Evie resides with her beloved paranormal expert Aunt Desdemona. Most of Blight Harbor is inhabited by harmless, albeit lonely ghosts, except for the abandoned slaughterhouse possibly inhabited by the spirit of the infamous serial killer. After Des disappears in front of Evie, she makes a deal to venture into the otherworld to find and save her
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Summer Reading Graphic Novel Picks

We are excited to share many new graphic novels gracing our shelves this summer. Here at some of new available titles: Call Me Iggy by Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado(ILT) Library Catalog Ignacio “Iggy” Garcia is an Ohio-born Colombian American teen living his best life. After bumping into Marisol (and her coffee) at school, Iggy's world is spun around. But Marisol has too much going on to be bothered with the likes of Iggy. She has school, work, family, and the uphill battle of getting her legal papers. As Iggy stresses over how to get Marisol to like him, his
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

May 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! Wishing Upon the Same Stars by Jacquetta Nammar Feldman All available formats here When Yasmeen Khoury moves to Texas, she feels isolated in a way she never did in Detroit – at least until she begins to make friends, including with Ayelet Cohen, an Israeli-American girl in her grade. But as she and Ayelet learn more about the destruction each others’ countries have wreaked on their families,
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Good Trouble: Music and Protest

This installment of Good Trouble continues a look at the strong connections between music and activism. Part 1 can be found here. Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday and the Power of a Protest Song by Gary Golio, art by Charlotte Riley-Webb Library Catalog Discover some of Billie Holiday’s music Billie Holiday was no stranger to racism and prejudice, and when she was given Abel Meeropol’s song “Strange Fruit” – a song about lynchings and violence in the South – she embued it with her own pain. She did not know how the song would be received. She knew, as her mother
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 20

BEAUTIFUL BILINGUAL BOOKS, Part 20 LINDOS LIBROS BILINGÜES, Parte 20 The Library has a lovely collection of bilingual Spanish/English books. To celebrate reading in two languages, we are featuring our beautiful new books in a monthly 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 presentamos nuestros lindos libros aquí. Así que disfrute practicando sus destrezas en ambos idiomas con estos libros ilustrados. Mamá Goose: A Latine Nursery Treasury = Un tesoro de rimas infantiles, by Alma
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Cowboy Carter & Black Country Artists

Have you been listening to Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter on repeat since it dropped? Are you interested in learning more about the history of Black Country music and those that inspired Beyoncé to make this album – and in some cases are even featured on it? Then check out our staff-curated list of books, music, and film on the musicians that inspired Cowboy Carter. BOOKS:  ADULT My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music's Black Past, Present, and Future by Alice Randall Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions by Francesca Royster Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.

New Books in the Edge: April 2024

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. Ellie Haycock Is Totally Normal by Gretchen Schreiber Grades 7 and up Library Catalog “A teen with a rare illness struggles to bridge her hospital and school relationships. Ellie Haycock insists that her high school friends—especially her boyfriend, Jack—never know how thoroughly VACTERLs affects her
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

April 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! Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow All available formats here Simon is probably the only tween in existence to be actually sort of excited to be moving into a town where technology and Internet access is limited – but then again, he and his family are hoping for a fresh start. Simon relaxes into making friends out of the shadows of his past and figuring out
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Good Trouble: Environmental Activism

Earth Day takes place annually on April 22.  We’ve created many Earth Day related blog posts, reading lists and activities over the past several years and I urge you to look through them for some great ideas and great reads. Below find some reads related to the formation of Earth Day and climate and environmental activism.   The Day the River Caught Fire: How the Cuyahoga River Exploded and Ignited the Earth Day Movement by Barry Wittenstein, art by Jessie Hartland Library Catalog A shockingly true story about how on a day in the summer of 1969 the Cuyahoga River
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, and Library News.

Beautiful Bilingual Books, Part 19

BEAUTIFUL BILINGUAL BOOKS, Part 19 LINDOS LIBROS BILINGÜES, Parte 19 The Library has a lovely collection of bilingual Spanish/English books. To celebrate reading in two languages, we are featuring our beautiful new books in a monthly 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 presentamos nuestros lindos libros aquí. Así que disfrute practicando sus destrezas en ambos idiomas con estos libros ilustrados. Children’s Day/Book Day is celebrated nationwide on April 30th. To celebrate this day, the
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Categories: Authors & Books, Español, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

The Library’s TTRPG Collection

Did you know the Library has a collection of tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) books you can borrow?  They are located just outside the Edge, our teen library (though anyone can check them out!).  Holds cannot be placed on the titles, but you can pick them up at the Library and borrow them for three weeks! Titles in the growing collection include (by game system – Will be updated as new titles are added. Links for unlinked items will be added as they become available.) What’s a TTRPG? A tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) is a system of rules so that a
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Categories: Authors & Books, Homepage, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

New Books in the Trove: April 2024

We have new books coming in all the time with them on display right as you enter the Trove.  Here’s some of our recent favorite new titles! For Wee Ones Eyes, Ears, Nose and Toes by Sophie Aggett (Birth to 3 Years-Old) Library Catalog “Yeah, I admit it. I’m pretty easy. You slap some big old baby faces in a board book and then add an element like soft felt flaps? Instant inclusion on this list! What’s funny is that so few board book creators have ever thought to do this. There are only so many different elements you can
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.