Archives for 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.

Multicultural Children’s Book Day

Multicultural Children’s Book Day

Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCBD) will be celebrated on January 29th, 2021. According to its founders, MCBD “is an online and offline celebration that attracts thousands of supporters, educators, parents, caregivers, book reviewers, and quality authors and publishers who join forces to shine the spotlight on diversity in children and YA literature.” The founders effectively define the important key points of what makes an excellent multicultural book for children in their website article, “What is a Multicultural Book?” To celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day, I have gathered together notable picture book biographies that highlight diverse people in history and today
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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, Dive into Diversity, Multicultural Children's Book Day, Observances and Celebrations, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Dive into Diversity: YA Science Fiction

Dive into Diversity: YA Science Fiction

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 #ownvoices authors, or authors who share an aspect of their characters’ identity, as much as possible. For January, we’ll start off with science fiction books, including adventures in outer space, humanoid robots, and questions about the multiverse. Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland Grades 9 and up OverDrive; Library Catalog I added this book to my To Read list
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January 26, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Dive into Diversity, science fiction, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA Fiction, and young adult books.

Bridgerton Forever!

Bridgerton Forever!

Did you bingewatch Netflix's Bridgerton in one weekend and are now impatiently awaiting season two? If so, why not cozy up with a readalike or watch another sizzling period drama? Below we've collected a few recommendations for similar books, shows, and films to tide you over until the spring. Should you wish to get a sneak peak at what Lady Whistledown will get up to next, you can read or listen to the Bridgerton novels here on OverDrive. Books Bringing Down the Duke and A Rogue of One's Own by Evie Dunmore Library Collection OverDrive & Libby “A bright, penniless
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January 26, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: Bridgerton, fiction, film, historical fiction, period dramas, period piece, regency era, romance novels, staff picks, staff recommendations, and television.

STEAM Picture Books: Engineering

STEAM Picture Books: Engineering

In this monthly STEAM series, I will highlight some wonderful picture books that fall under a STEAM category: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics. For the month of January we will be concentrating on engineering books, including biographies, how to build a backyard, construction and building blocks, along with books on tools. These picture books can be found in our print collection at The Trove and on OverDrive. At the end of the post, you'll also find some fun and educational STEAM websites for kids. Future Engineer by Lori Alexander, illustrated by Allison Black Library Catalog This fun and playful
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January 25, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: picture books, staff picks, staff recommendations, STEAM, STEAM activities, STEAM at home, STEAM books, STEAM learning, and STEM.

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.

Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

This year, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day will be celebrated on Monday, January 18th, 2021. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15th, 1929 and his legacy is profound – perhaps now more than ever. “As a child, I remember studying Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. only from one perspective—the man who had a dream. Without a deep understanding of Dr. King, I lacked the ability to apply some of his profound principles to my life. Years later as an adult, I read his autobiography and was amazed at the depth of his personhood. Out of this
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January 15, 2021 9:47 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: children's books, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, staff recommendations, and YA books.

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.

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. To celebrate the announcement of our 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program, today’s Peculiar Picks features two titles about characters who absolutely love books. We hope your future Kindergarten students learn to love books just as much as Winston the Wolf and Leo the Knight. Winston the Book Wolf by Marni McGee, illustrated by Ian Beck Library Catalog Book lovers
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December 17, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Peculiar Picks, picture books, staff picks, staff recommendations, and The Trove.

She Writes: Short Stories

She Writes: Short Stories

This month's collection of titles for our “She Writes” series focuses on short story collections. Too distracted by current events to focus on long reads? Try short stories. Join librarian Barbara Wenglin's Short Story Discussion Series via Zoom, featuring 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories, on Thursday 12/17, 1/7/21, and 1/14/21. Click here for details. Below you'll find short story collections all written or edited by women and their available formats, but we also have a curated list with additional titles in OverDrive that you can checkout here. Find last month's post on historical novels here. 100 Years
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December 16, 2020 10:19 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: books, She Writes, Short stories, staff picks, staff recommendations, and women authors.

2020 Staff Favorites

2020 Staff Favorites

The White Plains Library Staff have assembled their picks for the year, featuring cookbooks, DVDs, music, audiobooks, and plenty of plain old books. 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. Books: Peace Talks by Jim Butcher Library Catalog OverDrive and Libby: eBook and audiobook Harry Dresden is a wizard living in modern day Chicago. Think of this book
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December 16, 2020 9:32 am | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Director's Corner, Evergreen, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: best of 2020, book recommendations, books, music, staff picks, staff recommendations, and television.

Celebrate Christmas and New Year’s: Children’s Books

Celebrate Christmas and New Year’s: Children’s Books

Christmas and New Year’s are times to spend with family, and create memories. This year, the challenge to safely create family special moments is greater, but with a little ingenuity it can be done. Penguin Books has come up with 13 Festive Family Activities to Get You in the Christmas Spirit. They write, “The run-up to Christmas 2020 is certainly going to be a little different. But you don’t have to go to a Christmas market or a Santa’s grotto to experience the mirth and merriment of the season.” I really like the activities they list – they are safe,
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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, Christmas, New Year's, Observances and Celebrations, Observances and Holidays, picture books, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

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.

New Books for Children and Teens

New Books for Children and Teens

Ordering books for the children’s and teen collections is a rare part of our jobs that hasn’t changed too much over the past six months. While many other aspects of the workday look different now, it’s still a joy being able to select fantastic books and materials for patrons to enjoy. We’d like to take the opportunity to share some fresh new titles from our carts this month. The Trove My Rainbow by DeShanna Neal, Trinity Neal & Art Twink Preschool-Grade 2 Street Date: 10/20/20 OverDrive Library Catalog “In their #OwnVoices picture book debut, mother-daughter duo and transgender rights advocates
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December 14, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: new books, staff picks, staff recommendations, The Edge, and The Trove.

Books for Young Readers to Celebrate Hanukkah!

Books for Young Readers to Celebrate Hanukkah!

In 2020, Hanukkah begins at sundown on Thursday, December 10th, and continues through Friday, December 18th. PJ Library, a Jewish early literacy organization, writes, “Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, brings joy and sparkle during a dark time of the year. Beginning on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev, which falls in November or December in the Roman calendar, Hanukkah is a time to eat delicious latkes (potato pancakes), play dreidel (a traditional game featuring a spinning top), enjoy gathering with family and friends — and, of course, light Hanukkah candles.” The website nicely describes the origins of the
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December 9, 2020 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: children's books, children's literature, Hanukkah, Observances and Celebrations, Observances and Holidays, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

STEAM Picture Books: Technology

STEAM Picture Books: Technology

In this new monthly STEAM series, I will highlight some wonderful picture books that fall under a STEAM category: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics. This edition for the month of December celebrates the Hour of Code program. In this post you’ll find technology books, including biographies of notable figures in the tech field, books about coding, video games and robotics. These picture books can be found in our print collection at The Trove and on OverDrive. Please be sure to check out our coding programs for December. At the end of the post, you'll also find some fun and
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December 3, 2020 10:30 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: picture books, staff picks, staff recommendations, STEAM, STEAM books, STEAM learning, and STEM.