This summer we challenge readers of all ages to “Build a Better World.” Our Summer Reading theme motivates us to build, tinker and engineer, and it encourages us to help our community and our environment. To celebrate this theme, I’ve compiled a list of books to inspire you and your family to construct better reading skills and demolish the summer brain drain!
Registration for Summer Reading begins on June 1.
For Ages 0-5
Construction is hard work! After a long day of building and play, it’s time for the vehicles in Sherri Duskey Rinker’s “Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site” to tuck in for the night. Have fun rhyming while helping Crane Truck, Cement Mixer, Bulldozer and the other construction companions finish their work and settle into sleep.
Have you ever messed up when creating a work of art? Don’t despair! 
“Beautiful Oops!” by Barney Saltzberg will teach your how to turn your “oops!” into a “whoopee!” Did you rip your paper? Turn the tear into alligator chompers! Did you spill your paint? Make the blot a silly animal! Every mistake, if looked at positively, can create a beautiful new work of art. Continue reading “Literary Links: Summer Reading”
Each month, we host Facebook Friday Recommendations online. You can get personalized recommendations — all you need to do is find our Facebook Friday post and comment with two or three books or authors you like, and we’ll help you find your next great read! Here are the recommendations from April 2017.
Request: I’ll go first! The last three books I read that I LOVED were “Americanah” by Chimamanda Adichie, “The Mothers” by Brit Bennett and “Commonwealth” by Ann Patchett. I really like fiction that tells a complex story. I love to learn something new even when I read fiction. I’m trying to read lot of immigrant and refugee books right now. I just finished “Exit West” and loved the premise but the style wasn’t my favorite. Any good recommendations for me?
Recommendation: For books that focus on the immigrant experience, you might try “The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears” by Dinaw Mengestu, or the illustrated memoir “The Best We Could Do” by Thi Bui. And, since dynamic, multi-layered stories are your jam, be sure to check out “Swing Time” by Zadie Smith, “Another Brooklyn” by Jacqueline Woodson and “The Nix” by Nathan Hill. Continue reading “Facebook Friday Archives- April 7, 2017”
Having lived in college towns for much of my adult life, I have come to recognize a feeling of anticipation during the spring semester. It seems to be connected to the reality of students graduating and moving on to the next phase of their lives. For some it is graduate school, for others perhaps travel, but for many (and to the relief of their parents) they are beginning to work on obtaining employment. There are newly retired individuals looking for part-time jobs to augment their income and stay involved in the community. Spring also seems to be a time to job hunt for a better salary or to increase job satisfaction. Continue reading “Job Searching Tips for Everyone”
I’m sure you’ve already heard a lot about “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly. It’s the true story of the female African-American mathematicians who worked for NASA to help get John Glenn into space, among many other achievements. The movie starring Taraji Henson, Octavia Spencer and Dorothy Vaughan just won the Screen Actors Guild Award for best cast, and it’s been nominated for three Oscars and two Golden Globes. I read the book before I saw the movie, and I loved it. I have to admit that this is one of the few
movies that I love just as much as the book, if not more! I hope it wins every award.
Also coming out soon is “The Zookeeper’s Wife” by Diane Ackerman, with an expected release date of March 31. It’s the true story of how the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from the Nazis by smuggling them in empty cages. The movie will star Jessica Chastain and Daniel Bruhl. It looks like it’s 
going to be incredible, and if we hurry, we just might have enough time to read it before the movie comes out. Continue reading “Books on the Big Screen in 2017”
Truer words have never been spoken (and don’t worry, I’m not biased). I got my own library card in the first grade. I signed it (with my beginner’s cursive), looked at it lovingly and promptly handed it to my dad for safe-keeping in his wallet. Sure, I had been a regular fixture in my local library since I was too young to remember, but the books I took home were always checked out to my mom or dad. That all changed once I got my own library card. It would take a few years for me to fully appreciate what my library card could do for me, though. September is Library Card Sign-Up Month, and it’s also a time to consider what brings you “library happiness.” Continue reading “September Is Library Card Sign-up Month!”
Ah, June is coming! We can smell summer from here. Time to stuff our beach bags with a little romantic comedy, fantasy (featuring librarians, naturally), suspense, memoir and microhistory. Here are the books hitting shelves next month that librarians across the country recommend. Place your holds now to have them in hand for your upcoming vacations or staycations.
“Vinegar Girl” by Anne Tyler
“The newest entry in the Hogarth Shakespeare series brings The Taming of the Shrew into the modern world. Kate is stuck in a life taking care of her absent minded professor father and her sister, Bunny. When her father suggests a marriage of convenience in order to secure a green card for his lab assistant Pyotr, Kate is shocked. This is a sweet and humorous story about two people, who don’t quite fit in, finding each other. Tyler’s wonderful writing updates and improves on the original.” – Catherine Coyne, Mansfield Public Library, Mansfield, MA Continue reading “Top Ten Books Librarians Love: The June 2016 List”
The rules of society are sometimes flaunted by criminals. Who are these people, and what makes them tick? Check out these documentaries that feature various outlaws.
“The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia” (2010)
A shocking and outlandish year-in-the-life documentary about the White Family of Boone County, West Virginia’s most notorious extended family. The film includes shoot-outs, robberies, gas-huffing, drug dealing and using, pill popping, murders and tap dancing. Continue reading “Against the Grain: Docs About Outlaws”
Keen readers might notice this is the second time I’ve recommended Patrick deWitt’s work. Some will exclaim, “Sir, are there not a practically infinite number of worthy writers to recommend? Why recommend an author twice?” I will respond, “Indeed, there is a seemingly endless sea of writers deserving of my endorsement, but several factors conspire to cause a repeat recommendation of his work. I’m particularly enamored with Mr. deWitt’s writing. His newest novel was published subsequent to my previous recommendation and it is amazing. And while some quick and dubious math tells me I read upwards of 8,000 books a year, I cannot read everything, but I did recently read “Undermajordomo Minor.” Furthermore, as I saunter around town twirling my cane and mustache, my query of, ‘Have you yet mined the depths of Patrick deWitt’s talents?’ is nearly always met with either confusion, averted eyes or a non-sequiturial admonishment to ‘be careful with that cane, you nearly hit my baby.’ (I’ve said this countless times, but I will reiterate here: I never twirl my cane with anything less than utmost precision, and your baby could stand to toughen up.) Clearly, I have not been sufficiently persuasive. So until passersby respond to my deWitt-centric interrogations with a tip of their headgear and an enthusiastic, ‘Yes. And by the way, you are rather precise in the manner with which you twirl both your mustache and your cane,’ I must continue to espouse the virtues of Mr. deWitt’s work.” Continue reading “The Gentleman Recommends: Patrick deWitt (again)”
