All Posts
Confession of a librarian mom: Reading and summer slide
Posted in Explore and Discover, kids, Parents and Teachers on June 5, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley Last summer my family was busy with summer activities: camps, road trips, and camping vacations. We planned highly educational and enriching activities for our youngest daughter, but we did not make reading a high priority. When she started school in the fall, her teacher told me that she had definitely lost ground […]
Tags: online reading, online summer reading, reading, reading buddies, reading buddy, summer learning loss, Summer reading, summer reading buddies, summer reading buddy, summer slide
Children’s booklist for Pride Month
Posted in Explore and Discover, kids, Parents and Teachers on May 29, 2018 at 6:00 am
by Caitlin Wheeler June is LGBT Pride Month in the U.S. Originally a week-long festivity, it honors the 1969 Stonewall Riots that culminated in a 51-block parade march from the Stonewall Inn to Central Park in Manhattan, New York. As it has evolved and taken many forms, Pride Month continues to commemorate the men and […]
Tags: bisexual, booklists, books, family, fiction, gay, gender, kids, lesbian, LGBT Pride Month, LGBTQ, parents, Pride Month, queer, reading, transgender, young learners
What’s cooking in the mud kitchen?
Posted in Explore and Discover, kids, Parents and Teachers on May 22, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Abra Cole In the last month, my garden has gone from looking like the dark side of the moon after the zombie apocalypse to a lush green jungle of happiness. Many plants I forgot I had planted last fall have popped up to greet the sun. I already know that I want to plant […]
Tags: books, butterflies, butterfly, butterfly garden, early learning, fairies, fairy, fairy garden, family, gardening, grandparents, hobbies, kids, mud, mud kitchen, outdoor play, outdoors, parents, play, science, teens, young learners
Screen time for small kids: education or entertainment?
Posted in kids, Parents and Teachers on May 8, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Rachel Edmondson I want to start this post with a promise and a disclaimer. First, I promise I am not going to tell you to never ever let your kids watch TV, play a video game, or use a tablet. Second, I’m also not going to give you concrete answers on how you should […]
Tags: 3 Cs of media use, babies, baby, Child, Content, Context, early learning, education, educational, entertainment, family, kids, media, media use, parenting, parents, preschooler, preschoolers, screen time, tablet, toddler, toddlers, tv, video game, young learners
Poetry of resistance and environmental justice
Posted in Explore and Discover on May 3, 2018 at 6:00 am
by Nathaniel Youmans Since its inauguration in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month has become perhaps the single most-celebrated global literary phenomenon of the year, making April arguably the most literate month. Sorry November, your romantic dreariness and proclivity for wool socks and chai lattes are no match for the e […]
Tags: Academy of American Poets, adults, authors, books, community, Dakota Access Pipeline, Earth Day, Handfor Nuclear Site, Hanford, Kathleen Flenniken, Layli Long Soldier, Manhattan Project, National Poetry Month, poems, poetry, poets, Standing Rock Reservation, T. S. Eliot, teens
Poetry in Spokane: Get Lit!, Tod Marshall, and Scablands Books
Posted in Explore and Discover on May 1, 2018 at 6:00 am
by Nathaniel Youmans Spokane has been a vibrating hive of activity during National Poetry Month. Eastern Washington University’s Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing program has had another smash hit year of literary programming for the 20th annual Get Lit! Festival, featuring readings, workshops, and panel discussions all across the Spokane […]
Tags: book publishing, creative writing, EWU MFA, Get Lit!, independent literary press, independent publisher, poems, poetry, poets, Sharma Shields, small press, Tod Marshall
Reading in between: Done with winter but not quite ready for spring
Posted in Explore and Discover on April 24, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Susan Goertz Winter has never been my favorite season. This one seemed to drag out endlessly—gray clouds heaped on the horizon like immobile lumps of oatmeal. The sun rarely filtered through. At last, with April’s arrival, the light is returning—the dormant season ending. Though I’ve longed for this, there is a chill reticence still […]
Tags: books, fiction, memoir, National Poetry Month, nonfiction, poetry, reading, spring reading
Community & shared history: Moran Prairie Grange Exhibit
Posted in News on April 19, 2018 at 6:00 am
Moran Prairie Grange: A Washington Rural Heritage Exhibit MORAN PRAIRIE LIBRARY May 2–29, 2018 Explore the historical artifacts, photos, and stories of the Moran Prairie Grange in this exhibit made possible by a grant from Washington State Library with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. About the Moran Prairie Grange The M […]
Tags: artifacts, documents, exhibit, history, Moran Prairie, Moran Prairie Grange, oral history, photos, true stories, Washington Rural Heritage
Bicentennial of a Monster’s Birth
Posted in Explore and Discover on April 17, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Melissa Rhoades On January 1, 1818, the debut novel of a 20-year-old woman was anonymously published in London. Within five years, a second edition was released and a play based on the book premiered. The novel and its spin-offs remained a hit, and in 1910, Edison Studios created the first movie based on Mary […]
Tags: adults, books, fiction, Frankenstein, Frankenstein. Frankenstein's monster, Frankenstein's bicentennial, kids, Mary Shelley, medicine, movies, overdrive, reading, science, science fiction, technology, teens, tweens, YA
Consent Matters: Talking about the importance of “Yes”
Posted in Explore and Discover, Parents and Teachers, Teens on April 3, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Sheri Boggs If the media is telling us anything these days, it’s that consent continues to be a hot-button topic. With new allegations of sexual harassment in politics, entertainment, and the arts hitting the news almost daily and the ongoing issue of date rape on college campuses, it seems more important than ever to […]
