All Posts
Get caught reading!
Posted in Explore and Discover on April 26, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Rachel Edmondson My first introduction to the Get Caught Reading campaign was the posters that adorned our libraries’ walls. Throughout the years, various celebrities have participated in this campaign by being photographed reading a favorite book and then allowing the celebrity posters to be distributed for free to schools and libraries. You […]
Comic giveaway and year-round reading
Posted in Explore and Discover on April 21, 2016 at 6:00 am
By David Wyatt Free Comic Book Day has been the first Saturday in May for 15 years. This year it falls on May 7. Comic book shops (including local shops, The Comic Book Shop and Merlyn’s) will have promotional comics and usually some colorful characters in full costume. This year at the Argonne Library, our […]
Tags: adults, children, comic books, comics, graphic novels, hoopla, kids, non-fiction, teens, tweens, YA
Card games: sneaky, fun math practice
Posted in For You, Parents and Teachers on April 12, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Kelsey Hudson Card games are a way of life in my family. As children, we started off with simple games like Go Fish and Thirty-One. By elementary school, most of us had graduated to Golf and Spades. And forget moving up from the kids’ table at Thanksgiving—in my family you’re considered an adult when […]
Tags: card games, fun, games, kids, math, parenting, young learners
Board books you’re bound to love
Posted in For You, kids on April 7, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Sheri Boggs Board books are undeservedly one of the most easily dismissed formats in all of children’s literature. With their chunky spines and thick, laminated pages, they’re designed to withstand the worst a baby can deliver, from a good, saliva-drenched gumming to being hurled from a high chair. They’re short by necessity—most around […]
Tags: board books, books, illustrated books, kids, parents
Read these graphic novels, you must
Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on April 5, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Brian Vander Veen When I went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I had prepared myself for disappointment. And sure, much of it was a rehash of a plot we’d already seen twice in the Star Wars franchise, and yes, there were plot holes aplenty, but I’d be lying if I said I […]
Tags: books, graphic novels, Star Wars
Fools and tricksters who delight us
Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on March 31, 2016 at 11:49 am
By David Wyatt April Fools’ Day draws near and the scheming has surely begun. This scheming divides the world into tricksters and the fools who fall for their tricks every time. I always like to think the fool has more going on, that the trickster is blissfully unaware of such depth. That could just be […]
Middle school math is KILLING me
Posted in For You, Parents and Teachers on March 24, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley Middle School Math is KILLING me. It started when our oldest daughter hit 7th grade and started Algebra. During the first open house of middle school, the wise and kind math teacher warned all the parents that “this first semester is a killer.” Truth. I spent one harried evening working on a […]
Tags: brainfuse, digital resources, helpnow, math, tutoring
Make your own Monster Book of Monsters
Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on March 22, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Kelsey Hudson With the new Harry Potter play coming out this summer (and the accompanying book that I may have pre-ordered the first day that I could), I have been in full Harry Potter fan mode for months. Thankfully, I work with a group of people who are every bit as excited as I […]
Tags: craft, DIY, Harry Potter, monster book
Going local
Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on March 17, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Sheri Boggs In a prominent corner or shelf of your closest County Library you might find stories about Sasquatch, about a derelict hotel rescued from obscurity, about a kid from North Idaho who implausibly becomes a drug kingpin before getting caught and going to prison. There are stories about a woman and her daughter […]
Four indie science fiction films to watch now
Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on March 10, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Brian Vander Veen So Gods of Egypt happened. The film, with an estimated budget of $140 million, ended up being slammed by critics and grossing a mere $14 million in box office sales its opening weekend. I feel bad for the director, who had previously managed to produce two cult classics of 90s speculative […]
Tags: indie, movies, sci fi, science fiction
