Posted in News on April 2, 2020 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley Here we are in week three of “homeschooling” or what my youngest calls “keep practicing to not rot your brain.” My family of five has been together nonstop for the longest period of time since… ever. And it’s a struggle. It’s a struggle for my husband and me to work from home […]
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Tags: activities, adults, badges, Beanstack, books, challenges, kids, online reading, online reading tracker, parents, reading, spring reading, stay healthy, stay home, teens, tweens
Posted in kids, Parents and Teachers on March 11, 2020 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley I have found that parenting includes the need to have difficult conversations with children. My family recently lost a beloved dog, Pepe, who had been with us for over 14 years. He was an old dog and spent more and more of his time resting and sleeping. So while we were prepared […]
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Tags: books, caregivers, children, conversations, difficult, parents, programs, talks, teachers, teens, topics
Posted in News, Uncategorized on December 31, 2019 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley My sister gave me an Instant Pot for Christmas several years ago. I didn’t know what it was and had never used a pressure cooker before. But I’m always game to try a new kitchen gadget, so I gave it a whirl. To say it changed everything would be a slight exaggeration, […]
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Tags: class, cookbooks, cooking, instant pot, pressure cooker, pressure cooking
Posted in News on October 17, 2019 at 6:00 am
by Gwendolyn Haley September 2019 marked the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Hanford Nuclear Site. The Library District is offering a closer look at the history and effects of Hanford on our region. You can see an exhibit of historical photos and wartime propaganda from the Hanford Site at North Spokane Library throughout […]
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Tags: activism, adults, atomic bomb, booklist, ecology, fiction, Hanford, Hanford Nuclear Site, Hanford Site, historic, history, images, journalism, literature, nonfiction, pictures, poetry, propaganda, teens, World War II
Posted in Explore and Discover, News on September 24, 2019 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley Back in 2004, some teenage boys in Stevens County got their hands on a gorilla suit and, over several months, staged several Bigfoot sightings along Highway 395 near Loon Lake, until stopped by a police officer. I remember reading about it in a local paper when I moved to Spokane that year. […]
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Tags: Abominable Snowman, adults, author, bigfoot, booklist, books, cryptids, cryptozoology, kids, Loch Ness, Mokele-mbembe, monster, mysteries, Ogopogo, parents, reading, Sasquatch, sea monster, teens, tweens, Yeti
Posted in kids, News, Parents and Teachers on May 28, 2019 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley I’ve observed an interesting phenomenon around my house lately while reading Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin, aloud with my youngest daughter. The rest of the family, two teenaged daughters and one middle-aged husband have gravitated to the living room to listen. The story of Minli’s epic journey to […]
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Tags: aloud, author, author visit, Beanstack, booklist, books, celebration, Grace Lin, grandparents, kids, online reading tracker, parents, preschool, reading, reading certificate, Summer reading, summer slide, teachers, together, tweens
Posted in Explore and Discover, kids, Parents and Teachers on January 24, 2019 at 10:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley The library is a great place to visit in the winter! No really, it’s true! Every week, we have Play & Learn Storytimes for families with children ages 0–5. For older kids, we have regularly scheduled LEGO Clubs, STEM programs, and other activities. And even when we don’t have a formal program […]
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Tags: activities, blocks, building blocks, creativity, imagination, Imagination Playground, indoor play, kids, learning, LEGO, library, parents, play, play games, puzzles, scavenger hunt, STEM, storytime
Posted in kids, News, Parents and Teachers on April 12, 2018 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley For Christmas, my youngest daughter received a doll that looked like her. This seems like a small thing, but I watched her study the doll’s face very closely and then beam up at the gathered family to announce, “Her eyes look like mine!” Our older daughters are blond and blue-eyed, like their […]
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Tags: books, Children's Day, cultures, Dia, diverse books, diverse languages, early literacy, El día de los libros, El día de los niños, family, kids, languages, Library Day, literacy, parents, reading, teachers, young learners
Posted in kids, Parents and Teachers on October 31, 2017 at 6:00 am
by Gwendolyn Haley I hear my grandfather’s voice when I read The Tale of Peter Rabbit. He did not read to me regularly. We lived very far away from him and only saw those grandparents once or twice a year. But when he read that story to me, it was magical. I have read the […]
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Tags: authors, Beverly Cleary, books, Charlotte's Web, children's books, E. B. White, family, kids, Ludwig Bemelmans, parents, Peter Rabit, Ramona, reading, reading together, young learners
Posted in Explore and Discover on August 8, 2017 at 6:00 am
by Gwendolyn Haley My eyes are bigger than my freezer and pantry. Every year, I plant a little garden, only to be overwhelmed when everything starts to ripen at once. My family starts to groan and say, “No more… beans, tomatoes, squash” and so on. Each spring, I underestimate just how much produce will come […]
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Tags: backyard bounty, bounty, community, food, fruit, garden, gardening, produce, produce swap, vegetables, veggies
