Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on February 23, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Sheri Boggs “Mom, did I ever have an imaginary friend?” I click my pen and wait for an answer, aware that this very blog post was due three hours ago and I need some way to introduce it. But alas, Mom is no help. “No, honey. Your sister had Paul,” (Paul being a plush […]
Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on February 18, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Brian Vander Veen In my head, my home coffee table is something like the platonic archetype of coffee tables, with a few books arranged in a tidy stack, next to a generously sized mug–on a coaster, of course–still steaming with the fragrant, nutty aroma of freshly brewed coffee. And sometimes, for a rare and […]
Tags: booklists, books, on my coffee table
Posted in For You, kids on February 4, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Sheri Boggs My favorite kinds of picture books about love are the ones that transcend romance and/or Valentine’s Day to say something far broader and universal about love, affection, friendship, and family. Here are some fresh new arrivals that do exactly that: The Most Wonderful Thing in the World By Vivian French; Illustrated by Angela […]
Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on February 3, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Kelsey Hudson As a librarian I feel I must advocate firmly for books in the age old books vs movies debate. I mean the Percy Jackson films just butchered the story and the new Hobbit films literally put me to sleep. That being said, there are many fantastic film adaptations out there. I still watch all […]
Tags: books, entertainment, movies
Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on January 26, 2016 at 6:00 am
By David Wyatt When the Academy Award nominees for best picture were announced earlier this month, I had a strange sense of deja vu. It was not because of the continued lack of diversity in actors nominated or list of films many people won’t see. What was so familiar was that nearly every nominated film owed […]
Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on January 21, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Brian Vander Veen This year I will have been vegetarian for some 15 years, if memory serves me right, and vegan for roughly the last 10. And yet, there was a time I barely knew how to peel a potato. I had fancied myself pretty decent at grilling steaks or baby back ribs but vegetables were […]
Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on January 20, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley When my husband and I were newlyweds we lived overseas in a place with very few English speakers. Since we didn’t speak the language, we were sometimes a little starved for entertainment beyond the random English language movie on TV (a pastime we dubbed “Mystery English Language Theater” or “How we stopped being […]
Posted in For You, kids, Parents and Teachers on January 19, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Sheri Boggs Black History Month, or National African American History Month, is celebrated in the United States during the month of February. While the holiday is sometimes criticized for reducing the history of an entire race to just one month, it can also be a useful time to recognize and honor black achievements throughout American histor […]
Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on January 14, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Kelsey Hudson Eighteen months—we have to wait 18 months to find out what happens next! I can’t believe it. I don’t want to believe it. I think I’ll just curl up under my desk for the next little bit. I may also cry a little. Don’t judge me too harshly. Like a couple million other people, I […]
Posted in Explore and Discover, For You on January 13, 2016 at 6:00 am
By Brian Vander Veen I’m feeling positive about 2016, as though it’s going to be a good year to be a nerd. Despite a glut of click-bait articles arguing that The Force Awakens was actually a terrible film, the fans I saw leaving the theater were in a jovial mood, as though the phantom of […]
Tags: booklists, books, fantasy, sci fi, science fiction