• Lists

    It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 11/13/17

    I must say, I kicked butt reading this week and boy does it feel good! Work has slowed down a little bit and with few evening commitments and a cell phone sitting in a bag of rice (phones + toilets don’t mix), I read more than I have in a…

  • Reviews

    Book Review: The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street

    Synopsis: The large Vanderbeeker family has only known life in a brownstone on 141st Street, so the five kids (and their parents) are heartbroken when they find out their mysterious and cranky landlord who lives upstairs will not be renewing their rent after Christmas. The kids take on the challenge and…

  • Lifestyle

    Resource: Diverse BookFinder

    Check out this great new resource for getting diverse picture books into the hands of readers. The Diverse BookFinder “is linked with a circulating collection of picture books published since 2002, housed at Ladd Library on the Bates College campus.” And although not as extensive as maybe this diverse list from…

  • Reviews

    Book Review: Sparrow

    The story opens in a white hospital room after Sparrow’s apparent suicide attempt. The custodian found Sarah on the edge of the school’s roof, but no one will believe that she wasn’t up there to jump. She was up there to fly. When the world on the ground gets to…

  • Reviews

    Book Review: Love, Hate and Other Filters

    Have you ever read a book that you liked, but it just took you forever to get through? Well, this isn’t one of those books. I read this book in about a 12 hour period and loved every minute of it even when it was tearing out my heart and…

  • Lists

    Back to School – Middle Grade Edition

    Back to school is always exciting and slightly scary time for kids and you can find gobs and gobs of picture books discussing the new school year, but it’s a lot more difficult to find titles for middle grade students getting ready for a new school building, a new school…

  • Lifestyle

    Importance of Fairy Tales

    Fairy tales are one of my favorite genres to read, I love the magic, the mystery and the thought that these stories have been passed down through the generations. I love reading fractured fairy tales, different spins on old classics and modern re-tellings. I came across a few articles on…

  • Lists

    It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 8/7/17

    I finished Calling My Name by Tamani Liara and really enjoyed the perspective of this story, it’s not one you read about very often (check out my review). I also read Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham, a graphic novel I grabbed off the shelf for a patron (she decided on Babysitter’s…

  • Activities

    Multi-Cultural Night

    This is one of my favorite programs we put together at our library – we’ve done this a few times. What makes it absolutely amazing is that we ask our patrons to share their culture which means we get an authentic look into a variety of cultures in just one…