All Hands on Tech: Using Technology to Get Your Child Ready to Read
There are so many wonderful resources available for children and caregivers to use together to work on those five early learning practices—reading, writing, singing, talking and playing. It’s never too early or too late to help your child start developing these skills.
Gene Luen Yang Challenges Us to Read Without Walls
I recently had the great pleasure of meeting award-winning author Gene Luen Yang during his Words and Pictures visit hosted by Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures. In addition to chatting with him in the green room about favorite manga, the joys of mentoring teens and how the heck metal fuses with glass (I had just come back from a road trip to the Corning Museum of Glass!), I was also able to ask him four library-related questions as well as introduce him to the stage!
Here We Are: Feminists from All Walks of Life Share Their Stories
Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World is more than just a how-to guide for feminism. It’s a gathering of voices, experiences and perspectives. It’s an invitation to join the feminist party, and all are welcome!
Margaret Atwood, the Dark Queen
It feels like it may never be warm again. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m doomed to shivering, sniffling, bundling up, waiting out the awful, bitter torture that … Continued
My Year of Reading Memoir: Tangles by Sarah Leavitt
I chose Tangles: A story about Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me by Sarah Leavitt. Tangles is 1) a graphic memoir, 2) was written by a woman, 3) was published in 2012 (just hitting the five year mark), and 4) has only 832 ratings on Goodreads. I feel really fortunate though that it fit my criteria, because Tangles turned out to be a profoundly affecting story of a daughter losing her mother and a mother losing herself.
Yes, Women Are Funny
When Women’s History Month was approaching, I thought I was going to write about Gloria Steinem, leader of the second wave of feminism and co-founder of Ms. magazine. Her book, My Life on the Road (2015), is definitely worth a read. But I decided to focus on women who are living the lives that second wave feminists fought for. It is still a struggle in a man’s world, even in Hollywood. But being a feminist doesn’t mean you can’t laugh.
Me and Robin McKinley
Working in a library means I’m always surrounded by books. I talk about books, think about books, and read about books. This has made me acutely aware of how many … Continued
Giving Into an Ever-Changing Poetry Collection
Floating somewhere between fantasy and reality, between the mind and the body, is Güera, the latest poetry collection from Rebecca Gaydos. Published in 2016, the book is divided into five distinct parts, including prologue and epilogue. What struck me initially was the sparseness of each page, made up of stanzas that read as prose instead of verse. However, as I began to read, the weight of each word became immediately apparent.
An Interview with Olive Witch Author Abeer Hoque
Abeer Hoque was born in Nigeria to Bangladeshi parents and moved to Pittsburgh when she was thirteen. She struggled to find her place in America, and eventually moved to Bangladesh on her own, where she still didn’t quite fit in. She details her multicultural growing-up and coming-of-age story in a new memoir called Olive Witch. Abeer will be at CLP – Main on Wednesday to give a reading and answer questions, but I was able to catch up with her via email in advance of her event.
Making Connections: An Explanation of Print Awareness
Print awareness refers to a child’s understanding of the nature and uses of print. There are many ways to encourage the development of this early literacy skill in your young child.