June is LGBT Pride Month and today I'm here with some great picture books about gender identity that are perfect for reading during Pride Month. Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope by Jodie Patterson, illustrated by Charnelle Pinkney-Barlow. 2021. Just before his fifth birthday, Penelope lets his mother know he is [...]
June 1 (today!) is the first day of our 2021 Summer Reading Program where your whole family can earn prizes by reading or listening to books! Did you know... Summer Reading is for all ages - even adults. We want everyone to have fun reading or listening to books this summer and we have prizes for [...]
Hello! This is the Galena Crew again, and today we will be talking about our Library of Things Collection! You may have noticed that libraries are not just buildings full of books anymore. Libraries offer lots of classes, services, and some interesting collections of physical items available for check out. Our Library of Things collection [...]
May is Asian / Pacific American Heritage Month, so what better month to enjoy any of these awesome books for kids? Books for younger kids: Astrid and Apollo and the Starry Campout by V.T. Bidania (2020). This easy reader chapter book is about Hmong twins Astrid and Apollo is perfect for starry summer nights. Check [...]
May 6 is International No Diet Day. Created by eating disorder survivor Mary Evans Young in 1992, No Diet Day is a celebration of body acceptance, which includes fat acceptance and body shape diversity. If you want to know more about body acceptance and/or rejecting diet culture, check out these books at your library: The [...]
Today, the Galena Branch Crew is taking over the staff blog. We would like to introduce you to our little corner of the library world! The Galena Digital Branch of the Floyd County Library System has been open since September 2018. Even though we are situated in an old house built way back in 1843, [...]
My New Year's resolution this year was to try at least 50 new recipes. It's been such a fun project and of course I am using our library to help. I like to own cookbooks so I can take my time going through them and refer back to my favorite recipes, but they can be [...]
Do your kids love funny books? I've written before about Laugh Out Loud funny picture books for kids, but here are some suggestions for chapter books and middle grade novels that will have your readers giggling - no fooling! 24 Hours in Nowhere by Dusti Bowling (2018; 260 pages). When the terrible bullies of Nowhere, [...]
March is Indiana Disabilities Awareness Month! This is a great excuse (not that you need one) to pick up a book written by or about people with disabilities and the Schneider Family Book Award is a great place to find good books on this topic. Presented by the Association of Library Services to Children (the [...]
We're losing an hour of reading time to Daylight Savings this weekend, so here are some very short books for all ages to get you through this trying time. For kids: Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson (161 pages, written in verse). ZJ worries about his dad, a former pro football player who is [...]