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Book Lists

Women in Focus Booklist

August 19, 2020
Didn’t catch our Women’s Suffrage Storytime yesterday? Well here it is….and here is an accompanying booklist! Suffrage Votes for Women! American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot by Winifred Conkling On August 18, 1920, American women finally won the right to vote. Ratification of the 19th Amendment was the culmination of an almost eighty-year fight in which some of […]
Book Lists

Books with Home Schooled Characters

July 29, 2020
Elementary / Middle Grade Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott This charming classic novel from 1875 by Louisa May Alcott (the author of Little Women) follows the story of the recently orphaned Rose Campbell as she struggles to cope with her new life as part of a large family, which consists of seven boy cousins and numerous aunts and uncles. […]
Book Lists

2021 Monarch Book Award List

March 29, 2020
ALL of the blogs from the past week have focused on online resources to cope with the school & library closures due to CoVid-19. However, right before everything started shutting down the Association of Illinois School Library Educators announced their 2021 Monarch Book Award List. Without further ado, here it is: Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller When Tanisha spills grape […]
Book Lists

2021 Bluestem Book Award List

March 28, 2020
ALL of the blogs from the past week have focused on online resources to cope with the school & library closures due to CoVid-19. However, right before everything started shutting down the Association of Illinois School Library Educators announced their 2021 Bluestem Book Award List. Without further ado, here it is: The Ambrose Deception by Emily Ecton Three Chicago students, […]
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Book Lists

Best Books of 2019

January 7, 2020
Starred Reviews from ALL FIVE Publishing Journals* Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and weaves them into one funny, poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life.     A Place to Land by Barry Wittenstein The true story behind […]
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Banned Books Week

September 26, 2019
A Quick History… Banned Books Week was launched in the 1980s by the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom. The 80s were a time of increased challenges, organized protests, and the Island Trees School District v. Pico (1982) Supreme Court case, which ruled that school officials can’t ban books in libraries simply because of their content. Books are still […]
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Illinois Assessment of Readiness Books

August 16, 2019
Get your IAR practice tests now! The IAR test has replaced the PARCC test (which replaced the ISAT test). Lucky for you, we have all available practice test booklets in our Homework Center Collection. We even still have our old ISAT and PARCC test prep books too. For more IAR online resources and online practice tests, head over to the […]
Book Lists

The 2020 Rebecca Caudill List Has Been Announced!

February 5, 2019
Fred Korematsu Speaks Up by Laura Atkins Fred Korematsu liked listening to music on the radio, playing tennis, and hanging around with his friends—just like lots of other Americans. But everything changed when the United States went to war with Japan in 1941 and the government forced all people of Japanese ancestry to leave their homes on the West Coast […]
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NEW TECH ALERT: Kindle Fire Kids Edition

December 20, 2018
We are proud to announce a new inside-the-library gaming option for the little ones! Ever since the library renovation, we have been without the old children’s game computers. Using a computer mouse requires a lot of hand-eye coordination that young children may or may not have developed yet. Now, we have two Kindle Fire Kids Editions available for 2-hour checkout […]
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Never Got Your Hogwarts Letter?

December 19, 2018
Just in time for the January 4, 2019 Locked in the Library, we are proud to introduce a brand new STEM Kit: The Harry Potter Kano Wand Kit! This kit includes the Harry Potter Kano Wand and of course a book about coding. Like the Dash STEM Kit, it requires a tablet to use so do not check this one out […]