There's nothing quite like first love. The passion, the uncertainty, and the newness of teen romance makes it especially poignant. When I'm looking for a particularly swoon-worthy read, I turn to young adult literature. Luckily for readers like me, there is an abundance of fantastic authors creating memorable characters and stories to enjoy. Here are…
Books to Grow On
Borrow theme kits filled with wonderful books to read aloud, music, videos, and other materials on a variety of curriculum topics.
Adult Summer Camp at Home!
Host a grownup summer camp in your own backyard with inspiration from these books, a few good friends, and maybe even some adult beverages.
Read, Watch, Listen: #BlackLivesMatter
There's no easy way to digest what we're seeing in the news right now, and, at times, even the thought of doing so can be really daunting. There are (more than) a couple of ways that we can handle this overwhelming feeling: While some of us have the privilege to ignore it, pretend it doesn't exist, hide from…
hoopla Film School: Vintage Disney!
Greetings students, and welcome to another edition of hoopla Film School! The Disney brand may be best known for its legacy of classic animated features and sprawling theme parks, but I've always had a soft spot for their live action movies of the 1970s and '80s. Many a Saturday morning in my youth was spent eating soggy Cheerios while…
Coming-Of-Age Thrillers and Chillers
Ever since I watched the made-for-TV adaptation of Stephen King's It at a middle school slumber party, I've been captivated by coming-of-age horror stories and mysteries. Sure, I also devoured all of Judy Blume's candid yet wistful novels of adolescence as ravenously as any other precocious prepubescent with a library card. But the coming-of-age horror/thriller subgenres particularly appealed to me by…
Cookbooks for Hapless Chefs
If I wanted food during my first year of college, I simply waltzed over to the school cafeteria and tucked in to the daily specials. Once and a while I luxuriously ordered a pizza from my dorm room just to shake things up. This idyllic existence lasted until I moved off campus my sophomore year…
Don’t Go Outside!
It's officially summer, the season for hiking, picnicking, park frolicking, lake swimming, and celebrating the miraculous outdoors. It is also, I'm embarrassed to admit, my least favorite time of the year! Don't get me wrong, I love nature. However, as a bona fide, dyed-in-the-wool "indoor kid" (this is why I work at the library), there are times when…
5 Young Adult Picks for the Ocean Obsessed
What is it about the ocean that invites us to lean over the side of our boats and wonder what's lurking down below? When I went deep-sea fishing as a child, I thought it was eerie to wait while my hook sunk down, down, down, and finally hit the bottom. Then I couldn't get enough of reading about the Titanic, drawing…
Five Completed YA Series to Devour
Do you hate it when a book ends on a cliffhanger, only to find out the next book in the series doesn't come out for another year? Series are popular in YA fiction, especially fantasy, sci-fi, and dystopian stories. If you like following characters and their adventures through multiple books, but don't like waiting years…
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