The Return of Summer Book Bingo!

It’s that magical time of year for readers in Seattle – it’s Summer Book Bingo! We’re now into our fourth year partnering with our pals at Seattle Arts & Lectures on this adult summer reading program that challenges you to read in certain categories. (Pick up a card at any of our locations or download one from our website.)

This year  we added some new challenges for you, such as “history,” “about the environment,” “about travel,” and “finish a book you started and put down”  — all categories that you can interpret broadly and that can be either novels or nonfiction. We also brought back categories from previous years, such as “graphic novel,” “memoir or biography” and “LGBTQIA author or character.”

New this year is challenge to read a book where either the author or character has a disability. We’re especially excited about this category and its tie with the USA Special Olympic Games, which are in Seattle this year! (How exciting is that? 4,000 athletes competing in 14 sports!) The Games open on July 1 at 12:30 with a ceremony at Husky Stadium, and the competition continues through July 6.

When it comes to the sport of competitive reading in the form of Seattle’s Summer Book Bingo, a great place to start is with “recommended by a librarian.”

Here’s how to win the Recommended by a Librarian category

Select a book from one of these resources:

Displays at any of our locations: You can count on any book that’s featured in a display as being hand-picked by one of us. Pro tip: Many branches do Book Bingo displays with books organized by the Bingo square/challenge. Load up next time you’re in!

Choose a book from the Peak Picks display at your favorite Library in Seattle.

Peak Picks: Our wonderful selection services librarians put a lot of thought into which books they feature in this exciting display of new, hot titles and in-demand books. Bonus: New books are added each month, so there’s almost always something fresh for you.

Library Reads: Each month, librarians across the U.S. vote on new books that they’re excited to share with readers. We’ve been sharing the Top Ten Library Reads here on Shelf Talk. You can also check the Library Reads site for lists going back to September 2013.

Talking to us! Stop by the Information desk at your favorite Library and chat with us about what kinds of books you like to read and we’ll make recommendations. We can also help you online at Your Next 5 Books; you’ll be asked to fill out a super short form, and then one of our librarians will create a personalized reading list and email it to you in a few days.

Summer Book Bingo 2018 runs from May 23 through Sept. 4, 2018. Find complete details on our Book Bingo website, get ideas for what to read here, use the tag #BookBingoNW2018 when chatting about books on social media, and, most importantly, have fun with it! Presented by The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Arts & Lectures.

 ~ posted by Linda J.

The Seattle Public Library Zine Collections

Central Library Zine Collection

A zine is a self-published work of original or appropriated and remixed materials, including photographs, drawings, poetry, and prose. Typically limited in print number, zines are most often stapled-together paper reproduced on a photocopier, and distributed locally.

While zines are closely associated with music scenes such as punk or riot grrrl, they have existed in their modern form as a part of a variety of artistic movements since the early 20^th century, including Dadaist leaflets and early science fiction fan magazines (aka fanzines aka zines).

The Central Library’s Teen Center zine collection, launched with the goal of promoting the voices and creative expression of teens and young adults, especially those living in the Pacific Northwest, includes over a hundred zines and mini-comics, with topics ranging from self-perception to parrotfish to paper airplanes. All zines in this collection are uncatalogued, but may be borrowed and returned to the library when finished.

University Branch Zine Collection

The University Branch library has a small collection of zines, consisting initially of donations from The Zine Project of YouthCare (an eight-week creative writing program for homeless youth that ended in 2016). All zines in this collection are uncatalogued, but may be borrowed and returned to the library when finished. If you have a zine you would like to donate, talk to a staff member at the University Branch in-person, or call at 206-684-4063.

Interested in exploring more about Zines and making your own, check out these materials from our collection:

• 100 Dollars and A T-shirt: A Documentary About Zines in the Northwest
• Fanzines by Teal Triggs
• The Future Generation by China Martens
• Girl Zines by Alison Piepmeier
• Make A Zine! By Joe Biel
• Whatcha Mean, What’s A Zine? By Mark Todd

~Posted by Mychal L.

Nightstand Reads: Author Will Taylor Shares Some Favorite Middle Grade Books

We’re delighted to have Seattle author Will Taylor, whose debut middle grade novel Maggie & Abby’s Neverending Pillow Fort came out last month, here to share with young readers and parents five novels he can’t wait for you all to read. But first, let us tell you a bit more about his novel: 

Maggie & Abby’s Neverending Pillow Fort is “a rollicking good time” says Booklist (confirmed!) and “Ridiculously irresistible,” according to Kirkus Reviews (also confirmed). In this first book in a series, Maggie has eagerly waited for her best friend Abby to get home from Camp Cantaloupe, only to find that all Abby wants to talk about is camp things. When Maggie discovers that a pillow in the back of her fort mysteriously leads into the one Abby built, the two friends are just an arm’s length away — and set for adventure.

Taming Bigfoot

This post and corresponding booklist were created by students at Nathan Hale High School as part of a teen service learning project. 

(Photo credit: Soraya Jessa)

Over the past nine months I have had the pleasure of volunteering with the non-profit organization Taming Bigfoot Seattle. Taming Bigfoot Seattle is a 1Sustainable Planet volunteer project, inspired and guided by retired NASA climate scientist Bob Bindschadler, that aims to engage the community in accelerating Seattle’s progress towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month: In Our Own Image(s)

At the Capitol Hill Library, we wondered how to create an Asian & Pacific Islander (API) Heritage Month display that recognizes the many peoples who are categorized as “Asian” and “Pacific Islander” — each unique and with their own histories, languages, religions, cultural values, and experiences.  Is it possible to represent such broad and diverse communities without using stereotypical imagery (especially those which focus exclusively on East Asia)?

An answer dawned on us: since API people are already representing themselves, through their art and creative practice… why reach for the clipart of cherry blossoms and dragons, when we could highlight the imagery of API artists?

We reached out to a number of local artists with API heritage, and have featured some samples of their work – swing by the Capitol Hill library, and check out library items that are produced by API writers, illustrators, filmmakers, and musicians.  Our display offers a selection of poetry, picture books, nonfiction, DVDs, comics, and other media from our collection.  For those who can’t make it to our neck of the city, here are a few titles to place on hold:

Works by Pacific Islanders

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Library Reads: New Books for June 2018

Looking for some late spring and summer books? Here are 10 novels that librarians across the U.S. are super excited about — and now you can put them on hold.

The Feminist and the Axe Murderer

Susan Glaspell was just 24, working her first job out of college as a reporter for the Des Moines Daily News when she was called to the scene of a grisly crime that would shape her artistic destiny. Late on the night of December 1, 1900, John Hossack had been bludgeoned to death with an axe as he lay in bed. Margaret, his wife of 33 years, slept on beside him during the murder, or so she claimed.

Despite her children’s protests, she was arrested and charged with murder. The trial became a sensation, and Glaspell’s reporting on the case and its surprising outcome was eagerly devoured well beyond Iowa. To say that the case became a referendum on domestic abuse would be to rewrite history, but the sympathies aroused by the stoic Margaret Hossack were indicative of a gradual change in the popular understanding of women’s rights and legal status.