Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

Reviewed by Paul D., Senior Information Assistant

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia is also available as an ebook through Hoopla.

Civil Discourse

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky is an exciting, well-crafted, character-driven adventure, reminiscent of the Percy Jackson series’ Greek Myth formula. Seventh-grader Tristan, struggling to find himself living in the shadow of his father and grandfather and still reeling from the unexpected death of his best friend, is thrust into a fantastical world of West African and African-American myth and folklore. The story is action-packed and has many memorable moments, both thrilling and laugh-out-loud funny, thanks to the engaging narration and the well-drawn supporting cast. Black history and the vibrant settings and characters are tied together with strong themes of emotional intelligence, friendship, and storytelling as a means of strengthening cultural identity. This book would make an excellent jumping-off point for personal reflection or family discussions about Black identity, masculinity, and the Black American cultural experience. Appropriate for ages 7+

This review is part of the Finding Value series, inspired by the eleven core values central to our mission. Tune in as Library staff review books and movies that highlight the values accessibility, civil discourse, inclusiveness, integrity, intellectual freedom, lifelong learning, literacy, respect, safety, service, and stewardship. 

VITAL Services Online

VITAL Services Online

The global pandemic has closed classroom doors around the world, but adult literacy and language services remain essential during this time of health crisis and uncertainty. According to Proliteracy, over 36 million adults in the United States cannot read, write, or do basic math above a third grade level. Adults lacking these essential skills have increased vulnerability to COVID-19, and are at greater risk for financial instability and other social issues.

Volunteers in Tutoring Adult Learners (VITAL) provides learning opportunities for adults who want to improve their reading, writing, math, or English-language skills. In order to safely continue services, VITAL services online provides distance learning opportunities that are flexible and can adapt to changing circumstances.

VITAL learners in a Zoom session

Virtual English Language Groups

VITAL volunteers offer weekly English language practice on Zoom. These small groups of English language learners practice speaking and listening, learn new vocabulary, improve pronunciation, and learn about American culture. The next session of English language groups begins September 6, new learners are welcome to join at any time.  

 

Guided Self-Paced Learning 

VITAL staff provide an initial assessment and help adult learners set goals for learning at their own pace, at times that are convenient for them. While the Library is closed, assessments will be conducted virtually via phone or video conferencing. Based on student preferences and technology access, we’ll recommend high quality print or online resources for learning:

Learning independently can be challenging. VITAL staff will help with selecting and accessing resources, and provide ongoing support, encouragement, and technology assistance for self-paced learners. When available, volunteer tutors may be assigned to help meet individual learning goals. 

Complete the  VITAL Interest Form to get started with VITAL services online.  VITAL staff will respond as soon as possible.  

VITAL services are evolving to meet the needs of the community, details on expanded services will be forthcoming.  

 

Library Fantasy Virtual Escape Room

Fantasy Escape Room

Do you enjoy puzzles and fantasy games? Try our fantasy escape room! With themes reminiscent of a Dungeons and Dragons game, you can attempt to escape the Wizard Tower. You don't have to complete all of the puzzles to finish the game, but completing different puzzles makes for different endings. 

You can attempt this escape room by yourself or as a group. Click on hints on the way if you need help. This escape room is intended for teens but adults and children can test out their mettle too! Good luck!

Enter the escape room

Quaranzine, Vol. 4

Quaranzine Vol. 4

Welcome to the fourth edition of MCPL’s community Quaranzine!

There are two different versions––one is for reading on a screen, and the other has been imposed so it can be printed at home, folded, stapled, and read in that fashion. Select short-side binding on most printers to print correctly.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this zine. Please consider contributing to the next issue, coming Oct 1!

Many students are back in session, and once again it fells like Bloomington is booming. We are continuing this project, because as we have been warned, COVID-19 is still rampant, and the pandemic is not over yet. So please keep wearing your mask, washing your hands, and practicing safe distance practices. We want a safe and healthy Bloomington. We hope that you enjoy what our contributors have made and shared. Your continued support has been amazing, both in contributing and reading, and we’re already looking forward to the next edition. It’s almost Fall, and the Harvest Full Moon!

quaranzine_call_for_submissions.png

Want to contribute to the next volume?

Send your art and thoughts in the form of an 8.5” x 5.5” page of words or images, a photograph or an image, or about 250 words about something. Recipes, pictures, fun projects, and more––all ideas that highlight the community and uplift voices are encouraged and welcome!

Please reach out to quaranzine [at] mcpl.info with any questions or entries. Submissions for the fifth volume will be accepted through September 28. Submissions will be compiled and posted to this site by October 1st.

Staff Picks: Animorphs series

Before she was known for releases like Crenshaw and the Newbery award winning The One and Only Ivan, Katherine Applegate brought the Animorphs saga to the world. The series shows Applegate's impressive skill as a writer, as she weaves an accessible sci-fi story of epic sweep and exciting action sequences with surprisingly sophisticated world-building and affecting character development. The narrative also touches on themes regarding the traumas of war (through a kid-friendly lens) and mankind's relationship to the environment. All of the above is spread across the series in books of digestible length. Appropriate for ages ~7+, but contains a level of depth that can engross readers of any age!

One Million Minutes!

A Summer Reading Progress bar showing 1,000,000 minutes.

1,102,067! That’s how many minutes you read as part of the Library’s 2020 Summer Reading Games, which went digital this year. 1,574 participants (815 kids, 178 teens, and 581 adults) completed challenges, reviewed books, and logged their minutes read.

The Summer Reading Games couldn’t happen without the support of the Friends of the Monroe County Public Library! Not only did the Friends sponsor the annual summer reading program, they pledged to donate $2,000 to Hoosier Hills Food Bank if the Library’s community-wide reading goal of 200,000 minutes was met. 

The goal was met less than two weeks into the games and the check was presented to the food bank!

The president of the Friends of the Library Board presents a check for a check to representatives from the Hoosier Hills Food Bank.

Because the initial goal was achieved so quickly, the stakes were raised with a stretch goal of 1 million minutes! Should the new goal be met, some individual Library staff pledged donations to the following local organizations totaling $1,525. 

  • Shalom Community Center
  • Hotels 4 Homeless
  • Middle Way House
  • Banneker Community Center
  • Stages Bloomington
  • Friends of the Library

Monroe County readers responded, surpassing 1 million minutes on July 27, with just four days to go! 

Readers earned badges and tickets towards prize drawings for the minutes they read and the challenges they completed. Prizes included LaunchPad tablets, headphones, Kindle Fire tablets, gift cards to local business, and more. Winners are being notified now! 

Throughout the summer, additional monetary donations served as benchmark prizes within the games, benefiting Shalom Community Center, Youth Services Bureau, and Stepping Stones. Hundreds of books were also donated to local Little Free Libraries and to area daycares and camp groups, including The Nest, the daycare at New Hope for Families

While in-person events weren’t possible this summer, Library staff hosted dozens of virtual programs through YouTube and Zoom. The three most popular programs were Sam Tries: Origami, Painting Weatherproof Pots, and Yummy Food: Virtual Storytime! These programs, and many more, can be viewed anytime on the Library’s YouTube Channel.

Although the 2020 Summer Reading Games looked different than previous years, you took the changes in stride and embraced the online challenge, continuing the summer reading tradition and allowing the Library to support local organizations in need! Congratulations!

Electric Zine Maker

Electric Zine Maker and zine jam

Electric Zine Maker is a super awesome new tool for making zines of all kinds, but especially printable mini-zines! It is one of the most unique looking tools out there, with an interface that proudly screams early 90s internet weirdness and delights in secrets and strange features. It was created by developer Nathalie Lawhead, and to celebrate its launch, she held the Electric Zine Jam on itch.io at the end of June.

Itch.io is a platform for indie devs to host their creations. These are often video games, but really many different kinds of interactive art are hosted there. Sometimes a developer will host a jam, a type of contest or event where people create works from scratch in a short time frame following some kind of theme or restriction. The most popular type of jam is a game jam, but you can have a jam for anything! There were some amazing zines made for the Electric ZIne Jam, below are a couple of highlights:

how to remember how to be human

how to remember how to be human

How to remember how to be human is a reflective mini-zine about taking care of yourself, and how this whole worldwide lockdown has been a good moment to realign for some folks.

 

This Cat has Many Bones

This Cat has Many Bones

There are actually two little mini-zines here, This Cat has Many Bones is a surreal cosmic horror/cute story with really awesome drawings.

 

This Old Lady

This Old Lady

A dreamy mini-zine made from pictures found in a box of a once young lady’s life from 1929-1936. In French and in English.

 

comfy channels to relax and go to bed to zine

comfy channels to relax and go to bed to zine

This mini-zine highlights some really chill and relaxing YouTube channels to unwind to. Most of the channels featured are slow, methodical crafts presented without much commentary, but Jelle’s Marble Runs also gets a shoutout too!

 

If you make a page with the Electric Zine Maker you should consider submitting it to the Library’s Community Quaranzine!

call_for_submissions_vol_4_facebook.png

Want to contribute to the next volume?

Send your art and thoughts in the form of an 8.5” x 5.5” page of words or images, a photograph or an image, or about 250 words about something. Recipes, pictures, fun projects, and more––all ideas that highlight the community and uplift voices are encouraged and welcome!

Please reach out to quaranzine [at] mcpl.info with any questions or entries. Submissions for the fourth volume will be accepted through August 29. Submissions will be compiled and posted to this site by early September.

Indiana 2-1-1: 24/7 Confidential and Free Support for Hoosiers

Indiana 2-1-1: Get Connected, Get Help

Adapting to life during the coronavirus pandemic is a challenge. Almost every aspect of daily life, from shopping at a grocery store to visiting the public library, has changed. Many have lost their jobs or are working reduced hours. Some are experiencing food or housing insecurity for the first time. Others have lost loved ones. Uncertain times can feel overwhelming and isolating, especially when you are unable to congregate in the community, and may not know who to turn to in order to ask for support.

For Hoosiers in need of help accessing local resources in Monroe County, Indiana 2-1-1 has a team of Community Navigators available to provide expert referrals to services in our community. 2-1-1 Community Navigators are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to assist residents seeking a variety of resources such as food and clothing, mental health and addiction services, healthcare, housing and utility assistance, education and employment, parenting support, tax assistance, and more.

To speak to a Community Navigator by phone, dial 2-1-1 or (866) 211-9966. A texting option is available as well. Hoosiers can text their zip code to 898-211 during the hours of 8 AM–5 PM EST, Monday through Friday, and communicate with a Community Navigator directly via text.

Additionally, a database of resources is available online at in211.org. This includes information on how 2-1-1 is involved in the COVID-19 response and answers to frequently asked questions about the pandemic.

Indiana 2-1-1 reported a 69% increase in domestic violence-related calls between April and May of this year, and their top five Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) information needs calls for May were for housing, utility assistance, food and meals, transportation, and legal, consumer, and public. If you or someone you know needs assistance finding local resources in Monroe County, you are not alone. Indiana 2-1-1 is a free and confidential option available to all Hoosiers seeking help.

Staff Picks: Stand Up, Yumi Chung!

Reviewed by Cidne B., Information Assistant

Integrity

Yumi Chung would really like to be doing stand up comedy like her Youtube hero, Jasmine Jaspar. But being the youngest daughter of Korean immigrants, and incredibly shy, this seems like a silly dream. Then one day, after her summer SSAT prep classes, she discovers a comedy camp everything changes; a case of mistaken identity gives her the chance to be someone else and to get a taste of her dream! 

Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim is a relatable, engaging middle grade novel that deals with the themes of familial responsibility, identity, integrity, friendship, and bravery. Appropriate for ages 9+

This is review is part of the Finding Value series, inspired by the eleven core values central to the Library's mission. Tune in as Library staff review books and movies that highlight the values accessibility, civil discourse, inclusiveness, integrity, intellectual freedom, lifelong learning, literacy, respect, safety, service, and stewardship.

Join the Big Library Read, the World’s Largest Digital Book Club

Big Library Read, August 3 - August 17, 2020

The historical fiction thriller, The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason, is the 22nd selection of Big Library Read. From August 3–17 readers can borrow and read this “intellectually stimulating and viscerally exciting” eBook through OverDrive and the Libby app. Solve the mystery from home with your library card and no waiting, then discuss the book online!

A historical fiction novel, The Darwin Affair takes place in London during June 1860. When an assassination attempt is made on Queen Victoria, and a petty thief is gruesomely murdered moments later, Detective Inspector Charles Field quickly surmises that these crimes are connected to an even more sinister plot. Soon, Field’s investigation exposes a shocking conspiracy in which the publication of Charles Darwin’s controversial On the Origin of Species sets off a string of murders, arson, kidnapping, and the pursuit of a madman named the Chorister. As he edges closer to the Chorister, Field uncovers dark secrets that were meant to remain forever hidden. Tim Mason has created a rousing page-turner that both Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would relish and envy.

Big Library Read is available in over 22,000 libraries around the world, including more than 90 percent of public libraries in North America. Connecting readers around the world, Big Library Read began in 2013 and takes place tri-annually. The program is facilitated by OverDrive, the leading digital reading platform for popular eBooks, audiobooks, and magazines.

The Darwin Affair was published by Algonquin Books and can be read on all major computers and devices through Libby or libbyapp.com, including iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phones and tablets, and Chromebook™ without waitlists or holds. Through Libby, readers can also “send to Kindle®”. The title will automatically expire at the end of the lending period, and there are no late fees.

To join the discussion, learn about past Big Library Read titles, and download Libby, visit Big Library Read's website! Learn more about how to use OverDrive with your library card

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