April is National Poetry Month

“National Poetry Month was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry’s vital place in our culture.  Organized by the Academy of American Poets, it serves as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States. The Academy's website Poets.org serves as a hub for information about local poetry events during the month, and we would like to match their goodwill by celebrating our poetry collection at the library.” ~ Poets.org
 
If you are a poetry lover, you might enjoy these books. Find these and more by visiting our catalog, or visit our Pinterest page to get book recommendations.

• A good cry : what we learn from tears and laughter - Giovanni, Nikki
• Devotions : the selected poems of Mary Oliver - Oliver, Mary
• Use your words: a 5th book of poetry - Pickford, Susan Bassler
• The rain in Portugal : poems - Collins, Billy
• Collected poems : 1974--2004 - Dove, Rita
• Milk and honey - Kaur, Rupi
• Felicity : poems - Oliver, Mary
• The poetry of Yehuda Amichai - Amichai, Yehuda
• Wait till I'm dead : uncollected poems - Ginsberg, Allen
• Notes on the assemblage - Herrera, Juan Felipe
• Breezeway : new poems - Ashbery, John
• The complete poetry - Angelou, Maya
• Splitting an order - Kooser, Ted
• Collected poems - Strand, Mark
• Blue horses : poems - Oliver, Mary
• At the foundling hospital - Pinsky, Robert     
• The Sun and Her Flowers – Kaur, Rupi

What Should I Read Next?

Look for our brand new ‘What Should I Read Next’ binders listing books and authors of many genres, and get some great reading recommendations. Binders are located at the Reference Desk, and above the new large print books.

Inside each binder is also a Reader’s Request form. Fill one out to get personalized reading recommendations! Please allow 1-2 weeks for us to prepare your list.

Maker Kits and More

Check out our new shelving for maker kits (bongo drums, ukelele, astronomy, and bird-watching.) Coming soon...board games for teens and adults! 

Did you know you can also borrow:

• Cookie Cutter Kits
• Cake Pans
• Knitting Kits
• Crochet Kits
• Scrapbooking Kits
• Beading Kits
• Gardening Kits
• Triangle and Tambourine Kits

Earth Day

As you all may know, Earth Day is April 22!  Originally celebrated on this day in 1970, Earth Day has been a time to take a moment and appreciate our beautiful Earth and to turn our thoughts to keeping it beautiful.  

According to earthday.org, their Earth Day mission is to “diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide… More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world… through a combination of education, public policy, and consumer campaigns.”

How will you participate and celebrate Earth Day?  Here are some ideas from the weblog Inhabitat (inhabitat.com), to help you plan the Earth’s special day:

1. Don’t Drive – walk or use you bike!
2. Recycle E-Waste - Chances are, you’ve got an outdated electronic appliance gathering dust somewhere in your house right now. Make sure those gadgets end up properly recycled instead of taking up space or leaching toxins in a landfill.  Lookup where to recycle e-waste and other special household waste at the Westchestergov.com website (http://environment.westchestergov.com/special-waste)
3. Plant Food – Start your own garden
4. Go Solar – Besides rooftop solar panels, smaller solar harvesting devices are popping up all over, from pocket-sized phone chargers to portable multi-panel kits.
5. Get Outside - Earth Day is about enjoying and taking care of the planet.  Go for a hike, take a nature walk with your kids, plan a picnic in the park, or a game of kickball with your buddies. Remember how great it feels to have the wind in your hair and the sun on your face!

Of course, here is a great list of some books to celebrate Earth Day:

• Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet, by Michael Bloomberg and Carl Pope
• An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, by Al Gore
• Utterly Amazing Earth, by Dorling Kindersley
• World Without Fish, by Mark Kurlansky and Frank Stockton
• Where Does the Garbage Go?, by Paul Showers and Randy Chewning
• Botanicum, by Kathy Willis and Katie Scott
• The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss
• Second Nature by Michael Pollen
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Frackopoly by Wenonah Hauter
• Black Nature, Edited by Camille T. Dungy
• The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
• Red by Terry Tempest Williams
• The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
• Sisters of the Earth, Edited by Lorraine Anderson
• Planet Earth by Alastair Fothergill
• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
• The Cabaret of Plants by Richard Mabey
• Black Faces, White Spaces by Carolyn Finney
• The Unsettling of America by Wendell Berry

Resource:

https://www.earthday.org/about/

https://inhabitat.com/6-fun-meaningful-ways-to-celebrate-earth-day/fun-ways-to-celebrate-earth-day-2013-7/

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/7-books-celebrate-earth-day/  (author:   Jeff Somers)

https://bookriot.com/2016/04/22/run-on-422-15-books-to-celebrate-earth-day/ (author:  Kate Scott)