April was a whirlwind in the Matthews Library. The reason: Middle School Summer Reading Book Talks. A little explanation of what they look like: we display about 100 books for each grade (incoming 6-8th grades) and the students attend during their English class to hear about the books they are curious about. They have a list of all the books so they can circle the ones that interest them to share with their families when it’s time to pick up their five (or more) summer reading books.

Every April, the Academy of American Poets celebrates National Poetry Month, encouraging all of us to uplift the art form. After a deeper look into the benefits of reading, writing, and listening to poetry, I’m inclined to follow their lead. Here is a non-exhaustive list outlining the benefits of sprinkling a little more poetry into our lives.

Storytime is one of the highlights of being a librarian. Perhaps it’s the theater kid in me who loves to perform, but I also look forward to seeing and hearing kids’ reactions to the books I share. In this post, I’ll share why you should make reading aloud part of your routine.

Happy Valentine’s Day! If you couldn’t tell from our posts up until now, we love reading and all things books♥️ We thought it might be fun to share some staffulty favorite books–some they loved as kids, some are all-time favorites, and some are just things they’ve enjoyed lately.

I come from a road trip family. I suppose, with five kids to keep track of, my parents worried they’d accidentally create a real-life rendition of Home Alone if we flew. The drawback to road trips, it turns out, is that five kids have a mighty capacity for complaining about boredom when crammed hip-to-hip(-to car seat) in a seven-seater Toyota Highlander for hours at a time.