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Author Archives: Tessa Timperley
#BookFaceFriday “All Wrapped Up” by Holly Smale
Don’t get your tinsel in a tangle it’s #BookFaceFriday!
Winter break is almost upon us and it’s the perfect time to get your kids set up to check out ebooks and audiobooks while they’re at home for holiday break. Even if winter weather ruins your regular trip to the library you and your kids can still enjoy new books like “All Wrapped Up: A Geek Girl Special” by Holly Smale (HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, 2022). It’s available as an eBook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries: Kids & Teens, and can be found in the specially curated collection “Get Wrapped Up in a Good Book??: Juvenile Holiday Reads,” which is filled with Holiday themed titles for kids and teens.
“A feel-good satisfying gem that will have teens smiling from cover to cover, and walking a little taller after reading”
— Books for Keeps
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
#BookFaceFriday “Unlucky 13” by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
This #BookFaceFriday can see the writings on the wall!
This week’s #BookFaceFriday isn’t superstitious at all! Happy Friday the Thirteenth, if you’re avoiding black cats, walking under ladders, or opening umbrellas indoors, this BookFace is not for you! Check out “Unlucky 13” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Grand Central Publishing, 2015) it’s the thirteenth installment in Patterson’s “Women’s Murder Club” series. San Francisco Detective Lindsay Boxer is hoping the luck is on her side in this murder mystery thriller. We think your luck is changing because it’s available as a an eBook and Audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, and can be found alongside the entire twenty four book “Women’s Murder Club” series all on OverDrive.
“Those who haven’t read any of the novels in the Women’s Murder Club series are cheating themselves.”
— BookReporter.com
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
#BookFaceFriday “Stormbreaker” by Anthony Horowitz
Saving the world one #BookFace at a time!
“Readers will cheer for Alex Rider, the 14-year-old hero of British author Horowitz’s spy thriller (the first in a projected series). When his guardian and uncle, Ian, is mysteriously killed, Alex discovers that his uncle was not the bank vice-president he purported to be, but rather a spy for the British government.”
— Publishers Weekly
Book Club Kits Rules for Use
- These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
- Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
- Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
- Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, General
Tagged Alex Rider Series, Anthony Horowitz, Audiobook, Book Club Kits, bookfacefriday, Ebook, Novel, Reading, Stormbreaker, YA books
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#BookFaceFriday – “Thanks for This Riot” by Janelle Bassett
We’re not gonna take it with #BookFaceFriday!
“Thanks for This Riot: Stories” by Janelle Bassett (University of Nebraska Press, 2024) is a part of the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction and is available as a part of our Nebraska State Documents Collection.
The Prairie Schooner journal selects one short story collection from contemporary writers each year for this prize series. The series is sponsored and vetted by the staff of Prairie Schooner and a venerable committee of judges, and the selected volumes are published each year by UNP with Kwame Dawes as series editor.One of the most prestigious academic presses in the country, the University of Nebraska Press sends us around 75 select titles per year, which are added to the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse, also known as the Nebraska State Documents Collection. This collection is comprised of publications issued by Nebraska state agencies, ensuring that state government information is available to a wide audience and that those valuable publications are preserved for future generations. University of Nebraska Press books, as well as all state documents, are available for checkout by libraries and librarians for their patrons.
“Janelle Bassett’s voice is one I can’t get enough of. The stories in Thanks for This Riot are fresh and unique and wickedly off-kilter but also burn with a wry, age-old, ironic wisdom. This collection is bitingly funny but sincerely so, with little lies and harmless untruths taking on an edge and inflicting irresistible damage.”
― Timothy Schaffert, author of The Perfume Thief and The Titanic Survivors Book Club
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Friday Reads: “The Maidens: A Novel” by Alex Michaelides
This murder mystery thriller set on the campus of Cambridge University in England fits perfectly in the Dark Academia genre. Group therapist, Mariana is still reeling from a devastating personal loss while trying to put her life back together. When her niece and adopted daughter Zoe calls from university in a panic, telling Mariana that a girl’s body has been found on campus, and her fears that it is her friend Tara. Mariana will be pulled back to Cambridge where she herself is an alumni, where she met her late husband, and where they shared so many tender memories. Mariana feels compelled to try and help solve the mystery of the murder on campus and has her sights set on the enigmatic American professor, Edward Fosca, that she and Zoey believe is the culprit. Sparked by Tara’s last words to Zoe, revealing that she’s been sleeping with a professor and his threats if she doesn’t stay silent about the affair. He’s charismatic and beloved on campus with an almost cult like following by a group of students he privately tutors and who refer to themselves as “The Maidens.” No one is willing to believe Fosca could be responsible and Mariana’s credibility and emotional stability will be called into question as she attempts to prove her suspicions. Intrigue and suspense make this a great read to get lost in if you love themes of Mythology, psychology, and dark twists.
Michaelides, Alex. The Maidens: A Novel. Celadon Books. 2021.
Posted in Books & Reading, General
Tagged Alex Michaelides, Book Review, books, Friday Reads, Novel, Reading, The Maidens
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#BookFaceFriday “Five Stories” by Willa Cather
We’re among the wild flowers with this #BookFaceFriday!
Is there anything more iconically Midwestern than Willa Cather? We love highlighting Nebraska authors in our NLC collections; this week’s #BookFace selection, “Five Stories” by Willa Cather (Random House, 1956), is available on cartridge and for download on BARD, the Braille and Audio Reading Download service, from our Talking Book & Braille (TBBS) collection. It’s a part of our collection of Nebraska books and publications made available to Nebraska TBBS customers. Originally recorded on cassette by NLC in 1982, and narrated by Peggy Johnson, it was digitized and added to the National Library Service collection in 2023. For our non-TBBS users, we have many Cather titles, as well as biographies and nonfiction titles about the author, available on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. We also have ten of Willa Cather’s novels available for check out in our Book Club Kit collection.
“These five stories span almost the entire length of Willa Cather’s career and juxtapose her two worlds: the Nebraska prairie and the world of art. Five short stories; The Enchanted Bluff, Tom Outland’s Story, Neighbor Rosicky, Paul’s Case, and The Best Years, along with an article by George N. Kates on Miss Cather’s last unfinished, and unpublished Avignon story.“
— From the BARD description
This week’s #BookFace model is long TBBS narrator Connie Healy! A volunteer with TBBS for over ten years, Connie has narrated more than eleven books and countless magazines in her time with us, including three One Book One Nebraska titles: “Dancing with the Octopus” by Debora Harding, “The Bones of Paradise” by Jonis Agee, and “Prairie Forge” by James J. Kimble. You can find all of the books she’s narrated on the National Library Service website.
TBBS borrowers can request “Five Stories” DBC02016 or download it from the National Library Service BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) website. If you have high-speed internet access, you can download books to your smartphone or tablet, or onto a flash drive for use with your player. You may also contact your reader’s advisor to have the book mailed to you on cartridge.
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
#BookFaceFriday “Five Presidents” by Clint Hill with Lisa McCubbin
#BookFace for President!
“Decisions are made by those who show up,” quoting Josiah Bartlet, and ultimately Aaron Sorkin, we want to reiterate the sentiment to get out there and vote. With election day next week, we thought we’d give you a run down on a few of the resources available at the Nebraska Library Commission. Whether your looking for voter information like overseas voting, early/absentee voting, voter check, or just need help finding your polling place check out our NebraskAccess: Election and Politics webpage for helpful links. If you love a good presidential biography or memoir we have a large selection in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries collection, just search President! Or if you’re just looking to get away from it all we have a specially curated collection in OverDrive for “Political Fantasy.” Not to forget our large collection of book club kits includes many autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs, like this week’s #BookFace, “Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford” by Clint Hill with Lisa McCubbin (Gallery Books, 2017.)
“Hill’s humanity shines in the rich descriptions of the history he witnessed. The book gives nonpartisan insight about the human side of three Republican and two Democratic presidents. It discloses the huge protective challenges secret service agents face around the clock. Hill also reports many titillating personal events and shares candid views of the swarms of personalities that swirled around the White House.”
—Joseph H. Carter Sr. For The Oklahoman
Need a hand searching our collection? Here are some tips! You can browse our collection by genre or grade level, or use a keyword search to find exactly what your looking for. Still can’t find what you are looking for? Let us know and we’re happy to help.
Book Club Kits Rules for Use
- These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
- Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
- Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
- Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
#BookFaceFriday “A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer” by Maxie Dara
This #BookFaceFriday is a graveyard smash!
This week’s #BookFaceFriday is fully embracing spooky season! Join in with “A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer” by Maxie Dara (Berkley, 2024). This off-beat and humorous murder mystery is the first part in the author’s SCYTHE Mystery Series. It’s available as a an eBook and Audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, and can be found in the specially curated collection “Monster Mash,” which is filled with Halloween, monster, or horror themed titles.
“Fun and lighthearted despite the presence of death, the characters are relatable and funny, and the paranormal aspects are balanced with the ordinariness of Kathy’s messy life. The ending fleshes out this creative premise and sets the book up for the next in a heartwarming series.”
— Booklist
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
#BookFaceFriday “Breaking Rank” by Kristin D. Randle
Don’t let this #BookFace strong arm you!
Are your younger readers looking for a great book? Let us lend you a (tiny) hand in finding the right title! The Library Commission has a large collection of book club kits for children and young adults. Like this week’s #BookFace ,”Breaking Rank” by Kristen D. Randle (Turtleback Books, 2001), perfect for readers ages 12 and up; it’s a part of our Book Club Kit collection, with thirteen copies available for checkout. Diving into themes of peer pressure and independent thinking, this novel has been compared to The Outsiders, West Side Story, and Romeo and Juliet.
“This novel challenges stereotypes and stigmas when an unprecedented friendship develops between two teens of rival high school groups. “Randle is adept at conveying ingrained prejudices as well as the frustration and alienation that leads some youths to forsake the `straight’ world for a more friendly and accepting one of their own making.”
—Publishers Weekly
Need a hand searching our collection? Here are some tips! You can browse our collection by genre or grade level, or use a keyword search to find Golden Sower nominees and winners. If you need a large number of books for a whole classroom, limit your search to only those sets with enough books to meet your needs. Still can’t find what you are looking for? Let us know and we’re happy to help.
Book Club Kits Rules for Use
- These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
- Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
- Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
- Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, General, Youth Services
Tagged Banned Books Week, Book Club Kits, Book Covers, bookface, bookfacefriday, Breaking Rank, Kristin Randle, Novel, Reading, YA
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#BookFaceFriday “Healer & Witch” by Nancy Werlin
We’ll cast a spell on you with this #BookFaceFriday!
We’ve been at the Nebraska Library Association Conference this week connecting with Nebraska’s librarians and Library staff! Sally Snyder, NLC’s Children and Youth Services Coordinator, also had a table there full of her giveaway books, all available for libraries to take home with them. One of those books is this week’s #BookFace, “Healer & Witch” by Nancy Werlin (Candlewick Press, 2022). Perfect for middle grade readers, this coming-of-age YA novel is a fantasy and historical fiction story all rolled into one. All in all the perfect October read!
“Werlin’s first foray into middle grade is a thrilling and suspenseful experience; there are twisting reveals and adventure aplenty, though the story isn’t afraid to stop for lovely moments of
quiet contemplation and recollection along the way. A budding, respectful romance and hints of deeper powers will have readers hoping for a sequel. It’s well worth joining kind and clever Sylvie on her harrowing journey of discovery.”—Booklist (starred review)
This title comes from our large collection of children’s and young adult books sent to us as review copies from book publishers. When our Children and Young Adult Library Services Coordinator, Sally Snyder, is done with them, the review copies are available for the Library System Directors to distribute to school and public libraries in their systems.
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, General, Youth Services
Tagged Book Covers, bookface, bookfacefriday, Fantasy, Halloween, Healer & Witch, Historical Fiction, Nancy Werlin, Reading, YA books
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#BookFaceFriday “Unthinkable” by Helen Thomson
This #BookFace will blow your mind!
Free your mind, and the rest will follow. If you love learning through reading or just nonfiction books in general check out this week’s #BookFaceFriday, “Unthinkable” by Helen Thomson, it’s a nonfiction journey through some of the biggest mysteries of the human brain. You can find this title as an Audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, it’s a part of the “Talk Nerdy to Me” curated collection in Overdrive.
“Thomson has a gift for making the complex and strange understandable and relatable. Oliver Sacks is noted as an inspiration and, indeed, this book will appeal to his many fans.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, General
Tagged Book Covers, bookfacefriday, Helen Thomson, libraries, nonfiction, OverDrive, Reading, Unthinkable
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#BookFaceFriday “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” by Emily M. Danforth
This #BookFace is outstanding in its field!
Freed between the lines! That’s the theme of this year’s #BannedBooksWeek. We are celebrating with a banned #BookFace! The Nebraska Library Commission supports readers and the freedom to read so we make sure our various collections reflect that. “The Miseducation of Cameron Post: A Novel” by Emily M. Danforth (Balzer + Bray, 2013) has been banned or challenged in the US since 2014, less than a year after it’s publication, cited for “inappropriate language, not appropriate for middle school age students.” It won The Montana Book Award and was a finalist for both the Morris Award and a Lambda Literary award. Emily Danforth was born in Montana and received her Ph.D in English-Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln! A book is considered challenged when calls are made for it to be banned or removed from the public’s access. This is one of many banned or challenged titles NLC has available in our Book Club Kit Collection, titles like The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Looking For Alaska by John Green, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling, just to name a few. This week’s #BookFace and other banned books can be found on the NLC Book Club Kit webpage. This service allows libraries and school librarians to “check out” multiple copies of a book without adding to their permanent collections, or budgets. NLC also has several banned or challenged titles available to our Nebraska OverDrive Libraries.
“This finely crafted, sophisticated coming-of-age debut novel is multilayered, finessing such issues as loss, first love, and friendship. An excellent read for both teens and adults.”
— School Library Journal (starred review)
You can find more information about Banned Books Week and the fight against censorship at ALA.org/advocacy/bbooks! What are you doing to celebrate Banned Books Week? Let us know!
Book Club Kits Rules for Use
- These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
- Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
- Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
- Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, General
Tagged Banned Books Week, Book Club Kits, Book Covers, bookface, bookfacefriday, Lois Lowry, Reading, The Giver
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#BookFaceFriday “Haven’s Wake” by Ladette Randolph & “Hell or High Water” by Joy Castro
When one #BookFace closes, another one opens.
There’s nothing better than supporting Nebraska’s great literary talent by reading their books! This week’s #BookFaceFriday highlights two great Nebraska authors! “Haven’s Wake” by Ladette Randolph and “Hell or High Water” by Joy Castro, both novels are available as Book Club Kits for your library. Find more titles using the Nebraska-Related books located in the Browse Options section of our Book Club Kit Collection which includes fiction, nonfiction, adult, and kids/YA titles. Both “Haven’s Wake” and “Hell or High Water” can also be checked out through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries.
“With prose that vivifies the intricate patchwork of characters and captures the landscape’s simplicity, Haven’s Wake explores ‘the various attempts to explain the unexplainable,’ including family, faith, and death.”
—Katharine Fronk, Booklist Online
“A terrific mystery, but Hell or High Water is more than just a mystery; it’s a heartfelt examination of a second America–poor but undaunted–that was swept under the rug but refuses to stay there . . . I can’t wait to see what Joy Castro does next.”
– Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author of Mystic River
Book Club Kits Rules for Use
- These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
- Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
- Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
- Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
#BookFaceFriday “The Underground Library” by Jennifer Ryan
Take a look, it’s in a #BookFaceFriday!
This week’s #BookFaceFriday is all about celebrating Library Card Sign Up Month! Join in with “The Underground Library: A Novel” by Jennifer Ryan (Ballantine Books, 2024). Libraries- More than Meets the Eye is this year’s theme. What can you do to help your community celebrate? Get out to your library, sign up for a library card, tell someone what you love about your library, and tell your local library staff how much you appreciate them! It’s that easy. This title is available as a an eBook and Audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, and can be found in the specially curated collection “Library Card Sign Up Month,” which is filled with library themed titles.
“This uplifting and inspirational story is perfect for readers looking for heroic home front World War II novels with connections to actual events.”
— Historical Novel Society
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
#BookFaceFriday – “On the Go with Senior Services” by Phyllis Goodman
Listen up, it’s #BookFaceFriday!
The Nebraska Library Commission is hiring! We are looking for a Marketing and Outreach Coordinator for our Talking Book and Braille (TBBS) department to help us recruit, retain, and engage our TBBS patrons.
The Talking Book and Braille Service is a no-cost braille and Audiobook library service for people with temporary or permanent low vision, blindness, or a physical or perceptual disability that prevents them from reading or holding the printed page or a reading disability. It’s one of the NLC’s core services and, while not limited to, is used by many Nebraska senior citizens.“On the Go with Senior Services : Library Programs for Any Time and Any Place” by Phyllis Goodman (Libraries Unlimited, 2020) is a part of NLC’s Library Science Collection, which provides professional and reference materials for Nebraska librarians and library science programs. This includes all librarians and library science students. The checkout period is 4 weeks, and items can be sent through the mail or picked up in person. You can find all of these books and more in our catalog, or reach out to our reference staff for a recommendation!
“Providing programming at senior living facilities may be uncharted territory for many libraries. If you’re looking to begin offering programs for senior residents, start your research with this book. Find inspiration to take seniors to the past or around the world, make everyone an artist or author, empower them to use technology confidently, and connect with people living with dementia.”
― Jennie Fidler, Special Services Coordinator, Oconomowoc Public Library
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, Education & Training, Library Management, Talking Book & Braille Service (TBBS)
Tagged Book Covers, bookface, bookfacefriday, books, Hiring, Librarians, Library Development, Library Science, Marketing Outreach Coordinator, On the Go with senior Services, Phyllis Goodman, TBBS
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#BookFaceFriday “Murder on a School Night” by Kate Weston
We did our homework- it’s #BookFaceFriday!
Don’t let the first few week’s of school push you over the edge! Back to school can be stressful, but finding great books for your kids to read doesn’t have to be. Whether its through our Book Club Kits collection, eBooks and Audiobooks in Nebraska OverDrive Library, picking up a title from our giveaway books. there is something for everyone in at all reading levels. Like this week’s #BookFace! “Murder on a School Night” by Kate Weston (Katherine Tegen Books, 2023) this funny, witty murder mystery for teens is written by a former stand up comedian and bookseller.
“Mean Girls meets Midsomer Murders with a dash of Louise Rennison in this genre-blending story that centers girls’ friendships and two ambitious best friends. Kerry and Annie are self-absorbed friends whose obsession over their lack of popularity results in hysterically funny dialogue and a lighthearted tone. Kerry’s crush on newcomer Scott offers sweet diversions. However, what really elevates the goofy capers and over-the-top scheming is how well Kerry and Annie know both themselves and each other. Secrets add depth and complexity to this insightful parody of teenage life. A nuanced, hilarious page-turning romantic mystery.” —Kirkus Reviews
This title comes from our large collection of children’s and young adult books sent to us as review copies from book publishers. When our Children and Young Adult Library Services Coordinator, Sally Snyder, is done with them, the review copies are available for the Library System Directors to distribute to school and public libraries in their systems.
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, General, Youth Services
Tagged back to school, Book Covers, bookface, bookfacefriday, Kate Weston, Murder on a School Night, Reading
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#BookFaceFriday “Proud” by Ibtihaj Muhammad
En guard! It’s #BookFaceFriday!
On the fence about what to read this weekend? Why not check out one of the many titles about the Olympic Games and athletes available on Overdrive. This week’s #BookFace, “Proud: My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream” by Ibtihaj Muhammad with Lori Tharps, is the memoir of Olympic bronze medalist and Muslim American, Ibtihaj Muhammad. You can find this title as an Audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, as well as her Young Readers Edition “Proud: Living My American Dream” which is available as both an eBook and Audiobook.
“Fencing made her who she is today, but fencing isn’t her only narrative. Her journey is one of authenticity at all costs and being unapologetically herself.”
—ESPNw
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
#BookFaceFriday “Storm Cursed” by Patricia Briggs
Brace yourself, it’s #BookFaceFriday!
There’s nothing like reading by candlelight, or maybe in this case, by the light of your e-reader. Batten the hatches during the next Nebraska storm with a good book. This week’s #BookFace would be an excellent book to escape into; “Storm Cursed” by Patricia Briggs, is book eleven in Brigg’s Mercy Thompson series. This supernatural shapeshifter series combines adventure, wit, and magic. It’s available as both an eBook and audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, along with fourteen other books in the Mercy Thompson series.
“This story brings together a lot of seemingly unrelated plot threads from past novels in a way that feels organic and that doesn’t impede the pacing of the current mystery. Fans of the series will enjoy this solid addition, but new readers might find that there’s too much history to make this story work as an ingress point.” —Publishers Weekly
“Patricia Briggs never fails to deliver an exciting, magic and fable filled suspense story.” – Erin Watt, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Royals series
This week’s model is one of the newer additions to the Nebraska Library Commission. Welcome, Veronica Powell, as our new Cataloging Librarian!
This title is also available as an audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Friday Reads: “The Essex Serpent” by Sarah Perry
Set in Victorian England, this historical fiction novel perfectly embraces the setting and mystery of its time-period. Filled with unique and interesting characters from beginning to end, Sarah Perry has written a beautiful, intelligent, and charming novel.
Newly widowed, Cora Seaborne is finding her stride again after the death of her domineering husband. Determined to escape the stuffy rules of London society, she takes her son and maid to the English countryside to pursue her studies as a budding naturalist. While tramping the marshes and collecting specimens she becomes fascinated with the local lore of the Essex Serpent, and the possibilities that a Paleolithic species could be resurfacing and prime for discovery. Pushed together with the local reverend in her pursuit of science and discovery, circumstances will lead to a magnetic and clandestine attraction that could ruin them both.
Reverend William Ransom is an unlikely clergyman, young and easy-going, he’s more likely to be assumed a farmer than a reverend. Living in the countryside of Essex with his wife and children, tending to his flock with a more practical and intelligent approach to life, he’s often dismayed and annoyed by his congregation’s flights of fancy and superstitions, especially when a local man drowns and it’s blamed on the mysterious Essex Serpent.
Dr. Luke Garrett is single-minded in his pursuit of knowledge and advancing medicine, especially surgery of the heart. Taciturn and churlish, he’s found himself unexpectedly mesmerized by Cora since tending her dying husband. Striking up an unlikely friendship with her and visiting the countryside as often as his practice allows just to see her. He’s dismayed as her letters at first just mentioned formally, The Reverend Ransom, but now are filled with the familiar, Will.
Perry strings the lives and experiences of these dissimilar characters together with letters and first-person storytelling to create an almost magical whole.
Perry, Sarah. The Essex Serpent. Mariner Books. 2017.
#BookFaceFriday “The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown
This #BookFaceFriday is going for the gold!
As Olympic hopefuls flock to Paris for this year’s games, take a trip back in time to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. This week’s #BookFace, “The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics” by Daniel James Brown, is a #1 New York Times–bestselling story. This epic story of Olympic hopefuls is available as a part of our Book Club Kit collection. This title is also available as an eBook and Audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries.
“For those who like adventure stories straight-up, THE BOYS IN THE BOAT… is this year’s closest approximation of Unbroken…. It’s about the University of Washington’s crew team: “Nine working-class boys from the American West who at the 1936 Olympics showed the world what true grit really meant.”
—New York Times
Book Club Kits Rules for Use
- These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
- Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
- Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
- Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, General
Tagged book club kit, Book Covers, bookfacefriday, Daniel James Brown, libraries, Olympics, OverDrive, Reading, The Boys in the Boat
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