Comics Through Time
November 11 2022The oldest comics in the world are over 2,000 years old and found on a set of Roman-era tomb walls in what is now Jordan. Well, there are no defined panels and speech bubbles aren't anywhere to be found, but there is floating text by the characters that is clearly meant…
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Norse Mythology in Tolkien's Middle Earth (2/?)
November 4 2022From the One Ring to Smaug, to Gandalf and Aragorn's sword, Tolkien's Middle Earth is a treasure trove of Easter eggs in Norse mythology. However, to spot them requires the reader to be well-versed in Norse mythological texts, so we thought we'd save you some time and point…
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The (Canadian) History of Halloween
October 28 2022'Tis that time of year again -- Halloween is almost upon us! Non-Canadians tend to think of it as an American holiday, but its origins are not as American as pop culture would have you believe. For starters, the holiday originates in Ireland and Scotland by way of the Gaelic…
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Halloween-Themed Library Jokes
October 14 2022Spooky time is upon us, but it doesn't have to all be about screams! Here are 4 library-themed Halloween jokes to get you in the holiday spirit. =-=-= Q: Why did Dracula go to the library? A: He wanted to sink his teeth into a good book. =-=-= Q: Why did the ghost keep…
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Norse Mythology in Tolkien's Middle Earth (1/?)
October 7 2022From the One Ring to Smaug, to Gandalf and Aragorn's sword, Tolkien's Middle Earth is a treasure trove of Easter eggs in Norse mythology. However, to spot them requires the reader to be well-versed in Norse mythological texts, so we thought we'd save you some time and point…
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Dealing With Big Emotions: Helpful Books for Grade 3s & 4s
September 30 2022People often forget that being a kid is hard. And one of the hardest things about being a kid is probably feeling big feelings and not knowing how to handle or express them. If recognizing and controlling your emotions can be tricky enough as a grownup imagine how much…
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Libraries Around the World: Mexico City, Mexico
September 26 2022Vasconcelos Library Nicknamed the “megalibrary” by the Mexican press, this giant library takes up a whopping 37,997 square metres, and houses a painted skeleton of a gray whale inside the main hallway. Outside of the library has a botanical garden that protects the…
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Listen & Learn: Podcasts for Road Trips (Part 2 of 2)
May 16 2022Wow in the World A podcast for kiddos all about cool, weird, and astounding science that makes you go "Wow!". Each episode also comes with a downloadable (and printable!) "WOW sheet" with content to inspire creativity and scientific thinking. Recommended for kids 5+ The…
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Listen Up!: Podcasts for Road Trips (Part 1 of 2)
May 16 2022With summer fast approaching, we bring you four suggestions of podcasts that may be of interest to you and your kiddos to download for those long summer road trips you might be planning to take so you’re not stuck listening to the Encanto soundtrack for 16 hours straight.…
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When Life Imitates Art
February 13 2022Have you ever read Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk? It’s about a little mouse that lives in a public library and loves to read. One day he decides to write his own story (illustrations included) and place it in the library shelf. Soon, his books become so popular that the…
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Christmas Traditions Around the World
December 24 2021Despite celebrating the same holiday, how people celebrate Christmas in different countries varies a LOT. From traditionally having buckets of KFC chicken for Christmas dinner in Japan to rollerblading to Christmas Mass in Caracas, Venezuela (and only in Caracas), celebrations…
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Why Was There a Lion in the 12 Labours of Hercules?
December 4 2021Nemea (the town being terrorized by the lion) is located in Greece. So how the heck did that lion get there? If your guess is "Sometimes menagerie animals got loose and wreaked havoc" you're not entirely wrong; it's not the reason the story features a lion but menagerie…
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Book Scorpions & Why You Should Love Them
October 31 2021If you were to flip open a book and find yourself facing what looks like a really tiny scorpion without a stinger traipsing around a page of the book, you might (quite understandably) scream bloody murder and a few choice bleep-worthy words that would make even a drunk…
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Libraries Around the World: Versailles, France
October 23 2021The world’s largest scent archive, Osmothèque, is both a scent library as well as one of the world’s most renowned centres for research on the topic of the history of perfume-making. They have over 3,200 scents, at least 400 of which are discontinued and historical.…
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The Middle Eastern Library of Alexandria
October 15 2021In 1258 Mongols under the command of Hulagu Khan sacked the city of Baghdad, destroying the House of Wisdom (the leading library in the leading intellectual center of the Arab world at the time). It was a loss of Library of Alexandria proportions, to put it mildly. In…
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If You Like Dav Pilkey You Might Like...
October 8 2021There comes a day in the life of every Dav Pilkey fan where they finish reading all of his books that he’s written so far and must face the dreaded Wait until the next book release. To help our young patrons through such trying times, we have humbly compiled a list of…
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Memorable Libraries Around the World: Ikawi City, Japan
October 1 2021Ikawi City’s Picture Book Library (aka the Museum of Picture Books) features about 1,300 picture books by authors from around the world. The picture books are all geared toward very young children, as the library serves three local preschools Mondays to Thursdays (Fridays…
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If You Liked Outlander You Might Like...
September 24 2021What about Outlander did you like the most? I liked it because it’s a time travel romance The Scribe of Siena by Melodie Winawer When neurosurgeon Beatrice Trovato travels to Siena to get her late brother’s affairs in order she didn’t expect to find information about…
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All You Need to Know for the 2021 Federal Election
September 16 20211. If you haven’t registered to vote No problem! You don’t need to have registered in order to be able to vote! All you need to do is find out where your polling station is by visiting the Elections Canada site and putting in your postal code into the purple voter information…
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The Most Famous Game You’ve Never Heard Of
September 10 2021Once upon not-so-long-ago, in the mid-1800s and early 1900s, there was a housing crisis in the United States and around the world. The rich minority would buy undeveloped land and housing and lease land and living spaces for exorbitant prices, becoming richer simply by…
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