Libraries Around the World: Ottawa, Canada
January 5 2024Library of the Canadian Parliament ^ Image by Tony Webster Because the builders didn’t know how to create a domed roof as seen in the plans, the Tomas Fairbairn Engineering Company of England was commissioned to create a pre-fabricated dome. This meant that the Library…
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4 Picture Books About Refugees
November 1 2023Lately, with multiple wars going on around the world, Canada's intake of refugees is higher than ever, with 17.% of new permanent residents in 2022 being refugees or protected persons. So odds are that your kiddo will eventually come across someone with refugee status (if…
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Memorable Libraries Around the World: Braddock, US
March 18 2023The first Carnegie library in the U.S., this library was designed by William Halsey Wood and opened in Pennsylvania in 1889. Right from the start it had a variety of entertainment options, including billiards tables on the first floor, a music hall, a gymnasium, and a…
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Isobelle Ouzman's Book Art
March 11 2023What do you do with a ratty worn out book? In Isobelle Ouzman's case, she turns it into art. How long the piece takes depends on the size and depth of the book as well as the type of paper the book is made of, which means a piece can take from three weeks to three months…
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Social-Emotional Literacy Activity Books for Kids
January 13 2023What to Do Guides for Kids series by Various Authors Written by psychologists and recommended by the American Psychological Association, these books are designed to be workbooks that kids work on with their parents to empower both kids and the grownups who care for…
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Memorable Libraries Around the World: Handelingenkamer, Netherlands
January 6 2023The library of the Dutch Parliament contains every record of parliamentary hearings and discussions in the Netherlands. Since it was built before electric lighting made the storage of paper a lot safer, the building was constructed with a massive leaded glass dome in…
Read MoreComics 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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