I love narratives where the past, a past, any past, comes screaming into the present. It doesn’t matter if what happened is relevant to the heroes of the story or deeply woven into their family tree — it is their problem to face and they have to contend with it now. “The past is never […]
Fully Booked
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Fully Booked: Reads to help fight burnout
The start of a new academic year can be another time of resolutions and new beginnings. Students and working professionals alike can get a charge from the fresh energy. Some of us recommit ourselves to staying on top of tasks and projects and getting our calendar together. Some of us need our paper calendars and […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Fully Booked: Comic books to expand your universe
I’ve been a lifelong comic book fan, but I go through seasons of feast or famine. Recently, I read a slew of comics after not reading any for roughly a year and a half. Luckily, the Iowa City Public Library’s collection always has titles of interest when I’m in the mood for superhero epics or […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Fully Booked: Travel books to guide your next vacation
It’s summer, which means that it’s time for that hallowed tradition of summer vacation. I have many fond memories of piling into my parents’ light blue and fake-wood-paneled station wagon to hit the road. Many times that meant Adventureland (the sky seats! the swimming pool! the bingo parlor!), but we definitely also set out to […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Fully Booked: Interactive books to flip over
By Casey Maynard Children love books that defy traditional format categories: picture book biographies, early reader comics, longform illustrated novels, graphic novel nonfiction. The combinations offer endless variety for readers. Lucky for us, publishers are delivering! Here is a brief list of books on Iowa City Public Library’s new children’s shelves featuring more than one […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Fully Booked: Get well-versed this National Poetry Month
Originally launched in April 1996, National Poetry Month celebrates the contributions of poets and their art. Poetry can be especially meaningful for youth as a tool of self-expression, of making sense of new things. Great poetry offers multiple ways to think about subjects using an toolkit of poetic devices. Though obviously longer in form, novels […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Fully Booked: Books for the ’90s kid in all of us
There’s nothing wrong with an adult who likes to read children’s books. (I’m a children’s librarian; therefore, an expert on these matters.) Children’s books can provide a much-needed escape, along with being quick reads – you can devour these in a day or two. If you’re an elder millennial, a ’90s kid, like me, these […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Fully Booked: Velvety voices and vivid scenes
Every night for the past eight years, sometime between 8:30 and 10 p.m., my child has had the comforting voices of myself or his father lull him to sleep with a great story. I need that comfort, too, and I get it from my beloved audiobook narrators. They bring fiction to life, stories floating in […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Fully Booked: Chinese children’s stories for a new year
One of the top picks for the weekly Chinese Bilingual Storytime at the Iowa City Public Library (Fridays at 10:30 a.m.) is The Rice in the Pot Goes Round and Round by Wendy Wan Long Shang. While singing along to the sweet family-themed picture book, kids and parents can enjoy a big feast of Chinese […]
Posted inStatewide
Fully Booked: The gift of a good YA novel
Can’t decide what to read next? Librarians at the Iowa City Public Library have some ideas. Browse the ICPL’s collection of print books and audiobooks online. Teens are notoriously difficult to buy for, and with the holiday season just around the corner, don’t overlook a book! There should be at least one title below that […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Fully Booked: Chilling stories for the whole family
Can’t decide what to read next? Librarians at the Iowa City Public Library have some ideas. Browse the ICPL’s collection of print books and audiobooks online. If there’s a tween in your life looking for a spooky story this Halloween season, these picks are eerie but not too scary. Aimed at 8-to-12-year-olds but enjoyable for […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Fully Booked: The best Star Wars novels in the galaxy
Can’t decide what to read next? Librarians at the Iowa City Public Library have some ideas. Browse the ICPL’s collection of print books and audiobooks online. A long time ago, in a Carnegie library in Pella, Iowa, I discovered The Empire Strikes Back on VHS. It was my first step into a larger world, and […]
