Mercer County Library Blog

There is a phrase that has been used forever that says “you can’t judge a book by its cover.” But, often there are times where people decide to pick up a book and read it simply because of its cover. Think about it. You’ve just finished a book and now you are in your local branch of the Mercer County Library System. As you look at the titles of the new books on display, what might catch your eye? Most likely, the cover. On the Behind the Books podcast that my colleague Anna and I put together for MCLS, we often get a chance to talk to authors about books they are about to have published. And one of the big events leading up to publication is the cover reveal. It amazes us that quite often, especially with picture books and children's books, the author has very little input into what the cover will look like. When a book has an eye-catching cover, it can certainly lead to a reader picking the book up and taking a look. Granted, it doesn’t always mean the person who picks it up is

I’ve been to some fascinating places, but never before Europe. Quite possibly, while you are reading this, I’ll be in Paris!  While many people visit Paris in the summer, I’m looking forward to the crisp air of fall, fewer crowds, and I won’t even mind the occasional rain. What makes it even more special is that I’m going with my three siblings to visit our French relatives.  We are looking forward to getting a personal tour of the city and its history. I don’t know too much about Parisian history, but I am relying on the library system’s expansive selection of nonfiction materials, and even novels, to learn more. Here are just a few interesting titles: Paris: Secret Gardens, Hidden Places, and Stories of the City of Light by Mary Sperling McAuliffe This multilayered exploration of Paris weaves a narrative that takes the reader into secret and hidden places, even amid the most well-known Paris destinations. Top 10 Paris by DK Publishing, Inc. Capital of romance and revolution, a maze o

Science is all the rage. So much so that it has at times enraged and created division. And, yet, the scientific method and rational inquiry still enable some of the world’s greatest minds to learn more about life, the universe, and everything and then share what they’ve found out with the rest of us. The world of science books, written for a popular audience, is thriving and a change in one’s knowledge and understanding of what’s actually happening in nature can shift one’s perspective on the world and add to one’s appreciation of life. Science can be summed up with the sentence: “This is what we know right now based on the evidence we have found.” Both the cool – and sometimes confusing – thing is that what we know about many areas of nature and being human changes rapidly based on the extraordinary range of studies and experiments going on. It can be challenging to those who want absolute, concrete answers immediately and do not feel comfortable with the ambiguity of the unknown, or

Are you prepared? Are you prepared to celebrate the King of the Monsters? Well, you better get prepared because November 3 rd is Godzilla’s 70 th anniversary! For those who don’t know, Godzilla is a kaiju (giant monster) that debuted in the 1954 film classic, Godzilla (called Gojira in its home country of Japan). Godzilla would go on to star in thirty-eight films and become a bona fide pop culture icon, featured in comic books, advertisements, toys, cartoons, video games, web series, and more. Just this year, Big G starred in a movie with longtime frenemy King Kong, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire . But how did this symbol of kaiju excellence become such a huge part of the culture? As I mentioned, Godzilla debuted in 1954 post-war Japan as an ancient reptile mutated by a hydrogen bomb test, causing him to rise from his ocean slumber and attack Japan. Do not commit that origin story to memory, because it will change several times throughout the King of the Monsters’ history. H

Is this for real? If you’ve heard or read something that seems slightly suspicious, or if you just want to be more confident about what you are reading, I have some suggestions to help you verify claims. How To Verify Something From Social Media I don’t have to tell you that there are some questionable and bizarre claims posted to social media. If you find yourself scratching your head, you’ve already taken the most important step: pause for a moment and take a deep breath before you react. A simple thing you can do is an internet search with the basics of the claim, and include “fact check” in your search string. You can also look specifically for news stories – maybe someone has already investigated it. As an example, imagine I was browsing a social media site, and I read that a velociraptor has just tested positive for rabies. I might turn to a search engine and type in “velociraptor rabies fact check” or “velociraptor rabies news.” If this velociraptor fake news were a real soc

September 30 th is International Podcast Day, and in case you haven’t had a chance to listen, Mercer County Library System has had its very own podcast called “Behind the Books” since November of 2020. The podcast, which is hosted by two of the Hopewell Branch’s endearing staff members, Anna and Bob, features bi-weekly interviews with authors and MCLS staff members. The podcast started as a resource and outlet for patrons to interact with the library during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has continued to grow (over 100 episodes and counting!), inform and entertain its audience over the past four years. Each episode offers listeners the opportunity to get to know MCLS staff a little better and also hear some fun and interesting stories from well-known authors such as Dan Gutman, Fiona Davis, Renee Kurilla, Lyn Liao Butler, Saadia Faruqi, Steven Rowley, and many others! Have you ever thought about starting your own podcast? Read about Anna’s involvement with the “Behind the Books” podcast

The upcoming presidential election is unique in many ways. We are living through history! Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman to serve as Vice President of the United States, is also the first Black and Asian American to run for President of the United States. On the other side of the ballot, at 78 years old, former President Donald Trump is the oldest presidential nominee in U.S. history. If elected, he will be the second president to serve two nonconsecutive terms. (Grover Cleveland was the first.) And there’s so much more to know about both candidates!     To learn more about the Democratic candidate, read Harris’s memoir, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey , to hear in her own words what the Democratic nominee believes are our strengths and our similarities as Americans.   In Kamala’s Way: An American Life , author Dan Morain describes Harris’s professional rise from deputy district attorney to attorney general of the state of California and then to the of

I was fortunate to have been brought up in an intergenerational household with my maternal grandparents helping raise my brother and me after our parents divorced before my second birthday. The best years of my childhood were filled with an abundance of love. As a Youth Services Library Associate, I have the amazing job of dreaming up and running programs for youth in the library, so my decision to establish an intergenerational program seemed like an obvious one.  With a background in teaching college English, I have worked with adults of various ages and youth from babies to teens in the library. What if I could have a program where older children, tweens, and teens spent time with a special adult in their life and both created something together and independently?  At a time when kids make a natural shift for space of their own, it is all the more important to forge new connections with them.  Also, with the multitude of craft programs I have run in the last two years working at the