Check It Out

Check It Out host Mari McKeeth examines Normal Public Library's science fiction offerings with Kristi Cates, our Teen Librarian and resident SciFi reader and advisor. She also buys all of our SciFi, by the way! Pretty cool job, huh?

Titles that our host and guest discuss include:

• All Systems Red by Martha Wells
• Space Opera by Catherynne Valente
• The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
• Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill
• Lock In and Head On by John Scalzi
• An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Let us know what you think! Email us! Tweet at us!

Check It Out host Mari McKeeth examines Normal Public Library music offerings with four guests: Amy, Kristi, Cedric, and John. John talks folk and trombones, Kristi talks some film, and more! Tim Burton soundtracks? You'll find out all this, about Make Music at Normal Public Library (June 22-23), and what Mari likes in music when you Check It Out with Mari!

Check It Out host Mari McKeeth examines all things tea with our resident barista and tea sommelier, Ben Mills. Ben's favorite tea is revealed, he talks tea, tea geography, tea books, and he advises on tea sipping be it local or afar. Melons and tea? Who knows? Give it a listen and give it a read:

• Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties
• The Art and Craft of Tea by Joseph Uhl
• Tea Bliss by Theresa Fancis-Cheung
• The Book of Tea by Kakuzō Okakura

Let us know what you think! Email us! Tweet at us!

Check It Out host Mari McKeeth takes time out to speak with Children's Librarian Lyndsey Carney as she discusses reading and visiting with Margaret Peterson Haddix coming up soon on April 28, 2018. Our visiting author series is sponsored by the Normal Public Library Foundation and other wonderful local sponsors.

Ben Mills recommends a cookbook full of year-round farm-fresh recipes (11:12); Silvia Schuh talks October and November arts and crafts (7:57); and Mari McKeeth recommends some epistolary novels, with the help of the host (19:07).

Ben recommends:

Dishing Up the Dirt by Andrea Bemis

Mari recommends:

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

World War Z by Max Brooks

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Giliad by Marilynne Robinson

Jared recommends:

Possession by A.S. Byatt

Let us know what you think!

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Twitter: @NPLTweets

In this episode, Tori Lieggi introduces us to a unique and quirky travel book (9:31), and Kristi Cates recommends a stack of young adult historical fiction (17:16). Plus, we interview visiting antique and fine art appraiser Mark Moran (11:17).

Mark Moran's website is here.

Tori recommends:

Atlas Obscura by Joshua Foehr, Dylan Thuras, and Ella Morton

Kristi recommends:

The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel by Deborah Hopkinson

The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith

Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee

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In this back-to-school-themed episode, Laura Rocco gives us one last school-themed recommendation before heading back to school herself (17:43); Silvia Schuh ushers in the fall semester with September arts and crafts (6:51); and Mari McKeeth takes us all to school with some quirky and educational nonfiction (15:10).

Laura recommends:

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Mari recommends:

Away With Words by Joe Berkowitz

The Not-Quite States of America by Doug Mack

The Physics of Everyday Things by James Kakalios

How to Hygge by Signe Johansen

The Photo Ark by Joel Sartore 

Register for Mark Moran's What's It Worth? session by calling NPL on the old-fashioned (but classic!) telephone at (309) 452-1757 (registration opens on August 30th). Email Mark to schedule a private session at [email protected]. (A portion of his fee benefits NPL.)

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In this, our thirtieth episode, Kathleen Kirk recommends an especially literary cookbook (7:29); Ally Byerly puts out the call for submissions to our Normal Library Extraordinary Stories project (6:11); and Kristi Cates sorts some YA novels into their appropriate wizarding houses (23:20).

Kathleen recommends:

Feast: Poetry and Recipes for a Full Seating at Dinner, edited by Diane Goettel and Anneli Matheson

Kristi recommends:

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Have an NPL memory you'd like to share? Normal Library Extraordinary Stories wants to hear from you!

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