Take and Make: Autumn Paper Bag Tree

Feeling bored while staying safer at home? Need something new in your pop culture life? Here's a round-up of podcasts, DIY projects, author content, and more available online for teens.

We're safer at home! But maybe you're feeling overwhelmed at the days stretching ahead? Not sure where to start when finding great activities and other content for your kids? We wanted to put together a list of resources for families at home, with digital content, craft ideas, author/illustrator videos, fun and educational activities for you and your kids. We’ll be sure to keep the list updated as we find more so watch this space and take care!

January is book awards time for the publishing world. One children’s and young adult book author who is consistently in the awards conversation is Steve Sheinkin, who also happens to be one of my favorite authors. Early on his career, he wrote text books, and he tried to incorporate interesting facts and stories not normally covered in textbooks. But the interesting stories were too numerous to try to fit into the textbooks, and he instead set off on his own to write exciting, well-researched nonfiction books for children and young adults. He also uses his background in screenplay writing to create perfectly paced books that you don’t want to put down. You can’t go wrong with any of his books, but here are my favorites.

While I wear many hats in my role as Head of Youth Services at the Whitefish Bay Public Library, my favorite hat to wear is my programming hat, and I’m lucky to have staff members who feel the same way. (Thanks Valerie, Anders, and Blake!) And, of course, we hope that you love programming too! Between storytimes and our special programs, last year we offered more than 250 programs for babies all the way up to teenagers. It’s a lot of work, but we love the challenge of creating programming that excites and inspires our patrons.