Tag Archives: Fantasy

Fantastic Fictional Libraries

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Libraries are magical places, and I don’t just say this because I’m a huge library nerd. Besides, I’m in good company being one; Sir Terry Pratchett, in his Science of Discworld (Vaughan doesn’t have our own copy, but you can borrow Overdrive books from our partner systems using your VPL library card) books says, “There is no higher life form than a librarian.” I’m one of those, too, mainly due to my love for libraries and what we do. Where else can you come to borrow free books/movies/games/any of the so many other collections we have without paying a dime*1? We’re a place to cool off on hot days or warm up on cold ones, and there’s no pressure to buy anything. Do you need access to the internet or even a whole computer? We’ve got you covered! And all of this isn’t even touching on our programming and staff expertise. There’s a reason that a TV aardvark*2 once sang that “Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.”  But while all this is magical, it’s also ever so mundane. Our dragons, unicorns, robots etc., are all contained within the pages of the books on our shelves*3. Some books contain even more magic than others, for described on their pages are libraries whose magic is far more than mundane. Dragons*4 stalk their halls, the books they store come to life and attempt to escape, and if you travel far enough and know the way, you can even use them to travel through time itself. If libraries have always seemed to be mystical places to you, these books will help reinforce that feeling.

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Keep Kids Reading This Summer

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Image of a cartoon dog reading a book

© 2020 TD Summer Reading Club

Summer is here! This is the season for outdoor activities such as beaches, splash pads, swimming, and camping. While it’s important for kids to get outside and safely enjoy the summer weather, especially after months of quarantine, it’s also important for children to read over the summer. Studies have shown that reading can help children avoid what is known as the “summer slide,” a loss of academic skills or knowledge over the summer months. So, what can you do to keep kids reading this summer?

Although Vaughan Public Libraries remains closed to the public, you can still get books for your children (and yourself!). VPL is now offering curbside pickup at all ten locations. Just fill out the form on our website to request an appointment at the location of your choice. You can arrange to pick up holds or have staff prepare a selection of materials for your family based on your interests. Please note that for now, we are unable to transfer items between branches and are limited to what is on the shelf at the pickup location. If you want to request specific items at your location, you can search the catalogue, then, on the search results page, click Available Now on the left side of the screen and check off the box for your pickup location.

Our digital collections are also here for you. VPL offers access to several online platforms with books for kids. OverDrive and Hoopla Digital have downloadable ebooks and e-audiobooks for all ages. Another great online resource is TumbleBook Library, which has books for kids of all ages that are available instantly, no downloading required. Many of the books have a read-along feature with an audio recording and highlighted text, which can help struggling readers. TumbleBookCloud Junior and Teen Book Cloud are similar. Cantook Station has ebooks and e-audiobooks in French.

T D Summer Reading Club logo

© 2020 TD Summer Reading Club

For many kids, participating in Summer Reading Club programs at the library is a summer highlight. This year, TD Summer Reading Club has gone virtual. This free program is for children ages 0-12. To sign up, parents or caregivers can create a free account online. You can then add your children to your account. Each week, sign in and let us know how many days your child read for 15 minutes or more. Every week that kids report reading, they will be entered in a draw for a weekly prize, and if they read in French, they will be entered in a draw for a French prize at the end of the summer.

If you need help finding books your child will enjoy, library staff are here for you. You can reach out to us by phone, email, or social media through our Ask Us service.

Here are a few reading recommendations to get you started, based on popular children’s titles.

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Mors Vincit Omnia: Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House

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Image result for ninth house book coverIf you’ve ever read YA, you’re probably at least passingly familiar with Leigh Bardugo, author of the Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows series (collectively called the Grishaverse). Ninth House, her newest book, is Bardugo’s first foray into the “adult” category—and boy, she was not playing around with that categorization. Readers might need a stronger stomach than they’re used to with her previous work, and should be aware that there are elements that some readers might find triggering (there was a whole online discussion about this before the book even came out). While Ninth House might be a little too “adult” for some of her younger readers, Bardugo is no stranger to dark subject matter. If any Six of Crows fans remember Kaz’s backstory (or any of their backstories, but Kaz’s was the worst), they’ll know what I mean. In fact, one of the biggest criticisms of Six of Crows was that the characters being teens made no sense at all. So really, one could argue that she’s been writing adult this whole time, just disguising it under the YA banner.  

With Ninth House, Bardugo relishes her opportunity to dig into the gritty, ugly real world with some magical touches. The story concerns the eight “ancient” secret societies of Yale—Lethe, our home base, is the extra secret, eponymous ninth. Lethe is tasked with overseeing the magic of the others, ensuring nothing goes astray. But of course, go astray things must. What’s interesting about Bardugo’s take on magic is that it patently does not make up for the ugliness of reality—it’s not an escape, it’s just another realm in which ugly things happen. In fact, Bardugo very purposefully crafted anti-heroine Alex—and the use of magic in general—as a “what if”. What if magic was real, and gifted only to a select group of already privileged people in New Haven? What if a trauma survivor was gifted this magic as well? The magic of Yale is used to explore very real topics, so that in the midst of all the ghosts and fantastical party drugs there are very real issues of assault, power plays, and murder. “You cannot write a story about magic, which is essentially going to operate as a commodity,” Barudgo said in a Time interview, “without exploring the kind of damage that we could do to each other if this were actually in play.”

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