Category Archive: Banner
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Indoor Easter Egg Hunt (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentHop on over to the Morgantown Public Library’s Annual Indoor Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday, March 24th at 3:00pm. Children ages 2-10 are invited to sign up for this “egg-citing” event! Space is limited, so you must be registered to attend. There is a $1 donation per registration for each child, and you must register in-person at the circulation desk at the library.
There will be three separate age-appropriate Easter Egg Hunts and a wide variety of fun stations, including games, crafts, cookies and punch, plus a visit from a live bunny and friends!
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Adult Money Smart: Budgeting Class (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentTake control of your finances at our budgeting class on Thursday, March 28th from 5:00-6:00pm in Meeting Room A, held in partnership with Huntington Bank. Staff from Huntington Bank will teach practical strategies for creating a personalized budget aligned with your goals. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to join us for insights, tools, and resources to help you track expenses and achieve financial milestones.
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Tween Beyond the Book: Wings of Fire (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentMake books come alive with us at our Beyond the Book night! Tweens ages 10-12 are invited to join us for activities and crafts inspired by your favorite reads!
On Wednesday, March 20th from 6:00-7:00pm in Meeting Room A, we will be exploring the world of Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland. Make paper airplane dragons and mini clay dragons, paint your own dragon scene, and create dragon eyes from marbles! Don’t worry if you haven’t read the book; you will get the opportunity to take a copy of the first book home with you.
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StoryFest 2024
Leave a CommentDiscover, Connect, Create: StoryFest 2024
The Morgantown Public Library System is proud to present StoryFest — a day of non-stop fun for people of all ages! Join us on Saturday, April 13th from 11:00am-4:00pm at the Spruce Street Pavilion (located at 400 Spruce Street) and the Morgantown Public Library. This new downtown event is a festival celebrating storytelling in all its forms. Kids, teens, and adults are sure to find something to love at StoryFest!
For children, we will have play areas filled with Legos and games, free crafting stations, a chance to meet Miss West Virginia and have a tea party with her, lightsaber demonstrations by The Outer Rim Praxeum, cartoonist workshop and dance with Umbrella Arts, and lots more special guests and fun!
For the grown ups, there will be amazing creators selling their work including local authors Michael Strayer, Linda Gribko, Ashley Belote, Patricia Harman, and local artists Liz Pavlovic and Angela Awesome Pants. There will also be free crafting areas including a D&D minis painting station, free tarot card readings, fun entertainment, free temporary tattoos, delicious carnival style food from Mag & Pops food truck, neat library merch, and more!
StoryFest by the Morgantown Public Library System is a Main Street Morgantown Affiliate event.
Event Overview
Date: Saturday, April 13th
Time: 11:00am-4:00pm
Location: Spruce Street Pavilion (400 Spruce Street, Morgantown, WV 26505) & the Morgantown Public Library
Admission: FreeMark your calendars for this free, one-of-a-kind event that promises something for everyone in the family. Whether you’re a bookworm, an art enthusiast, or simply looking for a fun day out, StoryFest welcomes you with open arms. Bring your friends, bring your family, and join us as we celebrate the magic of storytelling together!
Special Guests & Activities
One of the highlights of StoryFest is the opportunity to meet special guests, including Miss West Virginia! Join us for a royal tea party and story time with Miss West Virginia herself, and immerse yourself in tales fit for royalty. It’s an experience you won’t want to miss!
Some of our other exciting guests include The Outer Rim Praxeum who will show off their thrilling lightsaber dueling skills and Umbrella Arts who will lead us all in fun dance and art classes — no matter your interests, there’s something for you to enjoy at StoryFest.
But that’s not all – StoryFest offers a variety of experiences to delight and inspire. From tarot card readings to book signings, art exhibitions to story time, there’s something exciting happening around every corner. Stay tuned for our full events schedule here!
Authors & Artists
We have a fantastic line-up of local authors and artists who will have their works available for sale during StoryFest. Check back here soon for a full list of our local creators who will be in attendance!
Family-Friendly Fun
At StoryFest, we know that creativity is boundless and that storytelling in all its forms is a joy meant to be shared. That’s why we’ll have a wide range of crafts and activities for the whole family to enjoy. Whether you’re creating masterpieces at our free crafting areas, watching unique performances, or simply soaking in the lively atmosphere, there’s endless fun to be had for everyone.
If you are a part of our Reading Dragons & Friends program, you can pick up your exclusive card family at StoryFest!
Conclusion
We can’t wait to celebrate everything the library has to offer with you at StoryFest 2024!
At this event, we encourage you to dress up as your favorite character from any book or show, eat funnel cake, get a temporary tattoo, have a tea party, play games with your friends, discover your new favorite author, connect with cool people in your community, and create some art of your own! Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 13th, gather your friends & family, and join us for a fun-filled day.
For more information and updates, follow us on social media and check out our website. See you at StoryFest!
StoryFest by the Morgantown Public Library System is a Main Street Morgantown Affiliate event.
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Leap Year Party! (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentOnce every four years in February, we LEAP into an extra day!
Celebrate this special day by coming to a Leap Year Party at the Morgantown Public Library on Thursday, February 29th from 6:30-7:30pm in Meeting Room A. Kids of all ages are welcome!
We will be making time capsules that can be opened next Leap Year, decorating cupcakes to look like frogs, and making a frog craft. You can also test your jumping skills by competing in a jumping contest and a jump rope contest. We’ll see you there!
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Fiction 101: Romance Breakdown
Leave a CommentWelcome back to Fiction 101! Each month we will be focusing on a different topic, exploring genres that span from the enchanting realms of fantasy to the gripping tales of mystery and everything in between. For February, I wanted to shine the spotlight on romance. Valentine’s Day may have passed, but it’s always the season for a good love story!
Romance Breakdown: A Closer Look at Popular Romance Tropes
by Shelby D., Evening Supervisor
Romance tropes are the repeated themes and plotlines that we see in some romance novels. They can be a little cliché and overdone, but when they are done well they can be so much fun — sometimes classics are classics for a reason. Read on to learn some of my personal favorite romance tropes and a book recommendation to go with them!
Enemies to Lovers
If I had to pick one romance trope that is my absolute favorite, it’s enemies to lovers! I love the banter between characters that slowly turns into love.
Book Recommendation: Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales
Fake Dating
Fake dating is when, for whatever reason, the main character has to fake being in a relationship with another person. In most romance books, it inevitably leads to them falling in love.
Book Recommendation: The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas
One Bed
This is another one of my personal favorites! Two characters who are not dating (maybe even enemies) find themselves in a hotel and, in a shocking twist, not only have to share a hotel room but also have to share a bed. Scandalous.
Book Recommendation: The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
Grumpy/Sunshine
Opposites attract might be a cliché, but I love when a book has a grumpy character with a soft spot for a ray of sunshine character. This trope can also sometimes go hand-in-hand with enemies to lovers — making it even better.
Book Recommendation: Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert
Friends to Lovers
I might not personally like it as much as enemies to lovers, but friends to lovers is great too. This trope is focused on two characters who are good friends that slowly realized they love each other. This makes for such a good dynamic to read.
Book Recommendation: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
The Bet
As the name implies, one of the characters makes a bet to date another character and then falls in love with them. Perhaps not the best start to a relationship, but love prevails.
Book Recommendation: Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy
Fish Out of Water
When the protagonist is thrown into a situation where they are entirely out of place, not only do they have to learn to live an unfamiliar lifestyle but will they find love while they’re at it?
Book Recommendation: It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
Forbidden Love
Another classic (thanks Romeo & Juliet!), the star-crossed lovers trope: when two people are in love but not able to be together. Secret meetings, hidden love, and separation make for a really tense love story.
Book Recommendation: A Phở Love Story by Loan Le
Second Chance
Can two people who tried before get a second chance at love? Is the second time the charm?
Book Recommendation: To Have and To Hoax by Martha Waters
Forced Proximity
Another trope that goes hand-in-hand with enemies to lovers — what happens when two people are forced by circumstances to spend time together? This is often paired with the hotel only has one bed trope.
Book Recommendation: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
It’s clear that despite their predictability, these themes continue to capture our hearts time and time again. No matter which trope is your favorite, they all offer an entertaining journey towards that heartwarming happily-ever-after.
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Patron Needs Assessment Survey
Leave a CommentGot 5 minutes to spare? We need your input! Please fill out this quick survey about the needs of patrons at the Morgantown Public Library.
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Teen Candy Sushi (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentCalling all teens (ages 13-18)! Are you ready for a sweet and creative adventure? Join us at the Morgantown Public Library on Saturday, February 24th from 2:00-3:00pm in Meeting Room A for a delightful candy sushi-making session! Don’t miss out on the chance to create sweet memories with friends old and new.
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A Trip Down Memory Lane: Yearbooks at the Aull Center
Leave a CommentWhy do we hold on to yearbooks?
This question may seem to yield a simple answer: to remind us of days gone by, and of friends (or foes) of the past. For many, such sentimental tokens serve this purpose well enough so as to remain in a box in the attic somewhere, or (if it’s one of the lucky ones) on a shelf. Within families, perhaps it is a discovery to be made every generation or so, providing a glimpse into a time when relatives navigated youth and bygone eras.
It is to these bygone eras that I now turn our attention.
The work of a historian is to keep their finger to the pulse of antiquity. Metaphors are often used to describe how this work is remembered and appreciated — images of waves and ripple effects are employed to evoke a sense of continuity of past events flowing into present experiences. Across history, there is perhaps no demographic group whose ‘ripple effects’ are more pronounced than the youth of a given generation. Young adults and children generally constitute some of the most outspoken members of society, whose support or criticism of the status quo often become an era’s defining characteristic. To understand the youth of society, past and present, is to understand its trajectory and its spirit. What better way to engage in this subject matter than by exploring the print material that they produced about themselves?
Yearbooks contain a wealth of information, both consciously and subconsciously produced by their editors and subject matter. The portraits contained within demonstrate fashion trends such as how young people dressed to how they wore their hair — from denim jackets and long hair to short cuts and formal dress, these all show us what was expected of them. Information regarding clubs and student activities reveals the kind of interests that were popular at the time in that environment. Language clubs, robotics teams, student government, and how such organizations changed or evolved over time reflect societal developments and contemporary concerns. Eventually, the study of Latin and Greek gave way to Spanish and French. The number of ROTC members (and its former compulsory participation in many universities) in roughly the first half of the twentieth century makes sense when one considers contemporary conflicts like the World Wars and the Vietnam War. That this changed following backlash against the Vietnam War is unsurprising.
All of these changes and more can be traced through materials like high school and college yearbooks. To the curious mind, they may even raise some questions. Which languages interested students over time, and why? What are these oddly named clubs, and do they still exist? What did they do?
Perhaps some of these questions have no answers, and there is always the chance that those with answers prove underwhelming to inquirers. But for those who seek to understand history’s youth, something like a yearbook collection in a local history center can prove a bountiful resource.
At the Aull Center for Local History & Genealogy Research in Morgantown, we house a collection of yearbooks ranging from local elementary schools all the way through to the university level (you read that correctly—WVU used to publish a yearbook, and we possess dozens of them). Perhaps you are interested in finding a relative from MHS’ class of 1965, or maybe you are curious to see who all attended the gone (but not forgotten) Sabraton Junior High School in 1975. Whatever the case may be, the Aull Center is a great resource for those interested in learning about the rich history of our region’s youth.
by Riley B., researcher at the Aull Center for Local History & Genealogical Research, Morgantown Public Library System
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Fiction 101: Cozy Reads
Leave a CommentWelcome to our new blog series: Fiction 101! Each month we will be focusing on a different topic, exploring genres that span from the enchanting realms of fantasy to the gripping tales of mystery and everything in between.
What is a Cozy Read?
by Shelby D.
As the days grow shorter and the chill in the air leaves us searching for a warm escape, there’s nothing quite like snuggling up with a cozy book! But what exactly makes a book cozy? Is it the comfortable settings, the relatable characters, the predictable narrative? Maybe it’s the smile we have when we read of a happily ever after or the cathartic tears following a bittersweet conclusion? Read on as we embark on a journey to discover what defines a cozy book and check out cozy book recommendations from our librarians.
A pillar of cozy reads is of course cozy mysteries. This is one of the first genres of books that had the term cozy applied to it. While cozy mysteries are about crime solving (often murder) the details of the murder aren’t gory or explicit. The stories tend to take place in small picturesque towns, with a quirky cast of characters (sometimes even a talking cat!). A large amount of the book involves the protagonist making friends and building relationships with the community around them. And we can’t forget the delightfully punny titles like Eggsecutive Murders by Julie Hyzy and Better Off Thread by Amanda Lee!
The term “cozy” is applied more broadly than to just cozy mysteries. For instance, cozy fantasy is a currently growing genre — however, cozy reads extend even beyond the worlds of fantasy and mystery. While not exactly a genre itself, cozy reads do often share similar themes and characteristics across a wide range of styles:
- Straightforward plots (without too many twists and turns along the way)
- Story wraps up neatly at the end
- Main characters are relatable and likable
- Positive messages such as living life to the fullest and enjoying the moments we have together are central to the story
While a happy ending is undeniably cozy, tragic endings can also provide a perhaps unexpected sense of coziness. When curating book recommendations for our Winter Reading Challenge, themed “Cozy Up with a Good Book,” I researched other cozy book lists from publishers, readers, and other librarians and realized that comfort books could be sad — not every book needs a happy ending. Some of my personal favorite comfort books have a tragic ending, and I learned that I was not alone in that feeling. This led me to expand my own understanding of a cozy read — whether happy or sad, a “cozy” book always makes us feel connected to the story being told.
The books with sad endings all tend to have a plot that involves making deeper connections with others — another staple of a cozy read. The story needs to include building close relationships with the characters in the book — friendship, family (found and families of origin), and love of all kinds. In my opinion, this is the most important part of a cozy read. The feeling of warmth a story leaves us with is why we find it comforting as readers. There’s also no denying that there’s something cathartic about crying over a really good book.
Cozy Book Recommendations
A book I turn to over and over again for comfort is The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Something that I look for in books that I enjoy is lyrical writing, and as such, I find the poetic feel of The Song of Achilles particularly comforting. The ending is definitely sad and I cry every time I read it — but to me that doesn’t detract at all from the comfort the book brings me. I really love how the protagonist sees the world and how he builds meaningful relationships with the people around him.
Another book that I consider a cozy read is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Like with The Song of Achilles, the lyrical writing draws me in and paints a world I love to sink into. I also find Pride and Prejudice to be personally nostalgic, since it’s a book I’ve read so often throughout my life. Elizabeth Bennet is a really enjoyable protagonist, and the plot is driven by the building of relationships and her love for her family and friends, which keeps me re-reading it as often as I do.
To further explore the definition of a cozy read, I asked around the library to get cozy recommendations from our staff!
Sarah Palfrey, the Director of the Morgantown Public Library System, focused on classic cozy read favorites: the cozy mystery! She recommends a few food-based favorites including Vivien Chien’s A Noodle Shop Mystery series and multiple series by Laura Childs. Looking for a more historical setting? Sarah suggests The Gaslight Mysteries series or Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen. For her, cozy reads include a comforting, if not somewhat formulaic storyline, with likable characters. In general, she really likes that in a cozy book the main character is usually learning something new or starting over in some way where they are unsure of their skills and rise to meet the new challenges.
Jenean, our Youth Services Specialist, explained that to her cozy meant something that she can sit and read with hot chocolate and a blanket. A few such books that she turns to for comfort are Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Crystal, our Inter-Library Loans Specialist, enjoys Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. She says it’s a cozy read thanks to its cozy cottage setting, the tea drinking while sitting by the fire, and the adventures staying comfortably close to home.
Ultimately, this deep dive into cozy reads revealed to me the many different ways that people define a cozy book. While the details might differ, a pattern emerged of books focused on relationships that the protagonist built with the people around them. I feel that winter is a good time to focus on the people we love and the friends we have and will make, and our cozy reading choices during these chilly months reflect our desire to draw comfort from the community we’ve built around us. The only question that remains — what cozy book will you read this month?