Story Tags

So You've Been Publicly Shamed

"The Right to Be Forgotten"

A reading list for the Arena Stage Production

What is “the right to be forgotten?"  Besides the name of the play coming to Arena Stage in October, it is also a legal right in much of Europe, which allows individuals to apply to media and internet companies to have links to past indiscretions like debts and small crimes erased from search results. Advocates claim utility for people like victims of revenge porn, while those opposed contend it can allow history to be re-written and violates free speech rights.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

A Short History of Harry Potter Events with Tolonda Henderson

The DC Public Library first hosted Harry Potter scholar Tolonda Henderson in 2015, with the presentation “When Fandom Wears a Cap and Gown: Academic Perspectives on Harry Potter,” which took place at the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library. Since then, Mx. Henderson has presented lectures at Tenley-Friendship Library, Southeast Library, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on the significance of birthdays in Harry Potter, banned books and information in Hogwarts’ library, plus “Ask a Harry Potter Scholar.” Mx.

Kindred by Octabia Butler - PKL YA Book Club recommendation

Parklands-Turner Teen Readers' Corner

YA Book Club Recommendation - Kindred

Kindred by Octavia Butler Book Review by Kiara Nickens

Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

Young Adult Fabulism

7 stories of magic grounded in reality

Fairy tales aren’t just for children. These seven young adult novels will chill teens and adults alike with spooky and haunting bits of magic and fables woven into reality. From a man who moves like corn stalks to a journal that takes its writers to an impossible past in the now, these books will make you want to settle in for the weekend and explore their strange, strange worlds.

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Royalty Gone Awry

Hard times for royals in fiction

As Lorde sings, “we’ll never be royals,” and maybe it’s for the best. This list includes stories of the royal life not being all it’s cracked up to be. Although we might have dreamed of running our own kingdoms as kids, now fiction tells us how fraught that experience would be. Enjoy your peasant status while you read about stressful politics, assassination, kidnapping and other trials in the court.

The Serpent King

Northern Virginia Teen Book Festival Authors

Journey with these characters before you journey to NoVa

The Northern Virginia (NoVa) Teen Book Festival is on Saturday, March 30th at the George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church, VA. You can take the metro to the school or drive to it. It's a fun free event, and I'm going to tell you a little bit about some of the books by the festival's featured authors. 

Backstagers

Hidden Worlds

Beyond the thin veil separating our reality from all that is or could be exist other worlds. Worlds that are connected to us and affect our lives. The following books depict other worlds or realities, and the people of our world that find themselves part of them.

All Summer Long by Hope Larson

Feels Like Summer

YA and Children's fiction with summer vibes for all ages

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy… The weather is starting to warm up, but it’s not quite summer yet. If you’re yearning for those hot-hot days and warm nights around the campfire, visit June, July and August through these stories. These YA and juvenile reads are great for their target audience -- and adults too!

Four African American 19th Century

The Females of February

Black History Month: Good Reads for Teens

February is here and before it flies by, take some time to intentionally open up a book by a black female author. Let this month be your reason to celebrate the countless narratives of African American women. Here are a variety of beautiful stories all written by black women.  

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

How to Read Like a Librarian

Peek at our staff's reading list

There are a lot of librarian stereotypes out there: we’re all women (false), we’re all either uptight and impersonal or coding nerds with tattoos (false), we like to shush people (false), and we have either read everything in the library or we only read books you’d find on lists of importance (definitely false and false).

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