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I have very distinct childhood memories surrounding board games.

They encompass everything from imagining what a real life Candy Land would be like, flexing my spelling muscles with Boggle and Scrabble, figuring out gravity via KerPlunk, and how to be a good sport about losing Rummikub for the thousandth time to my math-minded sister (truth bomb: I've never been a good loser).

Board games were an important part of my growth and learning, and as an adult they are often what brings friends and family together for a day or night of tremendous fun. 

Continue Reading "Beat Boredom with Board Games!" →

On this episode, Charlie, Jami, and Joel discuss The Water Dancer, the debut novel by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Along the way, they discuss magical realism, slave narratives, the differences between the printed word and audiobooks, and much more! (Please note, this episode was recorded remotely using Zoom - you may notice some slight audio imperfections, which were inherent in the source.) Listen to their conversation in the player below:

Continue Reading "Miner Recs Episode 69 Now Available!" →

This week on The Great DPPL Bake-Along:

We bake coffee cake inspired by Chava's first foray into baking in The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker.

We’ll share our results, our recipes, and a little bit about our chosen stories on this blog.

AND we invite YOU to bake along with us.

Share what you make by tagging us with #DPPLBakes, send us your favorite recipes, or just enjoy reading our entries.

Continue Reading "Chava’s Coffee Cake from The Golem and the Jinni" →

We’re still in the midst of a pandemic so it should come as little surprise that Halloween celebrations and trick-or-treating will look different this year.

Do not let this stop you from getting into the Halloween spirit though!

Check out one of these spooky titles to get the adrenaline going and give you those frights you are looking for, all from the safety of your home.

Costumes optional.

Continue Reading "Creepy Reads for Teens to get into the Halloween Spirit" →

October brings many things—the changing of the leaves, pumpkins, new latte flavors… but one facet of October that sometimes gets missed is LGBTQ+ History Month.

This month commemorates National Coming Out Day on October 11th, as well as the first and second marches on Washington for LGBTQ+ rights in 1979 and 1987.

It’s also interesting to note that LGBTQ+ History Month directly follows Banned Books Week, the last week of September.

LGBTQ+ books are some of the most frequently challenged books in schools, from Captain Underpants to The Color Purple.

Continue Reading "Read With Pride" →