Join us this month as Laura speaks with Kristi and Kari about where and how we find the books we like to read, the books you like to read, and everything in between. We'll discuss Novelist, Goodreads, Book Riot, Kirkus, Tik Tok, Nancy Pearl, and more. Don't forget to ask your librarian what they recommend, settle back, and check it out.

• Novelist (you will need your Normal Public Library card)
• Goodreads
• Kirkus
• Book Riot
• LocusMag.com
• Strong Sense of Place Podcast
• Shedunnit Podcast
• NPR Book Reviews
• Stop You're Killing Me

Need a recommendation? Let us know by emailing ask at normalpl dot org.

May is Mental Health Awareness month and in this our sixty-eighth episode Laura speaks with Normal Police Department Community Services Officer Brad Park and library staff Kristi, Shelby, Lyndsey, and Erin about Mental Health and mental health reads both fiction and nonfiction. Join us as we explore this important issue, settle back, and check it out. Tell us what you think! ask at normalpl dot org

• PATH: https://www.pathcrisis.org/
• McLean County Triage Center: https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/1407/Triage-Center
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): https://www.nami.org/

Books recommended today:

• The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
• The Year I Didn't Eat by Samuel Pollen
• Who Put This Song On? by Morgan Parker
• I'm Worried by Michael Ian Black
• The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld
• Building a Life Worth Living by Marsha Linehan
• It's Kind of a Funny Story is a 2006 novel by late American author Ned Vizzini

Today we join Mari as she interviews several library staff about their favorite childhood books. A childhood favorite is a memory that can last a lifetime. We tend to share these most since the stories have stayed with us for so long. We read, and read again, these beloved stories, discovering new meaning and encountering new joys as we do. So sit back, settle in, and check it out.

All of us read and books tell a variety of stories. The best among them will sometimes earn recognition by award. There are awards for all types of books and this month, Mari will speak with Kristi, Kathleen, Morgan, and Britni about some of the best titles that book awards have named over the recent past. Sit back and check it out as we look at award books in this sixty-fourth episode of Check It Out.

Mari discusses odd titles (and odd book covers) of No Reality November with Jane, Kristi, and Laura. Sit back and check it out!

Tell us what you think ask at normalpl.org!

Mari, our library podcast host extraordinaire, speaks with Ally, Jennifer, Ron, and Laura about their summer reads and shares some insights about what makes it all so summer-like. So sit back, press play, chill down, and Check It Out.

Talk back to us. Please! ask at normalpl.org

In this special episode of Check It Out! Mari and guests Jane, Kristi, and Laura talk about pandemic reads and comfort reads to stimulate the mind. Sit back, stay safe, and Check It Out!

Contact us about our podcast and let us know what you think! ask@normalpl.org

It's bracket time! Four Normal Public Library librarians share their bracket picks for best book and the finish is an all out book-off! Join Mari, Krisit, Jane, and Laura in March madness with book bracketology.

Let us know what you think after you check it out! Message us!

Join us this episode as we hear from Mari, Laura, and Kristi on all of their favorites of 2019 and the last decade! Books, films, and fun for your listening enjoyment all included in this episode. Some of the items discussed:

• Amazing Grace/Aretha Franklin movie
• Last Policeman series by Ben H. Winters
• Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
• One Day: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America by Gene Weingarten

Let us know what you think after you check it out! Message us!

Welcome to our fiftieth episode of Check It Out! We celebrate Normal Public Library and our favorite, favorite reads with several staff visiting back to the studio.

• (Jane) Alice in Wonderland, and Through the Looking Glass — Lewis Carroll
• (Kristi) The "Queen's Thief" series — Megan Whalen Turner
• (Laura) Something Wicked This Way Comes — Ray Bradbury
• (Lyndsey) Tuck Everlasting — Natalie Babbitt
• (Jennifer) The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks — E Lockhart
• (Becca) The Harry Potter series — JK Rowling
• (Sophie) The Secret History — Donna Tartt; Olive's Ocean — Kevin Hankes
• (Mari) Book: Complete Stories — Flannery O'Connor; Films: Harold and Maude; West Side Story; Carol

Let us know what you think after you check it out! Email us!

We don't know how you did. But you did it. You found our 48th episode, the mystery episode. Co-hosts extraordinaire Kristi Cates and Mari McKeeth talk about all of their favorite mysteries this time of year. It's an episode for the mystery seeker and you don't want to miss it. So grab a magnifying glass and a deerstalker hat, settle back and Check It Out! 
 
Every Secret Thing — Laura Lippman
The Lady in the Lake — Laura Lippman
Wolf Pack — CJ Box
Bitterroots — CJ Box
The Dry — Jane Harper
Force of Nature — Jane Harper
Lost Man — Jane Harper
Black Ascot — Charles Todd
Cruel Deception (out in October 2019) — Charles Todd
American Agent — Jacqueline Winspear
One of Us is Lying — Karen McManus
City of Saints and Thieves — Natalie C. Anderson
The Cheerleaders — Kara Thomas

Let us know what you think after you check it out! Email us! Tweet at us!

Summertime, the living is easy, the reading is beachy. Quite often the beachy reading choices are fiction. However, Mari McKeeth and Laura Golaszewski will recommend some fascinating nonfiction books to read during the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. Don't be afraid—nonfiction is great!

• Daily Rituals: Women at Work by Mason Currey
• Fashion Climbing: A Memoir with Photographs by Bill Cunningham
• Vivian Maier: A Photographer's Life and Afterlife by Pamela Bannos
• Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee   by Casey Cep
• More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say)   by Elaine Welteroth

Let us know what you think after you check it out! Email us! Tweet at us!

Wow. Is it already time for Episode Forty-Four?  Yes it is, and joining us today are NPL staff members Laura Golaszewski and Julia Cozad-Callighan, here to tell you about some of the newest nonfiction and young adult titles. We also highlight a local event, the Next to Normal Story Slam.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum
• The Moth Presents Occasional Magic: True Stories about Defying the Impossible, edited by Catherine Burns
• Enchantée by Gita Trelease
• Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Are you looking for Episode Forty-Two? It's here! Co-hosts Kristi Cates and Mari McKeeth talk newest in teen fiction with a little insight into what we find interesting, a preview along the way (Lisa McMann), and a few laughs. We even have a book about a cactus!

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Geekerella by Ashley Poston

The War Outside by Monica Hesse

Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

Let us know what you think after you check it out! Email us! Tweet at us!

It's our 40th episode! Co-hosts Kristi Cates and Mari McKeeth celebrate the return of Check It Out! by highlighting staff favorites from 2018. Some of our library staff have provided an eclectic list of books, music, and films—and all are available for checkout or streaming from Normal Public Library.

Some of the items discussed in this podcast:

• Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix
• On Writing by Stephen King
• Sweetener by Ariana Grande
• Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny
• The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
• Clock Dance by Anne Tyler
• The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
• Juliet, Naked
• Broadchurch: Season 1

Let us know what you think! Email us! Tweet at us!

Check It Out host Mari McKeeth examines Normal Public Library music offerings with four guests: Amy, Kristi, Cedric, and John. John talks folk and trombones, Kristi talks some film, and more! Tim Burton soundtracks? You'll find out all this, about Make Music at Normal Public Library (June 22-23), and what Mari likes in music when you Check It Out with Mari!

Let us know what you think! Email us! Tweet at us!

Check It Out host Mari McKeeth takes time out to speak with Children's Librarian Lyndsey Carney as she discusses reading and visiting with Margaret Peterson Haddix coming up soon on April 28, 2018. Our visiting author series is sponsored by the Normal Public Library Foundation and other wonderful local sponsors.

Some Haddix titles mentioned are:

• Among The Hidden
• Running out of Time
• Turnabout
• More!

Let us know what you think! Email us! Tweet at us!

Check It Out welcomes new host Mari McKeeth. Kathleen Kirk (1:02) speaks about upcoming WWI Centennial events at the library, including our gallery display, Poetry is Normal Series, our WWI Film Festival, and more about the WWI speaker series; Kristi Cates talks about author Gene Luen Yang and his visit on March 7 (7:04).

Books by Gene Luen Yang:

• American Born Chinese
• Boxers and Saints
• Secret Coders

Let us know what you think! Email us! Tweet at us!

In this episode, Tori Lieggi introduces us to a unique and quirky travel book (9:31), and Kristi Cates recommends a stack of young adult historical fiction (17:16). Plus, we interview visiting antique and fine art appraiser Mark Moran (11:17). Mark Moran's website is here. Tori recommends:

Atlas Obscura by Joshua Foehr, Dylan Thuras, and Ella Morton

Kristi recommends:

• The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel by Deborah Hopkinson
• The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats
• Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
• Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee

Email us! Tweet at us! Download Episode 32

In this, our thirtieth episode, Kathleen Kirk recommends an especially literary cookbook (7:29); Ally Byerly puts out the call for submissions to our Normal Library Extraordinary Stories project (6:11); and Kristi Cates sorts some YA novels into their appropriate wizarding houses (23:20). Kathleen recommends:

Feast: Poetry and Recipes for a Full Seating at Dinner, edited by Diane Goettel and Anneli Matheson

Kristi recommends:

• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
• Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Have an NPL memory you'd like to share? Normal Library Extraordinary Stories wants to hear from you! Have a podcast-related opinion? Hit us up! Email: ask@normalpl.org Twitter: @NPLTweets Download Episode 30

In this episode, Silvia Schuh talks summer arts, crafts, and events (11:29); Laura Rocco recommends a cookbook in an as-yet-unnamed recurring segment (9:12); and Kristi Cates recommends some books she loves that are great for Teen Summer Reading (19:03).

Laura recommends:

Will It Waffle? by Daniel Shumski

Kristi recommends:

• You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner
• Exo by Fonda Lee
• The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer
• A Face Like Glass by Francis Harding

Have an idea for a great name for our recurring cookbook segment? Tell us via email (ask@normalpl.org) or Twitter (@NPLTweets). Thanks!

Download Episode 28

In this episode, Silvia Schuh talks May arts and crafts (7:41); Julia Cozad-Callighan explains the library’s Lunchtime Yoga program (2:49); and Kristi Cates recommends some YA novels full of murder and mayhem (18:14).

Kristi recommends:

• Fake ID by Lamar Giles
• White Cat by Holly Black
• The Caged Graves by Dianne K. Salerni

Tell us what you think! Complete our short survey, email us at ask@normalpl.org or tweet us @NPLTweets!

Download Episode 26

In this episode, Julia Cozad-Callaghan gives us an update on her Read Harder 2017 reading challenge (12:26); Silvia Schuh updates us on March and April crafts, and puts out a call for some charitable knitting (9:07); and Mari McKeeth talks 2017 Oscar Nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay (22:05). Plus, we ask for your feedback!

Julia recommends:

• The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle
• Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
• Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
• The Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez
• Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O’Neill
• Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess by Jeremy Whitley

Mari recommends:

• Arrival: screenplay by Eric Heisserer, based on “Story of Your Life” in Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang
• Fences: screenplay by August Wilson, based on his play Fences
• Hidden Figures: screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi, based on Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
• Lion: screenplay by Luke Davies, based on A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierly
• Moonlight: screenplay by Barry Jenkins, based on the play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney

Tell us what you think! Complete our short survey, email us at ask@normalpl.org, or tweet us @NPLTweets!

Download Episode 24

In this episode, Tori Lieggi recommends a memoir that comes to terms with family and mental illness with sharp wit and a lot of heart (8:02); Silvia Schuh gives us the lowdown on February (and some March) arts and crafts (6:43); and Kristi Cates recommends a handful of books for teens and adults that serve as funny diversions during the doldrums of February (14:55). Plus, we invite young writers to the Teen Writer’s Workshop.

Tori recommends:

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

Silvia recommends:

• Brainfuse Help Now
• Brainfuse Job Now

Kristi recommends:

• No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman
• Going Bovine by Libba Bray
• Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern
• Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

As always, we’d love to hear from you!

Email us: ask@normalpl.org
Tweet us: @NPLTweets

In this final episode of 2016, Laura Rocco recommends an unusual fantasy perfect for reading at night (12:18); Silvia Schuh explains why January is Scarf Month at NPL (4:53); and Kristi Cates recommends an assorted trio of adventure books and explains the library’s local schools “book talk” programs (17:00).

Laura recommends:

• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Kristi recommends:

• The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
• Surrounded By Sharks by Michael Northrop
• Walk On Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson

Tell us what you think!

Email: ask@normalpl.org
Twitter: @NPLTweets

In this bonus segment of Check It Out, Marketing Assistant Nakia Worrell talks about the library’s past and present Giving Tuesday campaigns.

Helpful links:

• More information about the 2016 Normal Public Library Giving Tuesday campaign

We’re thankful to have so many enthusiastic community patrons to serve! Please contact us if you have questions or feedback of any kind. Our email is ask@normalpl.org, and you can reach us on Twitter at NPLTweets.

In this Halloween Pumpkin-spice-infused episode, Silvia Schuh previews upcoming arts and crafts programs (7:24); Julia Cozad-Callaghan and Kristi Cates introduce NPLay, a new recurring library event for cosplay enthusiasts (4:28); and Kristi recommends a few delightfully creepy novels for young (and old) adults (14:50).

Kristi recommends:

• The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
• Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake
• Tell the Story to Its End by Simon P. Clark

Tell us what you think! We read every email and every tweet. Email us at ask@normalpl.org, or talk to us on Twitter at @NPLTweets.

In each episode of this new spinoff podcast, Normal Public Library staff discuss a novel they’ve never read before, but should have. In this inaugural episode, Alec Gramm, Jared Johnson, Holli Kober, Ben Mills, Laura Rocco, and Pam Schuett discuss Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s 1864 novel, Crime and Punishment.

We’d love to hear from you! Email us at ask@normalpl.org, or find us on Twitter at @NPLTweets.

In this episode, Kristi Cates talks about the library’s Anime Clubs for Teens and for Adults (7:12); Silvia Schuh is back to talk about August arts and crafts programs (3:41); and Mari McKeeth highlights a few of the many magazines the library carries, and explains how patrons can use Zinio to download magazines to read on a digital device (12:47). Plus, I invite listeners to join us for a rousing discussion of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, which will be featured in the first episode of our spinoff podcast, It’s Novel (To Me).

As always, we love to hear from you! Email us at ask@normalpl.org, or contact us on Twitter @NPLTweets. And thanks for listening!

In this episode, Kristen Bauder and host Jared Johnson talk about what a “library assistant” does, Silvia Schuh gives the rundown of May arts and crafts and previews the plans for summer, and Mari McKeeth recommends two very different books that both have a Muslim protagonist.

Mari recommends:

• The Unquiet Dead, by Ausma Zehanat Khan
• The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu, by Joshua Hammer

As always, please contact us with praise, criticism, or random musings. Our email is ask@normalpl.org, and you can tweet us on Twitter @NPLTweets.

In this episode, Kristi Cates explains how the Teen Advisory Council contributes to the library’s mission (4:33), Silvia Schuh talks up April’s arts and crafts programs and fills us in on National Library Week activities (6:19), and Mari McKeeth makes some recommendations to fill the Downton-Abbey-shaped gap in patrons’ lives (13:46). Plus, there’s a new classic first line challenge!

Take a look at the Teen Advisory Council schedule and sign up for April arts and crafts using our Activity Calendar.

Check out Mari McKeeth’s Downton-Abbey-style recommendations:

• Below Stairs, by Margaret Powell
• Gosford Park, directed by Robert Altman
• The Remains of the Day (novel), by Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Remains of the Day (film), directed by James Ivory

As always, please contact us about anything and everything using our email, ask@normalpl.org, or check out our Twitter account, @NPLTweets!

Jennifer Williams talks about Mo Willems’ new chapter book, The Story of Diva and Flea (5:45); Silvia Schuh gives us the lowdown on March arts and crafts programs (3:50); and Mari McKeeth recommends Val McDermid’s latest mystery, Splinter the Silence (12:33). Plus, Mari talks about two services for finding great books: Novelist and eSequels.

Please tell us what you think by emailing us at ask@normalpl.org, or tweeting us @NPLTweets!

In this episode, Meghan Rogers explains the Adult Winter Reading Program, and Mari McKeeth talks about all the great books that were turned into movie scripts and nominated for this year’s Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar:

• Brooklyn, by Colm Tóibín (screenplay by Nick Hornby)
• The Martian, by Andy Weir (screenplay by Drew Goddard)
• The Price of Salt, by Patricia Highsmith (adapted as Carol, screenplay by Phyllis Nagy)
• The Big Short, by Michael Lewis (screenplay by Adam McKay and Charles Randolph)
• Room, by Emma Donoghue (screenplay by Emma Donoghue herself)

And as always, you can register for library programs on our website. Please write us at ask@normalpl.org and tell us what you think!

In the final episode of 2015, Amy Kubica recommends the Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop, Laura Rocco recommends The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Noble (which is based on a popular Youtube series), and I have some thoughts about libraries as we bring 2015 to a close. Plus, we check in on last episode’s literary challenge.

The book I refer to in my editorial is Among Others by Jo Walton. You can see pictures of the remarkable JT and EJ Crumbaugh Memorial Library here.

To respond to the literary challenge or to give us feedback, please contact us at ask@normalpl.org.

In this episode, we talk about The Black House by Peter May, the first in a trilogy of mysteries set on a remote Scottish island. Also, we talk about the library’s arts and crafts programs coming up in December, how to download audio and video content using the internet and your trusty Normal Public Library card, and our Giving Tuesday fundraiser, which aims to raise enough money to fund a mobile maker space for our teen patrons. Plus, another chance for our loyal podcast listeners to snag a prize!