Holiday Memories

Gather around the hearth as several or our YA patrons discuss their favorite holiday memories and what they're hoping to receive for Christmas.

Sara Boyer

My favorite Christmas memory is when my brother and I woke up at 5 a.m. to spy on Santa. We were like 7 years old. I hope to get a ton of hoodies.

Isiah Sarille

My family Christmas memory is my grandma, grandpa, aunt Korina, uncle Raul, cousins Angelica and Alex. We like Christmas and I believe Santa Claus is real. Me and my aunt Korina can go shopping for whatever I want to buy at the many different stores. It's very cold for winter so we can have hot chocolate to keep warm!  I hope my grandparents don't like the winter for Christmas.

Braden Unruh

I think my greatest Christmas memory was last year. It was my favorite because that year my sister and I waited for everyone to wake up, and it felt like my family was really together. I think the thing I would want the most for Christmas is maybe a drill.

Hannah Wright

I like the Christmas months the most because you can read or hear about the Christmas story from the Bible. You can also spend the day with family and friends. And when you go outside at night you can see all the Christmas lights people have decorated their houses with. What I'm really wanting this year is that everyone will have a very good time. Whether they are part of my family or not. And that everyone will have a Merry Christmas.

Selena Martinez

Around Christmas time 3 years ago (2015), my family sparked the idea of going to California for the holidays. Now, we were going for a relative's birthday, but they decided to have some fun while we were there. I can't remember every single detail, but I do recall when we went to Knotts Berry Farm, Disneyland, Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the Santa Monica Beach. Christmas was the same festive-wise, but the people I was celebrating it with were different. My family settled in California rarely came to Indiana, so it was nice to visit them around this time.

This year for Christmas, I don't want to receive any possessions as gifts. As a matter of fact, I just want to give more this year. I want more smiles and kind gestures shown in the community. I'm simply wishing for a Christmas that will bring joy.

Tackle Twelve - Spotlight on Read a Caldecott or Newbery Medal Winner

As part of BPL's Tackle Twelve promotion, 16 reading challenges have been issued. This week's blog takes a closer look at 'Read a Caldecott or Newbery Medal Winner' and offers up recommendations.

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

2015 Newbery Medal Winner

2015 Coretta Scott King Honor Award Winner

New York Times Bestseller

Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with the highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.

Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly

2018 Newbery Medal Winner

Lives of four misfits are intertwined when a bully's prank lands shy Virgil at the bottom of a well and Valencia, Kaori, and Gen band together in an epic quest to find and rescue him.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

2013 Newbery Medal Winner
#1 New York Times Bestseller
Soon to be a major motion picture!

When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.



Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

2011 Newbery Medal Winner
2011 Spur Award Winner
Kansas Notable Book

Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

1979 Newbery Medal Winner
Ranked #9 among all-time children's novels by School Library Journal (2012)
Adapted as the 1997 feature film Get a Clue

Each of the sixteen people invited to the reading of a very strange will are given $10,000, a set of clues, and the chance to become a millionaire.



The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson and illustrated by Beth Krommes

2009 Caldecott Medal Winner

A bedtime verse about the light in a house during the night.

My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann

2003 Caldecott Medal Winner

Something always seems to go wrong when Rabbit is around, but Mouse lets him play with his toy plane anyway because he is his good friend.



Golem by David Wisniewski

1997 Caldecott Medal Winner

A saintly rabbi miraculously brings to life a clay giant who helps him watch over Jews of sixteenth-century Prague.

Tuesday by David Wiesner

1991 Caldecott Medal Winner

A whimsical, hilarious look at the events that unfold on a particular Tuesday, on which outlandish things begin to happen.

One Fine Day by Nonny Hogrogian

1971 Caldecott Medal Winner

A fox begins an unusual adventure when his greediness causes him to lose his tail.

Getting to Know...Selena

Introducing another valuable member of our YA Volunteer Team, Selena Martinez! A 13-year-old eighth grader, Selena has accumulated 5.75 hours since August.

FAVORITE BOOK GENRES: "All the Bright Places" is my favorite novel.

FAVORITE TV SHOWS: Stranger Things, The Flash, Arrow

SOMEONE I LOOK UP TO: My mom. She's done a lot for me and the people around her.

MY SPIRIT ANIMAL: Bird. They're free-spirited and can fly off whenever to wherever they want.

SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT MYSELF: I've been a vegetarian since March 31, 2018.

FAVORITE QUOTE: "We do not remember days, we remember moments." - Cesare Pavese

FUTURE PLANS: I want to go to college. I hope to become a dentist and travel as much as possible.

AN INVENTION I WOULD UNINVENT: Phones or portable electronics. Although they do amazing things, they've done some serious damage to society.