The Basketball Court vs. The Page

Getting your young sports' minded 9 to 12 year old to read a book rather than play basketball all the time can be difficult. So we are recommending this fantastic book to get him/her off the court for a little bit and on the page.

The Crossover: A Basketball Novel by Kwame Alexander may be just the ticket to hook you court hound. Alexander is an accomplished writer who uses poetic prose and a mix of jazzy hip hop to get this compelling story of twin brothers who experience a challenge in their beliefs of court and family loyalty and somehow make it through to the other side.
The story has very strong themes of education and family. The boys and their family are African American but the characters in this book are diverse and I think it will be a great book for sports minded young boys and girls but especially for those who love basketball.

This outstanding book is like a full court press for your young reluctant reader. It is also the winner of the 2015 Newbery Medal and the 2015 Coretta Scott King Honor Award.

Looking for it at Multnomah County Library?

Books to Travel with when Traveling

There are a plethora of places to travel to here in the Pacific Northwest and sometimes it is just overwhelming. We've decided to give you a hand and tell you about some of the best newer books about traveling in our beautiful area.

Let's start with one of the most comprehensive and popular guides for the entire Pacific Northwest; Fodor's Pacific Northwest (May 2015). This guide has everything; great pictures and listings on all the great spots to visit and stay and many of the out of the way spots too.
Here's the link to this book in the Multnomah County Library site

For those of you who love to hike and love, love, love hot springs this Falcon Press book is for you! Here's their latest from August of 2014; it's the Hiking Hot Springs in the Pacific Northwest: A Guide to the Area's Best Backcountry Hot Springs.

The title nearly says it all and those in the know know to rely on the quality, reliability and timeliness of Falcon Press! We've found that the directions to get to some of the more obscure sites and spot on. Here's your library link.

And if you like treehouses we've got something a little different for your next vacation! How about bringing your iPad and scoping out all the treehouse motels and sites on this great new app?

Tapscape.com is a great technology gadget blog for apps among other things. In fact A Technorat has rated them as one of their top 100 gadget blogs. Anyway they rave about Ten Thunder's app; Treehouses of the Pacific Northwest and it looks like a great way to have technology help you get away from all the technology. Here's their link for the review.  

We hope this helps. Let us know if you have any questions or suggestions for this suggestions and have a great vacation!