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In the Spotlight: Misty Fagan, Libby User
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Hi, I am Misty Fagan and I am a patron of the Bristol Public Library. I love the children's section at the library because my kids love to spend time there. I have three kids who keep me busy and often the only chance I get to read is when putting the baby to sleep, so I appreciate digital books as I can read them in the dark. How long have you been a READS user? I have been a READS user for about two years. What do you like most about the Libby app? I like that improvements were made in the Libby app that were lacking in the Overdrive app. I felt that there were too many steps involved with the Overdrive app. With Libby, I am just a click away from my current book, my borrowed bookshelf and the library main page.
If you could tell somebody one thing about READS, what would it be and why? I would tell them to check it out. I've loved it as a quick and easy way to find a book I am looking for, especially when I don't have time to get out to the library. Digital will never be a real replacement for an actual book and nothing is better than a real library and the smell of books, but there are times digital is a blessing and I feel privileged to live in a time that it is possible. What is your first read this year? Your favorite book/author? What do you find most helpful on the READS Facebook page? I'm not really on Facebook much but it is great to know there are other users that I can ask questions of if needed.
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Read Harder Challenge (Presented by Libby)
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Book Riot, in conjunction with Libby, presents their annual Read Harder Challenge. For the past four years, thousands of readers have undertaken the mission to complete 24 unique tasks. The tasks are written to encourage readers to push themselves to try new genres, topics and authors. If you’re interested in starting the challenge but worried about reading outside of your comfort zone, rest assured the challenge is completely customizable. To give you a few examples of genre reading inside the challenge, might we offer you some Teen/YA books that fit some of the tasks? For the task of reading a western, we recommend Vengeance Road, a YA western written by Erin Bowman. The book centers on Kate, a teenage girl whose father is killed by the Rose Riders. Kate undertakes a mission to find out the truth about her family, while facing the challenges of strangers, dust storms, and being a girl in the Wild West. Next, for a sci-fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author and also a first book in a YA or middle-grade series, we present Illuminae: The Illuminae Files Book 1 by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Truly a work of art, this book will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole ride through. Set in 2575 on a spaceship, teenage Kady and her ex-boyfriend Ezra race against the clock to figure out who destroyed their planet, how the plague began, and whether they can trust the spaceship’s AI computer. Can they get over their distaste for each other long enough to survive? Finally, fulfilling the one-sitting book task, we look to bestselling author Neil Gaiman’s Unnatural Creatures. A collection of 16 short stories collected by Gaiman and written by many other leaders in the short story genre, this book is at once creepy, profound and fun. This book is highly recommended for young adult readers who love mythical creatures and a bit of whimsy in their books. To find more inspiration for working your way through the Read Harder challenge, visit Tennessee Reads or our Facebook page! For the entire Read Harder challenge task list, click here.
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Digital Bookshelf: Reading Aloud
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SYNC: Audiobooks for Teens
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Are you looking for a new and interesting way to get teenagers interested in reading? SYNC: Audiobooks for Teens is a free audiobook download program that has been offered since 2010 and will back for another round in April 2018. It is powered by the OverDrive app and allows teens and adults 13 years of age and older to download two new audiobooks each week over the summer. Listening together or independently, having this resource along with all the audiobooks available for checkout from Tennessee READS encourages even the most reluctant reader. The best part is that it is completely free! Beginning in April, you can access the titles by going to audiobooksync.com each week to download the new titles. After the week is over, those titles disappear and two new ones are available. The titles you have downloaded are yours to keep! Interested yet? Make sure you sign up for email or text alerts on the SYNC home page to get news, updates, information and new title alerts.
Here’s a sneak peek of two of the titles that will be available for download this year:
Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama: “Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences. Almost 140 years later, 17-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra's help, Hester investigates her family's strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean―but, in Elizabeth Fama's Monstrous Beauty, powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.” – Amazon.com
Baker’s Magic by Diane Zahler: “Bee is an orphan, alone in a poor, crumbling kingdom. In desperation, she steals a bun from a bakery. To Bee’s surprise, the baker offers her a place at his shop. As she learns to bake, Bee discovers that she has a magical power. When a new friend desperately needs her help against an evil mage, Bee wonders what a small orphan girl with only a small bit of magic can do. Bee’s journey to help her friend becomes a journey to save the kingdom, and a discovery of the meaning of family.” – Amazon.com
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Storyline Online is a free website and app available 24 hours a day to help you encourage a love of reading in your child. Watch videos of actors and actresses reading some of your favorite children’s books aloud. Examples of the readers include Viola Davis, Chris Pine, Sean Astin, Kevin Costner, Lily Tomlin, James Earl Jones, Betty White and dozens more. The website also has great supplemental resources for educators for each book.
Novel EffectNovel Effect is a fun way to bring your and your child’s reading time to life. You may have seen the founders of the app present their product on Shark Tank in October 2017! This app enhances your reading time by adding music and sound effects to over 100 classic and modern children’s books. Just download the app, select a title and click “Read a Book.” The app listens to hear either the title or the opening lines of the text and then the music and fun begin. You can start the app and read a title you own or have checked out from your local library. The app will also run in the background of your devices as you read a title in the Libby or Overdrive app.
BookbusterBookbuster is an extension for the Google Chrome browser. Once you add this extension, every time you open a new browser tab in Chrome, you get the title of a classic or award-winning book along with a link to the full list of titles for that particular award.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Want to learn more about the functions and options available to you on READS, the Overdrive app and Libby? Then check out the Tennessee READS Facebook page every Tuesday for the READS TECH Tuesday topic! We share new features as they become available in all areas of READS, as well as provide responses to FAQ sent to the Facebook page and to READS support. This is an example of a tech Tuesday post!
We would love for you to share our tips and tricks with your friends and followers to help spark an interest in READS and share our love of reading.
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Our mission is to exceed the expectations of our customers, the taxpayers, by operating at the highest levels of accuracy, cost-effectiveness and accountability in a customer-centered environment.
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