NPR has developed an extensive list of the best books in 2021. It has over 360 selections and they vary from children’s, young adults, and essays. The page is also further divided into tabs for the different genres and you can look at the previous years selection too!

An article by Andee Tagle from NPR discusses the benefits of reading out loud to children. Some benefits include starting conversations about emotions and what they are and how to handle the different emotions a child might feel. It also helps develop social skills as parents encourage children to sing, talk, and even role-play their favorite books!

Alex Walker’s Serian Creatures on the Land Award: Ninja Prairie Dog! (in the United States).
© Arthur Trevino/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2021

NPR’s Rachel Triesman, wrote an article about the comedy wildlife photography winners of this year. These photos will bring a smile to your face. From the bird with a leaf in his face to a derpy-looking fish. The photographers have truly captured wildlife at their funniest moments.

Working well together on yet another project, the Historical Society of Riverton and the Riverton Free Library have completed arranging and cataloging the library’s archives. For details of this part of the Society’s ambitious undertaking see the latest Gaslight News, October 2021, page 3.

This important retrospective ensures that our library’s documents and memorabilia can be used for research with an online outline of the contents of the collection. That outline will become available among an online collection once all the other areas of the HSR are cataloged. However, you can get a sneak preview by clicking on the Finding Aid link to see our own collection’s details.

NPR author Rachel Treisman, writes about Texas’s governor’s call to restrict reading material in public schools. The governor wants more control of the materials in the school library and thinks that parents should have a more prominent role in their child’s education. The author then goes on to talk about the culture war appearing across the country and how some states have reacted to it.