Rebranding Canada as Warrior Nation?

The eh List Author Series

Join us as Jamie Swift speaks about his book Warrior Nation

Is Canada the 'Peaceable Kingdom' or a 'Warrior Nation'? Are we a moving toward the 'Just Society' or do we favour 'authoritarian leadership'?

Jamie Swift argues that there's a concerted effort afoot to re-imagine Canada as a militarized nation. New warrior zealots are seeking to shift public opinion and transform postwar Canada's central myth from the 'nation of peacekeepers' story to the 'nation born in the crucible of war' narrative.

Warrior Nation has been shortlisted for a John W. Dafoe prize for Nonfiction.

Come out for a provocative discussion of the Canadian ethos and the future of our national mythology.

RUNNYMEDE BRANCH

APRIL 11
7:00 - 8:15 PM

FREE!

 

Literacy Through Drama - A Great Act To Follow!

"Literacy Through Drama" gives children 8-10 a fun way to gain more confidence in their reading and writing skills by writing and acting out their own scenes.

                                            Saturdays 2:00-3:30 p.m.

March 23 through April 27, 2013

Mimico Branch
47 Statio Rd., Etobicoke

Call 416-394-5330 For Information

Experience shows that kids love to be engaged in the language of the "real world", where they have the freedom to explore their own stories. And when a child is engaged, they're learning!

This program is led by gradutes of the Theatre Program and the Child and Youth Worker Program at Humber College. It is part of The Jump - a community outreach project of Humber College. For children 8-10 years.

Call now for more information 416-394-5330

 

IT'S BABY TIME at BRENTWOOD!

Bundles of Fun for Your Bundles of Joy!

Bring your bouncing baby to Brentwood branch for a half hour of not sitting still. We've got bouncing and tickling rhymes, cheerful songs and little stories for little folk up to 18 months (ID not required, our bouncers aren't like that!)

This is recurring drop-in program, registration not required.

10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. on recurring dates listed below

Brentwood Program Room

Upcoming Dates:
                                       Friday, Nov 30
                                       Friday, Dec 07
                                       Friday  Dec 14

Ready For Reading Program

 

 

Brentwood Branch is open!

Thank you to everyone who attended our re-opening yesterday. With over 1200 people through our doors in the afternoon and evening, it was a lively and exciting event. I will be posting pictures of the event in the next few days, but this is just to let everyone know we are back in business and open regular hours.

We are open:

Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 8:30 pm.

Friday 9 am to 6 pm

Saturday 9 am to 5 pm

Sunday (in season) 1:30 pm to 5 pm

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTOS REVEAL OUR SHARED CONNECTIONS

How does Etobicoke's black and white past compare to our colourful present?

Join us for an epic battle of Before and After in a delightful presentation of pictures of treasured places in the neighbouhoods around Brentwood Library.    

We'll take you back 100 years to see how people lived, love and laughed in the same locales we do today.

Old Etobicoke

That Starbucks on the corner where you spend a small fortune  on a low-fat double-shot latte?...  

...It used to be Smith's Hardware and Emporium where you could buy a coffee-making machine for 11 cents.  

Presented by Denise Harris, President of the Etobicoke Historical Society, and Lecturer at Heritage Toronto, this before-and-after virtual tour of our great city of Etobicoke will amaze and delight you. Join us - it's FREE!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012
7:00 - 8:00 PM
Brentwood Library
36 Brentwood Rd N.  416-3394-5240

 

Brentwood re-opens November 2, at 4 pm.

 Toronto Public Library Board invites you to the opening of the newly renovated and expanded BRENTWOOD BRANCH.

Friday, November 2, 2012,   4 pm to 8:30 pm

                                                                              

We will be opening Brentwood by the end of October or early November...

But as you can tell from this photo (taken from the third floor administration offices), there is still a lot of work to be done. Staff are now in the branch and working very hard to get all of the tasks accomplished to finish the space and ready the branch for the public. You will see a lot of activity there over the next few weeks as we bring books and DVDs and other items into the branch. Please be patient with us, I promise you, it will be well worth the wait. Once we have a definite opening date we will be posting it on this blog, in the local papers and on signs at the branch proper.

All of us at Toronto Public Library are looking forward to welcoming you back very soon!

Brentwood KidsStop

For the past few years Toronto Public Library has been installing KidsStop early literacy spaces in selected branches around the system. Brentwood's KidsStop has been designed in honour of Sophia Lucyk, a resident of the Brentwood area who left a bequest to the TPL Foundation to support creativity, literacy and writing skills in children from a young age. We have taken her passion for writing and literacy and transformed it into an area that celebrates the alphabet, writing, reading and learning. This picture shows the entrance to that area, which is located at in the northeast corner of the first floor.

 

The alphabet whirligig located at the entrance of the KidsStop is an inviting tower of letters that children will be able to manipulate to see the letters spin around. One side of the installation has all lower case letters while the other side has only capital letters. If you note the letters on the top of the whirligig, you will see that these letters are able to be read in both directions, so that when the top spins children will see either a "d" or "p", a "u" or "n". The other letters in this part of the whirligig stay the same whichever way they are read. This can lead to some lively discussions with young children about our alphabet and the way we see letters.

 

 

At the front of the KidsStop area we have installed a kiosk with interactive panels, a puppet play area and words on two of the sides. The following pictures are all taken from various angles of this kiosk.

 

 

 
There are many other aspects of the KidsStop area that will keep babies and very young children engaged and actively exploring. We are looking forward to welcoming you into this space, but we ask you to be patient. Staff are hard at work preparing the library for the public and it will take a while longer. But the wait will be well worth it. We will post signs about the opening as well as keeping this blog up-to-date.

 

MEET THE AUTHOR!

NOVELIST BIANCA LAKOSELJAC COMES TO RUNNYMEDE BRANCH

Meet the author of the 2012 hit novel The Summer of the Dancing Bear.  This novel is a mesmerizing melange of love story and mystery, as young protagonist Kata explores the unfamiliar world of the gypsy tribe that has befriended her and embarks on a quest to discover the fate of a neighbour’s missing child. Memory and magic play their roles until the shocking denouement that reveals Kata’s own family secrets and forever alters her perceptions of life as she once knew it. Engaging and original, the novel fuses history, myth, and tradition in a whimsical literary voice that reminds us that the complex and innocenthumanity in us is too often haunted by human tragedy.

Review: Summer of the Dancing Bear

JOIN US - EVERYONE WELCOME!
Bianca Lakoseljac presents her debut novel
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 7:00-8:00 PM at
Runnymede Branch - Toronto Public Library
2178 Bloor Street West
Toronto, ON , M6S 1M8
416-393-7697
Runnymede Branch

 

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bianca Lakoseljac (nee Planinčić) is an author, educator, environmentalist, and a lover of arts and all creative endeavours. She holds an M.A. and an honours B.A. from York University where she received the Matthew Ahern Memorial Award in Literature. Over a ten year period, Bianca taught communication at Ryerson University and Humber College in Toronto. 

 

 

 

 

 

Main Floor of Brentwood

The custom millwork has been installed in Urban Living Room, which is located in the southern part of the main floor. The smaller shelving in the foreground of this picture is for periodicals. The shelving located nearer to the fireplace will hold the Best Bets. As you can see, light floods this part of the library, and with the comfortable seating that has been purchased, this quiet reading area should prove to be a popular corner of the library.

 

 

The KidsStop area of the main floor is located to the north of the building opposite the Urban Living Room. Holman Exhibits is already at work installing the letter walls; this one is on the south side and will have book shelves coming out into the space from the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a view from the opposite wall. The window looks out on what will eventually be the reading garden. Notice the letters in the window?

 

 

 

 

 

This shot is of the same window in the KidsStop area. The word YAY is clearly seen from both inside and outside, as it is a palindrome. The KidsStop area is a celebration of words and letters, so what better way is there to celebrate than putting YAY in the window?

 

 

 

Looking west from the KidsStop area you see the story area (defined by the red carpet and bench) and beyond that will be the school age collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between the Urban Living Room and the children's department is the registration desk area. Located at the zigzag wall is the self check out area that will have two self check-out stations.