Something to Be Thankful For: November Is Bonus Borrows Month on hoopla!

Believe it or not, there have been some good things about 2020. In the spring and summer of this year, hoopla introduced a hugely popular Bonus Borrows initiative, meaning that patrons could borrow from a generous group of titles in various formats without using any of their monthly borrowing allowance. Guess what? The Bonus Borrows are back!

Just in time for the longer autumnal evenings ahead, you’re being treated to over a thousand new titles to choose from in five formats: audiobook, ebook, movie, television, and comic book. In the “Bonus Borrows – Nov 2020 – All Audiobooks” category, you’ll find a number of classics in both adult and children’s fiction. What better time than now to catch up on that book you’ve meant to read since high school, or to introduce your kids to beloved favorites? Sign on for the literary adventure that is Moby Dick or get a taste of thwarted love in Edwardian America with The Age of Innocence. For the little ones, Beatrix Potter is well-represented, with classic titles like The Tale of Benjamin Bunny and The Tailor of Gloucester on offer.

If you’d prefer to read rather than listen, then you’ve also got an ample curated collection of ebooks to choose from: “Bonus Borrows – Nov 2020 – All eBooks.” Here, you can browse some cozy seasonal offerings from the likes of Charles Dickens and Louisa May Alcott or go on an adventure with Jules Verne in Around the World in 80 Days—and of course, there are 257 titles to try, modern books included.

With the 358 films included in “Bonus Borrows – Nov 2020 – All Movies,” there’s something to please every viewer, as holiday movies, documentaries, and features are all well-represented. There’s so much on offer that you’ll just have to take a look yourself! The TV Bonus Borrows selections have an educational focus, which may be particularly welcome right now.

And if all of that isn’t enough, hoopla has truly outdone itself in the comics category, offering two different collections, one with standalone titles and first volumes, and another with “Series You’ll Love”. Truly a feast for the eye!

So, in this season that celebrates abundance, make sure that you take advantage of all the goodness on offer through November 30! If you are new to hoopla, please visit our FAQs page to learn how to set up your account. And if you don’t yet have a Marblehead library card, you can start your adventure here!

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Kids Takeover hoopla!

The Abbot Public Library’s most recent addition to online services, hoopla, continues to expand its offerings by creating collections tailored to specific audiences. Recently, the hard working content experts at hoopla have curated collections for kids, called the Kids’ Takeover. These collections of children’s audiobooks, comics, ebooks, music, and videos feature new releases and popular titles.

AUDIOBOOKS

Disappear to bear country in the childhood classic stories, The Berenstain Bears: Brother and Sister Bear Favorites by Jan and Mike Berenstain, or visit another popular bear from the Hundred Acre Wood in A. A. Milne’s Winnie-The-Pooh. You might recognize the characters from Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen’s The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor from the TV show of the same name which came out in the mid ‘90s. Part 5 of the Magic Schoolbus Audiobook series, dive down in a schoolbus-turned-submarine and explore the mysteries of the deep blue with Ms. Frizzle and her class. For something a bit more magical, listen to the second of C. S. Lewis’s popular Chronicles of Narnia series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Check out more audiobooks in the Kids’ Takeover Audiobook Collection.

COMICS

If you’d rather read your books than listen to them, the Kids’ Takeover Comics may be more to your taste. Snoopy, Spiderman, and Percy Jackson are just a few of the characters you’ll meet. Everybody’s favorite lazy lasagna-loving feline makes a comic appearance in Garfield: The Monday That Wouldn’t End, which we can all relate to;  Garfield: Snack Pack Vol. 3, with food, friends, and a Sam Spayed mystery; and Garfield: Garzilla, in which animals are supersized and Garfield’s human friend, Jon, might become a werewolf!

For some Avatar-style pop culture, check out Avatar: The Last Airbender: North And South Part 1, the first part of the Avatar: The Last Airbender series which continues the saga featuring Avatar Aang, as well as a title from the series featuring his successor, The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire Part 2.

EBOOKS

Try some oldies but goodies. Read about amphibian friends in Arnold Nobel’s Frog and Toad Together, a story originally published in 1972 in which Frog and Toad grow gardens and eat cookies together. Penguins take over in Richard and Florence Atwater’s 1938 classic, Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Mr. Popper, a painter living in Stillwater, is given a penguin called Captain Cook. Soon after, he finds more and more penguins keep stopping by. This ebook includes an illustrated biography of the authors.

In the Kids’ Takeover Ebooks Collection, you’ll find even more classics such as Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends, The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, the Disney Read-Along ebooks Aladdin and Moana, and other popular stories, such as Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer and Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. 

MUSIC

The Kids’ Takeover Music Collection has some select albums, including Disney Princess: Fairy Tale Songs. Children will recognize tracks from The Little Mermaid (“Part of Your World”), Mulan (“Reflection”), Cinderella (“A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes”), Beauty and the Beast (“Something There”), and other Disney movies. 

For something more upbeat, Best of Raffi will have you singing (and maybe dancing) along to “Baby Beluga,” “Apples And Bananas,” “Shake My Sillies Out,” “Wheels On The Bus,” and “Mr. Sun.” So, if you’re happy and you know it, sing along with Raffi! 

After all that singing and dancing, when you’re children are ready to get tucked into bed, enjoy some nightitme sounds with Mister Rogers Bedtime, including the songs “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” “When the Day Turns to Night,” “Many Ways To Say I Love You,” and more.  

MOVIES AND TELEVISION

If you’d rather watch the Avatar than listen to audiobooks about him, go back to the beginning and stream Book 1: Water. You can also watch season 1 of Legend of Korra, the next Avatar after Aang. Kids’ Takeover: Movies collection has a lot of other familiar faces, including Elmo, Madeline, Franklin, and Arthur. For shows filled with sugar, spice and everything nice, try The Powerpuff Girls: Season 1, The Power Puff Girls (Classic): Season 1, and The Power of Four. 

It’s the first day of spring in My Little Pony: The Movie, and the Little Ponies are getting ready for a festival until Hydia and her two daughters, a trio of evil witches, try to stop the celebration. 

A mysterious power is at work in Pokémon: The First Movie which threatens human and pokémon alike. Do you know Dragons Love Tacos or Where the Wild Things Are? If not, hop over to hoopla and stream these videos now!

There’s an App for That!: Read, Watch, and Listen with hoopla

Apps for this, apps for that. Take a look at your phone or mobile device, and you’ll see what we mean. This one’s for reading; that one’s for video streaming; another might be your go-to for the latest playlists and albums. Have you ever wished that you could find an all-in-one app that brings you the quality content you crave? If so, the library might just have what you’re looking for–at no cost!

hoopla is a one-stop borrowing experience that has quite recently joined the Abbot Library’s digital service menu. Just as our brick-and-mortar library offers so much more than just books, hoopla gives you access to–at last count–792,284 ebooks, e-audiobooks, music, films, TV, and even comics. 

As a first-time user, you may want to hop onto it via your browser first to see a potpourri of featured titles, often by categories like “hoopla Movies of the Month” and (currently) “Celebrating Black Music Month.” From here, you can also browse by format and category: perhaps audiobooks in the category “Conversations about Race,” or “Featured” music by release date. You’ll find brand-new albums like Pick Me Up Off the Floor by Norah Jones as well as diverse collections in just about any genre you can think of. While you’re at it, have a peek at some of the library’s specially-curated collections in audiobook, movie/TV, and music formats–they’re distinguishable by titles beginning with “2020 APL” like this one: “2020 APL Comfort Food Cinema.” One of hoopla’s best features? Everything is always available to everyone, 24/7–no holds, no waits!

You can also go straight to the hoopla app via your app store and dive in to find all of the above and more. You’ll immediately see your personal “Borrowed” page with a prompt to search for your next great read, watch, or listen. You’ll also see your previously borrowed titles–a real boon if you’re reading or watching a series! A “Favorites” tab keeps track of titles you’ve “liked” during previous searches but weren’t ready to check out yet. Once again, you can browse or search by format, or just search all formats at once by artist/author, title, or series. Want to try out your research skills? Try an “Advanced Search” to discover even more content that suits your personal taste.

While you won’t be barraged with spam, hoopla will send you the occasional email, reminding you of the number of borrows you have remaining, highlighting new collections, or inviting you to participate in their “book clubs” (see this post for an example). Watch for “hoopla Digital” as the sender. New titles are added monthly, so this platform is definitely dynamic– you won’t want to miss anything!

For detailed instructions on how to sign up for hoopla with your Marblehead library card, take a look at our FAQs page. If you don’t currently have a card, begin here. And if you want to stream hoopla video content on your smart TV, there are detailed instructions on the hoopla help page. As always, if you have any other questions about hoopla, feel free to contact the reference staff at mar@noblenet.org!

Manga to Check Out

Manga are Japanese comic books and graphic novels, considered their own genre though they cover a wide variety of themes and settings. If you like graphic novels already, chances are you will enjoy manga as well, and they are usually a part of a larger series, so the stories have plenty of material to become immersed in. The artwork is typically black and white and read right to left, which can take some getting used to if you are not familiar with the format. But, if you are reading digitally, you can view an entire page at once without having to worry about what may be lost in the gutter of the spine, making it slightly easier to read. 

Recently, we have been adding more manga to our digital collections. So if you are already interested in manga or want to try them out, now would be a great time to. Here are a few of the manga that we have available on Overdrive/Libby.

*All descriptions are from the publisher and are for the first volume in the series.

Seven Deadly Sins by Nakaba Suzuki

When they were accused of trying to overthrow the monarchy, the feared warriors the Seven Deadly Sins were sent into exile. Princess Elizabeth discovers the truth – the Sins were framed by the king’s guard, the Holy Knights – too late to prevent them from assassinating her father and seizing the throne! Now the princess is on the run, seeking the Sins to help her reclaim the kingdom. But the first Sin she meets, Meliodas, is a little innkeeper with a talking pig. He doesn’t even have a real sword! Have the legends of the Sins’ strength been exaggerated…?

My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi

Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn’t got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all, gives him a chance to change his destiny.

Snow White with the Red Hair by Sorata Akiduki

Shirayuki is famous for her naturally bright-red hair, and the prince of Tanbarun wants her all to himself! But when she escapes into the woods of the neighboring kingdom, a young man named Zen and his two friends come to her aid. But who is Zen really…?

Demon Slayer by Koyoharu Gotouge

Learning to destroy demons won’t be easy, and Tanjiro barely knows where to start. The surprise appearance of another boy named Giyu, who seems to know what’s going on, might provide some answers—but only if Tanjiro can stop Giyu from killing his sister first!

Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori

Bisco HatoriOne day, Haruhi, a scholarship student at exclusive Ouran High School, breaks an $80,000 vase that belongs to the “Host Club,” a mysterious campus group consisting of six super-rich (and gorgeous) guys. To pay back the damages, she is forced to work for the club, and it’s there that she discovers just how wealthy the boys are and how different they are from everybody else.

And as a bonus, Kanji de Manga by Glenn Kardy and Chihiro Hattori

Learn how to read and write Japanese the fun and easy way—with Kanji de Manga!

Manga University’s award-winning series uses original comic artwork to teach readers how to identify and write the most common Japanese kanji ideographs.

Volume 1 introduces 80 of the most common kanji, including those for numbers, days of the week, directions, relatives, and sizes. Each page features its own comic strip, kanji pronunciation guide, stroke order, and English explanations.

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What are some manga that you would like to see added to our collection? Let us know in a comment!

Bonus Borrows for Teens and Adults!

Tired of watching or listening to children’s Bonus Borrows on hoopla? There are many Bonus Borrows titles for teens and adults as well! Maybe you want to relive some classics from your childhood. Go down the rabbit hole with Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, fly to Neverland in J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, follow the yellow brick road to L. Frank Baum’s Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, or join a wonderful horse on his journey through life in Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty.

For more mature classics, listen to the audiobook version of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Enjoy the sounds of Shakespeare in some of his plays, including Hamlet, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and more. Solve mysteries with Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet or with Hercule Poirot in one of Agatha Christie’s classics, such as her short story, The Veiled Lady.

Teens may be interested in the Comics collection of Bonus Borrows. For those who enjoyed Netflix’s Stranger Things or The Witcher series, check out Stranger Things: Zombie Boys by Grag Pak or The Witcher Vol. 2: Fox Children by Paul Tobin. If you want to “live and let die,” check out this James Bond graphic novel. For those feeling Moonstruck, check out this 1st volume about a werewolf and her new girlfriend.

For adult fiction Bonus Borrows, Charlaine Harris has A Bone to Pick about the unexpected death of an elderly member of the recently disbanded Real Murders club. Find out what happens when Florence Green opens up a bookshop in Penelope Fitzgerald’s novel, The Bookshop. Look on the bright side of life, and death, in Welcome to the Pine Away Motel and Cabins by Katarina Bivald.

Browse through hundreds more titles in hoopla’s full Bonus Borrows collection before May 31!

Humor and the Apocalypse

Humor and apocalypse – do they go together?

The Last Kids on Earth series of graphic novels, written by Max Brallier and illustrated by Douglas Holgate, is an action-packed comic for ages 8-12 with lots of slimy, squelchy, icky monsters that need to be dispatched in time-honored snarky hero style. Enter 13-year-old Jack Sullivan and his three best friends who might just be the last kids on earth due to a “Monster Apocalypse.” One way to deal with anxiety is to frame a comic with gamer-style action and comedy with kids saving the world.

Reluctant readers have been grabbing this series even before it was rumored to be turned into a Netflix offering soon. Lots of humor, over-the-top villains, and tight friendships.

Read this series on Overdrive or with the Libby app!

Book 1: The Last Kids on Earth
Book 2: The Last Kids on Earth and the Zombie Parade
Book 3: The Last Kids on Earth and the Nightmare King
Book 4: The Last Kids on Earth and the Cosmic Beyond
Book 5: The Last Kids on Earth and the Midnight Blade

What’s All The hoopla About?

Have you noticed all the hoopla lately? No, we’re not talking about the hourly coronavirus updates. We here at the virtual APL are celebrating the launch of our brand-new online media service called—you guessed it, hoopla! Browse more than 39,000 audiobooks, 11,000 movies, nearly 30,000 music albums, 11,000 comics, more than 108,000 ebooks, and nearly 2000 seasons of popular TV series now! All absolutely for free!

You’re entitled to up to 5 borrows per month. But with all this exciting content to choose from, you may want more—and you can have more. hoopla is currently offering thousands of Bonus Borrows in various adult and children’s categories. These special borrows do not count towards your monthly total, so you can read/listen/watch with abandon! This special promotion will be active through April 30, 2020.

One of hoopla’s fabulous features is the option to use Kids Mode. When browsing or searching in this mode, you and your kids will find fascinating content appropriate to children 12 and under. Parents, this could save your sanity right now!

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We’re especially excited about hoopla’s music streaming content. You can access brand-new albums for free, anytime, anywhere. Have a look here for music that just hit the virtual shelves within the last week.

Signing on to hoopla is quick and easy. All you’ll need is your email address, any password you choose, and your Marblehead library card. Go here and click on the big blue button in the center of the page to get started! If you need a library card, learn how to register for a card here.