Learn To Be Healthy In The New Year!

Being healthy is always one of the top New Year’s Resolutions every year. Abbot Public Library has items in digital and physical formats that can help you become mentally and physically healthier in the New Year!

Overdrive’s Health & Fitness Collection has ebooks, e-audiobooks, and downloadable magazines for children, teens, and adults about eating healthier, exercising, and living a healthier life. 

Kids can learn about the current pandemic in Coronavirus: A Book for Children written by Elizabeth Jenner, Kate Wilson, and Nia Roberts; and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. The book explains in a way for children to understand how you can catch coronavirus, if there is a cure, and more about the disease that has spread across the world during this past year. In Megan Borgert-Spaniol’s and Lauren Kukla’s ebook Crafting Calm, exercises, quizzes, crafts, and activities help children improve their emotional intelligence, boost their self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and help them connect with the world around them. My First Cookbook is a fun way for children ages 5-8 to begin learning how to cook with fun food projects they can do with their families! 

Meik Wiking’s New York Times Bestseller, The Little Book of Hygge, is a guide that explores the Danish concept of living a happier life with a sense of comfort, togetherness, and well-being. Get inspired to find your reason for living in the international bestseller Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, for which the authors interviewed the residents of the Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds. Change Your Brain, Change Your Body by Daniel G. Amen, M.D. is one of the Health and Fitness books on Overdrive that can help you lose weight, sharpen your memory, and do more to make your mind and body healthier.

If you want more than what Overdrive’s collection can offer, try some of the 8,000+ titles in hoopla’s Health & Fitness ebooks collection. You’ll find some of the same titles on Overdrive plus some different titles, with many sub categories to choose from, including Diet & Nutrition, Exercise, Yoga, and Tai Chi. Learn how to make medicine with herbs and plants in Marysia Miernowska’s The Witch’s Herbal Apothecary. Figure out What to Eat When in the ebook by Michael Crupain, Michael F. Roizen, M. D., and Ted Spiker. Discover different yoga poses and how to accept your body in Jessamyn Stanley’s Every Body Yoga.

And if all these ebook titles aren’t enough, check out the Health & Fitness movies on hoopla, including the Yoga for Health with Jenny Cornero series, Kung Fu for Kids, A Healthy Diet For A Healthy Brain, In Defense of Food, and more! You can also stream video lectures with The Great Courses. Learn about everything from cooking with vegetables and making healthy food taste great to yoga, how to boost your physical and mental energy, and essentials of strength training,  as well as other interesting subjects related to being healthy. 

For those who prefer physical titles, reserve exercise books, and DVDs; health magazines, books, and DVDs, and more on you NOBLE account for Curbside Pickup! If you need help finding materials on a specific subject, feel free to contact a Reference Librarian at mar@noblenet.org or by calling 781-631-1481. 

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A Trip to the Farmers’ Market!

One of the pleasures of the summer is the weekly trips to the local farmers’ market for fresh produce. Kids enjoy these outings as well. Involve them in the process and they can learn about where their food comes from and how to pick the ripe items. There are also other treats often sold at the local Farmers’ Market. The Marblehead Farmers’ Market is taking place on Saturdays from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm outside of the Marblehead Veterans Middle School. Take a look at their website to read up on their social distancing protocols. Here are some books kids can read to learn more about farmers’ markets.

*All book descriptions are from the publishers. 

At the Farmers’ Market with Kids: Recipes and Projects for Little Hands by Ethel Brennan

“Finish your vegetables!” becomes a phrase of the past when kids discover the diversity and deliciousness of farmers’ markets. From exploring the vibrant booths to selecting produce and tasting the unique flavors each season brings, the farmers’ market provides a fertile playground for kids and brings families together while building healthy habits and supporting sustainable eating. At the Farmers’ Market with Kids profiles the fruits and vegetables available at most farmers’ markets, explaining how to tell which ones are ripe and how to store them. With age-specific tips that cater to children of all ages, plus 65 nutritious and kid-pleasing recipes to put your farmers’ market spoils to use, this cookbook makes it easy for everyone in the family to eat healthfully and live well.

We’re Going to the Farmers’ Market by Stefan Page

In this story, readers get to visit local farmers, fill baskets with fresh fruits and vegetables, and then head home to cook a feast, all with goodies from the farmers’ market! Featuring Stefan Page’s graphic art, this delightful ebook is filled with bold splashes of color and unique patterns. Plus, this is a fixed-format version of the book, which looks nearly identical to the print version.

Let’s All go To The Farmer’s Market! by Weingart Cydney

This rhyming book explores the farmers’ market with children and families. Healthy foods, fresh air, and community are all part of the farmers’ market – it is a great way to expose children to fruits and vegetables.

What’s your favorite thing to get at the Farmers’ Market? Comment below with your favorite food or craft you’ve gotten!

Introducing Gale Elementary – A Free Educational Resource For Kids!

Have you perused the items in Homeschool with hoopla or the School Closed? Overdrive collection but still want more resources for kids?

Formally called Kids Infobits, Gale Elementary is a free database through Abbot Public Library with which kids through grade 5 can learn about a variety of subjects, including Health, Literature, Science, Social Studies, Sports, Technology, and more! The new kid-friendly design allows you to explore each category visually.

For example, when you click on “Animals,” you will find a topic tree with a circle of different subcategories, including Mammals, Pets and Farm Animals, Fish and Sea Creatures, and Dinosaurs and Extinct Animals. When you click on a subcategory circle, say “Mammals,” the database will show the most popular species or related topics with photos.

Under “Mammals” it shows photo circles of Arctic Foxes, Armadillos, and Baboons as the top three in an alphabetical list of the most popular mammals. Clicking on “Arctic Foxes” reveals a little bit of information to help you learn what it is. For further details, click “Keep Reading” to find more specific information, such as what it looks like, what it eats, where it lives, and so on. All the text is geared towards kids through fifth grade, to help them learn and understand. 

Another feature for the new-and-improved database is it’s “I wonder…” questions. If you wonder what a hedgehog eats, or who invented basketball, or how old J. K. Rowling was when she wrote her first story, these questions and more are answered for you! 

So, if you would like to find out more about dinosaurs or trucks or the different continents, or if you have to research something for school, try Gale Elementary!

Check out the posts from our Children’s category with more educational information for kids, including practicing yoga, making music, going on a backyard safari, exploring resources for stargazing, cooking and doing other kitchen activities, and more!

Wellness in Difficult Times: Connecting with Nature

We all face difficult times at one point or another. In search of tools helping to ease stress and anxiety, stop worrying, and gain a sense of comfort, people resort to various pursuits, such as yoga or meditation, cooking or gardening.

Connecting with nature is one of those tools. Being out in nature energizes and rejuvenates, makes humans more relaxed, happier, and healthier.

Dr. Qing Li, the author of the book Forest Bathing, explains this phenomenon and teaches readers to maximize its benefits to wellbeing.

A medical doctor and a leading specialist in forest medicine in Japan, he researches all the ways in which being in a forest can improve wellbeing. He shows the scientific reasoning behind the humans’ sense of enjoyment and happiness, and by taking quantitative measurements (such as levels of stress hormones in the blood) and analyzing the results, he convincingly proves huge positive health effects of connecting with a forest.

Forest bathing is something that the Japanese have been practicing since the early 1980s. It is not hiking or exercising – though those are very beneficial, too. Forest bathing is a way of connecting with a forest; it is immersion into a forest atmosphere, experiencing it all through all senses: vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch; soaking in those feelings and sensations.

The author notices that not all senses are used when indoors, causing sensory deprivation; outside, all the senses open up, creating a connection to the natural world and creating a feeling of health and wellness. 

In the book, you will find recommendations on how to best practice forest bathing and learn why, in Japan, it is considered essential for maintaining good health and wellbeing. Moreover, for those thus inclined, the book contains numerous scientific data points in support of the claim.

According to the author, under certain conditions and equipped with all that is required (which is not much and easily acquired), it is possible to practice forest bathing even at home or at work. Check out the book in Overdrive or through the Libby app to learn more, and browse other forest bathing titles available on hoopla. 

Mysteries of Nature is a nature trilogy from another forest and nature devotee and bestselling author, Peter Wohlleben. 

In The Hidden Life of Trees , he uses the findings of latest research to weave stories of the lives of trees, their death and regeneration. He shares the secrets of trees’ hidden life and reveals hidden communication between species. You can find it in ebook and audiobook format on Overdrive and hoopla.

The Inner Life of Animals is the book about the animal world, about the animals’ feelings and emotions, and the ways they interact with the world. Check it out on Overdrive or hoopla.

The last book in the trilogy, The Secret Wisdom of Nature, is about the entire nature system, and connections between all living creatures, how they affect each other, and how the smallest change can cause a huge impact on the entire system. The audiobook is on Overdrive and an ebook version is on hoopla. 

What It’s Like to Be a Bird is the Abbot Public Library’s newest acquisition in nature books. It is a lovely birdwatching guide with absolutely gorgeous pictures.

Digital format makes it easy to bring the book to the forest or park or anywhere else where birdwatching happens.

Happy discoveries in nature explorations!

As always, all suggested items are free and available through Overdrive/Libby or hoopla with a library card.

Discover Abbot Public Library’s Health Resources!

While a Google search might seem like an easy alternative for seeking medical information, especially at a time without access to library print copies, it comes with caveats. The search itself is easy; sifting through myriads of entries to look for relevant information takes eons. Most importantly, though, is the question of reliability – just how trustworthy is the source?

Instead, we suggest using services and databases that provide relevant, reliable, and up-to-date information. These are free services brought to you by the Abbot Public Library!

Please note: these resources are meant for informational purposes only. If you are experiencing symptoms and required medical attention, please speak to a doctor.

Through EBSCO, you get access to various medical and health databases, such as Medline or Clinical Pharmacology, where you can search medical dictionaries and obtain articles from medical journals and magazines.

You can set up search and language preferences, and are able to print out articles that you find useful.

You can search or browse through a list of topics in the Gale Health and Wellness database, designed for consumers. Its information comes from encyclopedias, academic journals, and magazines. Some of the other features include availability of audio-format or text highlighting.

If you need more in-depth information, you can also access the Gale Health and Medicine database created for healthcare professionals and knowledgeable health researchers, where you will find information from the medical professional’s perspective.

A recent acquisition by the Abbot Public Library, a collection of health databases by Salem Press, previously reviewed on our blog, is another medical reference resource.

hoopla has medical books, with general information on diseases, their symptoms, and suggested treatments. Click on the book cover images to go to the ebooks in hoopla.

For maintaining good health and preventing diseases, as well as alternative medicine, you might consider these recommendations:

Overdrive/Libby has quite an extensive section of medical books as well, including the following:

All these databases and digital books are free resources available through the Abbot Public Library with your library card.

Stay safe and take care!

What’s New in Our Digital Resources

If you’ve scanned our digital resources recently, you may have seen a slight change in our list! While you’ve always been able to explore encyclopedic texts from each decade from the 1920s to the 1990s, you’re now able to go beyond the 80-year span in American history. 

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Newly labeled as Salem Press in our Digital Resources tab, you have access to the Encyclopedia of American Immigration, Milestone Documents in American History, and information ranging from social justice, to pandemics, to treaties in the news. Salem Press also provides information in science and health for students and general readers alike!

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Library card holders are able to access the essential coverage of all major aspects of the Earth’s solar system in a completely revised and updated way. For information on health, feel free to explore the 8^th edition of Magill’s Medical Guide, or learn more topics on cancer, psychology, and mental health. Whether you have a research project or just want to learn, Salem Press might have the right information for you!

Stream Video Lectures for Free with The Great Courses!

So…you’ve caught up with all your chores, binged on Netflix, baked too many cookies, and played endless board games but are still–well, bored? Maybe it’s time to challenge the little gray cells with some adult education courses from a renowned company: The Great Courses! In case you haven’t heard, hundreds of video lectures by professors eminent in their fields, some from Ivy League universities, are available to stream through the Abbot Public Library for free. If you were to buy the DVD versions of these courses, you would be paying up to $50 for just one course! There are a multitude of diverse lectures to choose from; you can browse them here.

From cooking tutorials via the Culinary Institute of America, to expert discussion of how stress can work for you, to the history of India, to dog training tips, to music appreciation—there are offerings for everyone. Tune out the news for a while and tune in to Great Courses–who knows where your curiosity might lead you?

Great Courses videos are available via one of our streaming services, RBDigital. If you’ve never logged on before, please visit our FAQ page for instructions. You can stream on your laptop, desktop, most mobile devices, and even on your TV (instructions for streaming to your Smart TV are also in our FAQs). Here’s to new voyages of discovery!