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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Books, Movies, Magazines, and More for National Yoga Month!

Did you know September is National Yoga Month? Even though today’s the last day, you can continue this healthy routine all year round. Abbot Public Library has hundreds of yoga items to reserve for Curbside Pickup or check out online via our various services, which can help teach poses and routines you can use every day. Starting last month, we even resumed our monthly children’s program Story Time Yoga with Lindsey Kravitz on our new YouTube Channel, which you may have read about on our previous blog post. Watch last month’s video below!

Kids have plenty of yoga-related items to choose from through the library catalog, Overdrive/the Libby app, and hoopla. Back in April, we discussed a few children’s selections in our Continuing Yoga for Kids at Home post from before we continued our yoga story time program online. Some physical books on the way to the shelves which you can reserve in advance for Curbside Pickup include:

The Three Little Yogis and the Wolf Who Lost His Breath: a Fairy Tale to Help You Feel Better by Susan Verde, art by Jay Fleck (available now on hoopla)

Dinos Don’t Do Yoga: A Tale of the New Dinosaur on the Block by Catherine Bailey; illustrations by Alex Willmore 

Teach Your Child Yoga: Fun & Easy Yoga Poses for Happier, Healthier Kids by Lisa Roberts

Yoga for Kids written by Susannah Hoffman; foreword by Patricia Arquette (available now on hoopla)

While you’re waiting for these to come in, there are plenty of other titles to choose from which will be available sooner. Doreen Cronin’s and Scott Menchin’s Stretch is a rhyming book that describes different ways of stretching. Kids will be mimicking plants, animals, and objects with the poses in Thia Luby’s Children’s Book of Yoga. These children’s yoga DVDs currently don’t have a checkout fee. Get a whole family workout from Yoga for Families, a dinosaur-themed routine from Yoga for Kids: Dino-Mite Adventure, and learn stellar practices from Yoga for Kids: Outer Space Blast-Off. Don’t want to wait? Everything on hoopla can be checked out right away! Stretch in the shape of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet with Alef-Bet Yoga For Kids by Bill and Ruth Goldeen or get a magical workout with Unicorn Yoga. You can even watch movies and Read-alongs!

Kids aren’t the only ones who can enjoy borrowing yoga books, movies, and more from the library. Yoga For Everyone: 50 Poses For Every Type of Body by Dianne Bondy has customized routines based on body type. Learn to sleep better and longer with Yoga for Better Sleep: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science–Postures, Breathing Exercises, and Mindfulness Practices For All Ages by Mark Stephens. Wake up with Waking Energy: 7 Timeless Practices Designed to Reboot Your Body and Unleash Your Potential by Jennifer Kries.

Yoga At Home: Inspiration for Creating Your Own Home Practice by Linda Sparrowe will teach you yoga practices from leading experts of Yoga Journal, accompanied by Sarah Keough’s photography. You can reserve print copies of Yoga Journal magazine through your online account, or check them out online through Overdrive/Libby. For a little humor, check out Dan Borris’s Yoga Dogs which teaches poses through the hilarious imagery of canines posing.  

Peruse through more yoga items for all ages in the library catalog or online through Overdrive/Libby and hoopla. There’s even a How To Do Yoga Great Course video series which you can stream through our RB Digital service

Abbot Public Library’s Songs with Spencer Continues on YouTube in September!

If you’re a local Marblehead resident who has kids to entertain, you may have visited our new YouTube channel to see the first of this month’s children’s programs. If you missed it, you can watch the program below!

Starting this Thursday, on September 3rd, a familiar face from our in-house pre-Covid programs will be virtually returning to the library and joining our other children’s program presenters on our YouTube channel.

Come join us online for Songs with Spencer on Thursdays! You’ll hear many old favorites, a story or two, and some brand new tunes never heard before! Each performance includes a segment on social & emotional development, with the help of our beloved orange monster friend, Bowie. We’re so excited to make music for you all – get ready to sing and dance along! The videos will be posted each week on the new Abbot Public Library YouTube Channel!

This program is supported by the Oliver P. Killam, Jr. Fund.

Tune In To Children’s Programs On Our New YouTube Channel Starting Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, the Abbot Public Library’s YouTube Channel goes live! We hope you can join us for the first September program, Yoga Story Time with Lindsey Kravitz! It will be posted tomorrow at 10:30 am on YouTube. 

Our weekly Story Time A-Go-Go will be continuing on Wednesdays in September, but it’ll be moving to the YouTube Channel! 

Debbie Leibowitz

Children are invited to view our weekly Wednesday Story Time A-Go-Go program online with stories and movement led by early childhood educator Debbie Leibowitz. Story Time A-Go-Go is a class for kids ages 18 months to 2.8 years old. It is designed to help children make fun, active connections between stories and movement. The videos will be posted each week on the new Abbot Public Library YouTube Channel!

This program is supported by the Oliver P. Killam, Jr. Fund.

Visit our website to view a full list of virtual programs we will hold in September. 

Abbot Public Library’s Yoga Storytime Coming To YouTube September 1st!

Regular attendees of the Story Time Yoga program that took place in the Abbot Public Library will be thrilled to know we will now be offering the program online!

Lindsey Kravitz will be recording her half hour yoga event, and it will be posted on the Abbot Public Library’s brand new YouTube Channel this coming Tuesday, September 1st at 10:30 am! Feel free to subscribe now to the YouTube channel so you will be notified when the first video gets added. All the other September children’s programs will be held this way as well. For a full list of September events, check out the library’s website.

We hope you come join Lindsey Kravitz for a fun online yoga story time with songs, books, poses, and quiet time. The program is 30 minutes and works well for babies, toddlers, and preschool-aged children accompanied by their caregivers. Watch the video on September 1st on the new Abbot Public Library YouTube Channel!

This program is supported by the Oliver P. Killam, Jr. Fund.


If you want even more yoga than the half hour program, check out the yoga materials for kids you can check out online on Overdrive/Libby app or hoopla, or reserve copies of physical items for Curbside pickup. Learn how to breathe like a bear, join Babar with yoga for elephants, or reserve a DVD (with now charge!) with yoga in space!

Sneak Peak at our September Virtual Programs!

We are pleased to announce we will be offering more virtual programs in September, via Zoom and the new Abbot Public Library YouTube Channel!

In the past few months, we have offered “Story Time A-Go-Go” with Debbie Leibowitz. Each week, Debbie writes a new story and posts a video of her reading it on YouTube to entertain and educate children. Check out this week’s video below:

We also offered “Music with Dara” on Fridays, and are happy to say Dara VanRemoortel, an early childhood music specialist, will be returning in September to offer her virtual program of songs and visual props. Check out these videos featuring original music by Dara!

These two programs will be continuing in September, but the videos will now be compiled on the Abbot Public Library’s brand new YouTube Channel, along with a couple new-to-the-screen children’s presenters and a familiar monthly adult program!

Joining Debbie and Dara for the first time online are some faces you will recognize from the children’s programs we offered inside the library. Yoga Story Time with Lindsey Kravitz will be a half-hour video geared towards babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. And, returning to the library’s lineup is Songs with Spencer! Spencer and his orange monster friend, Bowie, will share stories and tunes to get kids singing and dancing!

For adult programs, the library’s monthly Poetry Salon will be continuing virtually! Marblehead poet Claire Keyes will be discussing the poetry of Terrance Hayes via Zoom! Stay tuned for details on accessing this meeting on the Abbot Public LIbrary website

In the meantime, you can prepare for the Salon by reserving the featured book, American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, in print for Curbside Pickup, or listen to the audiobook on hoopla with no wait!

Visit the Abbot Public Library’s website News & Events page for more information on these programs! 

Continuing Yoga for Kids at Home

We miss our Story Time Yoga at the library! Until we can do that again in person, let’s look at some things to keep it going with the kids. After all, both adults and kids benefit from the emphasis on stretching, holding light poses, and breathing.

To keep yoga going at home, check out these titles on the Abbot Public Library’s e-collections:

On Overdrive:

Just Breathe: Meditation, Mindfulness, Movement, and More by Mallika Chopra and Brenna Vaghan 

An audiobook for ages 8-12.

On hoopla:

Yoga for Children by Mark Walansky

Songs for the whole yoga session from opening to closing poses. All composed with children in mind. 

Yoga and Mindfulness for Young Children by Maureen Heil and Ilene S. Rosen

An ebook for teachers and care providers who would like to know more about how to include yoga in early childhood settings.

100 Yoga Activities for Children by Shobana R. Vinay

An ebook best appreciated by parents interested in their children learning yoga.


To follow up, watch these two yoga instructors on YouTube who held programs designed for children and parents. “Yoga for Kids” with Sophia Khan and “Yoga for Kids” with Alissa Kepas. Both were geared to children and their parents and were clear and fun to follow along with. Get inspired to try some animal poses!