Today, the high school dropout rate has reached epidemic levels. There are nearly 40 million Americans without a high school diploma—and those adults looking to return to high school have limited options. The startling figures below from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2012 American Community Survey, uncover just how many adults in each state has less … Read more
Posted on February 23, 2016
Originally Posted by Helena Smith, DK Eyewitness Travel Blog
Steeped in history, effortlessly stylish, loud, or lavish – a city’s architectural highlights build its very character. From New York City’s geometric skyscrapers to the ancient wonders of Rome, discover some of DK’s Eyewitness Travel top cities for 2016 one fascinating building at a time.
Below are just the top three.
Read moreDK Eyewitness Travel Top Architectural Cities for 2016
By Sande B. In 1952, after my second younger brother was born, my parents packed us up and joined the rapid migration to the potato farm suburbs of Long Island. Now my favorite aunts and uncles and grandparents were no longer a hop and a skip away. Most days, I was terribly lonely, and after … Read more
By Eileen S. Growing up in Poland, my mother loved books and was a voracious reader. Unlike other girls, she didn’t like playing with dolls and other toys. If you gave her a book, she was happy as a clam. When she came to the U.S. after marrying my father, she didn’t speak a word … Read more
By Laurel S. As a second-generation librarian, I have been enjoying libraries for many decades. I learned very early the incredible fact that if I had a question, I could call the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library and the reference librarian would help me find the answer. I loved to read, and spent most of … Read more
By Terry M.
As a young man, a boy really, I LOVED the original Planet of the Apes movie.One Saturday afternoon, I was watching it for the umpteenth time and for some reason this time, I did not want it to end. It was that day, that maleficent fall almost snowy day I became a credit reader. While reading the closing credits, I made a discovery – I discovered that the film was based on a book, by Pierre Boulle. I immediately jumped up and ran throughout the house in search of my father. I found him in the kitchen. The next room over from which I had originally started my paternal hunt. With an outrageous sense of urgency I yelled, “Dad we have to go to the mall.” He withdrew his head from the refrigerator and while slowly turning to face me he closed the fridge door. Once we were face to face he casually tossed the bag o’ turkey he had retrieved on the kitchen table and said, “Why?”
By Kevin D. The Niagara Falls Public Library is built in the brutalist style of the Yale School of Architecture and Boston’s New City Hall: it LOOKS like a factory of knowledge and for a City of then 70k people (in 1970), now for 45,000 denizens, it is still an imposingly massive yet welcoming repository … Read more
By Stephanie W.
I grew up in a remote northern Ontario town, where the public library was, at first, too far away to visit. But a bookmobile came around every 3 weeks, and we were allowed to check out 2 books at a time. I had learned to read early, and always finished my 2 books within days, which left me waiting, eagerly, for return visits. Then when I was 8, a tiny branch library opened in a local strip mall, and my life changed. I virtually lived there, and devoured first the children’s section, and then, with my parents’ signed permission, the adult section. I read everything from Encyclopedia Brown to the Encyclopedia of Human Biology. My parents stressed the importance of education and reading, but were anything but wealthy, and could never have afforded to buy me everything – or much of – what I devoured. I directly credit libraries for the fact that I never thought that lack of money meant that I would be shut out of the joys of education, reading, or knowledge.
By Margaux D.
This is my story, what a great journey it has been!
I am a total geek and am so proud of it! Growing up I spent every free moment of my weekends and summers at the library. In college I used to cut the classes that I did not enjoy to hole up in the library and read for hours on end. The library has always been a comforting place for me and continues to welcome and nurture me like the supportive arms of a best friend.
By Martha V. I started working part-time in a very small (one-person) public library when my children were small. I hadn’t finished an even two-year college degree but the library didn’t require a degree. I loved working in the library, teaching people of all ages about the library and learning something new every day myself. … Read more