Emma Blanchette, Reference Assistant
After earning degrees in Applied Linguistics, French, and Music at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and spending a couple years teaching English in rural Japan, I've since returned as a Library and Information Sciences graduate student. I began working at the Whitefish Bay Public Library as a Reference Assistant in April 2026, and am excited to join the team and community! I read a little bit of everything, but poetry, prose, and short stories hold a special place in my heart. If I'm not reading, I'm usually listening to music, playing the viola, or taking walks around the city.
emmma.blanchette@mcfls.org
Madame Bovary
Bored by her life as a young housewife, Madame Bovary spends her days idealizing the exciting lives of characters in the romance novels she escapes to. As she begins chasing the same passions she reads about, the question arises: will real life ever be as exciting as her books? Just as relevant for modern audiences today as it was at its release in 1857, this classic piece of French literature explores the inner working of dreamers, and the distance they will go to make dreams reality.
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Collected Works
The poet that revived my love for the genre, Lorine Niedecker was a Wisconsin native who wove the wilderness of the land into her words. Often examining themes of gender, feminism, and work from the unique perspective of a woman far removed from the big city avant-garde movements of her time, Niedecker's work is emotional, witty, lyrical, and quintessentially Wisconsin.
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Letters to a Young Poet
The letters Rilke wrote in response to a young writer seeking advice on art expanded into timeless discussions on identity, love, and life as a whole. Although Rilke never met the young author, the thoughtful care with which he wrote to him resulted in intimate, powerful musings on the meaning of it all.
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Edgar Allen Poe & The Juke-Box
This collection of journal findings and archival material from Bishop's personal collections reveals the innerworkings of one of the most celebrated poets of the 20th century. The works included are dreamy, nostalgic, romantic, and surrealist fragments of poems-to-be, already delightful to read in their own right.
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Saga: Volume 1
Imagine if Romeo and Juliet met in a space opera universe with war, magic, and loveable side characters. That's sort of what reading the Saga graphic novel series is like, complete with beautifully illustrated pages and witty dialog. Each volume takes you on an emotional adventure through a fantasy-stuffed galaxy and leaves you waiting for the story to be continued.
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