Upcoming Events
Join us for our sensory friendly movie. This program is geared towards patrons 18 years and older with sensory issues, those on the autism spectrum or those who have other specific needs.
Telephone, online and in person registration begins two months prior to program date. Open to all adult drivers regardless of age. Please bring your license to class.
Enjoy songs, fingerplays, stories and dancing in this musical program.
Game Day
We provide the space, tables, chairs and a variety of games. Meet friends here or make new ones.
Disclaimer(s)
No registration required.
New & Upcoming
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Alice with a Why
A New York Times bestseller! • From bestselling author of the Chronicles of Whetherwhy and Pages & Co. series, comes a retelling of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland wherein Alice’s granddaughter finds herself tumbling down into Wonderland.
⋆"A cleverly constructed return to Wonderland...a winner through and through." --Booklist (starred review)
⋆"This homage sparkles. Delightful in every way."--Kirkus reviews (starred review)
⋆"A worthy reimagined follow-up to Alice in Wonderland, this story will delight new and old fans alike." --School Library Journal (starred review)
Journey back to Wonderland . . .
England, 1919. Alyce—with a Y—is sent to live with her grandmother, the original Alice, after having lost her father in war. When a mysterious invitation to a tea party hits her square in the face, Alyce realizes that her grandmother’s strange stories of a place called Wonderland might have some truth to them after all.
Soon Alyce is tumbling down into Wonderland herself, but the place she finds is not the colorful world she's heard stories of, but a world trapped in its own war. The Sun King and the Queen of the Moon are fighting over a stolen hour, and soon Alyce is tasked with setting it right. With the help of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and a Sailor Fox, Alyce will have to solve Wonderland’s problems and, eventually, find her way back home.
An enchanting adventure through Wonderland, Alice with a Why is both a celebration of Lewis Carroll’s beloved original story and a modern masterpiece. -
Ape Escape
In the tenth novel in New York Times bestselling author Stuart Gibbs’s FunJungle series, super sleuth Teddy Fitzroy is on the case to rescue an abducted young gorilla!
When a baby gorilla is stolen from an orphanage in Rwanda, Teddy, his parents, and an old family friend find themselves in a race against time to save it. Teddy has to piece together clues to figure out where the little ape is being taken while traveling through some of the most incredible—and dangerous—terrain in the world.
At the same time, he’s long-distance consulting with Summer to help solve another mystery back at FunJungle. Between facing down lions on the Serengeti and chasing poachers through the bazaars of Zanzibar, will Teddy be able to find the baby gorilla before it’s too late? -
Some of Us Are Brave
From the acclaimed author of The Strongest Heart comes a stirring new novel from the perspectives of three very different kids who are navigating the waters of fear and friendship through the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey in Texas.
It's a humid summer in Houston, Texas, and Yasir is dreaming of being soccer team captain--if only he could get the team bully, Cody, off his back, and maybe impress his sort-of-crush, Mona. Meanwhile, Mona is turning her nightmares into art, and Cody's home life feels as tense as the storm literally brewing down the coast.
When Hurricane Harvey makes landfall, the three kids could hardly be called friends. But as their regular lives fall apart and rising floodwaters pull them together, Mona, Cody, and Yasir will need to work as a team if they want to survive. The hurricane will churn up their deepest fears and cement their bond forever--if it doesn't tear them apart.
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The Road from Nowhere
Inside one of America's most troubled periods of economic crisis, The Road From Nowhere, from master storyteller and Newbery medalist Avi, is both a tightly plotted adventure and a big-hearted tale of boyhood that explores what it means to put a name to the feelings we're taught to push down far into the earth.
There's one road in Gatchett's Gluch--population forty-five--a silver mining town in the high Colorado desert. That means there's only one way in and one way out.
Fourteen-year-old Ollie feels trapped and restless, desperate to find his own lode of silver, so he can gain riches and get his family out of the town. As the man of the house, he feels that's his job, just as his younger brother Gus's job is to ask question after question. Though Ollie is unwilling to admit it, he doesn't have all the answers. He can't even read, unlike Alys, the only girl and only friend he has outside of Gus.
Meanwhile, a man who calls himself a geologist has arrived in town. Not only can he read books, he can read rocks, the first person that Ollie has ever seen who looks at rocks with fascination, not desperation. Most important, he knows how to stake a silver claim. So when Ollie, Gus, and Alys stumble upon a cave rich with silver and form a friendship with that geologist, the future suddenly looks good. The problem: Elijah Gatchett runs the Gulch and claims all its silver. Men have been kicked out--or shot at--for seeking it on their own. But for the kids, the only thing worse than their families staying under Gatchett's thumb is getting run out of town with not so much as a penny in their pockets.
The kids are desperate to find an answer. It may lay in that dark cave. How Ollie, Gus, and Alys navigate all this--with a surprising ending--is an old-west adventure that has never been told before.
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Hail Mariam
Hail Mariam is an interfaith Muslim take on Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret drawn from the author’s own experiences in Catholic school.
Sixth grade wasn’t supposed to be this complicated.
Iraqi American Mariam Hassan transfers to a local Catholic school and before her first day her parents remind her that she might be the first Muslim her classmates have ever met. No big deal, right? Just represent an entire religion while making new friends, keeping up with schoolwork, and figuring out who she is.
When Mariam’s younger sister, Salma, is diagnosed with a serious lung condition, her family faces endless doctor visits and sleepless nights. Mariam tries to lighten their burden and keep her own problems to herself—including the fact that she’s just been cast as Mary in the school’s Christmas nativity play.
Mariam wants to honor her faith and her new community, but she’s terrified of crossing a religious line. Can a Muslim girl be the lead in a Christian story? What will her family think? And why does she feel like every decision she makes represents all Muslims?
Mariam discovers that faith, much like friendships, isn’t about perfection—it’s about connection. As she leans on her family, friends, and school community, she begins to see the power of interfaith cooperation and learns she doesn’t have to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Hail Mariam is a celebration of the beauty of finding common ground. -
The Mighty Macy
A young girl finds her voice--and discovers the power of speaking up for herself and her community--in this sweet and humorous chapter book by award-winning, #1 bestselling author Kwame Alexander. Perfect for fans of Ivy + Bean and Ruby and the Booker Boys.
★ "A winning narrative about the power of language and learning to stand up for one's beliefs." ―Publishers Weekly, starred review
When Macy gets book one of The Mighty Zora series for her birthday, she stays up until 11:34pm finishing the book.
But the next day, when Macy gets to her school library, eager to check out book two, she finds the door locked with a sign explaining that the library will now only be open a few days a week due to budget cuts. Even worse, she finds out her father won't be home to help her figure out what to do, as he will be traveling to a museum in Montgomery, Alabama to read a poem about civil rights.
With help from her fellow third graders, support from her mom, and encouragement from poems written and hidden for her by her father, Macy must find her voice and learn the power of advocating for herself and her community.
Can Macy learn to be Mighty?
★ "Tender and powerful, this unique chapter book in verse is a delight ... highly recommended for elementary fiction shelves." ―School Library Journal, starred review
★ "An excellent choice for independent readers and classroom read-alouds. Like Macy, this story is one of a kind."―Booklist, starred review
★ "Unputdownable." ―Kirkus Reviews, starred review -
Houdini's Library
A fresh and fascinating picture book biography about the iconic magician Harry Houdini, an avid book collector who lived and breathed the idea that books are magic, from the author of Caldecott Honor book The Noisy Paint Box.
Houdini is the world's most beloved magician, and he became famous for all of the amazing tricks he accomplished. Houdini knew just how to captivate his audience, whether it was leaping from a bridge or freeing himself from a straitjacket. But in true magician's fashion, he kept a secret so great that not many people knew about, and that was his love for books!
As a young boy in Budapest, Harry learned to read at his father's knee. After the family emigrated to America, Harry grew up to be the amazing Houdini--but never lost his love of reading. He spent the rest of his life collecting all kinds of rare and unusual books, almost entirely about magic. With warm, inviting text and astounding art with miniature models constructed from paper, this extraordinary book opens a new page on the story of Harry Houdini. -
Carlotta's Special Dress
Carlotta Walls LaNier, the youngest of the Little Rock Nine, shares the true story about a girl, a dress, and the historic fight to attend an all-white school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Carlotta can't wait to wear her new dress on her first day of school. But when the moment finally arrives, she isn't allowed to go. The year is 1957, and the people of Little Rock, Arkansas, don't want Black students attending an all-white school and will do whatever it takes to keep them out.
As hate and danger escalate, will Carlotta and her Black classmates, known as the Little Rock Nine, have the strength and perseverance to keep dreaming of a better world?
This moving picture book autobiography from a Civil Rights pioneer-with extensive back matter including an author's note, comprehensive timeline, and historical photos-introduces a landmark event in the fight for desegregation and demonstrates the world-changing power children have to enact change through bravery and faith. -
The Gift of Freedom
From bestselling illustrator and Coretta Scott King honoree Laura Freeman and award-winning author Glennette Tilley Turner comes the little-known story of Harriet Tubman's daring rescue of her enslaved brothers on Christmas Day
Harriet Tubman was always a keen observer. She learned to use the North Star for a compass, to tell time by the stars, and to find her way by natural signs as well as any hunter could. She could navigate dense forests, locate waterways in the area, and identify the white Quakers and Black mariners who were willing to help enslaved people escape.
When Tubman first fled north, she knew she might never have another chance to run away. Yet after she arrived safely in the free city of Philadelphia, she risked her own freedom again and again to help other Freedom Seekers--and those she'd had to leave behind. She never forgot her family in Maryland, and on Christmas Day in 1854, Tubman returned again, hoping to give three of her brothers the best possible gift--the gift of freedom!
This historical picture book about the legendary Underground Railroad conductor, abolitionist, and suffragist was written based on personal interviews with Tubman's last surviving relative. A story of courage, hope, and family, The Gift of Freedom takes readers on an inspiring journey during one of America's darkest times.
Includes a letter to readers, an author's note, and a bibliography. -
The Big Book of Pi
★ "An astonishing, delightful, and illuminating celebration of mathe-magics." - Kirkus (STARRED review)
★ "This fun, informative, and highly visual title is a unique addition that belongs on the "M" shelf in all STEM collections." - Booklist (STARRED review)
A Junior Library Guild Selection
A mathe-magician explores what makes Pi so intriguing, so unknowable and so very important to our lives.
For millennia, humans have been obsessed with the number Pi. We needed it for architecture, geometry and astronomy, and so it was sought by the ancient Egyptians, the Mayans and the ancient Chinese. But no one has ever found it--and no one ever will because Pi is infinite and irrational. Its decimals contain the birthdates of all the children who have ever lived, every piece of music, the complete works of Shakespeare. Pi never ends and can't be learned, but humans keep on trying. Today, we know trillions of decimals of Pi, even if the first fifteen are more than enough to send a rocket to Mars!
Telling the story of Archimedes the Greek to Srinivasa Ramanujan the Indian (who saw in his dreams a formula for calculating Pi still used by computers today), via Arabs and mathematics enthusiasts from all over the world and all eras, The Big Book of Pi is an extraordinary adventure (almost) to infinity.
Written by a mathe-magician with a Pi-passion, in these pages you'll meet a man who memorized ten thousand digits--and get a chance to try yourself. You'll read about a Pi paradox and a Pi magic trick and laugh at more Pi jokes than you ever thought you'd hear. We can't ever know Pi, but there sure is a lot to learn!