News & Updates

Be a Part of the Tiny Art Show
Aug. 19, 2025 – The public is invited to be part of the Tiny Art project - and have their masterpieces displayed at the library and the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.

Changes Coming to Our Overdrive/Libby Digital Library
We are making some behind-the-scenes improvements to our OverDrive system to streamline the experience and reduce confusion for users. These changes will be implemented on August 19, 2025.
What You Need to Know:

Check These Out: Dark Academia
Aug. 11, 2025 – As a new semester approaches, we've curated a list of novels with a dark and magical take on the school experience.
Recommended Reads
-
My Hero Academia, Vol. 41
*Vol. 41 is here!* Midoriya inherits the superpower of the world’s greatest hero, but greatness won’t come easy.
Published June 6, 2025.
Midoriya’s epic final battle with Shigaraki reaches its earth-shattering crescendo! With Danger Sense stolen away and the villain threatening to wipe Japan off the map, Midoriya has to get really creative with his Quirks to survive. The Second’s plan to smash the vestiges of One For All into the core of Shigaraki’s psychic space is the last chance the heroes have to stop All For One’s grand schemes from coming to fruition. But first, Midoriya has to land a solid punch!
Midoriya’s epic final battle with Shigaraki reaches its earth-shattering crescendo! With Danger Sense stolen away and the villain threatening to wipe Japan off the map, Midoriya has to get really creative with his Quirks to survive. The Second’s plan to smash the vestiges of One For All into the core of Shigaraki’s psychic space is the last c -
Partypooper
TO BE PUBLISHED October 21, 2025** International bestselling author Jeff Kinney serves up heaps of laughs in Partypooper, the 20th book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
You're Invited--RSVP for Fun!
Over the years, Greg Heffley has chronicled his mishaps and misadventures in a series of diaries--make that journals--but book 20 of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Partypooper, really takes the cake!
Expect gobs of fun and over-the-top antics as Greg throws an epic birthday party for none other than himself. So come celebrate and laugh alongside Greg, his family, and the entire world of Wimpy Kid fans.
Collect all the books in the #1 bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (#1) | Rodrick Rules (#2) | The Last Straw (#3) | Dog Days (#4) | The Ugly Truth (#5) | Cabin Fever (#6) | The Third Wheel (#7) | Hard Luck (#8) | The Long Haul (#9) | Old School (#10) | Double Down (#11) | The Getaway (#12) | The Meltdown (#13) | Wrecking Ball (#14) | The Deep End (#15) | Big Shot (#16) | Diper Överlöde (#17) | No Brainer (#18) | Hot Mess (#19) | Partypooper (#20)
See the Wimpy Kid World in a whole new way with the #1 bestselling Awesome Friendly books, told from the perspective of Greg Heffley's best friend Rowley Jefferson: Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal | Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure | Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories -
Karen's Ghost: A Graphic Novel (Baby-Sitters Little Sister #11)
THE NEWEST BABY-SITTERS LITTLE SISTER (GRAPHIC NOVEL #11).
Another graphic novel in this fun series spin-off from The Baby-sitters Club, adapted and illustrated by DK Yingst!
Karen thinks there's a ghost in her house! But she has never really seen the ghost of Old Ben Brewer... until now.
Karen and her stepsister, Kristy, have found out that Ben Brewer and his spooky friends are going to have a birthday party in their attic on Halloween night! It used to be fun having a ghost around. But now Karen isn't so sure!
-
Dear Dad: Growing Up with a Parent in Prison -- And How We Stayed Connected
A stunning graphic novel memoir about growing up with an incarcerated parent.
" ...Your dad is coming back home."
As far back as nine-year-old Jay Jay Patton can remember, her dad, Antoine has been in prison. Growing up in Buffalo, New York with her mom and younger brother, she's only been to visit him twice. Instead, the two have sent each other numerous letters -- Jay Jay's letters can take weeks or months to reach her dad, and some never even get delivered. What's it going to be like having Dad home?
This powerful coming-of-age graphic novel memoir tells Jay Jay Patton's life of growing up with a dad in -- and out of -- prison. How she and her dad were able to develop a powerful father/daughter bond and create Photo Patch -- a life-changing application that connects children to incarcerated parents. Because no child should have to grow up unable to engage with their parents. As Jay Jay says: "it's not a privilege for a kid to be able to talk to their parent. It's a right."
-
Hell Followed with Us
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors.
"A long, sustained scream to the various strains of anti-transgender legislation multiplying around the world like, well, a virus." —The New York Times
Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.
But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.
Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own. Perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and Annihilation.
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A William C. Morris Award Finalist
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A YAVA Award Nominee!
A Booklist Editors' Choice Selection
A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
Named to the ALA Rainbow Roundtable's Rainbow Book List -
The Prom Queen (Fear Street) by R.L. Stine
ON NETFLIX NOW! "FEAR STREET: THE PROM QUEEN," is the latest installment based on classic R.L. Stine novels, following 2021's trilogy of slashers. Set in the neon-drenched 1980's, Prom Queen follows a whole new generation of Shadysiders as they prepare for their senior prom.
It’s 1988 in Shadyside. A spring night, soft moonlight, five beautiful prom queen candidates, dancing couples at the high school prom—these should be the makings of a perfect, romantic night. But Lizzie McVay realizes someone is brutally killing the prom queen candidates one by one and she may be next on the list.
Can she stop the murderer before the big dance is over…for good? -
Mary Anne and the Great Romance (the Baby-Sitters Club #30)
**NEW** To be published 2/4/2025. America's favorite series returns with a new look and a Netflix TV show.
It's official -- Mary Anne's father and Dawn's mother are getting married! The Baby-sitters think it's so romantic, especially since Mr. Spier and Mrs. Schafer first fell in love when they were in high school.
But nothing can top Mary Anne and Dawn's excitement. They want a huge wedding with beautiful dresses, lots of presents, and a five-layer cake. After all, this isn't just any wedding. Mary Anne and Dawn are going to be baby-sitters, best friends, and sisters, too!
-
Mallory and the Trouble with Twins: A Graphic Novel (the Baby-Sitters Club #17)
**NEW** To be published 3/4/2025. A Baby-sitters Club graphic novel adapted by New York Times bestselling cartoonist Arley Nopra!
Mallory knows she's a good baby-sitter. She's been looking after her seven younger brothers and sisters for years. So when Kristy offers her a steady job baby-sitting for the Arnold twins, Mal thinks it'll be easy money.
The twins sure are cute in their matching outfits. But once Mrs. Arnold leaves, Marilyn and Carolyn turn into twin terrors! They trick Mallory so that she can't tell them apart and they act like spoiled brats.
Taking care of Marilyn and Carolyn is a baby-sitting nightmare. But Mallory is a responsible member of the Baby-sitters Club and she's not giving up!
-
Middle School: Too Uncool for School
In this hilarious installment of a #1 New York Times bestselling series, Rafe is finally getting a taste of the cool life--but his problems are red-hot!
Rafe Khatchadorian has never been cool. But all that changes when he becomes the guitarist in an awesome rock band and wrangles a part-time job at Hills Village's trendiest new coffee shop slash yoga studio. No more being at the bottom of the middle school food chain--Rafe is finally going to be popular!
He just has two teeny problems: the awesome rock band is led by none other than the school bully. And the band actually isn't awesome--they absolutely stink, and Rafe has to whip them into shape for the Best Band Competition.
With Rafe's newfound coolness on the line, will he find a way to hit the stage in style, or is he doomed to dorkdom forever? -
Minecraft: Journey to the Ancient City
The next blockbuster Minecraft novel from the bestselling publishing program--now with over five million books in print!
Opal has almost done it all—fought monsters, protected people from pillagers, and even defeated the legendary Ender Dragon! But that’s all in the past. Now, Opal has hung up her adventuring hat and is living the life of a happy creafter, far more likely to build a bed than to fight a Wither. In fact, Opal has decided that her time is best spent building her dream manor outside the very village that displays the Ender Dragon skull she brought back from the End!
Meanwhile, Opal’s sister, Lisa, is at the beginning of her own journey. She’s ready to be a hero. Just ask her. Or don’t. She’ll tell you anyway. She knows every single story ever told about her sister and probably about a few other heroes as well. She admires Opal immensely—always has. But now it’s her turn for an adventure.
And that adventure might be bigger than she could ever have imagined. One day, a traveling adventurer named Braun arrives in town, claiming he knows how to defeat the Warden—a fearsome mob that not even Opal has bested. Lisa jumps at the chance to join Braun on his epic quest, and Opal reluctantly agrees to accompany the duo—only to protect her sister, of course. But along the way, Opal might just rediscover her love of adventure, and realize that it’s even more fun when someone else is there to share in the story….