Picture book biographies are a growing trend in publishing. They are narrative nonfiction books which are written like a story making them appealing to children. They tend to be beautifully illustrated and easy to read, and offer young learners an excellent introduction to some of the most important people in our history. Some examples of… View more
The Water Dancer is the latest release by best-selling author Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Beautiful Struggle, We Were Eight Years in Power, Between the World and Me) and can now be checked out at your library. Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but… View more
Banned Books Week (September 22-28, 2019) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. It brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types —… View more
The annual Iowa City Book Festival will be held October 1-6, 2019. If you are a book lover and interested in exploring some amazing authors, this is a wonderful opportunity! The Book Festival includes author events with Raj Patel, John Sanford, James Geary, Kei Miller, Lauren Markham, Don Waters and so much more. Events take… View more
One of our newest digital resources, hoopla, provides access to a variety of movies, music, ebooks, and audiobooks, all at your fingertips with your library card. You can download the hoopla app or visit the website and login with your card number to begin streaming your favorite things. If you are a fan of The Gone… View more
Fall is here and that means it’s time for a new batch of must-read books. We have selected ten titles we believe you’ll enjoy and put them in our Fall issue of OPEN+ magazine. Check out the selection and put a hold on your pick today.
The Cedar Rapids Public Library Foundation announced that more than 5,000 children are actively enrolled in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. This figure represents 55% of children ages 0 to 5 living in Cedar Rapids and puts the program on track to mail their 100,000th book by year-end. Any child under the age of five who… View more
The Cedar Rapids Public Library is now offering a new digital service called Hoopla, offering Cedar Rapids citizens access to downloadable audiobooks, ebooks, music, comics, movies, and television delivered directly to your device. “Hoopla offers access to a new library of digital content for our community,” said Dara Schmidt, Director of the Cedar Rapids Public… View more
The Ladd Library will open on Saturdays from 9 am to 5 pm beginning July 1. The additional open hours come two years after budget cuts forced a reduction in service hours at both Cedar Rapids Public Library locations. “We are very excited to be able to offer additional hours for our community,” said Dara… View more
Teens ages 12 – 18 are DARED to register for free half-day camps at the Cedar Rapids Public Library as part of the 2019 Summer Dare. The 2019 Summer Dare is not your average summer reading program. It is an intergenerational summer learning program that challenges the entire community to get out, explore, learn, connect,… View more
