September 15 to October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month. Started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson, it was later expanded to a full month under President Ronald Reagan in 1988. The period also coincides with independence anniversary celebrations in several Latin American countries. We wanted to take the opportunity to draw… View more
By Programming Librarian Meredith Crawford Don’t every let anyone tell you graphic novels don’t count as reading, or that they’re only for younger readers. Whether you’re a graphic novel enthusiast or newcomer to these illustrated stories, here are five great titles published in the last year. These recommendations are from a virtual program in our Read Woke series. Full… View more
Read the book before the film hits your screens! These children and young adult stories were recently acquired for film or television adaptation. Check them out before everyone else does and stay off the holds list. Written by Stephanie Perkins for a young adult, horror-loving audience, There’s Someone Inside Your House was purchased by Netflix… View more
The 2000s Made Me Gay: Essays on Pop Culture by Grace PerryPublished June 1, 2021. Social Science. A longtime contributor to The Onion and The Reductress, Perry turns her pen to the 2000s pop culture she grew up on. In a time when queer representation was largely missing from mainstream media, she recounts finding it… View more
The month of June is marked by the end of the school year for most students, the beginning of summer, and Pride Month. While often associated with a time for celebration, it is important to honor its history. The first Pride events were held in New York City in June 1970 on the one year… View more
Asian and Asian American authors and characters represent a wide variety of stories and cultures. Asia is, of course, an enormous continent home to a wide-ranging experiences and identities. It would be a mistake to look to Asian culture as a homogenous identity. Instead, we celebrate a variety of cultures and creators during Asian/Pacific Islander… View more
See what the Cedar Rapids Public Library staff was reading and watching in 2020.
Bree Matthews is a lot of things in this fantasy young adult work from Tracy Deonn. She’s Black. She’s young (and graduated early from high school to be accepted into an early college program at UNC-Chapel Hill). She’s grieving the recent death of her mother and the anger of a life unlived. But she is… View more
Historian and author Ibram X. Kendi has published five books and countless articles on the construction of an anti-racist movement including the 2016 National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America and the New York Times bestseller How to Be an Anti-Racist. His 2016 work was adapted with author Jason Reynolds… View more
Our staff is taking time right now to share reviews of some of the books, movies, and music they’re enjoying during their time at home. The views are uniquely their own. Be sure to tell us what you think! Never Let Me Go by Kazua Ishiguro Do you ever get in a reading funk? I… View more
