As we wrap up another wonderful year at the Cedar Rapids Public Library, we would like to express our gratitude to our patrons, our volunteers, our community partners, and our donors for their endless support. You have walked with us on our mission to serve as a beacon of literacy to those in our community… View more
“Books will help him clear the weeds and plant the seeds so he’ll succeed” – Lewis Henri Michaux Lewis Henri Michaux opened up The National Memorial African Bookstore in 1932 and it became an integral hub in Harlem for African Americans, drawing prominent figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Muhammed Ali, Eartha Kitt… View more
All the Light We Cannot See is one of only a handful of books I’ve read that I didn’t want to end. I loved this book. Anthony Doerr sees the world as a scientist, but feels it as a poet. He knows about everything—radios, diamonds, mollusks, birds, flowers, locks, guns—but he also writes a line… View more
Simply the best read aloud book to come out in ten years, The Book With No Pictures is a must read for anyone with children. Written by one of the great comedic writers working today, B.J. Novak (The Office) turns reading to your kids into an event. The Book With No Pictures lives up to… View more
I saw the Blu-ray of Babe on a library shelf a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t help saying “awwww”. Fortunately, all of my colleagues know I seldom contain my enthusiasm when I really like something, so my little outburst of nostalgia went relatively unnoticed. I have great memories of watching this movie with my… View more
Here’s a must-read for Halloween from the children’s library. Nightmares come and go, but after reading Go Away, Big Green Monster by Caldecott winner Ed Emberly, your child’s nightmares just may go away forever. The ingenious construction of this book “builds” a monster’s face as children turn the pages: first the yellow eyes, next… View more
Denis Johnson, the author of Jesus’ Son and Tree of Smoke, is a wonderful writer. He’ll lull you into his tale with clear, straight forward prose and then surprise you with a poetic scene of both beauty and import. This simple novella tells the story of Robert Granier, a laborer in the Northern Rockies during… View more
