Pride Month is celebrated each year in June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Among other things, it’s a great time to learn more about and honor key figures in the LGBTQ+ Rights Movement and the fight for full equality. For those in the community, it can also be a personal or even communal celebration of self-worth, dignity, and visibility. For more, including a few highlights in Jacksonville's own LGBTQ+ history, read on! Happy Pride!
Jax Kids’ Book Club (first formed more than 15 years ago as Mayor Peyton’s Book Club) is a FREE early literacy summer reading program for all Duval County Pre-Kindergarteners who are preparing to enter kindergarten in the fall of each year. gives rising kindergarteners a set of books of their very own to build their home libraries. If you have a child entering Kindergarten this fall, come into any Jacksonville Public Library for a free set of Jax Kids Book Club books
Calling all Duval County teens to Jacksonville Public Library's second annual Battle of the Books! This is an exciting book-based competition that you’ll play from home using Kahoot! Battle it out until the best book is crowned champion!
Are you ready to start your Summer Reading? June is a huge month for publishing so we asked our Readers' Advisory Committee to share some of June’s hot new releases that you need to look out for this summer. If you haven't signed up for our Summer Reading program yet, do so now! All of your reading fun adds up, helping you earn prizes. Plus, the programs are free and open to everyone. So grab your beach chair, pop that umbrella, and let's go!
Spread the word! The Free Summer Lunch Program at the Jacksonville Public Library will officially kick off on June 7th! To help ensure that kids don't go hungry while school is out of session, free and nutritious meals are available for children and teens 18 and younger at many library locations.
Sometimes an epic fail can become an epic success. The Space Race in the US started with a failed satellite launch nicknamed “Kaputnik” and the Wright brothers had many mishaps on their way to their first powered flight. For Erik Slader, writing and talking about these epic fails has led to a successful podcast and children’s book series!
Erik will share his experiences in writing and talking about history at our next Lit Chat, so be sure to join us!
From a book about twin witches beginning their training as the protectors of Gates to different worlds to a new book by three-time National Book Award finalist and Coretta Scott King Award-winning author, Rita Williams-Garcia, there are some real YA gems coming to your library this month. Add in a summer reading challenge and your summer just got that much better! Here are a few new YA books to check out with your library card this month.
In May, we celebrate Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians and their contributions to the history, traditions, and culture of these great United States. Members of this diverse community have helped shape American life for almost two hundred years. By hearing other's stories and uplifting different voices within the AAPI community, we can all reach a greater understanding of and appreciation for the experiences of this diverse group of people as well as the positive impact they’ve had (and continue to have) on our country.
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