Summer Reading
The annual Summer Reading program encourages people of all ages to read throughout the busy summer months. Prizes and special events make the program extra fun and exciting, but our main goal is for the Lincolnwood community to get excited about reading and learning new things. Summer Reading provides a chance for everyone to explore books and develop new interests. Reading has been proven to reduce stress, help improve memory, and foster empathy.
Stop by the Youth and Teen Services or Adult Services reference desks at the Library in May and June to learn more, or you can sign up on Beanstack.
Beanstack
Beanstack is a platform for tracking reading to encourage everyone to have fun while learning. You'll be able to track your reading anywhere you go with a free account for Summer Reading and more.
Upcoming Events
Illinois Libraries Present: Chicago Pizza - Past, Present & Future with Steve Dolinsky (R) [IN-LIBRARY VIEWING]
*This registration is for those viewing the live, virtual program in the library.
Lincolnwood Reads
Join the Lincolnwood community of readers as we open the same books and close them with a deeper understanding of an annually chosen central topic. Participate in Lincolnwood Reads by exploring a book, attending enriching events, and coming together during this shared experience. Look out for more information about Lincolnwood Reads each winter.
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The Seed Keeper
2023 Lincolnwood Reads
A haunting novel spanning several generations, The Seed Keeper follows a Dakhóta family's struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most.
Rosalie Iron Wing has grown up in the woods with her father, Ray, a former science teacher who tells her stories of plants, of the stars, of the origins of the Dakhóta people. Until, one morning, Ray doesn't return from checking his traps. Told she has no family, Rosalie is sent to live with a foster family in nearby Mankato--where the reserved, bookish teenager meets rebellious Gaby Makespeace, in a friendship that transcends the damaged legacies they've inherited.
On a winter's day many years later, Rosalie returns to her childhood home. A widow and mother, she has spent the previous two decades on her white husband's farm, finding solace in her garden even as the farm is threatened first by drought and then by a predatory chemical company. Now, grieving, Rosalie begins to confront the past, on a search for family, identity, and a community where she can finally belong. In the process, she learns what it means to be descended from women with souls of iron--women who have protected their families, their traditions, and a precious cache of seeds through generations of hardship and loss, through war and the insidious trauma of boarding schools.
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The Fun Habit
2024 Lincolnwood Reads
Discover compelling scientific evidence for the value of fun - and of how having more of it will help you achieve better work-life balance, reduce stress and much more. Doesn't it seem that the more we seek happiness, the more elusive it becomes? There is an easy fix, hiding in plain sight. Fun is an action you can take here and now, practically anywhere, anytime. There is a multitude of research that proves how beneficial fun is to our physical and psychological well-being, yet all too often, its absence from our modern lives is striking. Whether you're a frustrated high-achiever trying to find a better work-life balance or someone simply seeking relief from life's overwhelming challenges, it's time to look into fun as a solution. The Fun Habit is the ultimate guide to reaping the serious benefits of fun. Drawing on cutting edge research, accessible science, and practical recommendations, Dr. Mike Rucker explains how you can build having fun into an actionable and effortless habit and why doing so will help you become healthier, joyful and more productive.
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We Move Together
2022 Lincolnwood Reads
"A bold and colorful exploration of all the ways that people navigate through the spaces around them and a celebration of the relationships we build along the way. We Move Together follows a mixed-ability group of kids as they creatively negotiate everyday barriers and find joy and connection in disability culture and community. The authors disabled, parents, and activists-have struggled to find books to read to their own kids that positively feature disabled characters in an engaging and non-didactic manner. Not surprising given that, in a recent study of 258 main characters in children's picture books, only one was visibly disabled. That's why they created this perfect tool for families, schools, and libraries to facilitate conversations about disability, accessibility, social justice, and community building. This fun and inspiring book includes a kid-friendly glossary (for ages 3-10)"--
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We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga
2023 Lincolnwood Reads
The Cherokee community is grateful for blessings and challenges that each season brings. This is modern Native American life as told by an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
The word otsaliheliga (oh-jah-LEE-hay-lee-gah) is used by members of the Cherokee Nation to express gratitude. Beginning in the fall with the new year and ending in summer, follow a full Cherokee year of celebrations and experiences. Written by a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, this look at one group of Native Americans is appended with a glossary and the complete Cherokee syllabary, originally created by Sequoyah.
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Outside, Inside
2021 Lincolnwood Reads
Something strange happened on an unremarkable day just before the season changed.
Everybody who was outside . . .
. . . went inside.
Outside, it was quieter, wilder, and different. Inside, we laughed, we cried, and we grew.
We remembered to protect the ones we love and love the ones who protect us.
While the world changed outside, we became stronger on the inside and believed that someday soon spring would come again.
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Disability Visibility
2022 Lincolnwood Reads
One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent—but all are underrepresented in media and popular culture. Activist Alice Wong brings together this urgent, galvanizing collection of contemporary essays by disabled people, just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act,
From Harriet McBryde Johnson’s account of her debate with Peter Singer over her own personhood to original pieces by authors like Keah Brown and Haben Girma; from blog posts, manifestos, and eulogies to Congressional testimonies, and beyond: this anthology gives a glimpse into the rich complexity of the disabled experience, highlighting the passions, talents, and everyday lives of this community. It invites readers to question their own understandings. It celebrates and documents disability culture in the now. It looks to the future and the past with hope and love. -
The Midnight Library
2021 Lincolnwood Reads
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
1000 Books Before Kindergarten
Parents and caregivers are the first and best education providers during the 0-5 early critical years. The 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge is a simple and manageable endeavor — read a book, any book, to your child, with the goal of reading 1,000 before kindergarten. Through this program, you can help your little one blossom into a budding reader by promoting positive reading habits, encouraging caregiver and child bonding through reading, and helping to build early learning skills during a vital developmental stage. 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten runs throughout the year.
Sign up for the program on Beanstack or visit the Youth and Teen Services desk to get started.
Need help picking out books to get you going on your reading journey? Visit our Read page for ideas, or stop by one of our service desks and a librarian will gladly help you with suggestions.
Interested in trying out a reading device? Our Library of Things collection houses Kindles pre-loaded with tons of content taylored for your reading tastes.