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Black History Month celebrates Black storytellers, creators, politicians, leaders, and artists.

It’s about celebrating being Black and the Black people in your life.

Here at DPPL, we want to showcase some of our favorite books by Black authors for kids, teens and adults.

Continue Reading "Fifteen Books From Black Authors We Are Loving Right Now" →

It’s hard to believe it’s cuffing season in Illinois when temperatures are 70 in November.

Despite the gorgeous warm weather, we are well into fall.

Now is still a prime time to break out the toasted marshmallow hot chocolate and cozy socks.

Continue Reading "Fall in Love" →

Not to state the obvious during these uncertain times.

But the infuriating, killer virus that causes COVID-19 has forever changed our world as we knew it. In oh, so many ways. 

And the changes keep coming. (Not to mention the current surge in the country of new cases.) Got your seatbelt and helmet on? 

As a nonscientist, here's what I know about the fallout from the novel coronavirus, formally known as SARS Co-V-2, that hit the proverbial fan in March.

Continue Reading "Thoughts On the Pandemic: How It Has Changed Us" →

We’re still in the midst of a pandemic so it should come as little surprise that Halloween celebrations and trick-or-treating will look different this year.

Do not let this stop you from getting into the Halloween spirit though!

Check out one of these spooky titles to get the adrenaline going and give you those frights you are looking for, all from the safety of your home.

Costumes optional.

Continue Reading "Creepy Reads for Teens to get into the Halloween Spirit" →

October brings many things—the changing of the leaves, pumpkins, new latte flavors… but one facet of October that sometimes gets missed is LGBTQ+ History Month.

This month commemorates National Coming Out Day on October 11th, as well as the first and second marches on Washington for LGBTQ+ rights in 1979 and 1987.

It’s also interesting to note that LGBTQ+ History Month directly follows Banned Books Week, the last week of September.

LGBTQ+ books are some of the most frequently challenged books in schools, from Captain Underpants to The Color Purple.

Continue Reading "Read With Pride" →