Summer Reading Club is happening now at your local library! Stop by any location of the Delaware County District Library to get in the spirit of this year’s theme, “Camp DCDL.”
Of course, reading isn’t just for our youngest library attendees, it’s for everyone! This year, adults have a special Summer Reading Club challenge to read four books or attend four library programs. Fill in any combination of either on a bookmark and turn it in at a branch for a chance to win a set of Camp DCDL mugs delivered straight to your door.
If you’re having a hard time picking out your next book, the DCDL Personalized Picks service is back again for Summer Reading Club. Get started by simply filling out the Personalized Picks form at www.delawarelibrary.org/personalized-picks.
It will ask about the last few books that you read and enjoyed, what aspects you liked about them, and what you want us to steer you toward (or away from) for your next title. Then, our experts will send you an email with a list of books that we think you might enjoy, based on your answers.
The form is primarily for young adult and adult readers. However, if a child or tween reader is looking for reading recommendations, we suggest that a grown-up help complete the form on their behalf, so we can best understand the child’s reading tastes.
Another great way to find a new book is to join a DCDL Book Club. The clubs meet at branches all over the Delaware County District Library system and virtually. That means that each month there are plenty of options to choose from. Here are some of the titles we’re discussing this summer, and how you can meet to discuss it.
• “West With Giraffes” by Lynda Rutledge. Meets Tuesday, June 13 @ 5:30 p.m. at the Liberty Branch Library. Inspired by true events, this part adventure, part historical saga and part coming-of-age love story follows Woodrow Wilson Nickel as he recalls his journey in 1938 to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo.
• “The Love of My Life” by Rosie Walsh. Meets Thursday, June 15 @ 2:00 p.m. at the Orange Branch Library. When Emma suffers a serious illness, her husband, an obituary writer, unravels her dark past, and she must somehow prove to him that she really is the woman he married, but first, she must tell him about the other love of her life.
• “Shuggie Bain” by Douglas Stuart. Meets Tuesday, June 27 @ 1:00 p.m. at the Delaware Main Library. A young boy growing up in a rundown 1980s Glasgow public housing facility pursues some semblance of a normal life as his older siblings move on and his mother increasingly succumbs to alcoholism.
• “The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead. Meets Wednesday, July 5 @ 11:00 a.m. at the Ostrander Branch Library. Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning, The Underground Railroad, as it follows the harrowing experiences of two African-American teens at an abusive reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.
• “Black Cake” by Charmaine Wilkerson. Meets Thursday, July 6 @ 5:30 p.m. virtually. Register online at www.delawarelibrary.org/event. Two estranged siblings try to reclaim the closeness they once shared while trying to piece together their late mother’s life story and fulfill her last request of sharing a traditional Caribbean black cake “when the time is right.”
• “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Meets Tuesday, August 1 @ 12:30 p.m. at Local Roots restaurant in Powell. When an aging and reclusive Hollywood icon selects an unknown magazine reporter to write her life story, the baffled journalist forges deep ties with the actress during a complicated interview process that exposes their tragic common history.
If you have a question that you would like to see answered in this column, mail it to Nicole Fowles, Delaware County District Library, 84 E. Winter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call us at 740-362-3861. You can also email your questions by visiting the library’s web site at www.delawarelibrary.org or directly to Nicole at [email protected]. No matter how you contact us, we’re always glad you asked!
