Themed Bookshelves

Each year, lots of families carve jack-o’-lanterns to celebrate Halloween. But did you know that the first jack-o’-lanterns were carved from turnips, not pumpkins? In Ireland and Scotland people hollowed out turnips and gave them creepy faces to celebrate the feast of All Hallows’ Eve. Many years later, when immigrants from the UK arrived in North America, they discovered that the native pumpkin made a much better jack-o’-lantern, because it was larger and softer than a turnip.  Trick-or-treating would look quite different today, without those familiar orange faces glowing in the dark! Here are some wonderful, pumpkin-themed books that will help get you ready to trick or treat: Read More

The world’s population includes 2 billion children aged 0-14. These children live in 195 different countries, speak more than 7,000 languages, and represent hundreds of different ethnicities. In celebration of World Inclusion Day, enjoy these stories about children whose race, gender, abilities or experiences might differ from yours! Read More

In honor of National Hispanic & Latín Heritage Month, learn more about Frida Kahlo, the brilliant Mexican artist who painted at Casa Azul in Frida Kahlo: Revolutionary Painter!, and explore other wonderful books that celebrate Hispanic and Latín heritage. Read More

Pirates may not have buried much treasure on deserted islands, cried “argh” when displeased, or forced their captives to walk the plank. (Argh!) But some pirate lore seems to be based on fact. Pirates actually had parrots for pets, wore eye patches, and flew the Jolly Roger. (Blimey!) To celebrate National Talk Like a Pirate Day, read a pirate book or three. Discover interesting facts and popular pirate myths, and find out more about the seadogs, swashbucklers and scallywags who roamed the briny deep. Read More

In 1902, the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, was on a hunting trip in Mississippi, when he refused to shoot a bear. The owner of a candy store in Brooklyn, New York, named Morris Michtom, read about the incident, and he and his wife, Rose, created a stuffed bear in his honor – Teddy’s Bear. Read More

Danish author Hans Christian Anderson wrote the fairytale, The Little Mermaid, almost 200 years ago. In 1913, a statue was placed along the beach in Copenhagen, Denmark, to celebrate the well-known story and its author. And today, the statue of The Little Mermaid is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Denmark. Celebrate National Beach Day with these stories about mermaids! Read More

Children all over the world typically go back to school following their summer holidays. This means that school starts in August or September in the Northern Hemisphere, and January or February in the Southern Hemisphere. But even though many kids start school at the same time, what it means to go back to school may be very different. In Caracas, Venezuela, children can take a gondola to school. In a remote region of Colombia, children get to school by riding a zip line. In the Philippines, there is a schoolhouse made almost entirely of recycled soda and water bottles. There are floating boat schools in Bangladesh and a school shaped like a giant cat in Karlsruhe, Germany. To celebrate Back to School Month, here are some great books about different ways to go back to school! Read More

According to CNN, five million people every month search Google for “Spider-Man” – far more searches than for any other superhero.  When is National Spiderman Day?... Now you know. It's August 1st. Who is your favorite superhero?... Celebrate National Spider-Man Day with these great stories featuring other well-known (and not so well-known) superheroes. Read More

Lis Hartel was only 23 years old in 1944 when polio left her paralyzed from the knees down. Determined to still compete as an equestrian, Lis taught herself to ride again. In 1952, she earned a silver medal in dressage at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki – the very first year women were welcome to compete at the Olympic Games, and eight years before the first Paralympics (the largest international sports competition for athletes with disabilities) was held in 1960. Celebrate National I Love Horses Day with these great nonfiction books about horses and riders, including Jubilee: The First Therapy Horse and an Olympic Dream!   Read More

Ice cream has been a favorite food in the United States since the 1700s. In the 1800s, an ice cream maker was invented – it allowed people to hand-crank the ice cream inside a bucket of ice, mixing the ingredients until they slowly froze.  Today, there are electric ice cream makers, and huge ice cream factories make almost a billion gallons of ice cream in the U.S. every year! However, (according to our friend Google) you can actually make ice cream without an ice cream maker (electric or otherwise), if you have a few simple ingredients plus ice, salt, and two plastic bags. Here are some great books about making and enjoying ice cream. Yum! Read More