@ Your Library
Happy New Year! The library hopes you have resolved to use your library more while reading regularly in 2026. The library continues to stock new and delightful books for your reading pleasure. The library encourages parents and grandparents to read to show children that reading is an activity of choice and not just something done at school. So talk to the children you encounter about what you are reading, whether it is a cool magazine article, a great fiction book or a terrific non-fiction that helped you explore the broader world.
The 2026 Reading Challenge is here. Read 30 books (for any age) in 10 different categories (three for each category.) Pick up a Reading Passport at the library to begin your reading journey. The ten categories can be defined as you choose, we just want to help you explore the world through reading. Complete the challenge and get a Chamber Dollars certificate. Challenge is available now at the library.
New books in the junior room include Katherine Applegate’s newest, Pocket Bear. Pocket is over 100 years old, he was originally created to fit in the pocket of a World War I soldier. Now he is the unofficial leader of Second Chances Home for the Tossed and Treasured. A story of bravery, loyalty and kindness showing that we all deserve second chances. Lost Evangeline is the latest novel in Kate DiCamillo’s Norendy stories. A shoemaker discovers a tiny girl, no bigger than a mouse and names her Evangeline and takes her home. But of course that is just the start of the story.
I am Not Okay by David DeGrand is a graphic novel for young children still figuring out emotions and friendship. Fluff Nugget doesn’t like to see anyone sad and has a delightfully, silly song that he sings to any and all that need it. But this day, everyone seems to be in need of cheering up. Can you sing the song so much that you are sad and down in the dumps? Another look at emotions is The Happy Shop by Brittany Long Olsen. A young girl who recently moved, stumbles upon a shop with unique jars of ‘happy things.’ Will it help her not feel so lost and missing her friends?
Dragon Flower by Chen Jiang Hong is a gorgeous new picture book about a young girl seeking a flower to make her mother better. She finds the flower and its guardian dragon.
Another picture book with a little bit lighter tone is No More Gnomes by Beth Mills. A well-mannered child struggles to tell his neighbor Mrs. Goat that he thinks her garden gnomes are creepy and boorish. The very young and the young not so long ago will enjoy Floor It! by Bex Tobin Fine. A baby sets out to crawl across the room, it is such a major quest for a newly crawling youngster, but keeps being distracted by things encountered along the way. Will baby ever make it across the room?