Need some homework help? Want to practice your reading skills by reading aloud? Drop in to the Children's Room between 5 and 7 p.m. every Wednesday this fall to get a little extra help from a preservice teacher in the UI College of Education.
This program is for school-age (kindergarten through sixth grade) children only. Please bring something to work on with the tutor. Children may be limited to a 20-minute session with the tutor if others are waiting.
HelpNow is a unique tutoring, homework help, skills building, and studying suite designed to assist patrons of all ages succeed by providing live online help from tutors, including tutoría en español. The tool is offered by the State Library of Iowa and available through our website. Visit Brainfuse HelpNow to get free homework help!
Want to learn a new language or get help with your language class? Visit Mango Languages and all of our online resources.
Don’t forget, resident cardholders can download ebooks, eaudios, magazines, movies and more through our Digital Library, open 24/7.
Friday, September 9 from 4-5 p.m. we will celebrate the Moon/Mid-Autumn festival! Together we will be sharing stories, watching a traditional shadow play, and making some snowy mooncakes! Learn all about this special day from Librarian Fang and enjoy a mooncake.
To find out about all of our weekly programs in the Storytime Room, visit: icpl.org/kids
The Carol Spaziani Intellectual Freedom Festival affirms everyone's right to freedom of thought and expression. In the Children’s Room, we celebrate that everyone of every age should be able to find ideas and resources in a variety of formats, including through programs!
Here at the Library we LOVE to celebrate your right to read any books you want! Sometimes books get challenged or banned, so all September long we thank our "lucky stars" that we can enjoy all kinds of great books! One of our favorite authors is Eric Carle, and one of his books, "Draw Me a Star," was challenged because of depictions of the human body. Drop in to create your own collage star to celebrate your right to read!
Thursday, September 22 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Storytime Room
Celebrate Intellectual Freedom by enjoying several animated shorts of frequently banned or challenged picture books such as "Where the Wild Things Are," "Strega Nona," "The Snowy Day," "Little Red Riding Hood," and "Babar." Note that this program will be longer than a normal storytime, so feel free to stop in for part or all of the movies. Popcorn will be served!
Tweens are invited to a monthly meet-up to discuss graphic novels. At our September meeting, we'll be discussing "Drama" by Raina Telgemeier, which appears regularly on the American Library Association's annual list of the Top 10 most frequently banned or challenged books. In this bestselling book, main character Callie rides an emotional roller coaster while serving on the stage crew for a middle school production of "Moon Over Mississippi" as various relationships start and end, and others never quite get going. Special cookies will help us celebrate the freedom to read!
Saturday, September 24 3 to 4:30 p.m. Meeting Room A Zoom event + In-person event
Know your rights, influence adults, be a better citizen, and draw comics! Learn about what the First Amendment to the Constitution means for you - a 21st century Iowa youth - at ICPL's Constitution + Comics Workshop. At this workshop, we will discuss and debate our First Amendment rights in the context of two landmark Supreme Court cases on minors and free speech.
We will then illustrate these concepts in comics - if we draw our rights, we won't forget them! Special templates just for creating comic art out of Supreme Court decisions will guide us in recording our ideas, discoveries, and facts of the case.
This workshop will be led by Dr. Meg Mott, a former professor and constitutional scholar who has developed and leads a discussion series, "Debating our Rights," on the first ten amendments that brings civil discussions on controversial issues to public libraries and colleges.
Marek Bennett is an award-winning comic artist who leads comics workshops for all ages throughout New England and beyond. His work includes the graphic novel series "The Civil War Diary of Freeman Colby" and "The Most Costly Journey" with the bilingual El Viaje Project.
Join on Zoom from home, or come to the Library and participate in the Zoom meeting on the big screen in Meeting Room A, together with us as a group. If you would like to participate from home on Zoom, please register to receive the Zoom link. If you plan to attend in person, just show up! If you're not sure, register so you have the Zoom link, just in case.
