Patrons of all ages are welcome to join us in Meeting Room B/C on the first floor of the library.

Drop in, no registration is required!

We would like to thank the Friends of Des Plaines Public Library for sponsoring this Summer Reading Program series and making it possible!

Who is performing?

We have 7 wonderful performances planned for this year’s SRC.  

Little Miss Ann

June 8, 2026 at 3pm

"Little Miss Ann is a Chicago-based, Filipina American, nationally touring kid's musician who has made 7 award-winning Family Music albums.

She is also a former Chicago Public School teacher, an instructor at Chicago's iconic Old Town School of Folk Music, a social justice activist, and a first-generation Filipina American. 

Whether Ann is singing about Ube, a Filipino purple yam, or about Spring, her musical themes will inspire kids to let their own light shine in their own families as well as in their communities!"

Istvan & His Imaginary Band

June 15, 2026 at 4pm

Istvan is a local one-man band who has received awards for his creative music. 

“I love the guitar and putting it through effects to surprise kids with the sounds I make and coming up with exciting ways to illustrate my songs live is my favorite challenge.

I hope kids and their families are inspired by my show and have an awesome time together.” – Istvan

The Luna Blues Machine

June 22, 2026 at 11am

The Luna Blues Machine is a Chicago based acoustic hip-hop, Latin, folk-soul band fronted by sisters Belinda and Maritza Cervantes.

The two sisters have performed throughout the Chicagoland area since 2001.

Their Little Lunas is a bilingual (English/Spanish) show, and it is a fun and interactive way to get kids engaged with learning.

The Dreamtree Shakers

June 29, 2026 at 4pm

The Dreamtree Shakers live show engages the audience with a mix of catchy original tunes and beloved, sometimes surprising covers. 

All are welcomed to join in the journey of the show by singing along, moving their bodies, and using their imaginations.

Incorporating guitar, vocals, drums, sax and flute, the band's sound is vibrant and joyful.

Wendy & DB

July 13, 2026 at 11am

Wendy and DB have been a duo/band since 2013 with 4 award-winning albums and a fifth on the way.

Their most recent album, Into the Little Blue House is a collection of original blues songs for kids and families. Wendy and DB have collaborated with the blues community in Chicago to produce an album the whole family can enjoy. 

This Chicago hometown tribute is a nod to Wendy and DB’s Windy City roots and is just one more example of how they are working in their community to empower BIPOC children and all children and families.

Cello with Kelsey

July 20, 2026 at 3pm

“I love to play pieces that will make people connect with their emotions— whether it’s a trio of Christmas songs that makes someone nostalgic for their youth, a Beatles cover that makes someone smile, a pop song that gets people singing along, or a well-known classical piece— I love to find the entry points for audience members to feel the music in themselves. I regularly perform in the community.”

This will be Kelsey’s first time performing at the Des Plaines Public Library, and we are very excited to welcome her!

BenAnna Band

July 27, 2026 at 11am

“The BenAnna Band is a nationally touring children's duo that focuses on music and inclusion for kiddos of all ages, abilities and identities.”

The BenAnna Band stresses the importance of individualized musical interaction, so they bring live musical instruments to all their concerts for the audience to physically participate in the music; every concert is different based on YOUR playing! 

The BenAnna Band wants to see you singing, playing, and dancing with them so there will be plenty of opportunities to follow the lyrics for group dancing, playing, and singing along with spotlight moments for everyone to rock out their own way!”

As inductees to Chicago’s LGBTQ+ Hall of Fame, the individuals whose stories I’ve chosen to share have helped contribute to the city’s LGBTQ+ community.

It cannot be understated, however, that this is just a glimpse into the variety of people who have helped build Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community.

Jon-Henri Damski

(March 31, 1937 - November 1, 1997)

Damski was the longest-running columnist in the American Gay and Lesbian Press and the first gay columnist in the Midwest to publish under his real name and image.

He was also instrumental in passing Chicago’s Human Rights Ordinance in 1988, which granted job and housing protections to the city’s gay and lesbian communities.

Pearl M. Hart

(April 7, 1890 – March 22, 1975)

The first woman in Chicago to be appointed a public defender, Hart frequently represented oppressed minority groups, including children, immigrants, and lesbians and gay men.

Due to her diligence in fighting police harassment of LGBTQ+ individuals, she was nicknamed the “Guardian Angel of Chicago’s Gay Community”.

Renee C. Hanover

(April 18, 1926 – January 5, 2011)

One of the first openly gay lawyers to practice in the United States, Hanover graduated from John Marshall Law School in 1969 after being dismissed from her previous school due to living publicly as a lesbian since the early 1960s.

She was part of the Women’s Law Center – alongside her mentor, Pearl M. Hart – and frequently worked cases dealing with gender, LGBTQ+ issues, and race. 

Marie J. Kuda

(1940 - 2016)

Kuda was a writer, lecturer, publisher, and LGBTQ+ historian.

In the 1970s, she founded Womanpress and published the first annotated bibliography of lesbian literature, called Women Loving Women.

She had an archive of over 100,000 items that shared the history of LGBTQ+ culture in Chicago, organized five Lesbian Writers’ Conferences in the city, and was part of the American Library Association’s Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Lorraine Hansberry

(May 19,1930 – January 12, 1965)

Best known for her work A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry wrote extensively about her attraction to women in her diaries, which were released by her estate in 2013.

Due to the popularity of A Raisin in the Sun, she lived as a closeted lesbian but spent her final years exploring her sexuality and building relationships with other members of the community.

Anna DeShawn

(August 30, 1983 – Present)

A podcaster and LGBTQ+ advocate, DeShawn founded E3 Radio – the only queer-focused radio station in the US – in 2009.

In 2020, she started The Qube, a podcasting platform focusing on BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) and QTPOC (Queer and Trans People of Color); she also hosts the series “Black HIV in the South: How Did We Get Here”, which is distributed through The Qube.

Alexandra Scott Billings

(March 28, 1962 - Present)

An actress, singer, and teacher, Billings is a transgender woman who, as Donna in the 2005 made-for-television film Romy and Michele: In the Beginning, played one of TV’s first openly transgender characters.

She’s also known for her role as Davina in the 2014 Amazon series Transparent. In September 2019, she became the first openly transgender person to star in the Broadway musical Wicked when she played Madame Morrible; she reprised her role when the show returned in 2021.

Finally, if you’re looking for something to read as a way to celebrate this Pride Month, feel free to check out any of the books below! 

This is just PART ONE: ADULT. Check back for our picks for Teens and Kids, coming soon! 

Are You a Friend of Dorothy? 

Plenty of Hugs 

Prince & Knight

Maiden & Princess

Pink Is for Boys

It's All or Nothing, Vale 

A World Worth Saving

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

Loveless

The Girl From the Sea

The House in the Cerulean Sea 

Hell Followed With Us

The Sunbearer Trials

The Unruly Heart of Miss Darcy

Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City's Gay Community

Nonfiction

Chain-gang All-stars 

Fiction

The Book of Blood and Roses

Fiction

Light From Uncommon Stars

Fiction

Stag Dance

Fiction

A Lady for a Duke

Fiction

Nevada 

Fiction

Being Ace 

Fiction

Sounds Fake but Okay 

Nonfiction

]]> 2026-05-29T15:50:00+00:00 https://www.dppl.org/blog/post/miner-recs-episode-98-cozy-fantasy-and-sci-fi https://www.dppl.org/blog/post/miner-recs-episode-98-cozy-fantasy-and-sci-fi#When:1779210000 On this episode, Quinn, Dana, Christa, and Camryn discuss some of the rising trends and themes in fantasy and science fiction books and recommend their favorite examples. Listen to their conversation in the player below:

Check out some of the books and series discussed in this episode today:

Are You a Friend of Dorothy? 

Plenty of Hugs 

Prince & Knight

Maiden & Princess

Pink Is for Boys

It's All or Nothing, Vale 

A World Worth Saving

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

Loveless

The Girl From the Sea

The House in the Cerulean Sea 

Hell Followed With Us

The Sunbearer Trials

The Unruly Heart of Miss Darcy

Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City's Gay Community

Nonfiction

Chain-gang All-stars 

Fiction

The Book of Blood and Roses

Fiction

Light From Uncommon Stars

Fiction

Stag Dance

Fiction

A Lady for a Duke

Fiction

Nevada 

Fiction

Being Ace 

Fiction

Sounds Fake but Okay 

Nonfiction

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

"You know what's worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what's worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That's what."

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

"Raised in a hostile undead world where she would escape servitude and a zombie afterlife, a lesbian necromancer becomes a bodyguard to an emperor to secure her freedom in a solar system of swordplay and cutthroat politics."

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

"A tale set in a bleak future society torn by class divisions follows the experiences of secret revolutionary Darrow, who after witnessing his wife's execution by an oppressive government joins a revolutionary cell and attempts to infiltrate an elite military academy.

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

"Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts."

Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers

"All his life, Sir Cameron has stayed as far away from danger as possible. He is quite frankly too handsome to die a pointless death in battle. But then the Church hands down a prophecy to his fellow knights: the only way to defeat their nemesis, the mad sorcerer Merulo, is to kill Sir Cameron."

]]> 2026-05-19T17:00:00+00:00 https://www.dppl.org/blog/post/dppls-new-catalog-is-here https://www.dppl.org/blog/post/dppls-new-catalog-is-here#When:1779133680 Our consortium, CCS (Cooperative Computer Services) has upgraded the DPPL's "classic" catalog to BiblioCore, a redesigned catalog experience built to make discovering books, movies, and music easier and more enjoyable!

Experience improved searching, easier browsing, accessibility upgrades and new community features 

Exciting Features!

·     Modern & Mobile-Ready: A modern, responsive design that works on any device. 
·     Improved Searching: Smarter searching lets you use everyday language to quickly find what you need. 
·     Grouped Results: Grouped search results bring together multiple editions/formats of the same title to reduce clutter. 
·     Personal Reading Shelves: Easily track what you’ve read, what you’re reading, and what you want to borrow next! Create your own booklists and optionally share them with the community. 
·     Enhanced Community Features: Explore community and staff created booklists, ratings and reviews. 
·     Accessibility First: Designed with accessibility considerations, including keyboard navigation, screen reader support, color contrast and text resizing.

Explore Your New Catalog Here

Questions or comments?
We want to hear from you! Feedback is welcome via: help@dppl.org

How to Get Started

Create an account with your library card number and existing PIN number/password to place holds and use the community features. This will connect you with your existing library card account.

You can follow the steps in this short video:

https://youtu.be/emMfiQ9eXzs?si=nZFq3hDzg9SlgFHL

Usernames 

You will be asked to create a username which is only visible when using the “community” features: making lists, leaving comments or reviews. You may use either your library card number or username to log in once registered.
 
Members aged 12 and under can choose from a combination of animals, colors and numbers. (Due to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, children are not allowed to use their real names, create usernames or enter comments.)

Members aged 12 and under can:  

·     Add star ratings 
·     Add age suitability
·     Add similar titles 
·     Create lists using pre-defined titles

Reading History and Lists

Once registered, you have the option to connect to your reading history from the classic catalog (if it was enabled originally) and also transfer any saved lists from the classic catalog.

All items transferred from these lists are grouped into the “For Later” shelf.

Further Resources

Searching and Placing Holds

FAQs

Catalog and Account Help

]]> 2026-05-18T19:48:00+00:00 https://www.dppl.org/blog/post/celebrating-asian-american-and-pacific-islander-heritage-month-2026 https://www.dppl.org/blog/post/celebrating-asian-american-and-pacific-islander-heritage-month-2026#When:1778011260 The Chicagoland area has an amazing wealth of Asian American and Pacific Island history to explore – many of which you can access with your library card! Here are some resources that can help you find, discover, and learn about these communities. 

Museum Adventure Pass & Explore More Illinois 

Through these two resources, you can access many museums that highlight Asian and Pacific Islander culture including: 

• Anderson Japanese Gardens (Explore More Illinois) 
• Institute for Study of Ancient Cultures (Museum Adventure Pass) 
• Fabyan Villa & Japanese Garden (Explore More Illinois) 
• The American Writers Museum’s virtual exhibit on Hisaye Yamamoto (Museum Adventure Pass & Explore More Illinois)) 

Kanopy

One of the best ways to explore a culture is through it’s media! Kanopy, the library’s free movie series, has a ton of great films from Asia and the Pacific Islands. Some of our favorites include:  

• Old Boy (2003) 
• All We Imagine as Light (2024) 
• Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) 
• Rashomon (1950) 
• The Orator (2012) 

Books! 

We can’t leave out our favorite – books! Below are some of our favorite non-fiction and fiction titles written by Asian American and Pacific Islander writers:

Are You a Friend of Dorothy? 

Plenty of Hugs 

Prince & Knight

Maiden & Princess

Pink Is for Boys

It's All or Nothing, Vale 

A World Worth Saving

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

Loveless

The Girl From the Sea

The House in the Cerulean Sea 

Hell Followed With Us

The Sunbearer Trials

The Unruly Heart of Miss Darcy

Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City's Gay Community

Nonfiction

Chain-gang All-stars 

Fiction

The Book of Blood and Roses

Fiction

Light From Uncommon Stars

Fiction

Stag Dance

Fiction

A Lady for a Duke

Fiction

Nevada 

Fiction

Being Ace 

Fiction

Sounds Fake but Okay 

Nonfiction

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

"You know what's worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what's worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That's what."

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

"Raised in a hostile undead world where she would escape servitude and a zombie afterlife, a lesbian necromancer becomes a bodyguard to an emperor to secure her freedom in a solar system of swordplay and cutthroat politics."

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

"A tale set in a bleak future society torn by class divisions follows the experiences of secret revolutionary Darrow, who after witnessing his wife's execution by an oppressive government joins a revolutionary cell and attempts to infiltrate an elite military academy.

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

"Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts."

Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers

"All his life, Sir Cameron has stayed as far away from danger as possible. He is quite frankly too handsome to die a pointless death in battle. But then the Church hands down a prophecy to his fellow knights: the only way to defeat their nemesis, the mad sorcerer Merulo, is to kill Sir Cameron."

NON-FICTION

Year of the tiger : an activist's life

by Alice Wong 

Local : a memoir

by Jessica Machado 

The best we could do : an illustrated memoir

by Thi Bui 

They called us enemy

by George Takei 

From a whisper to a rallying cry : the killing of Vincent Chin and the trial that galvanized the Asian American movement

by Paula Yoo 

FICTION

Pina

by Titaua Peu 

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

by Shehan Karunatilaka 

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

by Ocean Vuong 

Interior Chinatown

by Charles Yu

Babel, or, The necessity of violence : an arcane history of the Oxford Translators' Revolution

by R.F. Kuang 

]]> 2026-05-05T20:01:00+00:00 https://www.dppl.org/blog/post/deaf-history-month-and-libraries https://www.dppl.org/blog/post/deaf-history-month-and-libraries#When:1774982880 Even before its founding in 2006, Deaf History Month has always been heavily intertwined with libraries.

In 1997, Alice Hagemeyer – a deaf librarian at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library – created Deaf Awareness Week, which began on March 13th.

This date was chosen for historical significance, as it coincided with the 1988 appointment of Dr. I. King Jordan, the first deaf president of Gallaudet University – the United States’ first and only higher education institution designed for deaf and hard of hearing students. 

In 2006, the American Library Association and the National Association of the Deaf expanded upon Hagemeyer’s Deaf History Week, declaring March 13th through April 15th as Deaf History Month – though it was changed to be the full month of April in 2022.

Since its creation, both organizations have advocated for a federal proclamation of Deaf History Month.

Some ways you can celebrate Deaf History Month include: 

Are You a Friend of Dorothy? 

Plenty of Hugs 

Prince & Knight

Maiden & Princess

Pink Is for Boys

It's All or Nothing, Vale 

A World Worth Saving

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

Loveless

The Girl From the Sea

The House in the Cerulean Sea 

Hell Followed With Us

The Sunbearer Trials

The Unruly Heart of Miss Darcy

Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City's Gay Community

Nonfiction

Chain-gang All-stars 

Fiction

The Book of Blood and Roses

Fiction

Light From Uncommon Stars

Fiction

Stag Dance

Fiction

A Lady for a Duke

Fiction

Nevada 

Fiction

Being Ace 

Fiction

Sounds Fake but Okay 

Nonfiction

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

"You know what's worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what's worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That's what."

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

"Raised in a hostile undead world where she would escape servitude and a zombie afterlife, a lesbian necromancer becomes a bodyguard to an emperor to secure her freedom in a solar system of swordplay and cutthroat politics."

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

"A tale set in a bleak future society torn by class divisions follows the experiences of secret revolutionary Darrow, who after witnessing his wife's execution by an oppressive government joins a revolutionary cell and attempts to infiltrate an elite military academy.

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

"Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts."

Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers

"All his life, Sir Cameron has stayed as far away from danger as possible. He is quite frankly too handsome to die a pointless death in battle. But then the Church hands down a prophecy to his fellow knights: the only way to defeat their nemesis, the mad sorcerer Merulo, is to kill Sir Cameron."

NON-FICTION

Year of the tiger : an activist's life

by Alice Wong 

Local : a memoir

by Jessica Machado 

The best we could do : an illustrated memoir

by Thi Bui 

They called us enemy

by George Takei 

From a whisper to a rallying cry : the killing of Vincent Chin and the trial that galvanized the Asian American movement

by Paula Yoo 

FICTION

Pina

by Titaua Peu 

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

by Shehan Karunatilaka 

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

by Ocean Vuong 

Interior Chinatown

by Charles Yu

Babel, or, The necessity of violence : an arcane history of the Oxford Translators' Revolution

by R.F. Kuang 

CENTERING DEAF CREATORS

Deaf Utopia : a memoir--and a love letter to a way of life

Nyle DiMarco

Memoir

Through Deaf Eyes

Documentary Streaming Via Kanopy 

True Biz

Sara  Nović 

Novel 

The Silence Between Us 

Alison Gervais

Juvenile Fiction 

LEARNING ABOUT DEAF HISTORY 

Seeing Voices: A Journey Into the Land of the Deaf

Oliver Sacks

Non-Fiction

Compensation

Blue-ray DVD 

Film 

A Life Without Words 

Documentary Streaming via Kanopy 

LEARNING ASL

American Sign Language (ASL) Made Easy 

Streaming Video via Hoopla

American Sign Language for Beginners: Learning Signing Essentials in 30 Days

Rochelle Barlow

Book 

The Gallaudet children's dictionary of American Sign Language

Book + DVD 

American Sign Language for Kids Vol. 1.

Streaming Video Via Hoopla

]]> 2026-03-31T18:48:00+00:00 https://www.dppl.org/blog/post/diy-with-dppl-notebook https://www.dppl.org/blog/post/diy-with-dppl-notebook#When:1774100700 Hey, Kiddos! It's time for a new edition of DIY with DPPL! This month, make your own notebook!

Starting on Saturday, March 21st, stop by the Youth Services desk on the second floor of DPPL to pick up a kit (while supplies last!), and then use the materials to do the project we show you step-by-step in the video.

(Grade 1 and up.)

]]> 2026-03-21T13:45:00+00:00 https://www.dppl.org/blog/post/miner-recs-episode-97-98th-academy-awards https://www.dppl.org/blog/post/miner-recs-episode-97-98th-academy-awards#When:1773263400 On this episode, Angelo, Ariana, and Quinn preview the 2026 Oscars, sharing their predictions and opinions on the films nominated. Listen to their conversation in the player below:

]]> 2026-03-11T21:10:00+00:00