Themed Bookshelves

In honor of National Hispanic & Latín Heritage Month 2023, 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 Talk Like a Pirate Day 2023, 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. In honor of National Teddy Bear Day 2023, learn more about bears (and about President Teddy Roosevelt)! 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 2023 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 2023, 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 2023 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 on July 15, 2023, with these great 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 in celebration of National Ice Cream Month 2023. Yum! Read More

Dolly Parton began singing professionally at age 10, and has gone on to write and perform almost 3,000 songs. Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Dolly founded the Imagination Library to give books to children ages 0-5 years. Since 1995, the Imagination Library has gifted more than 200,000,000 books to children! In honor of World Music Day 2023, learn more about musicians like Dolly Parton, Jimi Hendrix, Selena, and “V” from BTS, by checking out these great books: Read More

Learn about the meaning behind the other colors of the Pride flag in Our Rainbow by Little Bee Books, and celebrate Pride Month 2023 with these great titles about important moments and people in LGBTQ history. Read More