Families & Kids
Normal Public Library provides many enriching events and resources for kids of all ages, parents, and families.
Activities
The Children’s Department offers lots of activities to educate and entertain kids. There are story hours for various ages, crafts, guest authors, robotics and other science and tech activities, and of course, Summer Reading
A Place to Discover
Whether we have an official activity going on or not, you can always find fun things to do in Children's Services.
The Discovery Room
The Discovery Room is a popular area for imaginative play, with tons of puppets and a wonderful puppet theater, a dress-up center, Velcro wall, gear table, and more. We even have a Tot Spot area reserved for our youngest patrons.
The Book Nook
The Book Nook is a welcoming area to find a comfy seat and enjoy a book, put some puzzles together, or build a DUPLO masterpiece.
Tech Playground
Jump on an iPad and play learning games in our Tech Playground. The Tech Playground can be a busy place! If all of the iPads are in use, or you want to sit somewhere else in the library, check out an iPad for in-house use.
Outreach
The library has lots of services and resources that can help teachers and homeschoolers.
We are happy to offer storytelling or information programs to nursing homes, churches, community centers, and schools. For more information, please contact us at 309-454-4668.
New Books for Kids
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Lucky Duck
Susan the duck has the worst luck. Her rollerskates are two sizes too big. She's lost her favorite marble. And she's run out of pickles.
But with each unfortunate discovery, Wolf shows up with a gift she's won. Her luck has turned around . . . hasn't it?
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Where Have You Been, Little Cat?
As a little cat rushes in from a day's adventuring, her owner asks her where she's been and what she's seen. Was she happy? Was she brave? Was she kind? The richly imagined answers, depicted in beautifully nostalgic illustrations and a direct, simple text, encourage empathy, conversation and imagination. It has all the hallmarks of a modern classic.
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Bumps in the Night
Darika “Rika” Lovelace is in trouble. The kind of trouble that sends her to her grandmother’s estate in Trinidad for the whole summer. But something about the island feels…different. As soon as she steps off the plane, strange things start happening!
Rika meets a group of kids called Minders, who seem to have elemental powers. Even worse, she can sense jumbies lurking in the shadows. Needless to say, she wants a ticket home. But when the Minders let slip that her long-lost mom is in danger, she knows she can’t leave. -
The Gingerbread Man: Buttons on the Loose
The Gingerbread Man loves living in his gingerbread house at school. The kids there made him and baked him, gave him a hat and a little bow tie, and—oh no! His two candy buttons are missing!
This smart cookie starts searching right away, looking all over the school. And luckily, he meets someone who is a great help and a new friend. -
Arfy Has a Ball
Arfy loves his forever home! He has his sweet person and so many toys! Arfy wants to play but what should he play with? A ball! That's it! But there are so many kinds of balls! Some balls are too big, some too heavy, and others are too far away. Will Arfy be able to find the perfect ball for him?
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The Cozy Home
What happens when three friends—a bat, a cat, and a rat—move in together?
In “Sharing,” Bat, Cat, and Rat find a cozy home to share. But will choosing rooms put their sharing skills to the test?
In “Joking,” Rat sets off a series of pranks and shenanigans with his rubber spider that have the trio screaming in surprise and laughing in delight.
In “Reading,” Cat catches Bat and Rat reading over her shoulder—or so she thinks, until it turns out they haven’t learned to read yet. Can Cat teach her friends to read along with her? -
The Mona Lisa Vanishes
On a hot August day in Paris, just over a century ago, a desperate guard burst into the office of the director of the Louvre and shouted, La Joconde, c’est partie! The Mona Lisa, she’s gone!
No one knew who was behind the heist. Was it an international gang of thieves? Was it an art-hungry American millionaire? Was it the young Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, who was about to remake the very art of painting?
Travel back to an extraordinary period of revolutionary change: turn-of-the-century Paris. Walk its backstreets. Meet the infamous thieves—and detectives—of the era. And then slip back further in time and follow Leonardo da Vinci, painter of the Mona Lisa, through his dazzling, wondrously weird life. Discover the secret at the heart of the Mona Lisa—the most famous painting in the world should never have existed at all.
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Amil and the After
At the turn of the new year in 1948, Amil and his family are trying to make a home in India, now independent of British rule.
Both Muslim and Hindu, twelve-year-old Amil is not sure what home means anymore. The memory of the long and difficult journey from their hometown in what is now Pakistan lives with him. And despite having an apartment in Bombay to live in and a school to attend, life in India feels uncertain.
Nisha, his twin sister, suggests that Amil begin to tell his story through drawings meant for their mother, who died when they were just babies. Through Amil, readers witness the unwavering spirit of a young boy trying to make sense of a chaotic world, and find hope for himself and a newly reborn nation. -
Baker Makers
Naveen loves to bake. In fact, he’s sure he’s practically a master baker. So, he is thrilled when his class is assigned to tackle creative cake-making at Baker Makers Lab.
Naveen is positive his cake will be the most astonishing and extraordinary one of all. But the mismatch between his fertile imagination and his actual skills leads to disaster. Will he find a way to embrace the unexpected?
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Down the Hole
When a suspiciously polite fox attempts to coax his next meal out of a burrow, he is met with a clever rabbit who has been cooking up a surprise for this very moment!
Careful readers may spot what is in store for fox before he does in this darkly funny cautionary tale that roots for the underbunny.
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Frosting & Icing Workshop: Decorating Desserts
This how-to book provides readers with information they need to get started on a career in dessert decorating. Included are the history and cultural significance of frosting and icing; kitchen tools, terms, and techniques; how to become a dessert decorator; and career paths in the dessert decorating industry. Step-by-step recipes help readers practice cooking skills and apply what they've learned.
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Three Tasks for a Dragon
After his father's death, Prince Lir is tricked into embarking on a perilous quest to rescue a maiden from a dragon. The studious young prince is no warrior, but he uses his brains to make himself indispensable to the ill-tempered dragon. However, neither prince not dragon has bargained on the dark magic that manipulates them both -- and it may be left to the maiden herself to save them all. A clever prince, an unsuspectingly powerful woman, and an ornery dragon with heart are at the center of this luminously illustrated classic in the making.
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Shark Teeth
Sharkita “Kita” Hayes is always waiting.
Waiting for her mama to mess up.
Waiting for social services to be called again.
Waiting for her and her siblings to be separated.
Waiting for her worst fear to come true.
But Mama promises things are different now. She's got a good job, she's stopped drinking, stopped going out every night-it's almost enough to make Kita believe her this time. But even as Kita's life is going good, she can't shake the feeling that everything could go up in flames at any moment. When her assistant principal and trusted dance coach starts asking questions about her home life, Kita is more determined than ever to keep up appearances and make sure her family stays together-even if it means falling apart herself.
As the threat of her family being separated again circles like a shark in the water, the pressure starts to get to Kita. But could it be that Kita's worst fear is actually the best thing that could happen to her family . . . and to her? -
Ali the Great and the Market Mishap
Ali Tahir loses something important at the market--his brother!
Who's hungry? Ali, his grandfather, and little brother Fateh head to the South Asian market to stock up on snacks. So much to see! But what Ali can't see is Fateh.... Where did he go? Will Ali's quick thinking save the day? Ali the Great, by Yasmin author Saadia Faruqi, is a charming chapter book series about Pakistani American second grader Ali Tahir.
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Claudia and the Bad Joke (#15)
Claudia isn't worried when she hears her newest baby-sitting charge, Betsy Sobak, is a big practical joker. After all, how much harm can one little girl do?
Plenty. Claudia breaks her leg as a result of one of Betsy's jokes. Now Claudia is feeling like baby-sitting might be too dangerous and she's talking about quitting the club. Kristy thinks Betsy needs to be taught a lesson, and that the baby-sitters are just the ones to do it.
Watch out, Betsy Sobak. The joke war is on!
Upcoming Kids' Events
1,000 Books Before Kindergarten is an education initiative with three main goals: to promote early childhood literacy, to prepare young children for kindergarten and to facilitate family bonding through reading. Find more information about 1,000 Books and register here.