Community Calendar

Celebrate Harry Potter's birthday with an afternoon of inspired crafts, themed drinks, and snacks. Costumes welcome! Try your hand at four craft stations — make a wand, a Hogwarts House bookmark, a potion bottle, and decorate a photo frame — then snap a photo at our themed backdrop to slip inside. Crafts, drinks, and snacks are available while supplies last. We'll wrap up the afternoon with a screening of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, made possible through Swank Licensing.

Free and open to all ages. Recommended for ages 6 and up; children under 6 are welcome with a parent or guardian. No registration required.

Drop in to learn how you can contribute to science and document wildlife in our prairie! Open to all ages, participants may monitor our monarch population, check the snake boards, learn to identify plants, and get inspired by the majestic midwest prairie ecosystem.

RSVP online to receive a reminder email and updates on what’s blooming in our prairie.

Join us for a delicious new program that brings DKPL’s collection to life! On the last Tuesday of each month, we’ll dive into a carefully chosen cookbook to explore its organization—whether it's structured by season, ingredient, or technique—and evaluate the author’s writing style, from their storytelling to the helpfulness of their notes.

Each participant is asked to read the cookbook, choose a recipe, prepare it at home, and bring the dish to share with the group. We’ll gather potluck-style to enjoy a meal and compare our experiences, discussing what inspired our recipe choice and how the author’s style or the cookbook’s layout impacted our time in the kitchen. Cookbook Club is the perfect way to test-drive a new title while enjoying a feast with fellow food lovers!

Each month, the chosen cookbook can be picked up in the Adult Services Department near the reference desk.

June: Cooking in Real Life by Lidey Heuck
July: Jubilee by Toni Tipton-Martin
August: Open Wide by Benny Blanco

Registration is not required. This program is intended for adults.

For more information, please contact Amy at amyf@dkpl.org or (815) 756-9568 ext. 6108.

Come One, Come All!
Books on First once again is sponsoring "Find Waldo Local" in Dixon, all the month of July. Based on the children's Where's Waldo books in which we seek and find Waldo and friends in various locations around town and the world within the pages, children from anywhere can seek and find Waldo in 25 locations around Dixon, IL, including the Parks District building, the Next Picture Show art gallery, Discover Dixon Main Street Chamber of Commerce HQ and other fun places including of course, Books on First.
We have lots of prizes for those participating, those seeing Waldo in at least 10 spots and those becoming eligible for entry into drawings for Where's Waldo books as well as contributed prizes from There's Fun Inside and more. Get involved in a Dixon-wide search for Waldo and experience the Local Small Businesses all around town. The hunt ends in a "Bye, Waldo" party on Saturday, 1 August!

Join us for a special storytime celebrating the annual Chincoteague Pony Swim. We'll share a reading of Misty, the Wonder Pony, an adapted version of Marguerite Henry's beloved novel Misty of Chincoteague. Following the story, attendees are invited to craft their own wild pony – paint a wooden horse cutout and add a yarn mane to take home. This program is free and open to the public. Recommended for ages 6 and up.

What does it mean to be American? Join us for a hybrid community book club exploring that question through the lens of the American Revolution. The evening opens with a preview screening from the PBS documentary The American Revolution by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt, followed by an informal group discussion.

This month's featured title is The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson — a National Book Award-winning young adult historical novel set in 18th-century Boston. The story follows a young Black man raised by rationalist philosophers who discovers he is the subject of a cruel experiment, all while the American Revolution brews around him. Narrated by Octavian himself, the novel explores themes of slavery, identity, and the hypocrisy of the Enlightenment.

Copies of the book are available at the McNabb Branch. This free program runs approximately 60 minutes and is held in-person at the McNabb Branch and virtually via Zoom. To register for Zoom, visit: https://t.ly/iASwE.

Come One, Come All!
Books on First once again is sponsoring "Find Waldo Local" in Dixon, all the month of July. Based on the children's Where's Waldo books in which we seek and find Waldo and friends in various locations around town and the world within the pages, children from anywhere can seek and find Waldo in 25 locations around Dixon, IL, including the Parks District building, the Next Picture Show art gallery, Discover Dixon Main Street Chamber of Commerce HQ and other fun places including of course, Books on First.
We have lots of prizes for those participating, those seeing Waldo in at least 10 spots and those becoming eligible for entry into drawings for Where's Waldo books as well as contributed prizes from There's Fun Inside and more. Get involved in a Dixon-wide search for Waldo and experience the Local Small Businesses all around town. The hunt ends in a "Bye, Waldo" party on Saturday, 1 August!

This program will occur four times on July 30, at 10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 2:30 p.m.

Meet three native Illinois animal ambassadors - an owl, a hawk, and a falcon - and learn why these birds of prey are so important!

Northern Illinois Raptor Rehab & Education staff will introduce these animal ambassadors and inform the audience about their basic anatomy and their role in the food chain. Then we will discover how conservation efforts can help protect these magnificent birds.

You will also be able to explore and touch displays of biological artifacts such as wings, feathers, tails, and pellets.

Birds will not be free flying; each animal ambassador will be secured and held by a handler during the presentation.

Northern Illinois Raptor Rehab & Education is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of native birds of prey, with the goal of returning healthy birds back to the wild. Through their specialized programs, they aim to inspire a love for wildlife and foster a sense of responsibility towards the environment and its inhabitants.

This program is funded by the Friends of the DeKalb Public Library. It is free and open to all, but most suited for school age children. No registration is required.

For more information, please contact Theresa at theresaw@dkpl.org or at (815) 756-9568 ext. 3350.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Route 66 and Granville Cruise Night, join us for a screening of Cars. In a world where cars are alive, hotshot rookie racer Lightning McQueen has his sights set on winning the biggest race of his career, until a detour lands him stranded in the sleepy town of Radiator Springs along Route 66. What starts as an unwanted pit stop turns into a journey about friendship, community, and what really matters. Featuring the voice talents of Owen Wilson and Paul Newman, Cars is a heartwarming Pixar classic the whole family will enjoy. This free public screening runs 117 minutes, rated G, and is made possible through SWANK.

What does it mean to be American? Join us for a hybrid community book club exploring that question through the lens of the American Revolution. The evening opens with a preview screening from the PBS documentary The American Revolution by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt, followed by an informal group discussion.

This month's featured title is Answering the Cry for Freedom: Stories of African Americans and the American Revolution by Gretchen Woelfle. Even as American Patriots fought for independence from British rule, thousands of enslaved and free African Americans waged their own fight for freedom — joining armies, speaking out against slavery, and establishing new settlements abroad. This collection spotlights thirteen remarkable individuals who answered the cry for freedom and shaped America both then and now, including Phillis Wheatley, James Armistead Lafayette, Sally Hemings, Richard Allen, and Ona Judge.

Copies of the book are available at the Condit Branch. This free program runs approximately 60 minutes and is held in-person at the Condit Branch and virtually via Zoom. To register for Zoom, visit: https://t.ly/C5SqL.