Wondering what to read, listen to, or watch next? We’ve got you covered! Title suggestions come from a collaborative effort, and all work is grounded in the library’s Collection Strategy Statement. Visit the We Suggest page for even more suggestions and recommendations.
Browse the latest lists
Honoring MLK Day: Books, a display & resources
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, January 19), all library buildings will be closed. We’ve gathered together title suggestions, online resources, and more to help you celebrate the life …
Celebrity book club round-up, January 2026
Since Oprah’s first book club pick in 1996, we have been reading as the celebrities do, falling in love with, or hating, characters with our fellow book club readers. Book …
New year, new you: Books to destress & reset
If everything just feels a bit more stressful these days (we certainly think so), why not try a little therapy? Art, music, nature, socialization, and actual therapy are all proven …
Best of 2025: Adult fiction & nonfiction
Our annual librarian-curated roundup of books, TV shows, movies, and music is here! Explore staff favorites across every age and interest. Discover our staff’s favorite adult fiction and nonfiction titles …
Best of 2025: Teen fiction & nonfiction
Our annual librarian-curated roundup of books, TV shows, movies, and music is here! Explore staff favorites across every age and interest. Discover our staff’s favorite teen fiction and nonfiction titles …
Best of 2025: Kids & picture books
Our annual librarian-curated roundup of books, TV shows, movies, and music is here! Explore staff favorites across every age and interest. Discover our staff’s favorite kids and picture books on …
Best of 2025: Movies, TV shows, & music
Our annual librarian-curated roundup of books, TV shows, movies, and music is here! Explore staff favorites across every age and interest. Discover our staff’s favorite movies, TV shows, and music …
National Book Award Winners 2025
Check out the 2025 National Book Awards winners and our read-alike titles, suggested by Oak Park’s fantastically well-read librarians! The National Book Awards were established in 1950 to celebrate the …
Gift Guide 2025
Looking for gift ideas for this holiday season? Might we suggest a great book? Our collection management librarians have curated a range of excellent gift ideas for the book, movie, …
Transgender Awareness Week: Books & resources
This November 13-19, we celebrate Transgender Awareness Week, an annual event dedicated to educating our communities about the lives of transgender people. Transgender Awareness Week takes place in the week …
Titles for Veterans Day
Every year on November 11, we honor America’s military veterans for their service. Below are some recent, thoughtful reads to help you observe. Honoring veterans The Houdini Club: The Epic …
Celebrating Native American heritage
Oak Park Public Library acknowledges that Oak Park is situated on the ancestral land of the Bodewamiadkiwen (Potawatomi), Myaamia (Miami), Oceti Sakowin, Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), and Peoria. We honor them and …
Chilling reads, thrilling tales & lots of Halloween fun
Feel that chill in the air? Halloween season is here! Your Oak Park librarians are back with spine-tingling reads, creepy tales, and plenty of Halloween fun for all ages. Browse: …
Banned Books Week 2025
Every year during Banned Books Week (October 5-11 this year), the American Library Association (ALA) celebrates the freedom to read by recognizing books that have been challenged, censored, and banned …
‘A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!
I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a similar reading experience to THAT …
Celebrating Hispanic heritage
Traducir esta página al español Your public library is here to connect you with books, events, learning experiences, and online resources that celebrate Hispanic heritage and culture this month and …
Have fun & save money with a library card
By Collection Management Librarian Kathy Folks have said that their library card is the most valuable card in their wallet. Okay, former First Lady Laura Bush (a former librarian!) is …
The 2025 Booker Prize Longlist
By Collection Management Librarian Kathy Photo by The Booker Prizes. The UK’s most prestigious literary award, The Booker Prize is awarded annually to the best novel of the year written …
Celebrity book club round-up, summer 2025
By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná Since Oprah’s first book club pick in 1996, we have been reading as the celebrities do, falling in love with, or hating, characters with our …
Learn for the fun of it
Develop a new skill, dive deep into a hobby you love, or expand your knowledge on a topic you’ve always wanted to explore with these books our librarians love. Check …
International Drag Day: What to read, listen to & watch
Drag is an art and a performance. In As You Like It, Shakespeare wrote “All the world’s a stage, / And the men and women merely players.” Drag performers throughout …
Disability Pride books, a display & supported events
Your public library is here to connect you with books, learning experiences, events, and online resources that celebrate people with disabilities and disability as an identity in July and all …
Juneteenth 2025
On Thursday, June 19, all library locations will be closed for Juneteenth. This national, state, and Oak Park holiday celebrates African Americans’ freedom from enslavement in the United States. Celebrations …
Celebrating Pride Month
Your public library is here with books, resources, and experiences that can help us connect and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. Browse: Curated title suggestions for all ages. Attend: Upcoming events …
48 new books, movies & TV shows coming this summer
Collection Management Librarians Andrea, Dontaná, Jenna, and Kathy Jump into summer with these new books, movies, and TV shows—for all ages—that we think will be hot, hot, hot all summer …
Adult summer reading returns June 1
It’s time to pull out your reading list and get warmed up for adult summer reading 2025! From June 1 through August 19, sign up via Beanstack, track your reading, …
Celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander heritage
Your public library is here with books, resources, and experiences that can help us connect and celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander heritage. Browse: Curated title suggestions for …
Celebrating Jewish American heritage
Your public library is here with books, resources, and experiences that can help us connect and celebrate Jewish American history and culture. Browse: Title suggestions for all ages. View: A …
Celebrating Seniors Week 2025
Spring is here, so it’s time again for Celebrating Seniors Week! Held this year from May 8 to 15, the weeklong celebration is dedicated to honoring, recognizing, and serving seniors …
Want to protect libraries? Here’s what you can do
We’re asking our community to stand up for libraries everywhere because the federal government is moving to cut off its modest but effective support for libraries, from withdrawal of funding …
National Poetry Month
By Collection Management Librarians Dontaná & Andrea Poetry is good for our brains. Studies show that reading poems activates our brain’s cognitive functions differently than when we read novels and …
Celebrating Arab American heritage
Your public library is here with books, resources, and experiences that can help us connect and celebrate Arab American history and culture. Browse: Curated title suggestions for all ages. Attend: …
‘God of the Woods’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!
I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a similar reading experience to THAT …
Transgender Day of Visibility: Books, virtual tutorials & more resources
Held each year on March 31, Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV) celebrates the lives and accomplishments of transgender and nonbinary people. Trans advocate Rachel Crandall founded TDoV in 2010 because …
Honoring women’s history
Your public library is here to connect us through books, resources, and experiences that celebrate women’s history. Browse: Books and movies for all ages. Attend: Events celebrating women in history …
Book Club Kits: 10 copies, one great discussion
Did you know the library has a curated section of Book Club Kits? These are pre-assembled bags with 10 copies of the same popular title, discussion questions curated by Oak …
Connecting you to Black history, then & now
Your public library is here with books, resources, and experiences that can help us connect and celebrate Black history and culture. Browse: Curated title suggestions for all ages. View: Stories …
Ways to watch Oscar-nominated films
The countdown to the big night has begun! The 97th Academy Awards airs on Sunday, March 2, and your library has a few ways to watch some of the year’s …
Relevant reads: Pandemic novels & short stories 2024
By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná From the plague to the 1918 influenza to now, pandemics have been unwelcome members of society. Touching everyone and everything, global sickness and the changes …
Books with (pumpkin) spice
It’s that time of the year—the leaves start turning, a chill is in the air, the sun sets earlier, and we all start craving the deliciousness of pumpkin spice. Okay, …
They did what now? Titles by multifaceted celebrities
By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná People contain multitudes. We have multiple interests, hobbies, and even go on side-quests from time to time. Celebrities often do the same thing, exploring the …
‘All Fours’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!
By Collection Management Librarian Kathy I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a …
Adult summer reading: Adventure awaits!
By Collection Management Librarian Kathy Have you signed up for adult summer reading? No? Fret not! We are only halfway through so there’s plenty of time to sign up! Already …
Hot hot horror
By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná We know Halloween is 115 days away—but there is just something extra scary about taking in horror stories in the bright sunshine. (Midsommar, anyone?) We’ve …
Long books for long days
By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná Happy Solstice! It is the longest day of the year. The sun is shining. The air is fresh, and we don’t have to think about …
ICYMI: Recently released fiction & nonfiction for AANHPI Heritage Month
By Collection Management Librarians Dontaná & Kathy Check out these recently released fiction and nonfiction titles that might have flown under your radar. They are perfect for celebrating Asian American, …
‘Burn Book’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!
By Collection Management Librarian Kathy I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a …
ICYMI: Recently released fiction & nonfiction
By Collection Management Librarians Dontaná & Kathy Check out these recently released fiction and nonfiction titles that might have flown under your radar. They are perfect for celebrating Black History Month …
‘Tom Lake’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!
I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a similar reading experience to THAT …
‘Fourth Wing’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!
I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles, especially when they get TikTok famous. Don’t fret! I can help you find …
Relevant reads: Pandemic novels & short stories 2022
From the plague to the 1918 influenza to now, pandemics have been unwelcome members of society. Touching everyone and everything, global sickness and the changes we have to make to …
‘The School for Good Mothers’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!
I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a similar reading experience to THAT …
‘Caste’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!
I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a similar reading experience to THAT …
‘Anxious People’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!
I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a similar reading experience to THAT …
‘The Vanishing Half’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!
I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a similar reading experience to THAT …
Cover stories: Romance novels with illustrated covers to pique your interest
By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná Illustrated covers have become a trend for contemporary romance novels. They’re cute, expressive, and can be drawn to fit the mood and style of the …
Relevant reads: Pandemic novels & short stories 2020
From the plague to the 1918 influenza to now, pandemics have been unwelcome members of society. Touching everyone and everything, global sickness and the changes we have to make to …
‘My Dark Vanessa’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!
By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a …
‘Such a Fun Age’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!
I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a similar reading experience to THAT …