For Teens - Fondulac District Library | East Peoria, IL

Speak: A Panel Discussion

This week, during 2023’s Banned Books Week and as we wrap up the Central Illinois Reads: Freedom to Read initiative, the library is proud to share this video displaying intellectual freedom in action.

On May 4, 2023, Fondulac District Library hosted a panel discussion with East Peoria Community High School students about the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The book, about a teenage girl’s journey through her trauma after a sexual assault, is often challenged and/or banned due to its portrayal of lived experience and mature content. The eight participating students spoke thoughtfully, eloquently, and maturely in sharing their insights about the book and the complex issues it includes, as well as the challenges it often receives.

We thank EPCHS’s Jill Dawson for organizing this group of students and Ben Diggle for videotaping this event.

(Please note that microphones were not used for this event, and volume adjustments will be necessary throughout viewing.)

genna2023-09-13T12:37:04-05:00October 5th, 2023|

Banned Books Week 2023

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“This is a dangerous time for readers and the public servants who provide access to reading materials. Readers, particularly students, are losing access to critical information, and librarians and teachers are under attack for doing their jobs.” – Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom

Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read and spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. For more than 40 years, the annual event has brought together the entire book community — librarians, teachers, booksellers, publishers, writers, journalists, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted for removal or restriction in libraries and schools. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.

In a time of intense political polarization, library staff in every state are facing an unprecedented number of attempts to ban books. ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom ALA documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago. The unparalleled number of reported book challenges in 2022 nearly doubles the 729 book challenges reported in 2021. Of the record 2,571 unique titles targeted for censorship, most were by or about LGBTQIA+ persons and Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

When we ban books, we’re closing off readers to people, places, and perspectives. But when we stand up for stories, we unleash the power that lies inside every book. We liberate the array of voices that need to be heard and the scenes that need to be seen. Let freedom read!

Fondulac District Library is a proud supporter of Banned Books Week. Let freedom read!

Julie Nutt2023-09-30T16:47:23-05:00September 30th, 2023|

#FDL: Book Adaptations Coming Soon

There are plenty of book-to-screen adaptations premiering by the end of 2023. Check out this list and read the book or listen to the audiobook before seeing it on film.

Lessons in Chemistry

-After Elizabeth Zott, a brilliant chemist, is fired from her position in a patriarchal lab, she is given the opportunity to host a TV cooking show in the 1950s.

-On Apple TV+ on October 13, 2023

Killers of the Flower Moon

-Follows historical events in the 1920s surrounding the murders of the wealthy Osage people in California after oil was found in their territory.

-The book was a bestseller in 2017, winner of the Edgar Award and National Book Award nominee

-Film release will be in theaters on October 20, 2023

All the Light We Cannot See

-World War II novel that alternates between the viewpoints of Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind French girl, and Werner Pfennig, a German boy in military school.

-Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2015)

-Series premiere will be on Netflix on November 2, 2023

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

-A prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy, this novel is set many years before, centering on the backstory of 18 year old Coriolanus Snow.

-The film is scheduled to be released in the United States on November 17, 2023

The Color Purple

-This adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel produced by Oprah will be musical this time around.

-The original novel was the Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

-The theatrical release date will be December 25, 2023

–Post by Susie Rivera, Adult Services Specialist

#FDL is an update on all things Fondulac District Library and books.

Susie Rivera2023-09-28T15:49:03-05:00September 28th, 2023|

Library Card Sign-Up Month: Fine Free + Fare Free!

Fondulac District Library is excited to partner with Greater Peoria Mass Transit District/CityLink, Peoria Public Library, Pekin Public Library, and Peoria Heights Public Library to celebrate National Library Card Sign-Up Month and our two year anniversary of going Fine Free! September 1-30, show your library card from FDL, Peoria Public Library, Pekin Public Library, or Peoria Heights Public Library to ride CityLink’s fixed bus routes for FREE! Services like public transportation and fine-free access to media, technology, resources, and educational programming are essential to connecting and sustaining vibrant communities. This partnership aims to encourage more people to sign up for a library card, visit their local libraries, and ride CityLink when possible!

Beyond our community, Library Card Sign-Up Month is celebrated in September by the American Library Association and libraries nationwide to remind everyone that a library card is the first step towards academic achievement and lifelong learning. So this September, sign up for a new FDL card, renew your expired card, or replace your lost card to be entered into a prize drawing for a Kindle tablet! Already have an FDL card in good standing? Use it to check out materials from FDL in September, and you could win a Kindle tablet, too! Encourage your friends and neighbors to get their library cards, and discover all of the great resources and programs available at FDL!

For more information about how to sign up for your library card, visit fondulaclibrary.org/library-cards/. To learn about FDL’s fine free policies, visit fondulaclibrary.org/fine-free-faq/. Check out ridecitylink.org to find CityLink’s routes and schedules, or see below for routes directly to the libraries.

Peoria Public Libraries

Main: #10 Forrest Hill, #11 Western, #12 Heights, #14 Wisconsin
Lincoln: #15 Lincoln
McClure: #10 Forrest Hill
Lakeview: #1 University
North: #1 University

Fondulac District Library

Peoria Heights Public Library

12 Heights

Pekin Public Library

#18 Pekin South

Julie Nutt2023-09-06T11:31:59-05:00September 6th, 2023|

A Library Card is “Elemental”!

Get in Your Element this September—sign up for a library card! From borrowing books, ebooks, and museum passes to getting homework help, learning new skills, or attending story time, a library card helps you do more of what you enjoy. Get a library card and dive into a new hobby. Use your library card to tinker in a maker space and spark your creativity. A library card is your most important school supply—it’s elemental, really—and everyone should have one!

Susie Rivera2023-09-06T11:34:06-05:00August 31st, 2023|

Friends of the Library Big Book Sale

Come to find great books at great bargains! Help support the Friends of the Library and the Fondulac District Library with this annual Big Book Sale. Reasonably prices hard backs and paperback books for all ages.

Julie Nutt2023-08-31T14:53:28-05:00August 31st, 2023|

FDL Reads: Much Ado About Nada

Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin

Reviewed by: Dawn Dickey, Library volunteer

Genre: Romance

Suggested Age: Adult, Young Adult

What is the book about? Techpreneur Nada Syed’s best friend, Haleema, tricks her friend into attending a large, popular, Muslim convention (“like ComicCon, except with hijabs”) run by Haleema’s fiancé, Zayn, and his family. Nada’s parents and best friend Haleema all think the convention would be a good way for Nada to get out of her shell and meet people, especially with the matrimonial speed-dating event on the agenda. Nada hasn’t yet met Zayn, something she has avoided doing because – unknown to Haleema or Zayn – Nada has a history with Zayn’s brother Baz. Nada is also dismayed and angry after learning that her traitorous, former business partner, Haneef, is attending the convention.

My Review: Author Uzma Jalaluddin says she was inspired in writing this novel by Jane Austen’s Persuasion, while the Shakespearean-style title hints at the complex muddle Nada’s life has become. Both connections – Austen and Shakespeare – hint at some (but not all!) of the plot line and heightened my interest in the tale. Layer by layer, alternating between the present and the past, Jalaluddin deftly unveils the back story that is key to the relationship between Nada and Baz. The history between the two is not pretty, which leads to some surprising developments as present-day interactions between Nada and Baz unfold. My favorite phrase from the book: “She [Nada] had buried her secrets and regrets in a small bundle she kept hidden in a floral hatbox inside her closet.” I loved this book and can’t wait to read Jalaluddin’s next work!

Three Words That Describe This Book: Romantic, funny, opportunity

Give This a Try if You Like… Romcoms and romances such as Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev, Love from A to Z by S. K. Ali, Jane Austen’s Persuasion.

Rating: 5/5

Find it at the library!

Susie Rivera2023-07-19T15:13:34-05:00July 19th, 2023|

FDL Reads: Robert E. Lee and Me

Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning With the Myth of the Lost Cause by Ty Seidule

Reviewed by: Melissa Friedlund, Reference Specialist

Genre: American History (Civil War), Memoir

Suggested Age: Adult, Teen

What is the book about? The myth of the “Lost Cause” is an interpretation of the events before, during, and after the Civil War that portrays the South in the best possible light. It claims slavery was benign or beneficial to those enslaved. It glorifies Robert E. Lee to a point beyond hero-worship, almost as if he was god-like. Belief in it facilitated reconciliation between whites from the North and South during the 19^th and 20^th centuries, at the cost of racial equity and civil rights. The author, a career military officer in the Army as well as a historian, explains how, as an adult, he came to terms with his own indoctrination into these racist ideas by examining his upbringing in Virginia and throughout the South.

My Review: I listened to the audiobook read by the author and thought it was an impressively-researched dissection of the myth of the “Lost Cause.” Seidule is clear-eyed and forthright about the fact that his old belief system was racist and how the Southern culture that he was raised in fostered and nurtured these beliefs into his adulthood. His detailed exploration into things like the cause of the Civil War, Confederate monuments, Gone With the Wind, Confederate flags, military fort names, and beyond is a compelling demystification of the Confederacy and of Robert E. Lee.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Introspective, Compelling, Well-Researched

Give This a Try if You Like…How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History Slavery Across America by Clint Smith, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DeAngelo, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Rating: 5/5

Find it at the library!

FDL Reads

Susie Rivera2023-07-05T11:59:47-05:00July 5th, 2023|

Tree Planting: 2023 Community Project

tulip tree We need your help for this summer’s community project! The Fon du Lac Park District will match the library’s $500 pledge to go towards planting beautiful tulip poplar trees at Neumann Park for everyone to enjoy – but only if all of our summer readers help us hit our goal of 500,000 minutes!

That’s a lot of reading, but we’re positive that our voracious readers will be up to the task. Tulip poplars are the official tree of East Peoria and are actually closely related to the magnolia tree, but are called tulip trees because of their greenish yellow and orange flowers. So register for summer reading and track your reading June 1 – July 31 to help us plant new trees in the community! Plus, everyone who completes the summer reading program will be able to add a leaf to the tree bulletin board in the Youth Services department!

genna2023-06-27T11:57:03-05:00June 27th, 2023|

FDL Reads: Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches

Reviewed By: Alice Mitchell, Youth Services Manager

Genre: Realistic fiction/romance

Suggested Age: Teens (grades 7-12)

What is This Book About? Seventeen-year old Eleanor can’t help it that she’s cynical. She had to move to Salem, MA after her mom contracted Lyme disease, she lost her first love last year, and was then bullied out of her high school. Working at a witch-themed gift store in Salem doesn’t make it easier to believe that mysterious forces might be able to improve her life. All of that changes when Eleanor is sent a mysterious tarot deck, and when Pix and her cousin wander into the shop. Eleanor starts falling – hard – and begins to open up to new beginnings and the possibility of new romance. As Eleanor starts getting comfortable with a new group of friends in Pix’s coven, her past steps in to convince her that maybe she really does mess up everything.

My Review: This book will have you breaking out some tarot cards! I had a great time reading this book for Pride Month, though it would also do well as a witchy, fall read. I kept feeling more and more sorry for Eleanor as I learned about her first love and best friend, Chloe, but every refreshing moment watching her move on with her life with Pix in the current timeline made me feel so hopeful that she would be able to heal from her past. No one is perfect, and Scelsa shows how even good people can sometimes make mistakes. Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches was a great book about toxic relationships, second chances, and a little bit of magic.

Three Words that Describe this Book: witchy, anxiety, optimistic

Give This A Try if You Like… Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, Beetle & the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne, The Witch King by H.E. Hedgmon, Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Rating: 4/5

Find it at the library!

FDL Reads

Susie Rivera2023-06-21T14:41:25-05:00June 21st, 2023|