Upcoming Events

This event is in the "Children" group

Letter of the Day - T

9:00am–9:00pm
Children
Main Library
Library Branch: Main Library
Age Group: Children
Program Type: Developing Skills, Language Learning, School & Homeschool
Event Details:

The letter of the day is T! 

Disclaimer(s)

Library programs, events, and classes are photographed or videotaped for promotional purposes or to document library activities.  Notify library staff if you prefer not to be photographed. 

Los programas de la biblioteca, eventos y clases son fotografiados o filmados con fines promocionales o para documentar las actividades de la biblioteca. Notificar al personal de la biblioteca si prefiere no ser fotografiado.

 

This event is in the "Teens" group

Teen ESL Class

3:00pm–4:30pm
Teens
South Branch Library
Library Branch: South Branch Library
Room: Conference Room B - South Branch Library
Age Group: Teens
Program Type: Language Learning, Developing Skills
Event Details:

Free English class for teens every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:00 to 4:30. June 10-August 7. No registration required.

 

Disclaimer(s)

Library programs, events, and classes are photographed or videotaped for promotional purposes or to document library activities.  Notify library staff if you prefer not to be photographed. 

Los programas de la biblioteca, eventos y clases son fotografiados o filmados con fines promocionales o para documentar las actividades de la biblioteca. Notificar al personal de la biblioteca si prefiere no ser fotografiado.

 

This event is in the "Children" group
This event is in the "Teens" group
This event is in the "Adults" group

BINGO for Books

6:00pm–7:00pm
Children, Teens, Adults
South Branch Library
Library Branch: South Branch Library
Room: Conference Room A - South Branch Library
Age Group: Children, Teens, Adults
Program Type: Games & Video Games, Entertainment & Culture
Event Details:

Patrons of all ages are invited to join us for a game of BINGO, where the prizes are gently used books! We'll have books for all ages, from babies to adults!

Disclaimer(s)

Library programs, events, and classes are photographed or videotaped for promotional purposes or to document library activities.  Notify library staff if you prefer not to be photographed. 

Los programas de la biblioteca, eventos y clases son fotografiados o filmados con fines promocionales o para documentar las actividades de la biblioteca. Notificar al personal de la biblioteca si prefiere no ser fotografiado.

 

This event is in the "Adults" group

Burmese Community of Kansas Citizenship/Language Classes

6:00pm–8:00pm
Adults
West Wyandotte Library
Library Branch: West Wyandotte Library
Room: Auditorium - West Wyandotte Library
Age Group: Adults
Program Type: Immigrant Services, Developing Skills
Event Details:

Join us on Thursdays from 6:00-8:30 for Citizenship/Language classes offered by the Burmese Community of Kansas

Disclaimer(s)

Library programs, events, and classes are photographed or videotaped for promotional purposes or to document library activities.  Notify library staff if you prefer not to be photographed. 

Los programas de la biblioteca, eventos y clases son fotografiados o filmados con fines promocionales o para documentar las actividades de la biblioteca. Notificar al personal de la biblioteca si prefiere no ser fotografiado.

 

This event is in the "Adults" group

Burmese Community of Kansas Citizenship/Language Classes

6:00pm–8:00pm
Adults
West Wyandotte Library
Library Branch: West Wyandotte Library
Room: Conference Room C - West Wyandotte Library
Age Group: Adults
Program Type: Immigrant Services, Developing Skills
Event Details:

Join us on Thursdays from 6:00-8:30 for Citizenship/Language classes offered by the Burmese Community of Kansas

 


 

Disclaimer(s)

Library programs, events, and classes are photographed or videotaped for promotional purposes or to document library activities.  Notify library staff if you prefer not to be photographed. 

Los programas de la biblioteca, eventos y clases son fotografiados o filmados con fines promocionales o para documentar las actividades de la biblioteca. Notificar al personal de la biblioteca si prefiere no ser fotografiado.

 

This event is in the "Adults" group

Fiber Folks Social Hour

6:00pm–8:00pm
Adults
West Wyandotte Library
Library Branch: West Wyandotte Library
Room: Conference Room B - West Wyandotte Library
Age Group: Adults
Program Type: Entertainment & Culture, Crafts & Hobbies
Event Details:

Do you love crafting with fabric and thread? Join us to work on your favorite fiber crafts including crochet, embroidery, sewing, and more!

Disclaimer(s)

Library programs, events, and classes are photographed or videotaped for promotional purposes or to document library activities.  Notify library staff if you prefer not to be photographed. 

Los programas de la biblioteca, eventos y clases son fotografiados o filmados con fines promocionales o para documentar las actividades de la biblioteca. Notificar al personal de la biblioteca si prefiere no ser fotografiado.

 

New & Noteworthy

The Kansas Collection

The Kansas Room is open on Tuesdays from 9am-noon and on Thursdays from 1-4pm.

View the Collection

Collage of historic photos and documents from the Kansas Collection

Staff Picks: KC Fiction Authors

Image for "A Killer Secret"

A Killer Secret

Would you kill to keep a secret?

That's the question haunting three people whose lives become inescapably intertwined by the secrets that define them and ultimately threaten to tear them apart.

A disgraced professor, a disenchanted psychologist and a deceitful patient are about to learn more than they expected about each other and themselves. Will their relationships survive their secrets? Will they?

Everyone has secrets.

Some are just darker than others.

And some, well, they're worth killing to keep.

"A Killer Secret," the debut novel by Jeff Berney, is a character study in good and evil, and the large swath of gray area in between where most of us live. That is, unless our secrets kill us first.

Initial Reader Reactions:

"Really enjoyed the book (in a twisted thriller kind of way). I was shocked multiple times and couldn't sleep for a few nights after reading the end."

"Just when I thought I had it figured out...BOOM, I was wrong!"

"This book is definitely not for the faint of heart."

"Everything seems to follow the normal pattern of a suspense/thriller novel, until it absolutely doesn't!"

"I was riveted to the story."

"So many twists and turns ... absolutely did not see that ending coming!"

"Wow. I literally could not put this book down. I was shocked by the ending, and I want to read again just to make sense of it all."

"I was surprised of the ending and happy to see that there is room for a sequel possibly in the future. I highly recommend this book for an amazing thriller read that surprises the reader."

"Really great book. Can't recommend it enough. Keep in mind 1)you won't be able to put it down 2) you will need a friend to talk to about it."

Excerpt from Midwest Book Reviews:

"Jeff Berney knows how to craft a suspense story that is as compelling as any Alfred Hitchcock could have shaped. As events in multiple lives move forward in a chess match-style of intrigue, readers will not only find the story replete with surprises, but should be advised that if it's chosen for late night reading, dawn might arrive before the story's completed."

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Bindle Punk Bruja

Boardwalk Empire meets The Vanishing Half with a touch of earth magic in this sexy and action-packed historical fantasy set in the luminous Golden Twenties from debut author Desideria Mesa, where a part-time reporter and club owner takes on crooked city councilmen, mysterious and deadly mobsters, and society's deeply rooted sexism and racism, all while keeping her true identity and magical abilities hidden--inspired by an ancient Mexican folktale.

Yo soy quien soy. I am who I am.

Luna--or depending on who's asking, Rose--is the white-passing daughter of an immigrant mother who has seen what happens to people from her culture. This world is prejudicial, and she must hide her identity in pursuit of owning an illegal jazz club. Using her cunning powers, Rose negotiates with dangerous criminals as she climbs up Kansas City's bootlegging ladder. Luna, however, runs the risk of losing everything if the crooked city councilmen and ruthless mobsters discover her ties to an immigrant boxcar community that secretly houses witches. Last thing she wants is to put her entire family in danger.

But this bruja with ever-growing magical abilities can never resist a good fight. With her new identity, Rose, an unabashed flapper, defies societal expectations all the while struggling to keep her true self and witchcraft in check. However, the harder she tries to avoid scrutiny, the more her efforts eventually capture unwanted attention. Soon, she finds herself surrounded by greed and every brand of bigotry--from local gangsters who want a piece of the action and businessmen who hate her diverse staff to the Ku Klux Klan and Al Capone. Will her earth magic be enough to save her friends and family As much as she hates to admit it, she may need to learn to have faith in others--and learning to trust may prove to be her biggest ambition yet.

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I Am My Country

“A powerful and provocative debut collection” (The New York Times Book Review) by “a startling talent who can seemingly do anything” (Anthony Marra) that explores the lives of ordinary people in Turkey to reveal how even individual acts of resistance have extraordinary repercussions.

I Am My Country employs many different literary styles and voices to dazzling effect.”—The Atlantic

FINALIST FOR THE PEN/ROBERT W. BINGHAM PRIZE • LONGLISTED FOR THE STORY PRIZE • AN ELECTRIC LIT AND LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Spanning decades and landscapes, from the forests along the Black Sea to the streets of Istanbul, Kenan Orhan’s ​playful stories ​conjure dreamlike worlds—of talking animals, flying houses, and omniscient prayer-callers—to ​examine humanity’s unfaltering pursuit of hope in even the darkest circumstances.

A determined florist trains a neighborhood stray dog to blow up a corrupt president. A garbage collector finds banned instruments—and later, musicians—in the trash and takes them home to form a clandestine orchestra in her attic. A smuggler risks his life to bring a young woman claiming to be pregnant via immaculate conception across the border with Syria. A poor cage-maker tries to use his ability to talk to birds to woo his childhood love just before the 1955 Istanbul pogrom. These characters are united by a desperate yearning to break free from the volatile realities they face: rising authoritarianism, cultural and political turmoil, and staggering violence.

Ranging from the absurd to the tenderhearted, the stories in I Am My Country illuminate the constant force amid one country’s history of rampant oppression and revolutionary progress: the impulse to survive.

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The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

"A uniquely charming mixture of whimsy and the macabre that completely won me over. If you ever wished for an adult romance that felt like Howl's Moving Castle, THIS IS THAT BOOK." --Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient

Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the strange and magical wilds of Tanria. It's an unforgiving job, and Hart's got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness. 

Mercy never has a moment to herself. She's been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest. 

After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to "A Friend". Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born. 

If only Hart knew he's been baring his soul to the person who infuriates him most--Mercy. As the dangers from Tanria grow closer, so do the unlikely correspondents. But can their blossoming romance survive the fated discovery that their pen pals are their worst nightmares--each other?

Set in a world full of magic and demigods, donuts and small-town drama, this enchantingly quirky, utterly unique fantasy is perfect for readers of The House in the Cerulean Sea and The Invisible Library.

"Truly outstanding romantic fantasy." --India Holton

"An unabashedly offbeat adventure." --Freya Marske

"I cried twice and smiled plenty." --Olivia Atwater

"A little sweet, a little spicy, a little sharp and entirely moreish!" --Davinia Evans

"I showed up for the fantastic, fun fantasy setting but it was Hart and Mercy that kept me reading." --Ruby Dixon

Image for "Gone Girl"

Gone Girl

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “mercilessly entertaining” (Vanity Fair) instant classic “about the nature of identity and the terrible secrets that can survive and thrive in even the most intimate relationships” (Lev Grossman, Time “One of the Best Books of the Decade”)

ONE OF TIME'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME, ONE OF CNN'S MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE, AND ONE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE • A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE CENTURY

ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Janet Maslin, The New York Times, People, Entertainment Weekly, O: The Oprah Magazine, Slate, Kansas City Star, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: San Francisco Chronicle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Chicago Tribune, HuffPost, Newsday