An ‘Ocean of Possibilities’ comes this summer to Homewood Public Library

With the summer season comes summer reading programs at the Homewood Public Library.

Children, teens and adults will be able to win weekly prizes and participate in in-person activities and events throughout the summer, May 23 through Aug. 7.

Readers can also enter a weekly drawing for every three books they check out.

This year’s theme is Ocean of Possibilities.

For a full list of events or to learn more about the library, visit homewoodpubliclibrary.org.

Children’s Department

Winners of the weekly drawings in the children’s department will receive passes and other prizes from local businesses such as the McWane Science Center, Dreamcakes and Cook’s Natural Museum, among others.

The children’s department will host a scavenger hunt as well as several in-person activities, including an outdoor concert on June 7, a karate demonstration, puppet show, live animal show, a movie day and a variety of other events, library technician Kelly Cummings said.

“I'm mostly excited about our summer reading program because it will be the first time in two years (since the COVID-19 pandemic started) that we will be having it in person,” said Cristina Castor, head of children’s services at the library. “We definitely missed having the kids come in and show us their reading progress and get excited about the prizes that they will potentially win throughout the summer. This year, a lot of our prizes highlight local businesses, such as Dreamcakes, Big Spoon Creamery, Sikes, Jack's, Hero Doughnuts, McWane Center, Cook's Natural Museum, Birmingham Zoo, Birmingham Legion, etc. and so much more. Not only are these prizes for our young readers, but they are also for the whole family. We will also have fun performers that will provide entertainment for families every week that will further excite everyone for summer reading.”

Teen Department

Teen librarian Joi Mahand said she is encouraging teens to dive deep into summer reading and all of the fun programs the library has planned. The teen department will kick off the summer season with a murder mystery luau, which will be the first in a series of murder mystery activities, Mahand said.

The department will continue the season with a Harry Potter series of activities called Dumbledore’s Army, a board game night for teens, Dungeons and Dragons campaigns as well as a tournament, yoga classes that are twice a month and an “Animarathon” — a three-hour event that brings teens in the area together to watch anime, talk about manga and eat Japanese snacks, Mahand said.

The season will then end with a sixth grade social that will introduce rising sixth graders to the teen department, Mahand said.

“It’s a way for them to meet each other and also get introduced to the teen department since they’ll be switching over from children’s to teens,” Mahand said.

Adult Department

The adult department will have several events throughout the summer, including virtual yoga classes and book clubs.

The library is at 1721 Oxmoor Road.