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Tag Archives: book clubs
Celebrate the Semiquincentennial @ Your Library
July 2026 marks the country’s 250th birthday, and communities all over the country are planning celebrations throughout the year. Is your library looking for ideas to get in on the festivities? We’ve found some resources to help you out. A few highlights:
- As it did for the Bicentennial in 1976, Nebraska has created a special commission for the Semiquincentennial. Nebraska’s Semiquincentennial Commission will work with the national Semiquincentennial Commission to coordinate commemorative events and celebrations throughout the year.
- PBS has posted their “America250 Reading List: Stories That Shaped a Nation.” We have several of these titles in our Book Club Kit collection, plus many more books on past presidents, plus history and historical fiction, so you can host your own Semiquincentennial Book Club.
- Challenge your young patrons to be creative with the “My Nebraska, Our America” Public Art Design Challenge, coordinated by the Nebraska Art Council, Nebraska Department of Education, and the Semiquincentennial Commission. Submissions are due by April 1, 2026 and a selection of artwork will be included in a touring exhibition that starts at the state capitol building this July.
- Host a group reading of the Declaration of Independence. On July 8, 2026, people all across the country will be “Sharing the Spirit of America” by reading this founding document aloud at the same time. You can add your location to the map!
- Get your steps in. The Nebraska Department of Games and Parks is holding a 250 Mile Challenge to encourage outdoor recreation. The challenge runs (no pun intended) from January 1 – December 31, 2026, so you’ve got plenty of time to lace up those sneakers or hiking boots and hit the trails.
- The American Association for State and Local History has a free program handbook with “more than 30 low-cost, sustainable program ideas to help organizations planning to commemorate the United States’ Semiquincentennial anniversary.”
Check out our American250 resource page for even more ideas and events. If your library has something fun planned, we’d love to hear about it!
2024 ‘One Book For Nebraska Kids & Teens’ Titles Selected
The Nebraska Library Commission is excited to announce the 2024 titles selected for the One Book For Nebraska Kids & Teens program:
Wouldn’t it be great if kids all over Nebraska were talking about books? And wouldn’t it be even better if those kids were talking about the SAME book? Hold on to your bookmarks, the Nebraska Library Commission and Regional Library Systems have a program for that!
Each year, the One Book for Nebraska Kids & Teens program selects a title for kids (roughly grades 4-6) and teens (older readers) and encourages youth across the state to read and discuss the book together. Read more about the program, and see current and past selections here: http://nlc.nebraska.gov/Youth/OBOK/index.aspx
One Book For Nebraska Kids 2024:
Parachute Kids, by Betty Tang (Graphix, 2023).
A middle-grade graphic novel that follows Feng-Li and her siblings as they navigate life alone in a new country. After a fun-filled vacation in California, Mom and Dad announce that the family is staying and enroll the children in school. When their parents’ visas expire, the children are left in their rental house while their parents return to Taiwan to sort out a legal reentry to the United States.
One Book For Nebraska Teens 2024:
Between the Lines, by Nikki Grimes (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2018).
This 2018 companion to Grimes’ Bronx Masquerade combines verse and prose to explore the thoughts, feelings, and struggles of a diverse class of poets as they prepare for their school poetry slam. In addition to honing their writing skills, they find friendship and support in each other.
The Nebraska Library Commission and each Regional Library System will have book sets for the 2023 and 2024 titles to check out to librarians and school media specialists for their book clubs. See our Book Club Kit page, or contact your regional library system directory for details.
