Thank you for joining us for OPL Summer! Our End of Summer Kids Party will be held Saturday, July 31, 10:30 am-12:30 pm. Attendees can enjoy stories, songs, a juggling lesson with Unique Derique, and circus arts with Coventry and Kaluza.

We know you've got questions about the RAFFLE!

Everyone who has earned 9 badges in Beanstack or completed 9 stars on the paper log is eligible. No further action is needed.

Winners will be drawn were notified on Thursday, August 12. 

Grand Raffle Prizes ( 1 winner each) include :

for ages 0-4: The WINNER was registered at the Golden Gate Branch

• Family membership to Fairyland  

   

for ages 5-14: The WINNER was registered at the 81st Avenue Branch

• Nintendo Switch

Branch Raffle Prizes (17 winners each) include:

• Oaklandish Sports Water bottle with pen, sticker, decal, and button
• Ukulele OR Folkmanis Puppet (varies by location)
• Family gift certificate to the Bookmark Bookstore
• Family membership to Chabot Space and Science Center
• Family membership to Fairyland
• Family membership to Oakland Zoo 

May the odds be in your favor!

Welcome to Week 8 of Summer Reading!

When kids do experiments and projects alone or with family and friends, it encourages independence and builds confidence. Join us for these fun online events, check out some books, and get your creativity flowing!

READ:

Looking for ideas and inspiration? Check out these books and fill the rest of your summer with cooking, gardening, crafts and more!

WATCH:

July 17th @ 10:30am

Hands On Science with Kits Cubed

Grab a science kit from any of our libraries and learn some exciting hands on science with Oakland-based youth. Kit includes experiments to make your own rock candy, a plant maze, and more!

Sign Up Here!

Thursday, July 22 @ 4:00pm

Social Justice Sewing Academy II

Learn about equity, inclusion and bias through creating a quilt block with the Social Justice Sewing Academy. This program is for people ages 8-14. Space is limited. 

Sign up here!

DO: 

If you aren't able to attend the workshops, that's okay! You can still do it yourself at home! Come by any of our libraries to pick up supplies. Hey, you can't go wrong with your own customized plant maze!

OPL’s Kids summer programming kicked off last Saturday with a “Baby Rave” hosted by DJ E.T. The beats were fabulous. This Saturday we will host Andrés and Christina, the Latin Grammy-winning music duo 123 Andrés, Saturday, June 5th at 10:30am. 

OPLSummer Read, Watch, Do is designed for kids to engage in active learning.

READ everyday! Have you seen the booklists in Beanstack under Recommendations?

Here are some additional titles for your inspiration: BOOKS ABOUT GAMES

If you don't find what you're looking for, you can always request recommendations from OPL's Book Me! service. 

WATCH special performances Saturdays at 10:30 a.m.

Use this link to RSVP on Eventbrite: tinyurl.com/rsvpOPL

DO an activity with us Thursdays at 4pm

This week you can join Ms Annabelle in the Virtual Game Room for word games, a scavenger hunt and emoji quiz. 

There will be prizes!

See below for other opportunities to PLAY:

• Bay Area Discovery Museum TALK & PLAY
• PBS Kids Activities to Do at Home
• Waterford.org's 50 Independent Activities Children Can Do at Home (Mostly) Themselves

If have have NOT already done so, register on Beanstack for summer reading - paper logs are available at your local library and can be downloaded from the Kids’ Summer Reading page. 

Mark your calendar for 10:30 am these Saturdays in May and don't forget to RSVP!

During the month of March we celebrate women’s history, Pi Day,  Saint Patrick, Spring, and Passover... among other things.   

OPL will be hosting Magic Nathaniel at 10:30am on Saturday, March 20, the first day of Spring. 

Magical Nathaniel returns with a magic workshop! Learn some amazing magic you can later perform for friends or family using everyday objects that you can find around the house. Magic Nathaniel will be discussing the basics of tricks as well as going into more detail on the psychology, subtleties, and presentation of each effect. Don't miss a chance to learn some magic from this award winning magician! This magic workshop is best for children ages 6 and up.You will be emailed a Zoom link the day before the workshop. Please sign up here!

   

 

And because magic is not only something you do, but something you make - check out these titles and read how you can make your own magic. 

 
  

 

If you are interested in reading any of the titles listed above, be sure to request them for pickup at your local library during Sidewalk Service. 

If you are looking for something more specific, please submit a BOOK ME! request.

[Image description: The words #Black Trans Lives Matter are written in the background. A person with brown skin and long black starry hair that fades into the night sky is at the top, and a person with brown skin wearing a pastel rainbow and holding a megaphone at the front of a crowd is at the bottom, with a banner reading "Give us our roses while we're still here" in the background. Art by Ethan X Parker.]

It's Pride 2020, and this year we're celebrating by telling the stories of the protests and uprisings that brought us to the present, and that will carry us into the future. Check out our LGBTQ+ Family Pride event on Saturday, June 27, and keep reading for suggestions of queer community organizations to support, a recommended LGBTQ book list, and ways we're honoring the Stonewall rebellion this year (including links to protests to support #Blacklivesmatter).

Queer community resources & organizations

We're lucky to have many fantastic organizations in the Bay Area. Whether you're looking for a camp, a conference, midwifery or doula help to grow your family, or a support group, you can almost certainly find what you need. Many of these groups have moved their services online to support you from home during this unprecedented time.

Click here to check out our Bay Area resource list, full of links for adults and kids. Some kid- and family-friendly highlights: Our Family Coalition, The Unicorn Project, Gender Spectrum, and the Oakland LGBTQ Center are great places to start!

Book & media recommendations 

Check out our digital book list of titles available on Hoopla or Overdrive. We've got picture books, graphic novels, and middle grade fiction—and the first season of Steven Universe is available, too, if you're looking for something to watch!

Now that our libraries are open again for sidewalk pickup, you can also put anything from our catalog on hold and have it sent to one of the locations near you. Did you like the thumbnail art of the silhouette with the rainbow behind it? It's from They call me Mix / Me llaman Maestre, written by Lourdes Rivas, a nonbinary Oakland teacher, and you can put it on hold now!

Did you know you can also search by tags in our catalog? Check out our queer crushes tag for middle grade fiction and graphic novels and our gender diversity tag for picture books and middle grade fiction with trans and gender non-conforming protagonists.

Let us know if you want more recommendations—you can submit a request through Book Me!, or email us with other questions at eanswers@oaklandlibrary.org. If you'd prefer, you can leave a voicemail with your full name and details at 510-238-3134. And for even more ebooks, eaudiobooks, and more, you can browse Overdrive, Hoopla, Tumblebook, RB Digital, and all of our other online resources! 

Get involved

How are you celebrating Pride this year?

OPL Summer Reading begins May 30th and ends on August 1st. To kick off the summer reading season, the Alphabet Rockers will host a family concert on the OPL Facebook page Saturday, May 30 at 12 noon.