Come to our Summer Reading Celebration at the Oakland Museum! Sunday, August 4, 12-4pm.

Join the Oakland Public Library and the Oakland Museum of CA for our 9th Annual Summer Reading Celebration, Reading is So Delicious!  Enjoy storytime with your favorite librarians, hands-on craft activities, face painting, a live art demonstration, and active games with Oakland Parks and Recreation all on the lawn in the beautiful Museum Gardens.  Following a performance by Busy Bee Dogs, children who are participating in the Summer Reading Game will receive a special certificate of achievement. 

First Sundays at the OMCA are free; so bring your appetite for books and come spend the day with us!  The Museum is located at 1000 Oak Street, at 10th, just a few blocks from the Oakland Main Library. 

     

Now that summer schools are ending, we want to remind you that eleven OPL branches are offering free lunch for children and teens, in partnership with the Alameda County Community Foodbank and the City of Oakland's Department of Human Services. Lunch is served on weekdays (Tuesday-Friday at branches, Monday-Friday at Main) through August 9.

Participating branches include:

Main Library – Children’s Room and Teen Zone

81^st Avenue

César Chávez

Dimond

Eastmont

Elmhurst

Golden Gate

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Melrose

Temescal

West Oakland

For more information or for other FREE lunch sites, call Alameda County Community Food Bank: (800) 870-3663

Looking for something to do with your child this afternoon?  How about:

Author/Illustrator Todd Parr at the Temescal Library, 12:30pm! (free lunch for kids and teens served 12:30-1:30)

Buki the Clown at the Eastmont Library, 1:30pm!  (free lunch for kids and teens served 12-1)

Decorate a Flower Pot & Plant Seeds at the Melrose Library 1pm! (free lunch for kids and teens served 12-1)

"Where does food come from?" Gardening Workshop at the Main Library 3pm! (free lunch for kids and teens served 12:30-1:30)

Weekly Art With MOCHA at the West Oakland Library 3pm! (free lunch for kids and teens served 12-1)

Learn to Play Chess at the Dimond Library 3:30pm! (free lunch for kids and teens served 12:30-1:30)

This is just a small sampling of the events hapenning at your library this summer.  For more, check out the full library events listings, or our Summer Reading pages at http://oaklandsummerreading.com/

See you this afternoon!

In July and August 2013,  Todd Parr will be dropping in to many Oakland Public Library locations to read and draw with kids. Mr. Parr is the author and illustrator of dozens of books for children.  

All of his Oakland Public Library appearances will include a short read-aloud and tips on how to draw. Additionally, a free, healthy lunch will be served to youths ages 0–18, as part of the Free Summer Lunch Program held at many Oakland Library locations. Free Summer Lunch is provided by the Alameda County Food Bank in partnership with the City of Oakland.

Mr. Parr suggested the series of appearances as a gesture of support for Free Summer Lunch and the Library’s Summer Reading Program. Mr. Parr is donating his time free of charge.   Come see him at:

Temescal Branch, Thursday July 18, 12:30pm (lunch served 12:30-1:30)

Dimond Branch, Friday July 19th, 1pm (lunch served 12:30-1:30)

Melrose Branch, Wednesdsay July 24, 1pm (lunch served 12-1)

César Chávez Branch, Thursday July 25, 1:30pm (lunch served 12:30-1:30)

Main Library Children's Room, Monday July 29, 1pm (lunch served 12:30-1:30)

Eastmont Branch, Tuesday July 30, 1pm (lunch served 12-1)

West Oakland Branch, Wednesday July 31, 12pm (lunch served 12-1)

Elmhurst Branch, Wednesday August 7, 1pm (lunch served 12-1)

And check out his books today!

                        

Have you seen the gardening containers in the front of the Main Library's Children's Room? This summer we have a special series of gardening programs for children on Thursdays. Acta Non Verba; Youth Urban Farm Project is teaching us about soil, seeds, bugs and more. 

In addition to the programming, we also have a new shelf full of gardening books for children. Come to the Main Library Children's Room to both garden and learn about gardening. 

Programs are mostly on Thursdays at 3:00. This week the program will be today (Tuesday) at 3:00. The topic is Weed or Plant? How are weeds and plants different? 

Look at some of the activities! You too could be part of the fun. Come on by!

  

Artists from the Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA) will continue their workshops at eight branches this summer! See below for the schedules. These weekly programs for preschool up to middle school students have been very popular for the past two years. Each week brings a different art project: sculpture, weaving, painting, collage. Children always leave with art in hand.  

Wednesdays 1-2 and 2-3 Main Library, Children's Room

Wednesdays 2-4              81st Avenue Community Branch 

Wednesdays 1-3:30        César Chávez Branch

Wednesdays 2-4              Eastmont Branch

Fridays 1-3                       Elmhurst Branch

Wednesdays 3-5              Golden Gate Branch

Wednesdays 2-4              Martin Luther King, Jr. Branch

Thursdays 3-4:30            West Oakland Branch