The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Library of Virginia and the Science Museum of Virginia are partnering to promote summer explorations!

The Richmond Public Library is participating in a new initiative to promote the State Parks of Virginia and to encourage groups of all sizes to get outside and explore!  RPL is just one of the many library systems across Virginia who are participating.

With your valid Richmond Public Library Card you may check out a backpack full of great supplies including a pass for entrance to any State Park in Virginia!  

Inside you will find a net, a magnifying glass, and a bug house for temporary insect observation.  Also included are excellent guides to identify the flora and fauna of Virginia.  The guides include mammals, trees, wildflowers, bugs, and birds. There is also a guide to animal tracks!

Backpacks are available at the Main Library, the Broad Rock Library, the Belmont Library and the Ginter Park Library. Check out with your library card and keep the backpack for two weeks.  

Cardholders are responsible for the contents and there is a replacement cost for missing items. 

You may place a "hold" on a backpack by using the online library catalog. Search for "I love Virginia state parks" and place a hold to be picked up at your closest Richmond Public Library location.

Virginia State Parks are a valuable resource so check one out this summer. Many parks offer camping and cabins, hiking trails, boating and other programs.  For additional information, locations and activities offered, go to Virginia State Parks.  

Whatever you do, explore Virginia outdoors this summer!

Family Novels!

Family novels might just be the best novels. Check out a few of our recent favorites:

And After Many Days by Jowhor Ile

And After Many Days begins in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, 1995, with the traumatic disappearance of one family's eldest son and the youngest son's search for the truth as his family is torn apart by the loss. The novel moves back and forth through time, exploring Nigerian oil rights, political turmoil and corruption, childhood and change.

We the Animals by Justin Torres

This incredibly funny, too short novel, came highly recommended for the audiobook version, and I couldn't agree more. As outrageously funny as it is deeply moving, We the Animals is a powerful and chaotic coming of age story about three brothers--sons of a Puerto Rican father and white mother--growing up in Brooklyn.

This book won the Cabell First Novelist Award in 2012, which is awarded by VCU to outstanding debut novelists.

The Turner House by Angela Flournoy

"There ain't no haints in Detroit": the best opening line I've read in a long time.

This novel takes us around in time, following the Turner family from Arkansas in the 1940s to Detroit in the midst of the 2008 economic crisis.The novel focuses on eldest and youngest child as conflicts escalate among the 13 siblings and their aging mother over how to handle the family home on Yarrow Street.

I have just embarked on The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, and so far it looks to fulfill its promise of being a darkly comic and juicy dysfunctional family drama. And finally, we are really looking forward to reading the multi-generational family saga, As Close to Us As Breathing, by Elizabeth Poliner. The story is set in the 40s on "Bagel Beach", a stretch of the Connecticut shore popular with vacationing Jewish families. It sounds like an excellent pick as we enter beach season.

Happy reading!