From the Director, Fall 2024

This summer was filled with adventures: from summer reading to our Novel Night benefit, the library saw many families, students, and adults walk through its doors. There are plenty of successes to celebrate as we transition into fall: over 1,400 kids and teens registered for our Summer Reading Program: Adventure Begins at Your Library, we raised over $130,000 during Novel Night, and Wood County stands strong in early literacy with over 4,200 participants in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program.

During summer reading, we were busy both indoors and out exploring the world around us. Our many partners around Wood County brought fun activities and books directly to families, and we always enjoy summer successes like Outdoor Family Playtime and creative building challenges. Ohio’s First Lady, Fran DeWine, even stopped by to enjoy storytime, and we held an Ice Cream Social featuring Ice Cream Face author, Heidi Woodward Sheffield. Another award-winning Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library author, Micha Archer, also visited the library to read her Caldecott-winning book Wonder Walkers with us to celebrate the new bilingual book collection.

Our early literacy programs soared to new heights the past few months as we grew our Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Wood County program and celebrated our 1000 Books Before Kindergarten participants. Eric Litwin joined us for a toe-tapping singalong that had families of all ages come together to sing, dance, and read. As we continue to encourage reading and engage in the lives of our youngest readers, I invite you to remind the parents and guardians in your life to take advantage of these integral early literacy opportunities.

Novel Night was a humbling experience that raised over $130,000 to purchase more books in 2025. With the support of event sponsors, ticket buyers, item donors, and bidders for the live and silent auctions, we’re able to meet the diverse need of readers in our community. It is thanks to this support that our collection remains relevant, engaging, and educational. Thank you for your continued support in buying books for every reader in our community.

As we transition to cooler months, the library continues to have informative and fun programs for people of all ages. Cara Mangini, award-winning cookbook author of The Vegetable Butcher, will visit the library on Saturday, September 21 at 2:00 pm to talk about her new book, The Vegetable Eater. As part of 1Book BG, bestselling children’s book author, Jarrett Lerner, will join us on Tuesday, October 8 at 7:00 pm and will visit local schools the following day. We also look forward to hosting a variety of local authors throughout the fall. You can learn more about family author visits in Connect, and more about adult author visits in the fall edition of Bookish.

We hope you find something inspiring, educational, or fun at your library this fall, whether that’s during a program, speaking to a visiting author, or wandering the stacks.

See you at the library,

Michael Penrod
WCDPL Director