DC Public Library
Wizards Book Of The Month Presented by KPMG
Check out DC Public Library's picks for the Book of the Month. Click the month tab to browse through their title choices. Be sure to grab a library card and check out these books through the links below. Digital and physical copies are available.
Share your thoughts with us on social media using #WizardsBookOfTheMonth and tag @JrWizards & @DCPL on Twitter or @dcpubliclibrary on IG.
Get a DCPL Library card here!
Learn more information about DCPL's Book of the Month here.
October 2025
Trunk or Treat!
This boo-tiful Halloween picture book celebrates all the costumes, decorations and sticky candy–all on wheels–as one family attends a community trunk-or-treat event!
Day of the Living Liv
The only living girl in a ghost town struggles to find her place in the first book in the Spirited graphic chapter book series. Olivia “Liv” Livingston thinks life on the right side of Narrow Bridge is, well, just right! What’s not to love about the perfect town of Pleasant…
Rayleigh Mann in the Company of Monsters
Enter the world of Below London, the magical home of monsters, where causing a ruckus is the best thing you can do. Notorious troublemaker Rayleigh Mann has just discovered he’s the son of the infamous Bogey Mann. There’s just one problem: Bogey is missing and Rayleigh is the only one…
September 2025
The Library Fish Learns to Read
Library Fish, who calls the library her home, decides it is time to learn to do what everyone around her loves doing–read.
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library
“Twelve-year-old Kyle gets to stay overnight in the new town library, designed by his hero (the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello), with other students but finds that come morning he must work with friends to solve puzzles in order to escape”–
The Lost Library
“When a mysterious little free library (guarded by a large orange cat) appears overnight in the small town of Martinville, eleven-year-old Evan plucks two weathered books from its shelves, never suspecting that his life is about to change. Evan and his best friend Rafe quickly discover a link between one…
Hurry, Little Tortoise, Time for School
Little Tortoise hurries to school on her first day in order to be on time, but despite her best efforts she gets passed by all her friends.
Planet Omar : Accidental Trouble Magnet
“Imaginative Omar goes through the ups and downs of starting a new school and making new friends with the help of his wonderful (and silly) Muslim family”–
Iveliz Explains It All
Seventh grade is going to be Iveliz’s year. She’s going to make a new friend, help her abuela Mimi get settled after moving from Puerto Rico, and she is not going to get into any more trouble at school. . . . Except is that what happens? Of course not….
Listening to the Quiet
Jacki’s mama is slowly losing her hearing. As Mama’s world becomes quieter. Jacki’s remains full of sound. Can Jacki and her mama find a way to keep sharing the music they love? —
Tenacious: Fifteen Adventures Alongside Disabled Athletes
An introduction to fifteen fascinating disabled athletes and their many achievements, daily challenges, and joys. Includes an Author’s Note, glossary, and history of the Paralympics.
Welcome Back, Maple Mehta – Cohen
Maple Mehta-Cohen has been keeping a secret: she can’t read all that well. She has an impressive vocabulary and loves dictating stories into her recorder–especially the adventures of a daring sleuth who’s half Indian and half Jewish like Maple herself–but words on the page just don’t seem to make sense…
Grandad’s Pride
After Milly discovers a pride flag in Grandad’s attic, this adorable pair are motivated by the past to start a pride parade in their small town. Activism and celebration go hand in hand as the town gathers to help build a world where everyone is proud to be themselves.
The Door is Open: Stories of Celebration and Community by 11 Desi Voices
A story of community, belonging, and friendship told by South Asian authors through an interconnected anthology, based in the fictional town of Maple Grove, New Jersey, and centralized at the town community center.
If I Can Give You That
Seventeen-year-old Gael is used to keeping to himself. Though his best friend convinces him to attend a meeting of Plus, a support group for LGBTQIA+ teens, Gael doesn’t plan on sharing much. Where would he even start? Between supporting his mother through her bouts of depression, dealing with his estranged…
The Truth About Dragons
In a mix of Eastern and Western mythologies, a mother tells her child about two forests inhabited by different, but equally enchanting dragons that coexist within the child’s heart.
Ruby Lost and Found
Thanks to her Ye-Ye’s epic scavenger hunts, thirteen-year-old Ruby Chu knows San Francisco like the back of her hand. But after his death, she feels lost, and it seems like everyone–from her best friends to her older sister–is abandoning her. After Ruby gets in major trouble at school, her parents…
Lei and the Invisible Island
When Kaipo’s essential ʻaumakua pendant disappears, Lei, Kaipo, Ilikea, and newcomer Kaukahi embark on a perilous journey to an invisible island in search of the pendant, where they face challenges from sharks to malevolent spirits determined to thwart their quest.
April 2025
Windsongs: Poems about Weather
Weather describes our atmosphere. Like whether it’s cloudy, or whether it’s clear. Whether it’s freezing, or frosty, or cool. Whether it’s snowing–today there’s no school! Learn about all sorts of weather all over the world, from a regular rainy day to a hurricane, from fog to frost, from droughts to…
Poetry Comics
From the cloud-gazing hours of early spring to the lost bicycles of late autumn, Grant Snider’s brilliantly illustrated Poetry Comics will take you climbing, floating, swimming, and tumbling through all the year’s ups, downs, and in-betweens. He proves that absolutely everything, momentous or minuscule, is worthy of attention, whether snail shells,…
How the Boogeyman Became a Poet
Poet, writer, and hip-hop educator Tony Keith Jr. makes his debut with a powerful YA memoir in verse, tracing his journey from being a closeted gay Black teen battling poverty, racism, and homophobia to becoming an openly gay first-generation college student who finds freedom in poetry. Perfect for fans of…
March 2025
The Girl Who Heard the Music
Imagine living on a tiny island more than a thousand miles from any other inhabited place! That’s where a girl named Mahani lived-on Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island. Mahani grew up taking music lessons on the island’s only piano. She had the talent to become a great pianist,…
Who Was Her Own Work of Art? Frida Kahlo
Explore Mexican painter Frida Kahlo’s rise to stardom as she travels from Mexico to New York City for her first-ever solo exhibition and sets the art world aflame. A story of independence, determination, and finding beauty within one’s scars, this graphic novel invites readers to immerse themselves into the incredible…
Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes
An evocative picture book biography about the prolific life of Jackie Ormes, whose groundbreaking cartoons became some of the first empowering depictions of Black women in America! Jackie Ormes made history. She was the first Black woman cartoonist to be nationally syndicated in the United States. She was also a…
February 2025
Jerry Changed the Game
This engaging picture book biography explores how Jerry Lawson, a Black engineer, revolutionized the video game industry. Before Xbox and Playstation and Nintendo Switch, there was a tinkerer named Jerry Lawson. As a boy, Jerry loved playing with springs, sprockets, and gadgety things. When he grew up, Jerry became an…
Ways to Build Dreams
Middle school is just around the corner for Ryan Hart, which means it’s time to start thinking about the future–and not just how to prank her brother, Ray! During Black History Month, Ryan learns more about her ancestors and local Black pioneers, and their hopes for the future, for her…
Kicks in the Sky
Colorful, psychedelic sneakers hang from telephones wires all over the city. Up in the sky, they hang for all to marvel at. But when a few special pairs get knocked down, the kids have to try them on. Soon they’re racing, dancing, learning to fly! These enchanted sneaks are out…
January 2025
Our Skin: A First Conversation about Race
Based on the research that race, gender, consent, and body positivity should be discussed with toddlers on up, this read-aloud board book series offers adults the opportunity to begin important conversations with young children in an informed, safe, and supported way. Developed by experts in the fields of early childhood…
We Dream a World
The granddaughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King delivers a stirring tribute to her grandparents that speaks to children everywhere about her hopes for a new future. In this stirring tribute to Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King, Jr., their granddaughter, Yolanda – a national civil…
Across the tracks : remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre
In Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre, author Alverne Ball and illustrator Stacey Robinson have crafted a love letter to Greenwood, Oklahoma. Also known as Black Wall Street, Greenwood was a community whose importance is often overshadowed by the atrocious massacre that took…
December 2024
I’m Going to Build a Snowman
When a little boy wakes up to see a blanket of snow covering the world outside, there’s only one thing to do: make a snowman, and not just any snowman–he wants the best snowman ever. But when his perfectly packed and powdery dreams clash with cold, slushy reality, he realizes…
Who Will Make the Snow?
Twin moles, Purr and Craw, are born on the first day of spring. The newest members of their woodland world, they’re curious about everything. What is swimming? Why does mother speak French as she makes pancakes? What does father scrawl in his notebook? Do animals live in the sea? Why…
Alone
Perfect for fans of Hatchet and the I Survived series, this harrowing middle grade debut novel-in-verse from a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet tells the story of a young girl who wakes up one day to find herself utterly alone in her small Colorado town. When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for…
November 2024
On Powwow Day
This eye-catching, interactive board book is sure to keep toddlers engaged. Count one through ten as you make your way through the day of the powwow, looking for colors, family members, jingle dresses, musical instruments, and tribal citizens in this introduction to a traditional Native event.
Finding my Dance
At four years old, Ria Thundercloud was brought into the powwow circle, ready to dance in the special jingle dress her mother made for her. As she grew up, she danced with her brothers all over Indian country. Then Ria learned more styles–tap, jazz, ballet–but still loved the expressiveness of…
Eagle Drums
As his family prepares for winter, a young, skilled hunter must travel up the mountain to collect obsidian for knapping–the same mountain where his two older brothers died. When he reaches the mountaintop, he is immediately confronted by a terrifying eagle god named Savik. Savik gives the boy a choice:…
about dc public library
The District of Columbia Public Library is a vibrant center of activity for residents and visitors in the nation’s capital. The library provides environments that invite reading, learning and community discussion and equips people to learn all their lives, to embrace diversity and to build a thriving city. We are proud to be a recognized force in the community for engaging the mind, expanding opportunities and elevating the quality of life.
The first branch of the DC Public Library was built in 1911 in Takoma Park. Soon after, additional facilities were added. The library system now includes 25 neighborhood libraries -- three of which are Carnegie built -- and one central library.