Every month, you can check out awesome author talks at your library! Thanks to our partnership with the Library Speaker’s Consortium, readers of all ages can attend live webinars with your favorite authors! Can’t attend live? No worries! We also have a whole archive of excellent talks that you can watch at any time, all from your phone, computer, or tablet.

Keep reading to see the awesome authors visiting with us in July! Or click here to check out our upcoming events and archive!

Raúl the Third (Tuesday, July 8th, 2PM and 4PM)

¡En español!

Check out the book!

Join author and illustrator Raúl The Third as he discusses his book ¡Vamos! Let’s Go Read!. Meet Little Lobo and friends as they explore their library’s Libro Love Book Festival! From cookbook demonstrations and comics workshops to mask making and language classes, this library has something for everyone and Little Lobo can’t wait to show you. 

Raúl the Third uses his culture and his experience growing up on the US and Mexico border to inspire his art and his storytelling. Students will be encouraged to explore their world through a creative lens. A draw along is planned, drawing supplies and paper are recommended. 

Marie Lu (Thursday, July 17, 4PM)

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Explore the intricate world of Legend with Marie Lu as she encourages readers to look beyond the surface and reveal hidden secrets. Explore the depths of deceit, battle for power, and the lengths characters will go to unmask the Truth. 

Legend is a dystopian novel where two unlikely characters, June and Day, cross paths in search for the Truth. Can they set aside their differences and preconceptions for the greater good? Readers will devour Marie Lu’s words as they are challenged to think critically about the world around them and reminded to never judge a book by its cover. Register now for an event you don’t want to miss!

Rex Ogle (Wednesday, July 23rd, 4PM)

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Instead of giving him lunch money, Rex’s mom has signed him up for free meals. As a poor kid in a wealthy school district, better-off kids crowd impatiently behind him as he tries to explain to the cashier that he’s on the free meal program. The lunch lady is hard of hearing, so Rex has to shout.

Free Lunch is the story of Rex’s efforts to navigate his first semester of sixth grade—who to sit with, not being able to join the football team, Halloween in a handmade costume, classmates and a teacher who take one look at him and decide he’s trouble—all while wearing secondhand clothes and being hungry. His mom and her boyfriend are out of work, and life at home is punctuated by outbursts of violence. Unsparing and realistic, Free Lunch is a story of hardship threaded with hope and moments of grace. Rex’s voice is compelling and authentic, and Free Lunch is a true, timely, and essential work that illuminates the lived experience of poverty in America. Register now to join the conversation!

Pria Anand (Thursday, July 31st, 2PM)

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In The Mind Electric, neurologist Pria Anand reveals—through case study, history, fable, and memoir—all that the medical establishment has overlooked: the complexity and wonder of brains in health and in extremis, and the vast gray area between sanity and insanity, doctor and patient, and illness and wellness, each separated from the next by the thin veneer of a different story.

Moving from the Boston hospital where she treats her patients, to her childhood years in India, to Isla Providencia in the Caribbean and to the Republic of Guinea in West Africa, she demonstrates again and again the compelling paradox at the heart of neurology: that even the most peculiar symptoms can show us something universal about ourselves as humans. Register now to join this intriguing virtual conversation!

Erin

I'm the Reader's Advisory Librarian at WPPL. My interests include old horror films, classic novels, manga and anime, paper-crafting, and plants. If you like my suggestions, you can request personalized recommendations from me on My Librarian page.