Join us for songs, books and more.
This program is recommended for children 12-24 months.
Registration required. Visit the library or call (202) 282-0021 to sign up.
Get up and get moving at our Toddler Story Times. These 20-to-30-minute programs are full of books, songs and fun activities designed to help develop your child’s language skills. Children ages 18-36 months and their grownups are encouraged to engage with the stories and activities and participate in the program along with the children.
Tickets required; available on a first-come, first-serve basis the morning of the program.
Get up and get moving at our Toddler Story Times. These 20-to-30-minute programs are full of books, songs and fun activities designed to help develop your child’s language skills. For children ages 18-36 months and their grownups, who are encouraged to engage with the stories and activities and participate in the program along with the children.
Tickets required; available on a first-come, first-serve basis the morning of the program.
Share the fun of reading with your children ages 3-5 years. Children and their grownups, will explore stories and activities to encourage children to develop a lifelong love of reading and learning. These 30-to-40-minute programs are designed to promote language and listening skills, expand children’s imaginations and arouse their curiosity about the world around them.
Join us for weekly chess instruction on Thursdays.
This program is for children of all ages who want to learn to play or improve their chess moves and play in tournaments. Our chess instructor will teach you how to think and plan your next move and use your brain power to win. Come and join our chess group and learn to make a risky move or two and have fun.
This program is made possible by the Friends of the Chevy Chase Library.
When the chess instructor is unable to attend, this program will be canceled.
For most of my life I've been fond of zany wordplay, such as palindromes, anagrams, puns, lipograms, pangrams, oxymorons, and alliteration. I have discovered some novelists who share a similar fascination and whimsically employ wordplay in their fiction, even as they also explore deeper themes. If you too are a wordplay enthusiast, check out the children's and adult novels below.
So lately the term “self-care” has been very popular. (I can’t imagine why that could be.) The library is here for you in many ways. We have yoga and meditation classes. We have quiet and comfy chairs. My colleague Reza S. has some non-fiction recommendations for you.
So, um, North Korea has been in the news a lot lately. Now might be a good time to read some of their fiction. However, there really isn’t a lot of it that is available to the world outside North Korea. Until recently, there hasn’t been any unauthorized work making its way out of the country, which is exceptionally chilling, given that unauthorized fiction tends to find its way out of all authoritarian regimes. (People need to tell their stories.) However, this March saw the U.S.
I went to a state university. It was really big, and a lot of my fellow students were adults with jobs and kids and, you know, actual lives. So there really wasn't much campus life going on. I don't regret my decision (I saved a ton of money) but I do envy people who had "real" college experiences.
Indulge in these fantastic wordless picture books!
Wordless picture books are a fantastic format to boost children’s literacy skills and to foster a rich imagination. These books allow children to interpret the illustrations and create their own stories as they “read” the book – one book can have countless stories within it! They also reinforce the fact that pictures tell as much of a story as words do, they help children develop storytelling skills, and when you “read” the book with them, you can introduce them to a plethora of new vocabulary.
Three hot trends in contemporary romance and romantic suspense are rock stars, motorcycle clubs, and mobsters. Not sure these trends are for you? Try the short novella Rock Courtship by Nalini Singh to dip your toe in the water. Looking for bikers with a protective streak?
There is a reason why “The Summer that Changed My Life” is a college admission essay staple. For a young person, it's three whole months of relatively unstructured time. Something interesting has to happen, right? Novelists feel the same way. There are so many novels that take place over a single summer. Here is just a sample:
The French Revolution. It's a lot like the American Revolution, except it was bloodier, more complicated and fueled by righteous class fury. (This video will take you through it.) Then there is the petty backstabbing among the revolutionaries. It's like a middle school lunchroom with a guillotine. All this makes for some pretty great fiction.
Goals of economic growth often go unquestioned in mainstream economic theory and in platforms across the political spectrum. But the books below argue compellingly that unlimited growth on a finite planet is impossible long-term. Many contemporary ecological, economic, and political crises indicate that the industrial growth economy is hitting hard limits.
Alternative history fiction posits the question "what if?" about historical details large and small and how one change might have impacted the world. These five alternative history novels feature different time periods and different changes that will have history fans rethinking how they look at the world.
The Boleyn King by Laura Andersen
