Program Type: Book Clubs

REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Join Amy, a librarian, and AyoLane, a naturalist, for an outdoor book club that focuses on our natural world. We’ll discuss our all-time favorite nature titles, both fiction and non-fiction. The book club will meet at parks throughout St. Johns County, practically in your own backyard!

This month we’ll be reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben at Vaill Point Park.  Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. As a result of such interactions, trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group. Drawing on groundbreaking new discoveries, Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities; he describes how these discoveries have informed his own practices in the forest around him. As he says, a happy forest is a healthy forest, and he believes that eco-friendly practices not only are economically sustainable but also benefit the health of our planet and the mental and physical health of all who live on Earth.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. If the weather is sunny, please bring your own camp chair for sitting out under the trees. If it’s rainy, we’ll be sitting in the park pavilion. Feel free to bring your own snacks & beverages! Please notify us at least 3 days in advance if you should need a sign language interpreter. Questions? Please call Amy at 904.827.6942 or email at aackerman@sjcfl.us.

Join Ms. Nicole in the Anastasia Library or via Zoom for our Wings of Fire Book Club! Kids, grades 3-5, can join us for Dragonet Prophecy and The Lost Heir. We will have book trivia, discussions and hands on activities and weekly challenges! Registration is required as supplies are limited. Please register online only once to sign up October.  Sign up for our book club by emailing njebbia@sjcfl.us. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

WARRIORS FANS — this fun tween and teen Erin Hunter Book Club is for you! Join Librarian Ms. Lisa for an adventure through Erin Hunter’s Warriors books!

Although we will meet through Zoom for a special Book Club meeting, you don’t need to wait for our club meeting to get started! Every member who RSVPs will get an invitation to our online Erin Hunter Book Club Hub.

Complete fun reading challenges to earn virtual rewards and tickets to win free Erin Hunter books! As you move through the levels (Kit, Apprentice, Reading Warrior, Deputy and Clan Leader) we will track your progress and share your work in our Virtual Erin Hunter Book Club Hub. Will you be the first to work through all of the levels?

For questions about this program, contact Lisa Calvert, lcalvert@sjcfl.us. This Book Club proudly sponsored by the Friends of the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library. 

This month, we’ll be discussing The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. New members are always welcome!

In The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes brings us to Depression-era Kentucky, where a band of women traverse Appalachia on horseback to deliver books to those who need them most. The Giver of Stars is a lesson in valuing our connection with others, and finding love in the most unexpected of places. Based on the real-life stories of the WPA Packhorse Librarians, The Giver of Stars is a remarkable modern classic, Jojo Moyes at her most enthralling, romantic, and page-turning best.

Join Ms. Nicole in the Anastasia Library or via Zoom for our Wings of Fire Book Club! Kids, grades 3-5, can join us for The Lost Heir. We will have book trivia, discussions and hands on activities and weekly challenges! Registration is required as supplies are limited. Please register online only once to sign up November.  Sign up for our book club by emailing njebbia@sjcfl.us. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

Thursdays, November 4 & 18 @ 3:30 PM
Join Ms. Nicole for our  teen book club (Grades 7 and up) for our November choice, The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. You can choose how to participate, either join us through Zoom, or meet with us at The Anastasia Library. Make new friends, have good discussion and fun! Books are provided by the Friends of the Anastasia Island Library to the first 6 students who sign up! Please register  Sign up by emailing njebbia@sjcfl.us to sign up for our book club. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library

Registration required.  The Four Winds will sweep you away into a world that goes from abundance to starvation. With perilous times and an uncertain future our heroine goes forward. Learn about the dust bowl in this saga.

New members are always welcome!

Please register on our website, We will meet at the Bartram Trail Branch Library, 60 Davis Pond Blvd, 32259.  A copy of the book can be sent to any library branch on request. Questions? Please email Donna if you need more information : Dbraasch@sjcfl.us.

*** Want to be added to our e-blast list for updates about our Book Club and more? Please e-mail Anne at ascrawford@sjcfl.us. ***

All adults are invited to join the Book Lovers Book Club meeting in person or via Zoom from anywhere, whichever is better for you! You do not have to be a St. Johns County resident or SJCPLS library card holder to participate.  To join us via Zoom, RSVP for this event below and make sure to create a free Zoom account (www.zoom.us) if you don’t already have one. You will receive a Zoom link for the meeting the day of the meeting, or you can visit this event posting the day of the meeting for the link.

The book we will be reading is 11/22/63 by Stephen King. If you would like a copy of the book to read or listen to for our Book Club, please stop by our Adult Reference Desk beginning October 8. Print and audiobook CD copies of this selection will be available for you to checkout at the Adult Reference Desk while copies last. If we run out of copies, we are happy to put you on the waiting list.

Plot synopsis of 11/22/63:  “On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen King’s heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination – a thousand page tour de force. Following his massively successful novel Under the Dome, King sweeps readers back in time to another moment – a real life moment – when everything went wrong: the JFK assassination. And he introduces readers to a character who has the power to change the course of history. Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students – a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk. Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane – and insanely possible – mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life – a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time. A tribute to a simpler era and a devastating exercise in escalating suspense, 11/22/63 is Stephen King at his epic best.” (taken from www.bookbrowse.com)

When you’re done reading, please return your copy to the Adult Reference Desk. 11/22/63 is also available to download and/or request for your tablet, phone, etc. via Overdrive or with the Libby App and your SJCPLS library card! Please call the Library at (904) 827-6950 with any questions. We look forward to seeing you! Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

WARRIORS FANS — this fun tween and teen Erin Hunter Book Club is for you! Join Librarian Ms. Lisa for an adventure through Erin Hunter’s Warriors books!

Although we will meet through Zoom for a special Book Club meeting, you don’t need to wait for our club meeting to get started! Every member who RSVPs will get an invitation to our online Erin Hunter Book Club Hub.

Complete fun reading challenges to earn virtual rewards and tickets to win free Erin Hunter books! As you move through the levels (Kit, Apprentice, Reading Warrior, Deputy and Clan Leader) we will track your progress and share your work in our Virtual Erin Hunter Book Club Hub. Will you be the first to work through all of the levels?

For questions about this program, contact Lisa Calvert, lcalvert@sjcfl.us. This Book Club proudly sponsored by the Friends of the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library. 

Registration required. Camino Island is a glorious place for the adventure we are going to enjoy in this novel. This is not a standard John Grisham. It is a new, and different adventure. Join us to explore this fun read.

New members are always welcome!

Please register on our website. We will meet at the Bartram Trail Branch Library, 60 Davis Pond Blvd, 32259.  A copy of the book can be sent to any library branch on request. Questions? Please email Donna if you need more information: Dbraasch@sjcfl.us

REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Join Amy, a librarian, and AyoLane, a naturalist, for an outdoor book club that focuses on our natural world. We’ll discuss our all-time favorite nature titles, both fiction and non-fiction. The book club will meet at parks throughout St. Johns County, practically in your own backyard!

This month we’ll be reading Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings at Vaill Point Park.  Originally published in 1942, Cross Creek has become a classic in modern American literature. For the millions of readers raised on The Yearling, here is the story of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s experiences in the remote Florida hamlet of Cross Creek, where she lived for thirteen years. From the daily labors of managing a seventy-two-acre orange grove to bouts with runaway pigs and a succession of unruly farmhands, Rawlings describes her life at the Creek with humor and spirit. Her tireless determination to overcome the challenges of her adopted home in the Florida backcountry, her deep-rooted love of the earth, and her genius for character and description result in a most delightful and heartwarming memoir.

Acclaimed author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Yearling, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1918. She was born in Washington, D.C., and moved to Cross Creek, Florida, at the age of thirty-two. Some of her other books include South Moon Under, Golden Apples, When the Whippoorwill, and Cross Creek Cookery. Rawlings published fiction until her death in St. Augustine in 1953.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. If the weather is sunny, please bring your own camp chair for sitting out under the trees. If it’s rainy, we’ll be sitting in the park pavilion. Feel free to bring your own snacks & beverages! Please notify us at least 3 days in advance if you should need a sign language interpreter. Questions? Please call Amy at 904.827.6942 or email at aackerman@sjcfl.us.

Join Ms. Nicole in the Anastasia Library or via Zoom for our Wings of Fire Book Club! Kids, grades 3-5, can join us for The Lost Heir. We will have book trivia, discussions and hands on activities and weekly challenges! Registration is required as supplies are limited. Please register online only once to sign up November.  Sign up for our book club by emailing njebbia@sjcfl.us. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

Thursdays, November 4 & 18 @ 3:30 PM
Join Ms. Nicole for our  teen book club (Grades 7 and up) for our November choice, The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. You can choose how to participate, either join us through Zoom, or meet with us at The Anastasia Library. Make new friends, have good discussion and fun! Books are provided by the Friends of the Anastasia Island Library to the first 6 students who sign up! Please register  Sign up by emailing njebbia@sjcfl.us to sign up for our book club. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library

WARRIORS FANS — this fun tween and teen Erin Hunter Book Club is for you! Join Librarian Ms. Lisa for an adventure through Erin Hunter’s Warriors books!

Although we will meet through Zoom for a special Book Club meeting, you don’t need to wait for our club meeting to get started! Every member who RSVPs will get an invitation to our online Erin Hunter Book Club Hub.

Complete fun reading challenges to earn virtual rewards and tickets to win free Erin Hunter books! As you move through the levels (Kit, Apprentice, Reading Warrior, Deputy and Clan Leader) we will track your progress and share your work in our Virtual Erin Hunter Book Club Hub. Will you be the first to work through all of the levels?

For questions about this program, contact Lisa Calvert, lcalvert@sjcfl.us. This Book Club proudly sponsored by the Friends of the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library. 

In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, all SJCPLS libraries will be closed Thursday, November 25 and remain closed through Friday, November 26, 2021. Libraries will reopen on Saturday, November 28, 2021.

Bookdrops will remain open during all closed days and, of course, our virtual services such as eBooks, databases and downloadables are available 24/7. We wish you a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday.

Join Ms. Nicole in the Anastasia Library or via Zoom for our Wings of Fire Book Club! Kids, grades 3-5, can join us for The Lost Heir. We will have book trivia, discussions and hands on activities and weekly challenges! Registration is required as supplies are limited. Please register online only once to sign up November.  Sign up for our book club by emailing njebbia@sjcfl.us. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

WARRIORS FANS — this fun tween and teen Erin Hunter Book Club is for you! Join Librarian Ms. Lisa for an adventure through Erin Hunter’s Warriors books!

Although we will meet through Zoom for a special Book Club meeting, you don’t need to wait for our club meeting to get started! Every member who RSVPs will get an invitation to our online Erin Hunter Book Club Hub.

Complete fun reading challenges to earn virtual rewards and tickets to win free Erin Hunter books! As you move through the levels (Kit, Apprentice, Reading Warrior, Deputy and Clan Leader) we will track your progress and share your work in our Virtual Erin Hunter Book Club Hub. Will you be the first to work through all of the levels?

For questions about this program, contact Lisa Calvert, lcalvert@sjcfl.us. This Book Club proudly sponsored by the Friends of the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library. 

*** Want to be added to our e-blast list for updates about our Book Club and more? Please e-mail Anne at ascrawford@sjcfl.us. ***

All adults are invited to join the Book Lovers Book Club meeting in person or via Zoom from anywhere, whichever is better for you! You do not have to be a St. Johns County resident or SJCPLS library card holder to participate.  To join us via Zoom, RSVP for this event below and make sure to create a free Zoom account (www.zoom.us) if you don’t already have one. You will receive a Zoom link for the meeting the day of the meeting, or you can visit this event posting the day of the meeting for the link.

All adults are invited to participate, regardless if you are a St. Johns County resident or have a SJCPLS library card or not. December is Readers’ Choice, so please share with the Club a favorite book you have enjoyed. This way, all of us will have new books to try over the holidays and in 2022! Please call the Library at (904) 827-6950 with any questions. We look forward to seeing you! Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

All libraries will be closed for the Christmas holiday on Friday, December 24th and Saturday, December 25th, 2021. All libraries will resume regular operating hours on Monday, December 267h.

Bookdrops will remain open during all closed days and, of course, our virtual services such as eBooks, databases and downloadables are available 24/7. We wish you a safe and enjoyable holiday.

All SJCPLS libraries will be closed Saturday, January 1, 2022 for the New Year’s Day holiday. Libraries will resume regular operating hours on Monday, January 3.

Book drops will remain open during these closures and our virtual services such as eBooks, databases, and downloadables are available 24/7. From all of us at SJCPLS, we wish you a safe and enjoyable holiday!