Library Closing for Independence Day: The library will close early on Monday, July 3 at 6:30pm. We will also be closed on Tuesday, July 4. The library will resume regular hours Wednesday, July 5.

Library Closing for Independence Day

Our Seed Library is back!

Check out what seeds are available for the 2023 growing season.

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Upcoming Adult Programs

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Check out Comics Plus

Unlimited, simultaneous access to thousands of digital comics, graphic novels, and manga from a variety of publishers.

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Excite Your Mind with Upcoming Events

Sat, Jun 3rd


Welcome everyone! You are invited to a family bilingual storytime at Whitefish Bay Library.  Join us as we sing songs, read books, and practice our Spanish.

 

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Thu, Jun 8th


Boswell, along with Whitefish Bay Public Library, hosts a virtual event with Claudia Gray (the pen name of author Amy Vincent) for a chat about her new novel, a superior blend of humor and mystery that features Jane Austen’s beloved characters. Gray will be in conversation with Juneau Black – the pen name of Jocelyn Cole and Sharon Nagel, the writing team behind the charming Shady Hollow mysteries.

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Tue, Jun 13th


Join us for Vinyl Record Painting.  We'll provide the vinyl and the paint, and it's up to you to create a cool design or scene on your vinyl.

Entering Grades 7th-12th.

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Mystery Book Club

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

6:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Wed, Jun 14th


Our Mystery Book Club meets once a month and is led by librarian Sharon Nagel. This month we're reading Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby.

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From our Blog

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May 16, 2023

The 811 area of non-fiction, where the poetry books are shelved, is a peaceful place. This seems fitting to me as I seek out poetry when I feel unsettled and want to read words that will help ground me and offer me a new way of thinking about and looking at things. As poetry critic Stephen Burt said in his 2013 TED talk Why People Need Poetry, “Poems can help you say, help you show how you’re feeling, but they can also introduce you to feelings, [to] ways of being in the world, [to] people, very much unlike you, maybe even people from long, long ago.”

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thumbnail Lucky Day Collection

May 1, 2023

If you are a patron of the Whitefish Bay Public Library, you are probably familiar with our HOT READS. These are new, in-demand titles that cannot be put on hold and check out for 14 days. This year, Friends of the Whitefish Bay Public Library have generously offered to buy these books for the library. This will mean that we will be able to purchase more of the popular titles that our patrons are interested in. We are also changing the name from HOT READS to LUCKY DAY. They will be located in the same place, in the bookcase near the adult reference desk where the new books are.

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Quick Links

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New on the Shelves

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Meet our Staff

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Scott Lenski

Head of Adult Services

I’ve been at the Whitefish Bay Public Library since 2012. I plan most of the adult programming, update the website and do the library’s social media. I love to read a little bit of everything, from literary fiction to mystery, and sci-fi to nonfiction books about science. Some of my favorite authors are John Irving, Dennis Lehane, Tana French, Meg Wolitzer, and John Scalzi.

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The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

The Interestings is the story of six teenagers who meet at an arts summer camp. We follow these teenagers to middle age, as each must deal with their successes (or lack thereof). This book examines what happens to our dreams when we grow up. Wolitzer’s style reminded me of John Irving. I cherished every single page of this book and look forward to reading some of her other work.

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A Widow for One Year by John Irving

This is John Irving at his best as he chronicles the life of writer Ruth Cole. Tragedy strikes the Cole family before Ruth’s birth and this leaves her mother and father broken and shattered. As Irving often does in his novels we follow the main character throughout most of her life. There is a particularly riveting scene that has been stuck in my head since first reading this gem.

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The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Tart’s first novel follows a group of highly intelligent and eccentric college students as they plunge into a world of drinking, drugs, and darkness. An accidental murder is at the heart of this book which is part literary fiction and part psychological thriller. The prose is absolutely wonderful and you’ll want to savor every word.

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A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Ignatius J. Reilly is a bumbling 30 year old who still lives at home with his mom. He is scribing his life story on giant writing pads that he keeps hidden under his bed. A car accident by his drunk mother sends him looking for a job, and then he finds himself in some pretty ridiculous situations. In real life Ignatius would drive me crazy, but as a literary character he is hilariously memorable, so much so that I named by dog after him.

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His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman is a trilogy of books that follows Lyra Belacqua as she navigates a world with many similarities but also some differences from our own. In Lyra’s world every person has a daemon, an animal that is a representation of a person’s inner being. This special connection is at risk as children are being taken and experimented on. Pullman is a master world builder and he is in the process of expanding on the original books with a second related trilogy called The Book of Dust.

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About Whitefish Bay Public Library

A library that is just about lending books seems so last century, doesn’t it?

That’s our philosophy at the Whitefish Bay Public Library, anyway. We believe that everything that we do, we do to make a difference in someone’s life. Creating connections. Building community. Collecting stories. Sure, we have books, but we’re SO much more.

Our Story