Program Description
Event Details
Plant a seed, read—and let your reading grow! Don't miss this year's Adult Summer Reading Program:
Play Plant-A-Seed Book Bingo
Pick up a bingo card at the Library, or any Bookmobile stop. Join our Book Bingo challenge and explore new genres, discover fresh authors, and branch out into stories you might not have picked before. Earn a Bingo to receive a free Blind-Date-With-A-Book package filled with mystery titles. Earn a Blackout and receive a swanky Jefferson County Library District tote bag. For extra fun, you can color your bingo card, write in your titles, and share your artwork with the community.
Adult Summer Read
Close to Home: The Wonders of Nature Just Outside Your Door by Thor Hanson
We all live on nature's doorstep, but we often overlook it. From backyards to local parks, the natural places we see the most may well be the ones we know the least.
In Close to Home, biologist Thor Hanson shows how retraining our eyes reveals hidden wonders just waiting to be discovered. In urban Los Angeles, hundreds of unknown species abound. In the Pacific Northwest, fierce yellowjackets placidly sip honeydew, unseen in the treetops. And in the soil beneath our feet, remedies for everything from breast cancer to the stench of skunks lie waiting for someone's searching shovel.
Close to Home is a hands-on natural history for any local patch of Earth. It shows that we each can contribute to science and improve the health of our planet. And even more, it proves that the wonders of nature don't lie in some far-off land: they await us, close to home.
Meet Thor Hanson
Wednesday, September 2
4:30 – 6:00 pm
Register to meet Thor Hanson
Join Thor Hanson, author of JCLD's 2026 Adult Summer Read, as he speaks about Close to Home. In addition to being an author, Thor is a biologist, Guggenheim Fellow, Switzer Environmental Fellow, and winner of the John Burroughs Medal. Thor’s work has been translated into a dozen languages and earned many accolades. He currently lives with his family on an island in the Pacific Northwest. Registration required. Learn more about Thor Hanson.