If you walk into almost any store at this time of year, you’ll see shades of red, pink and white everywhere. Valentine’s Day is coming up soon, whether you enjoy the holiday or find it to be a ploy to get people to buy lots of chocolate. At the library, we have a few different ways you can celebrate the holiday centered around all that mushy, gushy love.
When you bring up “love” to young kids, they might wrinkle their little noses and exclaim that it’s gross. We hear you, little ones! For our younger patrons, we don’t have any scandalous or romantic books with Fabio on the cover. Instead, we have several books that talk about celebrating the holiday with friends and family. Here are a few of our newer ones:
- “Turkey’s Valentine Surprise” by Wendi Silvano
Our main character Turkey loves a good prank. He puts on a disguise to trick his friends and deliver his valentine cards, but his plan doesn’t quite work out. Check out this book to see all of Turkey’s surprises!
- “How to Catch a Loveosaurus” by Alice Walstead
You’ve maybe already seen titles like this, such as “How to Catch A Reindeer” and “How to Catch A Unicorn.” The Catch Club kids are on another mission: to catch the magical Loveosaurus! This dinosaur escaped from the museum while trying to spread love and kindness.
- “I Really, Really Love You So” by Karl Newson
Sometimes, it’s hard to show just how much we love someone. In this story, a little animal tries in many large ways to show their parent just how much they love them. With fun rhymes and colorful illustrations, this book is sure to get your reader’s love!
Middle grade love stories tend also to focus on family love and maybe some developing crushes. These are a couple of stories that might interest your middle grade readers in this Valentine time of year:
- “Gabe In The After” by Shannon Doleski
For some, this story might be too soon: the setting is two years after a global pandemic. Gabe and his dog find a girl named Relle alone in the woods. As they grow closer by sharing stories and helping each other, tragedy strikes. How will they make it together in this new era?
- “My Life Begins!” by Patricia MacLachlan
Nine-year-old Jacob wants puppies, not necessarily a new sibling. But then he finds out that there are three new babies! See how Jacob learns to love and grow with his baby sisters.
Our teen audience has quite a selection in this department. YA authors have been coming out with many new books that center on young love and navigating heartbreak. Teens might have a hard time selecting just one book with all the new novels in this genre!
- “A Disaster in Three Acts” by Kelsey Rodkey
Looking for some juicy drama? Look no further: this book is full of it! Saine’s friendships and relationships seem to be going in all directions when she is assigned to work with her ex-friend on a documentary assignment. Will the truth between them come out?
- “Better Than the Movies” by Lynn Painter
When Liz’s crush Michael comes back to town, she is willing to put herself out there to get his attention – maybe even get him to be her prom date! But cute-yet-annoying next-door neighbor Wes seems to be friends with Michael. Can Liz get to Michael with the help of Wes?
- “My Second Impression of You” by Michelle I. Mason
After an unexpected break-up, artsy main character Maggie breaks her foot, preventing her from starring in the school play. Just when life seems disastrous, she gets a mysterious text. Maggie might just be getting a second chance to look at the people around her.
While you’re at the library checking out your new lovely reads, make sure to show some love and affection for your local library. When you check out your books at the front desk, you’ll see paper hearts that say “I love my library because…” and we would love for you to fill it out. Love and libraries can make us all happy patrons!
— Rachel Clark is children's librarian at Litchfield Library.
