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Image credit: illustrated by Lisel Jane Ashlock. |
Earth Day 2026: How to Celebrate Earth Day"So, what is Earth Day? How did it come to be? How can we celebrate Earth Day? Here are 10 activities and ideas to discover, enjoy, and respect our beautiful planet, plus a fun Earth Day quiz!" Photo by: Jacob_09/Shutterstock |
History of Earth Day"Our planet is an amazing place, but it needs our help to thrive! That’s why each year on April 22, more than a billion people celebrate Earth Day." Photo by: Bettmann, Getty Images. |
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Library Friends and Foundation Events |
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Friends and Foundation Fundraiser Drawing will take place: Join the Friends of the Santa Maria Public Library and the Santa Maria Public Library Foundation to fundraise for the Main Library and branches. Purchase tickets at any library service desk to support Hancock Athletic Boosters Elks Rodeo Queen Candidate, Reiyna Sarin. $20.00 tickets = $3,000 Amazon gift card. $10.00 tickets = $3,000 Disney gift card. For more information about the Friends please click below. For more information about the Foundation, please click below. |
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Santa Maria Public Library Programs Check out some of the Library's upcoming fun events below. For more information, or to register for events, please call (805) 925-0994, visit our website at www.cityofsantamaria.org/library, or click on any of the event images below to be redirected to our Library events calendar. |
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Spotlight On: El día de los Niños CelebrationSaturday, April 25 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Lavagnino Plaza El día de los Niños/El día de los Libros (Children's Day/Book Day), commonly known as Día, is a celebration of children, families, and reading. Celebrate with us for a day of music, crafts, culture, and stories. For families of all ages. This program runs approx. 3 hrs. |
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Tween Gaming Thursday, April 30 4:00 p.m., Learning Center For ages 8 to 12. No registration is required. |
Stay and Play Friday, May 1 10:00 a.m., Altrusa Theater For ages 3 to 5. No registration is required. |
Casual Crafternoon: Egg Carton Flowers Wednesday, May 6 3:15 p.m., Learning Loft For ages 18 and up. Registration is required. |
Teen Anime Club Friday, May 8 4:00 p.m., Altrusa Theater For junior high and high school students. No registration is required. |
Spanish Tech Help/ Ayuda Técnica en Español Sunday, May 10 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., Learning Loft For ages 18 and up. This session will be offered in Spanish. Registration is required. |
D&D and Board Games @ the Library Sunday, May 10 1:00 p.m., Shepard Hall For all ages. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Registration is required. |
Stay Alert, Don't Get Hurt Sunday, May 10 11:00 a.m., Shepard Hall For families of all ages. No registration is required. |
Author Talk: Susan Huckle Saturday, May 16 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., Shepard Hall For ages 18 and up. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. |
Adult Book Recommendations Take a look at some of our recommended books below. Visit the Black Gold catalog, or call (805) 925-0994, to place a hold on these titles. |
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The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang"When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn't believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin's guardians, who believed they'd finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.
But surprises aren't always good..."
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The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang"Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases--a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old. It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice--with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan--from foreplay to more-than-missionary position... Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but crave all of the other things he's making her feel. Their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic..."
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Time Is A Mother by Ocean Vuong"Ocean Vuong's second collection of poetry looks inward, on the aftershocks of his mother's death, and the struggle - and rewards - of staying present in the world. Time Is a Mother moves outward and onward, in concert with the themes of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, as Vuong continues, through his work, his profound exploration of personal trauma, of what it means to be the product of an American war in America, and how to circle these fragmented tragedies to find not a restoration, but the epicenterof the break."
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Children's Book Recommendations |
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A Black Girl and Her Braids by Jaylene Clark Owens"Based on the spoken word poem of the same name, this picture book adaptation celebrates braids of all styles and the proud Black girls who wear them."
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Teen Book Recommendations |
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The Forgotten Teachers: How Nature Wrote the Story of Life by Brian Isett"Interweaving science and storytelling, spirituality and art, a neuroscientist and an artist guide us toward a deeper understanding of how radically interconnected all of life is. A Kirkus Reviews Fall Preview selection Selected for The New Yorker Holiday Gift Guide Starting from science, while reaching for spiritual truth, The Forgotten Teachers charts the evolution of life on Earth under the mentorship of six teachers: Ocean, Air, Theia (through collision with this planet, Earth was set on its tilt), Sun, Plants, and Symbionts. Ideas from the field of evolutionary biology, accompanied by watercolor illustrations, guide this factual yet mytho-poetic exploration of life. Motivated by their shared concern over the severance of science from the sacred, and humans from their place within nature, Isett and Bi en set out to write a scientific wonder story for our times--to enchant readers with the strangeness and beauty of evolutionary biology, while reintegrating us into the natural world. As Rachel Carson did in her time and as Wendell Berry has done as a poet and essayist across the years, Isett writes with precision and urgency to remind us that we participate in a story that is far larger than ourselves, and that to see ourselves more truly would be to see the many ways in which we belong to the molecules and mysteries of the living world.
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City of Santa Maria Public Library |
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