Adventure Pass Ending in 2025

Due to circumstances outside of our control, the Des Moines Public Library’s Iowa Adventure Pass service will no longer be available in 2025. Any reservation already made for 2025 will be honored, but we encourage anyone with a current reservation to print those passes immediately. Customers can make new reservations for passes that must be used by December 31, 2024. We hope to reintroduce the service at a later time, and we apologize for the inconvenience. 

DMPL Podcast: Favorite Books of 2018

Today on the podcast, we are joined by Steph, Becky, and Gen, who all work at the library. They discussed three books each: Steph talked about adult books, Gen discussed YA books, and Becky talked about children's books. The books they talked about are listed below, as well as other books they enjoyed this year.

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There There cover image

There, There, by Tommy Orange

A large cast of interwoven characters depicts the experience of Native Americans living in urban settings. Perfect for readers of character-driven fiction with a strong sense of place.

(Steph's Adult Favorites)

How to Stop Time cover image

How to Stop Time, by Matt Haig

Even though there is something extraordinary about Tom Hazard and his aging process the problems and insights he experiences as he goes through life, are universal. Love, memory, and time play tricks on us all as this novel illustrates so exquisitely.

(Steph's Adult Favorites)

The Feather Thief cover image

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession and the Natural History Heist of the Century, by Kirk Johnson

Documents the astonishing 2009 theft of an invaluable collection of ornithological displays from the British Museum of Natural History by a talented American musician, tracing the author's years-long investigation to track down the culprit and understand his motives, which were possibly linked to an obsession with the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying.

(Steph's Adult Favorites)

Darius the Great is Not Okay cover image

Darius the Great is Not Okay, by Adib Khorram

Clinically-depressed Darius Kellner, a high school sophomore, travels to Iran to meet his grandparents, but it is their next-door neighbor, Sohrab, who changes his life.

(Gen's Young Adult Favorites)

Neverworld Wake cover image

Neverworld Wake, by Marisha Pessl

A group of teens who all attended the same elite prep school reunite a year after graduation. After a night on the town, the teens are faced with an impossible choice--only one of them can live and the decision must be unanimous.

(Gen's Young Adult Favorites)

My Plain Jane cover image

My Plain Jane, by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Meadows

Refusing a job with the Society for the Relocation of Wayward Spirits, Jane Eyre heads to Thornfield Hall to work as a governess for Mr. Rochester.

(Gen's Young Adult Favorites)

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Crunch, the Shy Dinosaur, by Cirocco Dunlap

Crunch is a lovely and quiet brontosaurus who has hidden himself in some shubbery and is rather shy. He would like to play, but it will require some gentle coaxing from you! If you are patient and encouraging, you will find yourself with a new friend!

(Becky's Children's Favorites)

Bob cover image

Bob, by Wendy Mass

Visiting her grandmother in Australia, Livy, ten, is reminded of the promise she made five years before to Bob, a strange, green creature who cannot recall who or what he is.

(Becky's Children's Favorites)

The Cardboard Kingdom cover image

The Cardboard Kingdom, by Chad Sell

Welcome to a neighborhood of kids who transform ordinary boxes into colorful costumes, and their ordinary block into cardboard kingdom. This is the summer when sixteen kids encounter knights and rogues, robots and monsters--and their own inner demons--on one last quest before school starts again.

(Becky's Children's Favorites)

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Other Books

Adult Books
Norse Mythologyby Neil Gaiman
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastleby Stuart Turton 
Spinning Silverby Naomi Novik
Let me Lie, by Clare Mackintosh
Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
Educated: a Memoirby Tara Westover
An American Marriageby Tayari Jones

YA Fiction
Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno
The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo
Sadie, by Courtney Summers
The Cheerleaders, by Kara Thomas
The History of Jane Doe, by Michael Belanger

Children's Books
Petra, by Marianna Coppo
There’s a Hole in My Garden, by James Stewart
Oopsie-Do, by Tim Kubart
Dear Sister, by Alison McGhee
Supernova, by Kazu Kibuishi
The Hidden Witch, by Molly Ostertag
Unicorn Theater, by Dana Simpson
The Divided Earth, by Faith Erin Hicks

Published on December 03, 2018
Last Modified November 22, 2024