Franklin Avenue Library - Construction Work

Due to a scheduled project, the south drive, pickup window, and book drop will be inaccessible at the Franklin Avenue Library from Friday, September 27 through Sunday, September 29. Parking will be limited in the east lot. The library will remain open for normal hours.

South Side Library Open Through Construction

The South Side Library will be open today for normal hours as concrete work continues today and likely tomorrow. Patrons will need to enter the library parking lot through the pool's parking lot off of Porter Avenue. We apologize for any inconvenience. 

Children’s Author Visit: Don Tate

Program Type:

Author Visits, Book Sales

Age Group:

All Ages

Event Details

Please join us for a very special event featuring Des Moines native Don Tate!  

Don Tate is an award-winning illustrator of critically acclaimed books for children, including Swish! The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters, No Small Potatoes: Junios G. Groves and His Kingdom in Kansas, Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions, Hope’s Gift, and many others.

He is also an award-winning author. Some of his books for children include: Jerry Changed The Game: How Engineer Jerry Lawson Revolutionized Video Games Forever, William Still and His Freedom Stories: Father of the Underground Railroad, Strong As Sandow: How Eugen Sandow Became The Strongest Man on Earth, Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton, and It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Traylor Started To Draw.

Don is a founding host of the The Brown Bookshelf, a blog dedicated to books for African American young readers; and a member of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign, created to address the lack of diverse, non-majority narratives in children’s literature. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his family.

Books are available to purchase at Beaverdale Books and at the time of the event. A portion of sales will go back to the library to help fund future events.