DC Public Library Foundation

“How do you take care of the things and people you care about?” asked author illustrator Katie Yamasaki @katieyamasaki to a crowd of enthusiastic students at Houston Elementary and Plummer Elementary. The question was inspired by her latest book, “Ripples” @nortonyoungreaders which features kids and their caregivers tending to each other, and to the natural world. The kindergarten, first, and second graders eagerly shared personal experiences of caring and being cared for, and then explored how individual acts of care can have a ripple effect. Students and teachers were also captivated by Yamasaki’s stories of her incredible art and mural projects with people in prison, and how a number of those experiences have shaped the books she’s created. To learn more about Katie Yamasaki’s beautiful books and her deeply impactful work, please visit Katieyamasaki.com Thanks to our partnership with @lovedclibrary and a visit from our friends at the DCPL Capitol View branch for joining us.

Every volunteer hour, every Friends meeting, every donation — it adds up to a library system that works for everyone in DC. National Library Week (April 19–25) is your moment to get involved. 📚 Join a Friends Group 🙋 Sign up to volunteer 💙 Make a donation to DC Public Library Foundation Links in bio.

DC residents of all ages are invited to enter the 2026 Haiku Contest now through April 30. Submit up to two haikus for a chance to win library swag and see your poem featured in the library and online. Winners recognized in three age categories: Children (6–12), Teen (13–19), and Adult (20+). Plus, join us on Tuesday, April 28 at 7 p.m. on the rooftop of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library for a live spoken word evening with acclaimed poet Jasmine Mans, joined by local and emerging poets. Write. Listen. Be inspired. 🔗 dclibrary.org/poetry-month #poetrymonth #washingtondc

DC's libraries serve everyone — regardless of zip code, income, or background. Library Giving Day is your chance to help keep it that way. Every free program, every workshop, every story time exists because this community chooses to invest. Your gift goes toward the programs and services that make DC's libraries more than buildings — they're spaces where everyone belongs, where learning, joy, and resilience are celebrated every day. 🔗 Link in bio to give today.

It’s week 2 of the library tour so come get your free art lesson at your local @dcpubliclibrary with @wordsbeatsandlife - Wednesday 4/1 - Poetry @ Lamont Riggs - Tuesday 4/7 - Visual Art @ Georgetown - Wednesday 4/8 - Visual Art @ Southwest - Thursday 4/30 - Poetry @ Capitol View #freeartclasses #thingstodoinwashingtondc #wordsbeatsandlife #dcpubliclibraries

Reading support just got an upgrade. Meet Ello, a digital reading app that listens as kids read out loud, helps correct mistakes, and encourages them along the way—just like a great teacher. Ello is now available at Anacostia, Cleveland Park, Deanwood, Mt. Pleasant, Palisades, Parklands-Turner, Shaw, and Woodridge Libraries. Stronger readers start here. Stop by your neighborhood library to try it out.

DC teens have been using art to speak truth for years. On March 23, we open the door for even more young creators to do the same. 🎨 Know Your Power — the Civic Engagement Teen Art Contest presented with @pepcoconnect — is back for 2026. Teens ages 13–19 across DC are invited to use their creative voices to speak to the issues that matter most to them. 📅 Contest opens: March 23 📬 Submissions due: May 3 And this April, look out for Creativity is Power — a free three-week workshop series to help teens develop their ideas and create their submissions. (Yes, free food is included. 👀) Know a teen in DC with something to say? Tag them below or share this with them. 👇 🔗 Link in bio to explore past winners and learn more.

There’s a lot to love about @jasonreynolds83 and the students at St Anthony Catholic School (@stabrookland ). As always, Jason shared so much of himself and his journey with the 5th through 8th graders and the students followed suit with thoughtful and relevant questions. Thank you Jason for being such a good friend to AOB! Big thanks for Mrs. Fitzgerald for her excellent moderating skills and for organizing. Check out his quick visit to the 2nd grade classroom, studying poetry and Jason’s work. One question was “did you really start writing when you were 9 years old?” Indeed!! Shout out to @lovedclibrary and @dcpubliclibrary for their ongoing support of such impactful storytelling.

📸 Know Your Power Spotlight: Ojasvi, 14 Ojasvi is the Photography & Film Runner Up of the 2025 Know Your Power Teen Arts Contest with Walk for Wildlife. “Walk for Wildlife documents wonders of the natural world and appreciation for the environment. I tracked, recorded, and verified species across plants, fungi, insects, birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, and reptiles.” Through observation, documentation, and artistic composition, Ojasvi reminds us that knowing your power can also mean protecting the natural world around you. 🔗 Explore all 2025 winners at the link in our bio. Thank you to @pepcoconnect for helping uplift young creatives and environmental advocates across DC.

📝 Know Your Power Spotlight: Writing Runner-Up RaMal, a 14-year-old writer from Anacostia Library, is the Writing Runner-Up of our 2025 Know Your Power Teen Arts Contest with his poem Through My Eyes. In his artist statement, RaMal shares: “This piece is about living in DC through my eyes. The city is so heavy, so much weight to live day to day. Even when making the right decisions can be hard I push. I have been getting the short end of the stick. How do I remain positive, motivate? My peers are dying, outside is not safe. My reality in the city is in this piece.” Through My Eyes is a reflection on what it means to grow up young, Black, and aware in Washington, DC. Through sharp imagery and direct questions, RaMal asks readers to see his reality. Read RaMal’s poem in full below, and explore all of the 2025 Know Your Power teen winners: /news/congratulations-winners-2025-know-your-power-teen-arts-contest Thank you to our partners at @PepcoConnect for helping create space for young voices like RaMal’s to be heard. Through My Eyes by Ramal For a young Black man in DC, at 13 it looks like a gun to my ribs for a ski. It looks like freedom stripped, again and again, right from under me. Mocked by leaders in school systems that hold no one accountable. Single moms - exposing, embedding, advocating, committing - still carrying the weight. Some days, I'm tired of living. I see. I see. Youth see. Do you see? The city makes decisions for us, but in their picture there is no me - no we that wants to live past 13. I've witnessed my friend get his shoes taken off his feet. Spring break feels like a gamble - will I make it home? Do you see? Through the eyes of a young Black teen in DC trying to persevere, trying to be a child, trying to remember what it is to dream, functioning in chaos - I choose to take my power back. I step firm into what's next for me. Know Your Power. Empower. This isn't the end for me. Through my eyes, my journey is up to me. Dear Me, With love, Yourself.

📚🎁 At one-year old, my great niece Juniper already loves books! She may not be reading yet, but she is responding and clearly enjoying them, particularly this book about color from her Aunt Debbie! 🧑🏻‍🎄 📙NY Times recently reported that Americans (US) who read for pleasure has dropped 40 percent over the last two decades: “The decline in reading could have implications for Americans’ learning, relationships and overall being,” citing a study published in iScience. 📖 Read books with the children in your life. Take them to your local library. Get them a library card and check out books. Go to book readings for kids. 📕 Donate to your local public libraries and/or their foundations to support reading programs for children where you live. 📚In DC, I donated to the DC Public Library Foundation online and my gift is matched through December 31 @lovedclibrary Gift article in NYT: /2025/08/20/well/reading-pleasure-decline-study.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AVA.Ufbo.RMXMl792uAeV&smid=url-share #booksaremagic #readingisfun #librariestransform @dcpubliclibrary

Sending a warm thanks to @erinentrada for connecting with the 6th & 7th graders @brooklandms last week to share about the life and legacy of Josefina “Joey” Guerrero! Students received a copy of At Last She Stood: How Joey Guerrero Spied, Survived, and Fought for Freedom” (@harperteen ) - featured and backlist titles added to the library and participating classroom collections. Thanks to the fantastic school librarian & staff for extending students’ learning with sweet treats and staff presentations highlighting the Philippines! Thanks to all involved for a memorable visit + thanks @lovedclibrary for your partnership!