Friend Your Library! This National Friends of Libraries Week we’re celebrating all that our wonderful Friends do! Our Friends group supports the Library with funding for summer reading prizes, special events, winter library challenge, and landscaping. The Friends also organize many fundraising events like the spring book sale, holiday puzzle sale, Halloween costume sale, Grant Wood prints and note cards, and city-wide garage sales. Join the Friends of the Library and see how you can help grow our Library.
Additionally, we’d like to thank the Foundation board for their continued support of the Library. While there isn’t an official week to celebrate, this group of dedicated volunteers have earned their “friend” status. The Foundation focuses on long-term fundraising efforts to support large scale projects at the Library. If you’d like to learn more about this group, join them for a meeting and see what it’s all about.
Special thanks to all of our Friends and Foundation members for their continued support!
Library Programs
Our annual Great Pumpkin Decorating Contest is always a delight for participants and patrons alike. Be sure to turn in your decorated pumpkin by Saturday, October 18, to enter the contest. Beginning Monday, October 20, patrons will be able to vote for their favorite pumpkin, and the official judging will take place Monday, October 27.
Come and meet the candidates for Solon’s City Council elections Monday, October 20, at 6:30 p.m. The Solon Public Library, Solon Economist, and Johnson County League of Women Voters are proud to co-host a panel for the upcoming local election on November 4, 2025.
All candidates for Solon City Council and Solon School Board have been invited to participate. However due to a scheduling conflict the School Board candidates will be at the school district’s open house at the Solon Intermediate School on October 20 from 5:30-7:00 p.m.
With the addition of the Johnson County League of Women Voters we will have a more structured panel than the original “Meet & Greet” style. Each candidate will have two minutes for an opening statement, followed by questions from the League and audience members. Every question will be asked of all candidates. All candidates have been invited to participate.
Test your skills against the monsters haunting the library at our escape room Wednesday, October 29. The Haunted Library Escape Room is intended for all-ages, registration is required. We’ll also have crafts and activities available for registered teams and walk-ins, from 3-6:30 p.m.
As we continue to enjoy the spooky season we’re having a Halloween Costume and Nerf Battle for Teens! 6th-12th graders are invited to get dressed up and join us Friday, October 31, from 6-8:00 p.m. for costume fun, snacks, and a library-wide Nerf battle!
Library Access
Regular Library hours are Monday-Thursday, 9:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. and Friday-Saturday, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Closed Sundays. Please always refer to our website calendar or call to check hours as weather may impact our ability to be safely open.
Friday, October 24, the Library will be closed on for an all-day staff training session.
Everyone is welcome at the Library and our programs. Please contact us with access needs.
What’s New?
Read, learn, and grow with these new nonfiction books.
History Matters by David McCullough. In this posthumous collection of thought-provoking essays–many never published before–Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and bestselling author David McCullough affirms the value of history, how we can be guided by its lessons, and the enduring legacy of American ideals.
Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach. The body is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer. For centuries, medicine has reached for what’s available―sculpting noses from brass, borrowing skin from frogs and hearts from pigs, crafting eye parts from jet canopies and breasts from petroleum by-products. Today we’re attempting to grow body parts from scratch using stem cells and 3D printers. How are we doing? Are we there yet?
Wicked Witch of the West: The Enduring Legacy of a Feminist Icon by Lona Bailey. More than 125 years after her introduction, the Wicked Witch of the West remains an icon of popular culture. Known by many names-from “The Wicked Witch of the West” to Evillene, Elphaba, and Theodora-she consistently defies expectations and wields her power unapologetically. At the heart of her everlasting appeal is her embodiment of feminist ideals that resonate today.
World Piece by Beth M. Howard. Beth Howard always dreamed of circumnavigating the planet; not to tick off a list of tourist sites, but to immerse herself in the culture of each country by making pie with local residents. Pie had healed her grief after her husband’s death, so why not use it to heal the world and promote peace? Hauling her rolling pin from New Zealand to Australia, Thailand to India, Lebanon to Greece, Switzerland to Germany and Hungary, Howard uses America’s iconic comfort food as a means for connecting with people in their homes, kitchens, and cafés. In each region, she offers pie lessons and, in turn, learns about the surprising origins of ingredients and traditional dishes—including pie in its myriad forms. During her demanding three-month journey, she meets charming characters, experiences uncanny coincidences, and finds kindness when she least expects it.