Upcoming Events
Get ready for the ultimate after-hours adventure! 🌙 Join us at the library for Ultimate Hide and Seek, where the lights go low, the stakes get high, and the whole library becomes your playground.
Qigong (pronounced chee-gong) is an ancient health enhancing movement practice.
Designed for all ages, this 30-minute storytime features stories, rhymes, singing, games and dancing. Stick around after storytime for fun activities and crafts!
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Ship, the Storm, and the Song
Explore the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald from perspectives of the weather, the ship and the song by Gordon Lightfoot.
Have fun exercising while sitting in a chair! Chair Fitness is for all ages and for all fitness levels. This program is instructor-led lead with up-beat music involved.
FRIENDS MONDAY BOOK SALE
Come join us Mondays 9:00am-12:00pm for the Friends of the La Crosse Public Library book sale in the lower level book room.
Welcome back to Monday Mornings at Main - our signature lifelong learning program series for ages 50 and better! Each Monday, we'll hear from a new speaker on a variety of topics ranging from local history, health an
Explore the world of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) with interactive activities and thrilling challenges! Second Monday of the month: September 15, October 13, November 10, December 8, 2025.
Play Shoppe is a shared time for parents and their children! Join the Parenting Place and enjoy open-ended playtime, a simple art activity, circle and storytime, and a snack. Come and share the power of playing with your child!
Stories That Sparkle
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Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe
From perennial bestseller Jenny Colgan comes this sugar-fueled Christmas treat of a novel, bursting with recipes and holiday cheer.
Life is sweet for Issy Randall, owner of the Cupcake Cafe. Taught how to bake by her beloved late grandfather, she is proudly carrying on the family tradition with her London eatery. Not only is business thriving, the icing on the cupcake is that she also happens to be head over heels in love. Plus she's surrounded and supported by close friends, even if her cupcake colleagues Pearl and Caroline don't seem quite as upbeat about the upcoming season of snow and merriment.
But when her boyfriend Austin is scouted for a possible move to New York, Issy is forced to contemplate the prospect of a long-distance romance. And when the Christmas rush at the cafe--with its increased demand for her delectable creations--begins to take its toll, Issy has to decide what she holds most dear.
This December, Issy will have to rely on all her reserves of calm, courage, and cinnamon to make sure everyone has a merry Christmas, one way or another. . .
Comes with the author's own recipes for holiday sweet treats!A touching holiday read Perfect for fans of uplifting winter romancesA delightful Christmas gift
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Snowed in for Christmas
"Morgan is a masterful storyteller.... For fans of Jojo Moyes, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Stacey Ballis. --Booklist
What happens if the only Christmas celebration you want to attend is one you haven't been invited to? USA Today bestselling author Sarah Morgan delights with this hilarious and heartwarming Christmas cracker of a novel!
A family gathering
This Christmas the Miller siblings have one goal--to avoid their well-meaning family's endless stream of prying questions. Ross, Alice and Clemmie have secrets that they don't intend to share, and they are relying on each other to deflect attention.
An uninvited guest
Lucy Clarke is facing a Christmas alone and the prospect of losing her job. Unless she can win a major piece of business from Ross Miller, the season promises to be anything but festive. She'll just deliver her proposal to his family home and then leave. After all, she wouldn't want to intrude on the Miller family's perfect Christmas.
A Christmas to remember
When Lucy appears on the Miller family's snow-covered Highland doorstep, she's mistaken for Ross's girlfriend. By the time the confusion is cleared up, they're snowed in--she can't leave, even if she wants to! But does she want to? As secrets spill out like presents from an overstuffed stocking and the chemistry between her and Ross ignites, this is going to be either Lucy's worst Christmas ever or the best mistake of her life.
Don't miss the latest Christmas book from Sarah Morgan where the Balfour family will have more secrets to unwrap than presents, A Merry Little Lie!
More captivating stories by Sarah Morgan:
- The Holiday Cottage
- The Summer Swap
- The Island Villa
- The Book Club Hotel
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The Twelve Dates of Christmas
'Tis the season for finding romance in this hilarious and uplifting holiday read—soon to be a Hallmark limited series!
When it comes to relationships, thirty-four-year-old Kate Turner is ready to say "Bah, humbug." The sleepy town of Blexford, England, isn't exactly brimming with prospects, and anyway, Kate's found fulfillment in her career as a designer, and in her delicious side job baking for her old friend Matt's neighborhood café. But then her best friend signs her up for a dating agency that promises to help singles find love before the holidays. Twenty-three days until Christmas. Twelve dates with twelve different men. The odds must finally be in her favor . . . right?
Yet with each new date more disastrous than the one before—and the whole town keeping tabs on her misadventures—Kate must remind herself that sometimes love, like mistletoe, shows up where it's least expected. And maybe, just maybe, it's been right under her nose all along. . . . -
A Winter in New York
A young chef stumbles on a secret family recipe that might lead her to the love—and life—she’s been looking for in this stunning novel from the New York Times bestselling author of One Day in December.
When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice.
But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s?
Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is recovering from a stroke and can no longer remember it, so they can’t make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. But how can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place?
Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long. -
The Christmas Bookshop
The instant New York Times bestseller!
"Sublime...Colgan infuses her latest book with humor, wit, suspense and a perfectly cast love triangle."--USA Today
"The Christmas Bookshop is literary hot chocolate with a bourbon shot: hot, sweet but with a surprising emotional kick."--The Times (UK)
Perfect for the holidays! A brand-new heartwarming Christmas novel from the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Bookshop on the Corner and Christmas at the Island Hotel.
Laid off from her department store job, Carmen has perilously little cash and few options. The prospect of spending Christmas with her perfect sister Sofia, in Sofia's perfect house with her perfect children and her perfectly ordered yuppie life does not appeal.
Frankly, Sofia doesn't exactly want her prickly sister Carmen there either. But Sofia has yet another baby on the way, a mother desperate to see her daughters get along, and a client who needs help revitalizing his shabby old bookshop. So Carmen moves in and takes the job.
Thrown rather suddenly into the inner workings of Mr. McCredie's ancient bookshop on the picturesque streets of historic Edinburgh, Carmen is intrigued despite herself. The store is dusty and disorganized but undeniably charming. Can she breathe some new life into it in time for Christmas shopping? What will happen when a famous and charismatic author takes a sudden interest in the bookshop--and Carmen? And will the Christmas spirit be enough to help heal her fractured family?
- A touching holiday read
- Perfect for fans of uplifting winter romances
- A delightful Christmas gift
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In a Holidaze
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
One Christmas wish, two brothers, and a lifetime of hope are on the line for hapless Maelyn Jones in this quintessential holiday romantic novel by Christina Lauren, the New York Times bestselling authors of The Unhoneymooners and Love and Other Words.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but not for Maelyn Jones. She’s living with her parents, hates her going-nowhere job, and has just made a romantic error of epic proportions.
But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born, along with two other beloved families. Mentally melting down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple plea to the universe: Please. Show me what will make me happy.
The next thing she knows, tires screech and metal collides, everything goes black. But when Mae gasps awake…she’s on an airplane bound for Utah, where she begins the same holiday all over again. With one hilarious disaster after another sending her back to the plane, Mae must figure out how to break free of the strange time loop—and finally get her true love under the mistletoe.
Jam-packed with yuletide cheer, an unforgettable cast of characters, and Christina Lauren’s trademark “downright hilarious” (Helen Hoang, author of The Bride Test) hijinks, this swoon-worthy romantic read will make you believe in the power of wishes and the magic of the holidays. -
Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
A city bookshop owner heads to the English countryside for a holiday reunion—only to face her childhood enemy.
Elinor Noel—Nory for short—is quite content running her secondhand bookshop in London. Forever torn between her working-class upbringing and her classmates’ extravagant lifestyles at the posh private school she attended on scholarship, Nory has finally figured out how to keep both at equal distance. So when two of her oldest friends invite their whole gang to spend the time leading up to their wedding together at the castle near their old school, Nory must prepare herself for an emotionally complicated few days.
The reunion brings back fond memories, but also requires Nory to dodge an ill-advised former fling. When she falls quite literally into the arms of Isaac, the castle’s head gardener, who has nothing but contempt for the "snobby prep school kids," the attraction between them is undeniable. And as Nory spends more time with Isaac during the wedding festivities, she finds herself falling hard for the boy she used to consider an enemy. Nory and Isaac explore their common ground, but pressures mount on all sides, and Nory must decide what kind of life she wants to live and what sort of love is worth the risk . . . -
One Wise Sheep
Tonight, the sheep can't sleep. The pasture is floodlit by a strange new star and their shepherds have disappeared.
They must have been kidnapped by a UFO—or perhaps they've gone to meet the child rumored to have been born in a stable. The sheep set off to find their shepherds. They'd like to see this child too, and they heard there'll be a party!
The sheep hike across country two by two, so none are lost. During this extraordinary night in Bethlehem, the quarrelsome sheep gradually become a real flock that pulls together.
This amusing retelling of the Christmas story through the eyes of the sheep reinforces the season's theme—be a little nicer to each other, forgive your quarrels, and listen to everybody, especially the children.
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The First Christmas Sweater (and the Sheep Who Changed Everything)
In a buoyant story filled with ewe-morous puns, a multicolored sheep who loves Christmas inspires a seasonal ritual.
There are two things everyone knows about Hillary the sheep. One is that, unlike her typically hued friends, Hillary’s wool is all the colors of the rainbow. The other is that she adores everything about Christmas, especially Santa. So when word gets out that Mr. Claus is traveling across Ireland seeking the perfect sheep’s wool for a sweater to keep his belly warm, Hillary’s head begins to spin. Could her wool-dest dreams be about to come true? Featuring a news-loving starling named Didya, a jelly-bean-obsessed farmer, and a choir of Elvish Presley–singing elves, this sweetly comical tribute to the season will find its place among kid-pleasing holiday traditions. Already a bestseller in Ireland, it offers a welcome humorous spin on the holidays and a strong female protagonist. -
The Cat Who Ate Christmas
A charming Christmas story for the whole family about a cat who is up to no good!
It's Christmas, and Jingles the kitten has knocked over the Christmas tree and unwrapped all of the presents! What a naughty kitty. When Jingles eats the entire Christmas turkey, it's the final straw! Jingles is in big trouble now. While his family is busy cleaning up the mess, a guilty Jingles disappears. Realizing what matters most, the family sets out to look for their naughty kitten--it won't be Christmas without him.
To continue in the holiday spirit, this book includes fun Christmas facts, Christmas jokes, the best recipe for cocoa, and even instructions for making your very own Christmas tree topper. The Cat Who Ate Christmas is the perfect gift this holiday season.
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Winterhouse
An Edgar Award Finalist
An Agatha Award Finalist
An enchanting urban fantasy middle-grade debut—the first book in a trilogy—set in a magical hotel full of secrets.
Orphan Elizabeth Somers’s malevolent aunt and uncle ship her off to the ominous Winterhouse Hotel, owned by the peculiar Norbridge Falls. Upon arrival, Elizabeth quickly discovers that Winterhouse has many charms—most notably its massive library. It’s not long before she locates a magical book of puzzles that will unlock a mystery involving Norbridge and his sinister family. But the deeper she delves into the hotel’s secrets, the more Elizabeth starts to realize that she is somehow connected to Winterhouse. As fate would have it, Elizabeth is the only person who can break the hotel’s curse and solve the mystery. But will it be at the cost of losing the people she has come to car for, and even Winterhouse itself?
Mystery, adventure, and beautiful writing combine in this exciting debut richly set in a hotel full of secrets.
Christy Ottaviano Books -
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street
The first book in the bestselling series that the New York Times Book Review hails as "delightful and heartwarming."
The Vanderbeekers have always lived in the brownstone on 141st Street. It's practically another member of the family. So when their reclusive, curmudgeonly landlord decides not to renew their lease, the five siblings have eleven days to do whatever it takes to stay in their beloved home and convince the dreaded Beiderman just how wonderful they are.
And all is fair in love and war when it comes to keeping their home.
The New York Times bestselling Vanderbeekers series is perfect for fans of the Penderwicks. As ALA Booklist commented in a starred review: "Few families in children's literature are as engaging or amusing as the Vanderbeekers, even in times of turmoil."
The series includes:
- The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street
- The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden
- The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue
- The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found
- The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish
- The Vanderbeekers on the Road
- The Vanderbeekers Ever After
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Eight Dates and Nights
From menorahs to moments of magic in Texas--fall in love this Festival of Lights with this cozy holiday romance!
New Yorker Hannah Levin is allergic to exactly two things, horses and tinsel. Unfortunately, she’s surrounded by both when she’s snowed in at her grandmother’s home in a small Texas town.
Super lonely, missing latkes and reliable Wi-Fi, Hannah wanders into an old deli where she meets the only other Jewish teen around, Noah, who happens to be equal parts adorable and full of annoying, over the top festival of lights spirit that he’s determined to share with Hannah one itchy Hanukkah sweater at a time.
As the days pass—and a spectacularly memorable kiss following Noah’s made up game of truth or dare dreidel takes place—Hannah begins to wonder if maybe there’s more to Hanukkah than she thought. . . -
Blame It on the Mistletoe
"A unique and 'Christmassy' take on the classic switching places trope... a cute, fun, and festive Christmas read that I highly recommend adding to your December TBR list." -- The Nerd Daily
Jenny Han meets The Holiday in this holiday rom-com where two very different girls swap lives for a Christmas adventure!
Elle is a social medial star with the #DreamLife...or so it seems. Determined to shake up her content and gain new followers, she's on a mission: can she find a British fan to swap with for Christmas?
Holly loves everything about Christmas. But after a mortifying mistletoe disaster with her ex, her perfect plans unravel like a bad Christmas sweater. Can Holly save the holidays when she switches places with favorite social media influencer?
Elle gets more than she bargained for when she meets the cute boy from across the street. And Holly wasn't expecting Elle to have a handsome twin brother. This holiday is full of surprises.
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10 Blind Dates
Sophie wants one thing for Christmas-a little freedom from her overprotective parents. So when they decide to spend Christmas in South Louisiana with her very pregnant older sister, Sophie is looking forward to some much needed private (read: make-out) time with her long-term boyfriend, Griffin. Except it turns out that Griffin wants a little freedom from their relationship.
Heartbroken, Sophie flees to her grandparents' house, where the rest of her boisterous extended family is gathered for the holiday. That's when her nonna devises a (not so) brilliant plan: Over the next ten days, Sophie will be set up on ten different blind dates by different family members. Like her sweet cousin Sara, who sets her up with a hot guy at an exclusive underground party. Or her crazy aunt Patrice, who signs Sophie up for a lead role in a living nativity. With a boy who barely reaches her shoulder. And a screaming baby.
When Griffin turns up unexpectedly and begs for a second chance, Sophie feels more confused than ever. Because maybe, just maybe, she's started to have feelings for someone else . . . Someone who is definitely not available.
This is going to be the worst Christmas break ever . . . or is it?