All Urbandale Reads

2025 Selection: The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton

Pick up one of our many copies available in multiple formats including ebooks and audiobooks. Find them in our catalog here.

About the All Urbandale Reads Program

All Urbandale Reads is a “one book, one community” reading initiative that encourages all Urbandale citizens to read and discuss the same book. The goal of All Urbandale Reads is to unite the community and promote literacy through one inspiring read. All Urbandale Reads programming features book discussions and a program or two related to themes found in the selected book.

How is the All Urbandale Reads book selected?

Library staff review a variety of critically acclaimed books based on their themes, readability, and the opportunities for related programs each book may present. A selection committee made up of the Library Director, various representatives from around the community, as well as a representative from the State Library of Iowa, read and review a list of finalists based on this same criteria and make a final selection. In past years, the list of finalists were selected from the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read, a program designed to showcase a diverse range of titles that reflect many different voices and perspectives.

Past All Urbandale Reads books:

• “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah (2024)
• “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot (2023)
• “This Tender Land” by William Kent Krueger (2022)
• “When the Emperor Was Divine” by Julie Otsuka (2021)
• “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien (2020)
• “The Story of Arthur Truluv” by Elizabeth Berg (2019)
• “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith (2018)

All Urbandale Reads reading material and programming funded by the Urbandale Public Library Foundation.