Happy Birthday, BPL!

If there is one thing I love it’s a birthday—especially mine (September 2; send books!) and that of my most loved ones. Something about turning a year older and celebrating the day you were born is just so special to me. So it’s with extreme excitement that, my first summer as a librarian at Brooklyn Public Library (BPL being a loved one for me), I get to celebrate the Library’s 125th birthday (BPL, you look great. You don’t look a day over 21.).

All summer long, BPL will have programming for all ages to commemorate this epic birthday bash, and to get you into the spirit of birthdays, I’ve rounded up some books with birthdays as part of the plot that you can check out from the library while eating some birthday cake.

3,2,1…Happy New Year AND Happy Birthday! In This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens, the main characters Minnie Cooper and Quinn Hamilton were born at the same hospital just after midnight on New Year's Day, but Quinn was given the cash prize for being the first baby born in London in 1990--and the name Minnie was meant to have, as well. With luck like that, it's no wonder each of her birthdays has been more of a disaster than the one before. Minnie and Quinn cross paths on their 30th birthday, setting off a year of crossing paths and making them wonder if they’re each other’s perfect match.

In The Look of Love by Sarah Jio, Jane mysteriously is gifted the ability to literally see true love. However, on her 29th, birthday she receives a card stating that she must identify the six types of love before she turns 30 or face grave consequences. This book was inspired by the classic song The Look of Love, so for added enjoyment, listen to the song as you read.

30 Things I Love About Myself by Radhika Sanghani focuses on Nina Mistry, who finds herself arrested, in jail, and all alone on her 30th birthday. She is given a book by the prison guard that changes her life as she embarks on a self-love journey, finding thirty things she loves about herself before her next birthday. This book will make examine yourself, too, and possibly inspire you to celebrate your own self and the things YOU love about YOU!

If you have a hankering for even more birthday books, check out some others from this Birthday Reads booklist.