Bestsellers
Find out about the latest bestsellers from many well known resources.
Guides

Links
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Google Play
Enjoy millions of the latest Android apps, games, music, movies, TV, books, magazines & more, including the Overdrive Media Console and Hoopla apps. -
iTunes App Store
Browse and download apps to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch from the App Store, including the Overdrive Media Console and Hoopla apps. -
Kindle App Store
Instant access to thousands of the most popular free and best-selling apps and games, including the Overdrive Media Console and Hoopla apps. -
NOOK Store
Your one-stop-shop for all things NOOK.
New York Times - Bestselling Fiction by Bestsellers
Bestselling fiction titles, updated every week! This list includes bestselling fiction for the week of April 18, 2021.
New York Times - Children's Bestsellers (24 items)
Bestselling Children's titles, updated every week! This list includes bestselling children's fiction, children's series, and Children's Picture Books for the week of April 18, 2021.
New York Times - Bestselling Nonfiction (10 items)
Bestselling nonfiction titles, updated every week! This list includes bestselling nonfiction for the week of April 18, 2021.
Poetry in Translation (6 items)
Take pleasure in reading poets from other languages and cultures.
Poetry - Novels in Verse (19 items)
Poetry with special appeal for tweens and teens.
Poetry - Great Contemporary Poetry (5 items)
Selections from the Literature Department.
Award Winners (20 items)
Award-winning Bestsellers, fiction and nonfiction
Library Reads: Favorite of Favorites 2016 (10 items)
Librarians across the country have chosen their ten favorite books published in 2016.
Oprah's Book Club (73 items)
Bestselling selections from Oprah's Book Club.
Electronic Resources
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Academic OneFile *
Find peer-reviewed, full-text articles from journals in the areas of the physical and social sciences, technology, medicine, engineering, the arts, literature, and more. More than 18,000 peer-reviewed journals and more than 9,200 in full text.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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America's Historical Imprints
Explore centuries of history through books, pamphlets, & other material on culture and daily life. Includes: American Broadsides and Ephemera and Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans & Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker. *Chrome browser not supported.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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BookFlix *
A digital literacy resource, for grades preK-3, that pairs animated stories with nonfiction ebooks to build a love of reading. Includes lesson plans for teachers and tips for caregivers
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Books & Authors *
Books & Authors answers the question: What Do I Read Next? Explore authors, genres, books, and topics to discover books that match your interests. Search over 240,000 fiction and non-fiction librarian-recommended titles.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Contemporary Authors *
A bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Dictionary of Literary Biography
Biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, and careers of the world's most influential literary figures. Includes more than 16,000 articles and thousands of images.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Duke Classics Ebooks and Audiobooks
A collection of over 4,000 classic titles for adults, teens, and children. Always available for individual or group access.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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eBooks from Overdrive
Available in a variety of formats, here you will find the Library's Overdrive ebook collection. Get the Libby app to borrow on the go. Watch this short video to learn more
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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eBooks on EBSCOhost (formerly NetLibrary) *
Approximately 17,000 electronic books in all subject areas from careers to classics to Cliffs notes.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Freading
Downloadable ebooks for Free Library of Philadelphia library card holders.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Free Library Podcasts
The Free Library Podcast is an easy way to participate in the author events and lectures that take place at the Central Library. Visit Author Events for upcoming events and information.
Available To: Unrestricted, free web resource
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Gale eBooks (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library)
Explore over 500 nonfiction, fully searchable reference titles. Access accurate information on science, literature, history, business, and more. Watch this video to learn more
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Gale in Context | Elementary (formerly Kids InfoBits) *
Students in K-5th grade will find kid-friendly content covering topics such as animals, arts, geography, health, literature, people, social studies, technology, and more! Includes more than 16,600 images and over 600 high-quality educational videos.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Gale in Context | Middle School (formerly Research in Context) *
Gale in Context | Middle School provides support for middle grade students working on papers and projects. Includes full-text magazine & news articles, multimedia, biographies, and primary sources.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Gale Literary Sources (formerly Artemis)
Cross-search all of Gale’s literature databases from a single digital space. Includes Dictionary of Literary Biography, Something About the Author, LitFinder, Literature Criticism Online, and Literature Resource Center.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Gale OneFile | High School Edition (formerly InfoTrac Student Edition) *
Content for high school students from magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, and rich media (images, audio, video) covering a range of subjects, from science, history, and literature to political science, sports, and environmental studies.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Hoopla
Stream movies, TV, music, and audiobooks directly to your computer or mobile device. These tutorials will show you how to get the most out of hoopla
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Literature Criticism Online
This extensive compilation of literary commentary represents a range of modern and historical views on authors and their works across regions, eras, and genres. Covers Children’s, Classical, Contemporary, Drama, Poetry, Shakespearean, and more.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Literature Resource Center
Access to biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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LitFinder *
Find the sonnets of Shakespeare, the poetry of Angelou, presidential speeches, and short stories by Poe. Discover full-text literature from more than 150,000 poems, 7,100 short stories & novels, 3,800 essays, 2,400 speeches, and 1,250 plays.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Upcoming Events
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VIRTUAL Friday Reads Book Talk with Miss Mary
Looking for your next middle grade read? Check out these short book talk videos with Miss Mary talking about her new… more details
Fri, April 23, 2021 10:30 AM
Parkway Central Library
1901 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
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Virtual Author Visit with Lexie Bean
Friends, please join us for a virtual author visit and book talk with Lexie Bean , author of the middle grade… more details
Tue, April 27, 2021 6:00 PM
Parkway Central Library
1901 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
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Virtual Program | What's Dena Reading?
Check in with Librarian Dena every Tuesday night to see her talk about a book that she highly recommends! more details
Tue, April 27, 2021 8:00 PM
www.facebook.com/PhilbrickHall
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Art Book Club online: Watercolor
This informal group meets in a video-free private chat and image-sharing forum with a librarian from the Free… more details
Wed, April 28, 2021 5:00 PM
Parkway Central Library
1901 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
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Blog Posts
Greens Across Tables
Thank you to Nourishing Literacy (NL) team member Carolyn for writing this blog post! In addition to sharing her experience and findings, Carolyn has included some of the activities and approaches that we use in NL. The NL team enjoys…
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Making Her Mark Spotlight: Poetry and Movement Building
by Suzanna Urminska and Sam Perduta Our words carry power—whether as balm or as burnish, our words have the power to come together to form poetry that recalls and reconnects a range of human experiences both personal and…
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Newest Episode of "Book Feast" Invites Women to the Table
Coinciding with Women’s History Month, the newest episode of Book Feast uses the luncheon in Virginia Woolf ’s proto-feminist essay A Room of One’s Own (1929) to discuss women’s legacy in literature. The…
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Women's History Month | Ursula K. Le Guin Honored with Commemorative Stamp
Ursula K. Le Guin 's award-winning writing often depicted futuristic alternative worlds steeped in the themes of politics, the natural environment, gender, religion, sexuality, and ethnography. Now her legacy will live on in a…
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Art Book Club Online
The Art Department is now hosting a virtual book and art-making club and we're excited to kick off our next topic! Art Book Club Online: Picturing Information starts Tuesday, February 2, meeting 5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays…
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Squash Across Tables
Thank you to Nourishing Literacy (NL) team member Carolyn for writing this blog post! In addition to sharing her experience and findings, Carolyn has included some of the activities and approaches that we use in NL. The Nourishing…
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Let Culinary Explorations of Literature Nourish You with Book Feast!
Have you ever thought about why we use the same vocabulary to describe consuming food and consuming knowledge? How we’re hungry for the truth, devour a good book, and digest information? Intellectual nourishment has been so…
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Story Search from Special Collections: An Interview by Hannah Cho
Hannah Cho is a University of Pennsylvania Work-Study student from Davis, CA. During the Fall semester, she studied, recorded, and edited the Story Search podcasts remotely from South Korea. I’ve always been more of a talker…
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Healing Verse Philly: a Project from the Poet Laureate
Through the challenges of 2020, one of the abiding sources of relief for many of us has been poetry. More people than ever are looking to the written word for strength, wisdom, and comfort. Even before the pandemic struck, Trapeta B.…
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What Philadelphia Read in 2020
The longest year ever is coming to a close. (Amen.) That means that it’s time to peruse some Best of 2020 book lists! Across the web you can find tons of these kinds of lists. Two of my favorites are Book Riot’s Best Books…
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How to Recommend a Digital Book
For many Philadelphians, library access to free ebooks and audiobooks has been a lifesaver during the pandemic. We may not be able to go anywhere we want, but we can travel vicariously through someone else’s adventures or at least…
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Picture Book Highlights | My Favorite Books of 2020
I wanted to write a blog post about my favorite picture books of 2020; all the books that touched me through their text and art... but that is not an easy thing to do. There are so many wonderful books published every year – how…
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¿Aprendiendo Español? Check Out These Resources!
Nowadays, mastering a new language is so much fun—there are so many resources available! Depending on your learning style, you can design a work plan that fits your needs and time. With only five minutes a day, you can build a…
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It's Winnie the Pooh's Birthday!
In these difficult times, the birthday of a beloved book, TV, and movie character from childhood feels like the perfect excuse to curl up within the comfort and safety of nostalgia. And boy do we need it! For so many of us, Winnie the…
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Join Our New YA and Adult Multicultural Book Club!
Are you interested in reading new authors? Are you looking for a safe place to discuss literature and culture? Then this book club is for you! The YA / Adult Multicultural Book Club has a focus on authors of color and expanding cultural…
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Monday Poets Turns 25! View Ephemera from Over the Years
The Literature Department at Parkway Central Library is celebrating the 25th year of our flagship program, Monday Poets ! Over the years, the department has hosted poets from all over the country, and has always made it their mission to…
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Back to School Resources and Programs for Students
The new school year starts this week throughout Philadelphia and whether students will be attending school in-person and / or virtually, the Free Library is ready to help with resources and programs to help make the school year a…
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Hurra! Hourra! Hoan Hô! | ebooks in 7 Languages
¡hurra! 万岁 hoan hô! Ура! hourra! hooray! الصيحة! Let’s celebrate! The Free Library now offers access to ebooks and audiobooks in seven world languages: Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, French, Haitian Creole, and…
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Picture Book Highlights | Let's Go Hiking
In these times of social distancing and no indoor activities, what better way to spend time than venturing outside and going for a hike in the great outdoors? You don’t have to go far—here in Philly we have both Fairmount…