Adult patrons have an opportunity to spring into the new season with the SPRING INTO READING ADULT CHALLENGE! This time of year brings many reasons to celebrate—from Earth Day to William Shakespeare’s birthday. From March 1 through May 4, adult patrons can read 4 spring-themed books to enter a drawing for a chance to win one of three Metroparks gift cards. Two $25 prizes and a grand prize of $50 will be drawn after the challenge. These gift cards are applicable to several Metroparks locations, including admission to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo!
Read here for more information about the Metroparks gift cards.
Spring-related themes are listed below, paired with lists of suggestions for the different categories. But these are only suggestions! Patrons do not have to abide by these lists. These are only to get you brainstorming!
- Book with a pastel cover
- Book with flowers on the cover
- A genre new to you
- A book published in March or April 2026
- Spring-themed craft book or gardening book
- Book about the environment
- Book written by or inspired by William Shakespeare (his 462nd birthday is on April 23rd !)
Sign up at Beanstack or pick up a paper log from your favorite library branch for a chance to win.
Download a PDF of the paper log.
Link to Catalog for placing holds.
Books with a pastel cover
- Say You’ll Remember Me– Abby Jimenez
- A witch’s guide to magical innkeeping– Sangu Mandanna
- My Friends– Fredrik Backman
- Honeymoon Phase– Amy Daws
- This is a Love Story– Jessica Soffer
- We’ll Prescribe You Another Cat– Syou Ishida
- First-time caller– B.K. Borison
- Only lovers in the building– Nadine Gonzalez
- Crossing Paths– Kate Ruggle
- Automatic Noodle– Annalee Newitz
- A Novel Love Story– Ashley Poston
- Black Sheep– Rachel Harrison
- Swallows– Natsuo Kirino
- Lost souls meet under a full moon– Mizuki Tsujimura
- Menu of Happiness– Hisashi Kashiwai
- Murder by Cheesecake: A Golden Girls Cozy Mystery– Rachel Ekstrom Courage
- The Dating Prohibition– Taj McCoy
- Alchemy and a cup of tea– Rebecca Thorne
- A terribly nasty business– Julia Seales
- The Gingerbread Bakery– Laurie Gilmore
Books inspired by William Shakespeare
Works written by William Shakespeare are in 822.33!
- Queen Macbeth– Val McDermid
- Practice– Rosalind Brown
- Shakespeare : the man who pays the rent– Judi Dench (nonfiction)
- Tastes like Shakkar– Nisha Sharma
- Marriage & masti– Nisha Sharma
- Verona Comics– Jennifer Dugan
- Hamnet : a novel of the plague– Maggie O’Farrell
- A Thousand Acres– Jane Smiley
- All our Yesterdays– Joel H. Morris
- Much ado about numbers : Shakespeare’s mathematical life and times- Robert Eastaway (nonfiction)
- The unbecoming of Margaret Wolf– Isa Arsén
- Vinegar girl : the taming of the shrew retold– Anne Tyler
- Macbeth– Jo Nesbø
- Hag-seed : the Tempest retold– Margaret Atwood
- Enter the Body– Joy McCullough
- The Weird Sisters– Eleanor Brown
- Dunbar– Edward St Aubyn
- Immortal Longings– Chloe Gong
- That way madness lies : fifteen of Shakespeare’s most notable works reimagined– Dahlia Adler
- The bookman’s tale : a novel of obsession– Charles C. Lovett
BOOKS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT (NONFICTION & FICTION)
- The story of CO2 is the story of everything : how carbon dioxide made our world– Peter Brannen (nonfiction)
- Abundance– Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson (nonfiction)
- Shade : the promise of a forgotten natural resource– Sam Bloch (nonfiction)
- Wild Dark Shore– Charlotte McConaghy (fiction)
- The Future– Naomi Alderman (fiction)
- Is a river alive? – Robert Macfarlane (nonfiction)
- Great Black Swamp : toxic algae, toxic relationships, and the most interesting place… nobody’s ever heard of– Patrick Wensick (nonfiction)
- A little queer natural history– Josh L. Davis (nonfiction)
- The Joyful Environmentalist– Isabel Losada (nonfiction)
- The Float Test– Lynn Steger Strong (fiction)
- The green budget guide : 101 planet and money saving tips, ideas and recipes– Nancy Birtwhistle (nonfiction)
- An alternative history of Cleveland– Jonathan Wlasiuk (nonfiction)
- A Fire So Wild– Sarah Ruiz-Grossman (fiction)
- Awake in the floating city- Susanna Kwan (fiction)
- After the North Pole : a story of survival, mythmaking, and melting ice– Erling Kagge (nonfiction)
- The Morningside– Téa Obreht (fiction)
- The serviceberry: abundance and reciprocity in the natural world- Robin Wall Kimmerer (nonfiction)
- We are eating the Earth: the race to fix our food system and save our climate– Michael Grunwald (nonfiction)
- Tigers Between Empires: The Improbable Return of Great Cats to the Forests of Russia and China– Jonathan C. Slaght (nonfiction)
- When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy– Beronda L. Montgomery (nonfiction)
Book with flowers on the cover
- Emily Wilde’s compendium of lost tales– Heather Fawcett
- Immortal– Sue Lynn Tan
- The life cycle of the common octopus– Emma Knight
- Eat the Ones You Love– Sarah Maria Griffin
- Something in the walls– Daisy Pearce
- Dengue boy– Michel Nieva
- The garden against time: in search of a common paradise – Olivia Laing
- The paradise problem– Christina Lauren
- Among the burning flowers– Samantha Shannon
- Beasts of Carnaval– Ros̀lia Rodrigo
- Seduction theory– Emily Adrian
- Swordheart– T. Kingfisher
- Her Wicked Roots– Tanya Pell
- A botanical daughter– Noah Medlock
- The Manor of Dreams– Christina Li
- Something Like Fate– Amy Lea
- Full Bloom– Francesca Scottoline Serritella
- Loved One– Aisha Muharrar
- Heart the Lover– Lily King
- At Last– Marisa Silver
