Books

Babies born this coming Saturday could get a birthday present featuring a guy who knows how to have fun — The Cat in the Hat.Dr. Seuss Enterprises is celebrating the iconic children’s author’s 120th birthday with a free giveaway of “The Cat in the Hat” to U.S. residents who have a baby born this March 2.

Authors announced for 2024 Southwest Florida Reading Festival; Lee County Library System to mark 25th Anniversary.

In her new book The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo Garcia, journalist Laura Tillman traces Lalo’s journey from picking produce in the fields to becoming a beloved chef and owner of a leading Mexico City restaurant.

State education officials on Wednesday approved two rules that could help set the stage for special magistrates to hear disputes about issues such as parents' objections to school-library books.

While visitors to Koreshan State Park in Estero have often asked whether there was any connection between Cyrus Teed Koresh — the man who founded The Koreshan Unity which called the land home beginning in the early 1800s, and David Koresh — the man who led the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas from the mid 1980s until the group’s fiery demise during an FBI siege gone wrong on their Mount Carmel compound on April 19th, 1993 — the answer was always no, there is no connection between the two and the similarity between their names is purely coincidental. Well, new evidence has come to light that seems to prove there was most certainly a connection of some kind.

The state Board of Education on Wednesday approved a new rule that will lead to Florida officials publishing an annual list of library books and instructional materials that have drawn public objections, in a move that the board’s chairman said will “provide transparency for our families.”

In Dizz Tate's new novel Brutes, a group of 13-year- old Florida girls try to find one of their classmates when she goes missing.

While visitors to Koreshan State Park in Estero have often asked whether there was any connection between Cyrus Teed Koresh — the man who founded The Koreshan Unity which called the land home beginning in the early 1800s, and David Koresh — the man who led the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas from the mid 1980s until the group’s fiery demise during an FBI siege gone wrong on their Mount Carmel compound on April 19th, 1993 — the answer was always no, there is no connection between the two and the similarity between their names is purely coincidental. Well, new evidence has come to light that seems to prove there was most certainly a connection of some kind.

While many large tracts of land in Southwest Florida have been forever lost to development over the past century or so, quite a bit of it has been preserved thanks to the dedicated efforts of countless people and organizations — and the local, state, and federal elected officials who environmental advocates could convince that wetlands were valuable for their own sake. For example, more than 70% of land in Collier County has been preserved as public land. Think Fakahatchee Strand State Park, Picayune Strand State Forest, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Big Cypress National Preserve, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, and the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, just to name a few. We explore some of this fascinating history with the co-authors of the new book, “Enjoyment of the Same: A History of Public Lands in Southwest Florida.”

A Florida Department of Education workgroup is crafting a training that all school-library workers must use in selecting books and other materials. The group was formed to carry out part of a new law passed this year.