Peoria Reads: 25 Years
2026 is Our 25th Anniversary
Take the power and pleasure in reading a compelling book and multiply that across a city of people with different thoughts and backgrounds. See the ripple effects as people who don’t normally cross paths come together. Watch as reading, normally a solitary task, transforms into a vibrant, social experience.
That’s the power of Peoria Reads, our one city/one book program.
In celebration of our 25th anniversary of Peoria Reads, Peoria Public Library and our partners have chosen a book that resonates with our roots. Our first roots.
Long before the city of Peoria existed, the Illinois River Valley was populated by a confederation of Native American tribes, including the Peoria tribe.
There is value in revisiting our history, even when it is through the lens of contemporary fiction, specifically a high-stakes YA heist novel.
You’re going to love our chosen book – Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley
Click on the Full List of Peoria Reads Events to find all our themed programs, starting this September.
Author Event: Angeline Boulley
Saturday, Nov. 14th
2-4 PM | Main Library, 107 NE Monroe
About the Book: Warrior Girl Unearthed
Set in Sugar Island, Michigan (like Boulley’s debut novel, Firekeeper’s Daughter) this high-stakes mystery/thriller follows Perry, a young woman of the area’s Ojibwe Tribe.
During her summer internship, Perry discovers the theft of her ancestors’ remains and thousands of cultural objects, and as she learns about repatriation, the number of missing and murdered women rises. Perry, her twin Pauline, and their friends unwind secret plots that threaten their community’s people, both past and present.
Warrior Girl Unearthed is a New York Times bestseller, a #1 Indies Bestseller, an Amazon Best Book of the Year, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner, a BookPage Best Book of the Year, an Indigo Teen Staff Pick of the Month, an Indie Next Pick, and a 2023 finalist for Goodreads Best Young Adult Fiction.
About Our Author:
Peoria Reads Author Angeline Boulley is a bestselling Young Adult novelist, Printz Medal & Morris Award winner. She’s been deemed a Top 100 Young Adult author by Time magazine.
Boulley’s books have received praise for their authenticity, touching on heavy subjects including the mistreatment of Indigenous human remains, Indigenous sovereignty and the right of repatriation, and the systemic racism that helps drive an epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
Boulley is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Her father is a traditional firekeeper. She has worked as the Director for the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education, as her tribe’s Education Director and Assistant Executive Director, and on the Board of Regents at Bay Mills Community College.
She currently lives in Southwest Michigan, but says she will always call Bahweting (the place of the rapids) in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan her home.
We will welcome Angeline Boulley to Peoria in November as our capstone Peoria Reads event. Details inside.
Peoria Reads Events
Peoria Reads
Since 2001, Peoria Public Library has hosted a citywide literary event inviting all residents to read the same book at once.
Peoria Reads is led by Peoria Public Library with the help of community partners, Methodist College, Bradley University and Neighborhood House.
• Bring our diverse community together in ways to promote better understanding.
• Broaden and deepen readers’ appreciation for books dealing with significant issues.
• Bring more people into libraries, bookstores, and literacy institutions
• Increase opportunities for discussion between youth and adults
• Achieve a better understanding of ourselves and of our own humanity.
