Families can warm up this weekend in the tropical setting of the Quad City Botanical Center with a free family event from the Rock Island Library.

The Library and the Botanical Center have teamed up to offer the Go Bananas for Reading event on Saturday, Jan. 14 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm at the Botanical Center, 2525 4th Avenue. The free family event helps the library kick off its Chill Out and Read winter reading campaign, which promotes the joys of reading for all ages. Participants can sign up for the library’s winter reading contests and pick up a registration prize, while enjoying life size Barrel of Monkeys game and a monkey bean bag toss, a teen banana runts challenge, crafts for kids and adults, sandcastle building and learning about real banana trees in the Sun Garden. Admission is free.

Participation in the reading contest is not required. The event is part of the Quad Cities Convention and Tourism Bureau’s Be a Tourist in Your Own Backyard weekend.

To continue with Be A Tourist in Your Own Backyard, the Rock Island Library will also show a free family movie on Monday, January 16 at the Main Library, 401 19th Street. The 2016 PG-rated movie features a loveable, but extremely forgetful blue tang fish, and her search for her lost parents. The free showing starts at 2:00 pm in the library’s second-floor Community Room. All Rock Island Libraries will be open on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Chill Out and READ Winter Reading encourages children, teens and adults to read for fun and relaxation. Registration will be available at the event and at Rock Island Libraries after January 14. Participants receive entry tickets for books checked out at Rock Island Libraries between Saturday, Jan. 14 and Friday, Feb. 17. The more items checked out, the more chances to win. See any Rock Island Library for details.

For more information about Rock Island Library hours, services and programs, visit the library’s online branch at www.rockislandlibrary.org , call 309-732-READ, or follow the library on Facebook or

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Sean Leary Director of Digital Media

Sean Leary is an author, director, artist, musician, producer and entrepreneur who has been writing professionally since debuting at age 11 in the pages of the Comics Buyers Guide. An honors graduate of the University of Southern California masters program, he has written over 50 books including the best-sellers The Arimathean, Every Number is Lucky to Someone and We Are All Characters.