Yesterday Chickadee and I went on a really fun and unique field trip…we participated in the Illinois Heartland Library System’s “Library Crawl,” which was the perfect outing for Banned Books Week!

This is the 7th annual library crawl for the system, but it’s only the second year I’ve known about it. I thought it sounded cool last year, but I just couldn’t find time to go, so when it came around again this month, I made it a priority. There are 197 participating libraries (!!!) across a good deal of the state (minus the Chicagoland area and some other parts to the northwest), but we decided to stick pretty close to home, focusing on Madison and St. Clair counties. We managed a dozen stops, including the finale at our home library, where we had our “passports” verified (the goal is to visit at least five other locations).

Our day started in Troy, IL, at the Tri-Township Public Library:

We then traveled to the Edwardsville Public Library, which might have the prettiest exterior of the ones we visited, thanks to a beautiful fountain out front:

Next was the Glen Carbon Centennial Library, which had a really cool interior that felt like a cabin and had a huge fireplace near the entrance:

The Maryville Community Library smelled brand-new and offered a craft option in addition to passport stamping:

I’ve been to the Mississippi Valley Library District Collinsville Memorial Library before…it’s a beautiful building:

The Caseyville Public Library seemed very new, and matched the elementary school next door in architectural style and color:

We’re regular visitors to Fairview Heights, because that’s where the closest mall is, but we had never even been down the road where the Fairview Heights Public Library is located:

There was some construction right outside the O’Fallon Public Library, but we still made it:

The Lebanon Public Library was so tiny, they didn’t even have a stamp for our passports, the librarian simply signed it!

Next up was the Mascoutah Public Library:

And then down to the Freeburg Area Library District, which had a really cool mural inside:

We wrapped up our trip at the Belleville Public Library Main Library, which is an original Carnegie Library:

Along the way, we collected small gifts from the various libraries, including lunch bags, tote bags, pins, bookmarks, stickers, magnets, snacks, candy, and water. One stop also offered flower seed packets, and our home library had fun scratch-off cards (Chickadee and I both won a magnet). We also got to see a lot of places that were new to us, and we even stopped at a new coffee shop along the way. It was a really fun way to spend a nice fall day, and very different from any other field trip we’ve ever had…next year, we might head to Monroe and Randolph counties to see some of the libraries down there!