What's Yamhill County reading?
March is National Reading Month, and the News-Register wondered, what is Yamhill County reading?
After contacting every library in the county, from the bustling Newberg-Dundee shelves to the quaint one-room Amity library, the data is in.
Newberg Library (which also serves Dundee) had the largest number of checked out items in the 2024-2025 fiscal year with 396,229 circulations. It currently serves about 13,000 active users.
McMinnville has more library card holders with 17,387 as of March 2025. Mac’s library had 292,1965 physical circulation and 89,761 digital circulation of ebooks and audiobooks in 2025.
Library Director Jenny Berg said digital circulation continues to increase.
Amity Library touts 677 patrons and 4,675 items checked out in 2025. The home of the Pirates, Dayton, finished 2025 with 816 patrons and 7,087 checked out items, including renewals.
The West Valley libraries are more active. Timber town USA, Willamina, is just shy of 1,000 patrons at 988 and had circulation of 17,837 in 2025. Sheridan serves 2,655 registered users and 20,798 total collection uses, as stated in its state report.
“We have a strong patron base,” said Sheridan Library Director Gwen Gorham.
The Yamhill Community Library is a nonprofit and unaffiliated with Chemeketa Regional Library Service or any other library service. Much of its collection is comprised of books from the former Gaston Community Library, with donations making up the rest of it.
Having been open for just 11 months, the community library does not have figures for 2025.
However, in the month between Feb. 18 and March 20, 29 books were checked out and the library welcomed 41 visitors. It is open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays.
About half the library’s collection is in storage, as there is limited shelf space at the Yamhill Methodist Church location. If someone requests a book, board members dive into storage to hunt for it.
Most libraries do not track how often a particular genre is checked out, but Sheridan, Willamina, Amity and McMinnville library directors noted that most mystery and thrillers don’t collect dust on their shelves.
Readers’ literary appetites vary throughout the county, according to the reports given to the News-Register.
In 2025, Newberg patrons flocked to the audiobook and e-edition of Rebecca Yarros’ “Onyx Storm,” the third part of the author’s romantic fantasy “Empyrean” series.
The most checked out print book for Newberg-Dundee adults in 2025 was “The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol. 1,” by Beth Brower. The series is set in 1883 and told through the title character’s journal entries — self-incriminating and armed with wit and a sideways amusement, reviewers write. Brower’s writing is compared to Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde.
It was also a favorite of Newberg Library Director Korie Buerkle, she said.
The most requested ebook title in Newberg so far this year has been “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Pacific Northwest native Shelby Van Pelt. The tale, set in a fictional Puget Sound aquarium, was adapted into a Netflix show that will debut in May 2026 starring Sally Fields and Lewis Pullman.
“I just relistened to this myself — it’s such a good story,” Buerkle said.
In Dayton, a different Puget Sound setting has drawn eager readers, according to Dayton Library Director Cyndi Park. “Our patrons have been requesting the first book in the Thomas Austin crime thriller series by D.D. Black, titled ‘The Bones at Point No Point.’” Black is a Pacific Northwest-based author, and the crime novel is set in the unincorporated beach community of Hansville, Washington.
McMinnville adult readers gravitated to historical fiction in 2025, with “The Women” by Kristin Hannah the most checked out adult book. The story follows a young Army nurse serving during the Vietnam War.
“So far this year, the most requested book is ‘The Correspondent’ by Virginia Evans,” Berg said.
“The Correspondent” is told entirely through letters written by the main character, Sybil Van Antwerp, as she reflects on her life and relationships at the age of 73.
In Amity, thriller writer Freida McFadden has been a very popular author.
Likewise, in Sheridan, suspense and legal thriller novelist David Baldacci has nearly an entire shelf dedicated to his work.
Another in hot demand is “Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice,” posthumously published by Virginia Giuffre, who describes abuse she allegedly sustained by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Yamhill native Nicholas Kristof — a political commentary writer for The New York Times and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist — is a local favorite in his hometown library.
Willamina Library Director Sarah Frost said due to the small size of the collection, it is difficult to pinpoint the top title. “It is such a mixed variety of requests that come through for all ages in all genres,” she said.
Young readers throughout the county are drawn to one genre: comics.
“Graphic novels are hugely popular with young readers,” Buerkle said. “In 2025, “Hilo” by Judd Winick was the top circulation for the entire library. This year, the graphic novel “Sonic the Hedgehog” is pulling even with Emma M. Lion.”
Buerkle said graphic novels are amazing at engaging young readers into the experience, but sometimes get a reputation as not a “real book.”
“They absolutely are real books!,” she said. “Also, graphic novels have won most top literature awards at this point, so I’m not sure why we are still debating this. And while we’re at it, listening to audiobooks does count as reading a book.”
Amity Library Director Anne Jenkins agreed “Diary of a Pug” and anything by Raina Telgemeier has been popular youth selections.
The trend carries through West Valley libraries and McMinnville, where librarians report “Dog Man” books by Dav Pilkey are hot items. Pilkey also wrote the well-known series “Captain Underpants” and “Super Diaper Baby,” which was a joy to young readers — and, perhaps, annoyance to parents and teachers due to the potty humor.
Berg reported that young readers are also drawn to books with animal characters in addition to the comic format.
The dragon graphic novel series “Wings of Fire” is especially popular, as well as “Dog Man” and the cat fantasy saga “Warriors,” she said.
In Dayton, the “Dragon Masters” series by Tracey West is popular with younger readers. This series is an introduction to chapter books and more suitable to readers around third-grade reading level. Another popular series is “Who Would Win” by Jerry Pallotta, which pits dangerous animals in theoretical fights to the death while educating readers.
Frost said Willamina youngsters are heavy into graphic novels, too. The library there recognizes National Comic Book Day annually, providing free comics to patrons, hooking the youths on reading them. Storylines with dragons are also favorites, like the “Wings of Fire” series by Tui T. Sutherlan.
Meanwhile, Sheridan youths want to catch hold of the “Pokémon Adventures” series.
Dayton library reported a large portion of its patrons are young readers.
“I’d say school-age kids, including preschool, are our most voracious readers,” Park told the News-Register. “The kids are followed closely by our adult patrons that read for enjoyment — specifically those that get hooked on a series and make sure to place the next book on hold so that it arrives before they finish the one they’re currently reading.”
Buerkle said the Newberg library serves a wide range of readers.
“Our children’s collection checks out at the highest rate, which also makes sense when you think about how many picture books or graphic novels families will take in one go, opposed to adults who often check out a few books at a time,” she said. “While our online statistics for ebooks continues to climb, our physical book checkouts far outpace ebook checkout.”
She added, “Some of that is budget since we have a much smaller budget for those items at this time. However, e-audiobook checkouts far outpace physical audiobooks, such as Playaways and CD books, since we mostly listen on our smartphones now.”
Buerkle said the trend is similar for e-magazines.
“While our physical magazines have a low checkout, with 2,445 last year, our e-magazines had over 10,360 checkouts last year,” she said. “Some of this is due to many magazines moving to solely online as well.”
McMinnville doesn’t track the age of patrons, other than the two library card types: ages 0-18 and 18 and older.
“Most of the cardholders are over age 18, but, of course, some parents are checking out items for their kids under the age of 18,” Berg said. “Borrowing of adult and children’s materials are fairly similar.”
Amity and Sheridan have a diverse group of patrons across all ages.
“We have a fair amount of both adults and under 12 youth patrons,” Frost said of Willamina. “We have a handful of teen readers too, but that number is far less and don’t represent a large amount of the 988 registered patrons.”
Frost reported 6,947 visits to the library during service hours last year, noting they see many people visiting who are not registered patrons.
“I thought that number was important to share, too,” she said.
Comments