Check out our Event Calendar for all these upcoming Fall fun programs!
Mini-Pumpkin Decorating, Saturday October 25th 12-4 pm: For all ages. Just bring your imagination, pumpkins and decorating supplies will be provided.
Build-a-Scarecrow Day, Saturday October 25th, 9 am-12 noon on the Grafton Common: Hosted by Grafton Recreation, stakes, twine and hay will be provided.
Teen Program – Day of the Dead Skull T-shirts, Monday October 27th 6:30 pm: The Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrated at the end of October and beginning of November. Get in the spirit early by hand sewing a Day of the Dead skull onto a t-shirt! Please bring a plain shirt or tote bag, all other supplies will be provided.
Spooky Stories Storytime, Wednesday October 29th 6:30 pm: A family friendly program open to all ages. Spooktacular stories, ghoulish goodies, and fun! Costumes are encouraged!
Teen Program – Halloween/Day of the Dead Party, Saturday November 1st 6:00 pm: Celebrate Halloween and the Day of the Dead together! Enjoy snacks while watching the movie Hocus Pocus.
For more details or to register for the Teen programs, please contact the Library at 508-839-4649 or by email at graftonlibrary.ma@gmail.com
Cemetery educators, The Gravestone Girls, whose mission is to “Keep Our Dead Alive”, will be presenting a virtual tour, called “Welcome to the Graveyard”, centered on Grafton’s eight local cemeteries at the Grafton Public Library (35 Grafton Common), Tuesday, October 21st at 7pm. The 90 minute presentation is built on photographs recently taken in these special and interesting burying places around Grafton, which was founded in 1735, and charts the evolution of cemeteries and gravestones from the colonial era into the 21st century.
This is a popular program that has been given around the New England area by The Gravestone Girls for almost fifteen years. The group regularly works with libraries, historical societies and genealogical groups, among others, to teach about “the art, symbolism and history of these living history museums located on everyone’s mainstreets and backyards” says Ms. Sullivan, one in the group of three cemetery enthusiasts. She further added “Almost everyone is interested in these peaceful and beautiful spaces, but may be hesitant to say so to others. Our presentation lets you know you’re not the only one. Come see what we do, we fill the room every time!”
For a detailed calendar of this and other Gravestone Girls events please visit www.GravestoneGirls.com Further information can also be found on the library’s website at http://www.graftonpubliclibrary.org
The Gravestone Girls not only provide interesting historical cemetery presentations, they also create beautiful and unusual sculpted art pieces using the primitive art from the faces of original New England gravestones as well as teach gravestone rubbing classes and lead cemetery tours. Their gravestone art is shown regularly at art and craft festivals. Often commissioned for documentation and fundraising projects utilizing special aspects of important cemeteries and gravestones, they have executed these public and private projects for clients nationwide.
Books & Authors helps you figure out what to read next, with themed booklists, browsing by Character, Subject, Location and Time Period. Search for an author to get a list of all their books, browse by genre for new and upcoming titles, and search for a title you love to get recommendations for readalikes!
For Teen Read Week 2014, I want to share my favorite new teen series: the I Hunter Killers trilogy (also referred to as the Jasper Dent series) by Barry Lyga. The series consists of I Hunt Killers, Game, and the newly published, Blood of My Blood.
What if the world’s worst serial killer… was your father? Jasper (Jazz) Dent is a likeable teenager. A real charmer. But he’s also the son of the world’s most infamous serial killer. And now, even though Dad has been in jail for years, bodies are piling up again. In an effort to prove murder doesn’t run in the family, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for this new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret — could he be more like his father than anyone knows?
Book reviewer Blake Norby describes I Hunt Killers best: “Lyga brilliantly combines the feel of a true crime story with mystery, adventure, and psychoanalysis in this intense story of a different kind of family bond. It is a classic “whodunit” with the added intrigue of describing murders in great detail while not becoming overly gruesome, as well as the police work involved in solving the crime, so it feels like a true crime novel instead of fiction. The characters are especially believable, and the reader will be drawn in by their motivations and actions. Jazz’s inner struggle to understand his compulsions to both save and hurt people will captivate readers into wanting to know which path he will ultimately choose.”
I highly recommend this series to mature readers who enjoy mysteries and thrillers. If you are a fan of CSI, Dexter or learning about serial killers, you should try this series – it’s not just for young adults! I also strongly recommend that you have the third book in hand when you finish reading the second book because it’s a cliffhanger!
Reminder: Scarecrows remaining on Tuesday November 4 will be discarded. Please pick up your scarecrow on Monday!
Grafton Recreation and the Grafton Public Library will be hosting the annual Scarecrow Contest on the Common at the end of October. Families, businesses, groups and clubs are encouraged to create a scarecrow at home and then stake it on the Library Lawn / or outside the fence at the Grafton Common beginning Saturday October 11 through Sunday October 24.
Or, competitors can create a scarecrow during Build-A-Scarecrow Day on Saturday October 25 from 9am-12 noon on Grafton Common, weather permitting. Stakes, twine and hay will be provided at this event only. The name of the family, business, group or club must appear on the scarecrow. Scarecrows must remain on the Lawn/Common through Halloween.
Once all of the scarecrows are up, vote for your favorite online at www.graftonlibrary.org between Oct 25 and Oct 30; a winner will be announced on Halloween. We’ll be sharing and posting photos of all competitors, but you can get in on the action by taking a photo of your favorite scarecrow and sharing it on social media, using the tag #GraftonMAScarecrow.
For further details, please get in touch with Beth Gallaway, Library Director, 508-839-5335 x 1105 or Betty Wright, Recreation Director, 508-839-5335 x 1156.
The Grafton Public Library teams up with Apple Tree Arts again this year to host First Fridays with Mr. Kim, a music and movement program for Preschoolers. We start the year off on Friday, October 10th at 10 a.m. in the library’s Children’s Room. Save the date for upcoming First Fridays on November 7th and December 5th. Space is limited and registration is required. Registration begins 1 week prior to the program. Waitlisted participants are automatically given priority for the next month. Additional sign-ups (repeat customers) begin one week before the event.
Mr. Kim Webster teaches and performs for preschool children using guitar and puppets, incorporating music sing along, rhyming hand play, and musical movement such as popping to the ever-favorite Pop Corn song!
The Grafton Public Library joins libraries and bookstores worldwide on Saturday, Oct. 11 10am-4:30pm to celebrate all things Star Wars! All ages are welcome to drop in for origami, crafts, games, and activities all day, along with “lightsaber” ice pops and poster giveaways while supplies last. Join in the festivities, or just come to sit and read Star Wars stories!
The program culminates in a Star Wars Symposium from 2-4 pm hosted by Star Wars expert Peter Struzziero. Events include a Costume Contest (dress as your favorite character); Trivia (show off your Star Wars knowledge): Show & Tell (bring your treasures to share) and Star Wars history (hear the backstory!). The Symposium is for ages 6 and up, families are welcome.
What do Catcher in the Rye, Harry Potter and Captain Underpants all have in common? They have been deemed “inappropriate to age group” by well meaning folks who have attempts to remove books from schools and libraries in the United States.
The Grafton Public Library celebrates YOUR freedom to read and right to choose your book during Banned Books Week, September 21-27, with the following drop in programs and activities for all ages:
• Banned Books Matching Game: match a title with the reason it was challenged
• Sidewalk Chalk Art: share a favorite quote from a banned book
• Book Spine Poetry: arrange titles to create a poem
For more information about Banned Books, visit http://www.ala.org/bbooks. For more details about library activities, please contact Beth Gallaway, Library Director, at 508-839-4649 x1105 or by email at graftonlibrary.ma@gmail.com.
The Children’s Room at the Grafton Public Library invites all our young readers to join us for the fall session of storytime beginning the week of September 15th. Storytimes are drop-in unless otherwise noted and if school is cancelled, storytime is cancelled as well. The Children’s Room will be closed to the public for the duration of onsite programs, and the room will re-open at 10:30 a.m. The lineup for this fall offers something for readers of all ages:
• PreK STEM Storytime – is a 30 minute program for children ages 3.5-5 featuring math and science themes. Hosted by UNiBank, 89 Worcester Street, Grafton, on Monday mornings 10:30 a.m.
• Library Babies – is a 20 minute program for our very youngest visitors, ages birth-walking. Meets at the Library Tuesday mornings 10 a.m. (note new time!)
• Toddler Time – is a 30 minute program for children who are walking through ages 3.5 years. Meets at the Library Wednesday mornings 10 a.m. (note new time!)
• Preschool Storytime – is a 30 minute program for children ages 3.5-5. Meets at the Library Friday mornings 10 a.m. (note new time!)
• “Once Upon a Storytime” at the Willard House – for children ages 3 and up, will be held every first Wednesday of the month (three times this fall) on October 1st, November 5th and December 3rd. Please call the Willard House directly 508-839-3500 to register.
These programs, along with others, are also listed on the Library’s website “Events” calendar. For more details, please contact Sarah Banister, Children’s Librarian, at 508-839-4649 or by email at graftonlibrary.ma@gmail.com.
Although many aspects of this novel, set in Zimbabwe and Detroit, present a bleak picture of both village life and emigration, it is written by such a gifted storyteller that it drew me in from page 1. The story is narrated by Darling, a 10 year old girl growing up in a shantytown in her native Zimbabwe. She and her group of friends, all with similarly unusual names (Godknows, Fraction, Chipo), play with abandon against a backdrop of poverty and memories of terror endured by the village during a brutal raid by paramilitary soldiers in the past. They refer to this as “Before”. They call their village “Paradise”. The children are a true “gang”, but only in the sense that they are a strong unit, bound together by trauma from the past, hopes for the future, and the mischief of today. They hide in trees in the rich neighborhoods beyond the village, trying to catch a glimpse of tv shows, which they later hilariously re-enact . Stealing guavas is another highlight, both for the thrill and the reward of the juice they love and can’t stop themselves from overindulging. They are hungry, in the literal way, as well as for clean clothing, any type of toy or possession, and an end to the threat of violence.
Darling is in a unique position in the group, as she has been told she will move to Detroit (“Destroyedmichygen”) to live with her aunt, something she anticipates with a mixture of excitement and dread. As horrible as their lives are, it’s what they know, and they have each other. When she does make the transition, she feels the heartbreak of losing her country and her people, as well as the disillusionment of the American Dream.
The second half of the novel takes place in America, where Darling finds herself living in an apartment with her aunt, an obnoxious cousin, and her aunt’s husband in near poverty. This is where the story takes a turn and becomes darker; Darling has matured and the narration loses some of its charm, which is likely the intent of the author as circumstances for Darling have not lived up to her hopes.
What I love most about this book is the voices of the kids in ZImbabwe, who are so sweetly sad, yet creative and feisty, despite their circumstances.
We Need New Names was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize (2013), the Guardian First Book Award shortlist (2013), and was a Barnes & Noble Discover Award finalist (2013). It was the winner of the inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature (2013),and won the prestigious Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for debut work of fiction.It also won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction (2013).
Somehow many of the books that appeal to me because of the writing also feature people living difficult lives. This one certainly fits that bill, and will not appeal to someone looking for a light read. If’ you enjoy a poignant, though sometimes disheartening, coming of age story, this is a good pick.
