Beverly Public Library

Do you have a favorite author – or three, or five? Would you like never to miss one of their new novels? The Beverly Public Library soon will start an automatic reserve program, where you can request to have new novels by today’s hottest authors put on hold for you as soon as they come out. In order to do this, we need to know who YOUR favorite authors are! The next time you are in the library, pick up a ballot and vote for up to ten authors you think should be among the favored few. Votes will be tallied and the top 100 authors will be eligible for the program.

Actual sign-ups for the program will start after we finalize the list for “Beverly’s HOT 100.” When the program starts, you will be able to sign up for whichever authors you like that are on the list – one, two, a dozen or more. When a new book by an author you’ve signed up for is released, we will automatically put a reserve on the book for you. If you decide you don’t want that particular book or don’t want it on reserve for you at that time, you can cancel the reserve yourself or ask the library to do it. But otherwise you will never ‘miss the boat’ on getting your name in for a new title from your favorite authors again!

On Thursday, March 4 at 7:30 PM, Nancy Bonne, formerly the main library’s Children’s Librarian, will present a multi-media show of her recent trip to the Taktse School in Sikkim, India, where Nancy helped the school librarian establish the school library and label and catalog books. Nancy also had a daily schedule of book talks in the older grades, and story times with the younger children. Hear the amazing details about how this school got started, including the involvement of the school’s principal, who used to be one of Nancy’s patrons as a child.

Following a project created by “Listen to the Wind” illustrator and co-author Susan Roth, on Saturday, February 27, from 1-3 PM each child will create a small self-portrait using collage that will “hold hands” with another child’s self-portrait – in Susan Roth’s words, “small ambassadors of friendship” creating a chain of goodwill, peace, and respect among diverse cultures.
Library staff and students from Montserrat College of Art will assist. If desired, a child’s self-portrait can then be sent to Susan Roth, who may exhibit the doll on her website or in an art exhibit, or even send it to a child in another country! All materials, including a doll form, will be supplied by the library. For more information visit www.susanlroth.com/letsholdhands/index.htm. Advance registration is required for this program. For age 5 and up.

Beverly writer Dawn Paul will read from her new novel, The Country of Loneliness, and discuss writing about family on February 24, 2010 from 7 -9 PM. Dawn’s reading will take place in the Sohier Room at the Beverly Public Library where she will also sell and sign copies of her book, proceeds to benefit the library. Refreshments will be served.

The Country of Loneliness tells two entwined stories, the suburban working-class girlhood of the narrator and the imagined boyhood of her father, who died when she was twenty-one. Self-described as an uneducated man, he believed he had nothing to teach his daughter, could only watch with hope and resentment as she moved beyond his world of factory work and local bars. The book pays tribute to the compassionate imagination and its power to create understanding and love between a father and daughter after long years of separation, fear and silence.

The date of this program has been changed due to inclement weather on February 10.

Check out more photos on our Flickr page.
Beverly Reads portraits courtesy of Alyse Gause Photography.