Grafton Community Library

Library volunteer Jan MacDonald readies new Picture Book with CD & Plush Toy sets for check-out.  The library purchased these popular sets with generous funding received from Stewart’s Shops.

Please join us on

Sunday, Jan. 10 at 4:00 PM

for a Book Release Party for

Am I Really Thirteen? written by

Grafton resident Kelsey O’Dell,

a ninth grader at the Berlin Junior Senior High School.

NEW @ Stephentown Memorial Library

The Holiday Raffle Basket was won by Grafton resident Jo-Ann Crandall, pictured here wearing a huge smile as she picked up her prize.  Board member Leanna Sweet drew the winning ticket on December 21st, with Board member Sandy von Schilgen and Director Carolyn Durnin looking on.

The Grafton Community Library is one of 29 pubic libraries that comprise the Upper Hudson Library System.  With a Grafton library card, you can visit and borrow items at any public library in Albany or Rensselaer County, and return the items to the library most convenient to you.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A MAP OF UHLS MEMBER LIBRARIES:

The Library will raffle a holiday gift basket to benefit the Library. The winning ticket will be drawn on Saturday, December 19, at the Library. Tickets prices are one dollar each or six tickets for five dollars.

Give the basket as a gift, keep it as a treat for yourself or use the goodies as individual gifts. The basket is brimming with a variety of books to please everyone on your gift list, including titles by popular authors Mary Higgins Clark, James Patterson, Nora Roberts and Barbara Kingsolver. Bestseller The Jane Austen Book Club is included as well as Flags of Our Fathers. For the animal lover, the tales of Dewey the library cat, and of Marley the rambunctious Labrador retriever are included. There is also a garden mystery and more.

To accompany your reading, brew a cup of the Green Mountain coffee, mug included, or indulge in some chocolates. Additional items in the basket include hand-rolled beeswax candles, a music CD, movie DVD, book sox, a Burt’s Bees essentials kit, mini gingerbread kit and party napkins.
Stop in at the Library at 2455 NY Route 2 to take a peek in the basket and purchase your raffle tickets during regular hours.

This month’s Book Discussion will be held

one week early due to Thanksgiving.

Join us on Wednesday, November 18th

at 1:00 PM to discuss

The Monkey Bridge by Lin Cao.

The Songs and Rhymes program

with Mary Pierson

will be held on

Thursday, November 12th at 4:00 PM.

     The next Storytime

     led by Mary Gagnon

     will be held

     on Wed., October 28th,

     at 10:00 am.

Please join us on

Wed. October 28th,

at 1:00 pm

as we discuss

Plum Wine

by Angela Davis-Gardner.

Multiple copies of the book 

are available for loan

at the circulation desk.

Take advantage of a reading incentive program offered by the Albany River Rats!  

Kids (age 12 and under) can win a free ticket (valued at $9.00) to a River Rats hockey game. 

Read 1000 minutes between October 15th and December 15th (15-20 minutes a day).  

Print out the Minutes for Tickets log sheet (click here), or pick one up at the library. 

Choose to attend either of two Library Nights:   (Sat.) November 14 @ 7PM, or (Sun.) December 27 @ 7PM. Complete the log sheet and mail it in to the River Rats.  

Enjoy the thrill of a live hockey game, and have fun watching Rowdy on the ice entertaining the fans!

Reflections

By Estella Hovnanian

We could hardly wait! When we saw Alice Kautz, who lived on Simon’s Road, walking down the “State Road” in her sturdy oxfords, her hair pinned under her hat we knew it was time— two o’clock, time for the library to open. But it was Stephanie Hicks Craib with her long hair and high heels that made me realize the library could be glamorous and open another world; for my mother would tell me, “She’s from New York City.”

The Grafton Free Library was established in 1945 by the Grafton Community League and opened a few days after the explosion of the first atomic bomb. The League rented one half of the Methodist Church parsonage which was located behind the church and faced the South Road. According to Granville Hicks, members of the League, “provided bookcases and other furniture, accessioned books and learned from a representative of the state library how libraries were run.” (Part of the Truth, p.232) The other half of the house was occupied by Clint, Lois, and Elsie Wagar. The parsonage had been built with lumber brought up from the Hemlocks Church when it was torn down in 1877. In 1798 a Methodist Circuit Rider held meetings in this church a mile east of the Quackenkill. [click here to continue...]

(Reprinted from the Grafton Historical Society newsletter)

Preschool SONGS and RHYMES

with Mary Pierson

will be held on

Thurdsay, October 8th at 4:00 PM.

Bring your best singing voices, and be prepared to request your favorite songs!

The Monthly Book Discussion Group will meet on Wednesday, September 30th at 1 PM to discuss the book, “All Over but the Shoutin’” by Rick Bragg.

Stop by the library and pick up a copy!

   Join us!

    for our monthly

    Book Discussion

    on the last Wednesday of each month.

   Wed.

   August 26th  

   1:00 PM

   Join us!

    for our monthly

    Book Discussion

    on the last Wednesday of each month.

   Wed.

   July 29th  

   1:00 PM

If you’re reading the Twilight series this summer, TELL US and win a free t-shirt!  Log your reading by clicking on the link to the Summer Reading Program website (scroll down this page).  Middle and high school students click on “teens” to register.

The library is now a hotspot for wireless Internet!  Bring your laptop computer and instantly connect to our broadband line.

YOU CAN VISIT THE CLARK MUSEUM IN WILLIAMSTOWN, MA. **FOR FREE **

BY RESERVING THE LIBRARY’S ONE-DAY-LOAN MUSEUM PASS!

The pass is good for free admission for two adults; children are always free.

Kids earn this awesome t-shirt

by reading for six weeks in our Summer Reading Program.

• 15 minutes a day (5 days a week) in the Family Reading category, or

• one book per week as an Independent Reader

Teens in grades 6-12 

read one book per week

and the theme is “Express Yourself @ Your Library!”

This year’s Summer Reading THEME for kids is “Be Creative @ Your Library”.

 Families are encouraged to participate in the six-week program, which offers reading incentives and weekly prizes.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW DETAILS OF THE PROGRAM (.pdf)

IMPORTANT SUMMER READING DATES:

BEGIN READING:  June 29th

REGISTER AND PICK UP YOUR LOG SHEETS: July 6th

COLLECT YOUR FIRST PRIZE:  July 13th

LAST DAY OF READING:  August 16th

TURN IN YOUR SHEETS BY:  August 18th

CELEBRATE AT THE ICE CREAM PARTY: Aug. 19th (Wed.)

Access the library’s online catalog to request books and other materials from UHLS member libraries, and have them delivered to your local library, ready for pickup in two or three days.

It’s never too early

to learn about books!