Now On View

*Far From Finished: Newtown resident Shannon Hicks spent a week in Biloxi, Miss., a few months ago and took hundreds of pictures while she helped a crew begin building a home for a woman who had lost hers most than a year earlier to Hurricane Katrina. Dozens of Shannon’s photographs, along with mementos, journal entries and other found items from that week, are being displayed in “Katrina Relief: Far From Finished.”

The exhibition is in the three display cases near the library’s main circulation desk, and has been extended to March 31.

 

Children’s Program

*Quilting Workshops: No experience necessary.

In honor of our 75th birthday, the children’s department and the Sew Together Gals have gathered signatures from some of the best loved children’ authors to be used in “friendship quilts.”

Students over age 11, as well as adults, are invited to sign up to make hand-pieced squares that will be joined together with the author’s signatures. The workshops will take place on the following Saturdays from 10 am until noon: March 3, 10, 24 and 31. The completed quilts will be auctioned to benefit the children’s department. Call the main circulation desk to register.

*St Patrick’s Day Workshop: Marie Walker will host a St Patrick’s Day workshop on Saturday, March 10, from 2 to 3 pm, for children ages 6 and up.

A $3 material fee is due upon registration. Sign up in the children’s department; no phone registrations please.

 Programs For Young Adults

*2007 Battle of the Books ** SIGN-UP DATES EXTENDED: Start reading and save the date Saturday, March 17 (snow date Sunday, March 18). Teams of three to five members in grades 5–8 now have until Sunday, March 4, to sign up for the event. All team members must either live or attend school in Newtown.

This year’s  contest will be based on the following books: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, For Freedom by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Brain Boy and the Deathmaster by Tor Seidler, and Thunder from the Sea by Joan Hiatt Harlow. Sign up teams at the library and get a Team Packet.

*Conflict in Darfur program rescheduled: Global Voice, the NHS global advocacy group will show The Promise, an award-winning documentary film produced by students from Danbury High School. Originally scheduled to be screened at the library on February 13, weather that evening caused the program to be rescheduled. Mark your calendars for March 8, the new date of this program.

Since 2003, it is estimated that more than 300,000 people have been killed in Sudan, with millions more displaced from their homes and at risk of starvation. Spurred to action, these students produced the eight-minute documentary in an effort to educate and motivate the public about the on-going genocide.

Join these local students from both schools as they shed light on the current conflict on Tuesday, March 8, from 7 to 9 pm (snow date March 8).

Call Kim Weber or Margaret Brown at the library for more information.

Adult Notes

*NewtownREADS Is Returning: Do you remember 2003 when everyone in Newtown read April Morning by Howard Fast? Everyone received a free copy of the book, there were book discussions, film screenings, a program with Mrs Fast, and even dancing and dining with Revolutionary War re-enactors.

Well, we’re planning another NewtownREADS, this time in celebration of C.H. Booth Library’s 75th birthday.

The title for NewtownREADS 2007 was to be announced during the Celebration of Book Groups on March 1. On Friday, March 2, we will begin passing out copies of the book around town and we’re looking for volunteers to help us. Please ask at the circulation desk for more details, to sign up for the Celebration of Book Groups and/or to volunteer to pass out books. NewtownREADS is being sponsored by the Friends of CHB.

*Independent Film Series: On Tuesday, March 6, at 7:30 pm, the Independent Film Series at the library will offer Daybreak; running time 85 minutes. In Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to Islamic law, which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender’s life.

One review called it “a hard-hitting thought-provoking drama that gives a new dimension to a hot topic: the death sentence.”

*Book Discussions: Upcoming programs include March 6, a discussion of Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat, 1 pm; March 12, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is The Night, also starting at 1 pm; and March 15, E.M. Forster’s Howards End, at 7:30 pm.

*Book Nook News: Think Spring! Check out the gardening and baseball titles at the Friends of the Library’s Book Nook, on the main floor near the circulation desk.

C.H. Booth Library, at 25 Main Street, can be reached by calling 426-4533.