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.

*Human Nature: Southbury resident David Clark enjoys photography, and he has created a collection of interesting images for an exhibition at the library this month. “Human Nature: Eclectic Images by David Clark” is a collection of Mr Clark’s photographs and limited edition giclée prints. They are on view in the Olga Knoepke Memorial Meeting Room until March 30.

*An Up & Down Hobby: Newtown resident William Armstrong is sharing his collection of more than 200 yo-yos in a special exhibit on display in the library’s lower lobby. The display, in the glass cases near the elevator until at least the end of March, includes a brief history of yo-yos and other yo-yo related memorabilia.

Children’s Program

*Story Time Registration: Registration for story times for children ages 12-24 months, 2- to 3-year olds and 3- to 5-year olds will begin March 16 and continue until March 26. Sessions will begin the week of April 2.

Forms will be available in the children’s department beginning March 6. No phone registrations will be accepted. The story times are free, and open only to Newtown residents.

Programs For

Young Adults

*Teen Tech Weeks: Celebrate Teen Tech Weeks with us through the first two weeks of March. Stop in and check out our technology offerings including audio books and downloadable books, live homework help through infoAnytime, and our own dedicated website, The YAWebSpot, at biblio.org/YAWebSpot.

Adult Notes

*NewtownREADS 2007: One book, one community… The whole town is encouraged to read and then discuss a single book.

We’ve chosen To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It’s the unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it.

To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was made into an Academy Award-winning film just a year later, which has also become a classic.

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior – to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today, of course, it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.

Copies of the book, a schedule of events (including a screening of the film, a mock trail theatrical experience, and plenty of book discussions), and the pin are all available at the Senior Center, Drug Center, and of course, the library. Book discussions will begin on March 15 at 1 pm at Starbucks on Church Hill Road. On March 20, Newtown resident and WCSU adjunct professor Julie Stern will lead a 10 am discussion at Mocha Coffee House in Sandy Hook. Watch The Bee for plenty of details and bulletins.

*Book Discussions: Upcoming programs include 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 Book Nook, on the main floor around the corner from the circulation desk.

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