Earth Day Celebration + Plant-stravaganza!
2023-04-22 11:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Alexander Findley Community Library
We love Earth, and we love Earth Day! Come celebrate with us:
• Grab some flower/veggie seeds + plant cuttings to take home!
• Make a newspaper pot + start a sunflower for the Library Garden!
• Do a fun Earth Day craft!
• Check out some books about starting a garden!
• Sign up for the Garden Club!

Arts & Crafts for Adults
2023-05-11 15:00 - 17:00
We’re going to découpage terra cotta pots. Supplies are limited so if you’ve never come to our craft class before, please call ahead or just bring your own pot! We’ve got plenty of collage materials and Modge Podge. (image from the How-To Home)

Book Club
2023-05-18 18:00 - 19:00
Join us in the library at 6pm for a discussion of this month’s book, The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate.

Summary:
Lisa Wingate brings to life stories from actual “Lost Friends” advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones who had been sold off.
Louisiana, 1875 In the tumultuous aftermath of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now-destitute plantation; Juneau Jane, her illegitimate free-born Creole half-sister; and Hannie, Lavinia’s former slave. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following dangerous roads rife with ruthless vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and eight siblings before slavery’s end, the pilgrimage westward reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the seemingly limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.
Louisiana, 1987 For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt–until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, seems suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled oaks and run-down plantation homes lies the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything. (via goodreads)

Garden Club -- First Meeting!
2023-05-27 11:00 - 12:00
Our first meeting is coming up! We will be touring the garden to discuss what we have, what we need, and what we want to accomplish. We’ll also talk about Monarch Watch and other upcoming programs throughout the summer!

Meets the last Saturday of the month at 11 am.

Come when you can, participate as much as you want.

There’s no pressure, this is supposed to be fun!

Arts & Crafts for Adults
2023-06-08 15:00 - 17:00
This month we’re making a paper flower wreath, perfect for summertime! Join us in the library on Thursday, June 8th at 3pm. (image from Messy Little Monster)

Book Club
2023-06-15 18:00 - 19:00
Join us in the library at 6pm for a discussion of June’s book, Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty.
Summary:
Despite their differences, Erika and Clementine have been best friends since they were children. So when Erika needs help, Clementine should be the obvious person to turn to. Or so you’d think.
For Clementine, as a mother of a two desperately trying to practice for the audition of a lifetime, the last thing she needs is Erika asking for something, again.
But the barbecue should be the perfect way to forget their problems for a while. Especially when their hosts, Vid and Tiffany, are only too happy to distract them.
Which is how it all spirals out of control…(via goodreads)

Garden Club
2023-06-24 11:00 - 12:00
Hello, Green Thumbs! Join us this Saturday at 11 for the second meeting of the Garden Club! It might be raining, but that’s okay, we have plenty to work on inside. There will also be a sign up for anyone who is interested in participating in our Nature Journal program during Summer Reading (July 1-August 31). We can’t wait to see you!

Arts & Crafts for Adults
2023-07-13 15:00 - 17:00
This month we will be painting on glass. Various containers provided, with limited supplies. You can bring your own if you want!

Book Club
2023-07-20 18:00 - 19:00
Join us in the library at 6pm for a discussion of July’s book, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Head’s up: next month we will read the follow-up, Olive, Again.
Summary:
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition – its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.
At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.
As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life – sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. (via goodreads)

Summer Reading Storytime and Craft!
2023-07-22 11:00 - 12:00
Join us in the library on Saturday, July 22 at 11am for a Storytime, followed by a craft and other playtime activities!

Garden Club
2023-07-29 11:00 - 13:00

Summer Reading Storytime and Craft
2023-08-05 11:00 - 12:00
Coming soon!

Arts & Crafts for Adults
2023-08-10 15:00 - 17:00
Pots from our first go-round in May.
We’re going to découpage terra cotta pots again—but smaller ones this time. They’re going to be so cute! All supplies are provided, so come visit us, have some fun, make a bit of a mess!

Author Talk: Destiny Kinal
2023-08-17 17:00 - 18:00

Book Club
2023-08-17 18:00 - 19:00
Meet us in the library at 6pm for discussion of July’s book, Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout. As part of Summer Reading, this is the follow-up book to Olive Kitteridge that we read in June.
Summary:
Prickly, wry, resistant to change yet ruthlessly honest and deeply empathetic, Olive Kitteridge is “a compelling life force” (San Francisco Chronicle). The New Yorker has said that Elizabeth Strout “animates the ordinary with an astonishing force,” and she has never done so more clearly than in these pages, where the iconic Olive struggles to understand not only herself and her own life but the lives of those around her in the town of Crosby, Maine. Whether with a teenager coming to terms with the loss of her father, a young woman about to give birth during a hilariously inopportune moment, a nurse who confesses a secret high school crush, or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she does not want to accept, the unforgettable Olive will continue to startle us, to move us, and to inspire us—in Strout’s words—“to bear the burden of the mystery with as much grace as we can.” (via goodreads)

Summer Reading Storytime and Craft!
2023-08-19 11:00 - 12:00

Garden Club
2023-08-26 11:00 - 12:00
Show off your Nature Journal and check in on the garden!

Book Club
2023-09-21 18:00 - 19:00
Join us in the library for a discussion of September’s book, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.
Summary:
Four mothers, four daughters, four families, whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who’s telling the stories. In 1949, four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, meet weekly to play mahjong and tell stories of what they left behind in China. United in loss and new hope for their daughters’ futures, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Their daughters, who have never heard these stories, think their mothers’ advice is irrelevant to their modern American lives – until their own inner crises reveal how much they’ve unknowingly inherited of their mothers’ pasts.
With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery. (via goodreads)

Arts & Crafts for Grownups!
2023-10-12 15:00 - 17:00
This month we’ll be making a cute Halloween Monster Bunting. Stop by and say boo! All supplies are provided.

Book Club
2023-10-19 18:00 - 19:00
Join us for a discussion of the month’s book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
Summary:
Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters.
Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.
Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read. (via goodreads)

Spooky Halloween Shindig!
2023-10-28 11:00 - 13:00

Arts & Crafts for Grownups!
2023-11-09 15:00 - 17:00
This month, we’ll be making Christmas/Winter cards with special guest Barb Cooper! This program is free and all supplies are provided.

Book Club
2023-11-16 18:00 - 19:00
Join us for a discussion of November’s book, The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman.
Summary:
“It’s the following Thursday.
Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He’s made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.
As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn’t that be a bonus?
But this time they are up against an enemy who wouldn’t bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can The Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?” (via goodreads)

Christmas Party & Storytime with Mrs. Claus!
2023-12-16 11:00 - 13:00

Book Club
2023-12-21 18:00 - 19:00
Join us in the library for a discussion of this month’s book, The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict.
Summary:
“In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture on the New York society scene and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps build a world-class collection.
But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American.
The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths to which she must go—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.” (via goodreads)

Arts & Crafts for Grownups!
2024-01-11 15:00 - 17:00
This month, we’ll be learning how to make a simple accordion book!
Our craft classes are free and all supplies are provided (unless otherwise noted). For more info call 716-769-6568 or email manager@findleylibrary.org

Take Your Child to the Library Day 2024!
2024-02-03
Saturday, February 3rd is Take Your Child to the Library Day! Stop and see what the library has to offer! Take a tour, peruse our large collection of books for kids of all ages, or just stay and play for a while!
We’ll have crafts, LEGO, snacks, toys + games, and book giveaways and so much FUN!

Arts & Crafts for Grownups!
2024-02-08 15:00 - 17:00
We’ll be playing with watercolor techniques to make cool patterns! All supplies are provided.

Book Club
2024-02-15 18:00 - 19:00
Join us in the library for a discussion of February’s book, And the Dark Sacred Night by Julia Glass.
Summary:
“Kit Noonan’s life is stalled: unemployed, twins to help support, a mortgage to pay—and a frustrated wife, who is certain that more than anything else, Kit needs to solve the mystery of his father’s identity. He begins with a visit to his former stepfather, Jasper, a take-no-prisoners Vermont outdoorsman. But it is another person who has kept the secret: Lucinda Burns, wife of a revered senior statesman and mother of Malachy (the journalist who died of AIDS in Glass’s first novel, Three Junes). She and her husband are the only ones who know the full story of an accident whose repercussions spread even further when Jasper introduces Lucinda to Kit. Immersing readers in a panorama that stretches from Vermont to the tip of Cape Cod, Glass weaves together the lives of Kit, Jasper, Lucinda and ultimately, Fenno McLeod, the beloved protagonist of Three Junes (now in his sixties). An unforgettable novel about the youthful choices that steer our destinies, the necessity of forgiveness, and the surprisingly mutable meaning of family.” (via goodreads)

Dr. Seuss Storytime!
2024-03-02 11:00 - 13:00
Read Across America Week, which takes place from March 2nd-6th, aims to promote reading and to educate people about the benefits of reading through Storytimes, activities, and crafts. The celebration kicks off on Saturday, March 2nd, which is Dr. Seuss’ Birthday. Join us in the library for a special Dr. Seuss Storytime at 11am, where we will have fun with all things silly and Seussical! Come for a story (or two or three), and stay for a bunch of fun activities!
