Category: News

Check out the latest SPL newsletter for our newest titles. You can subscribe to the newsletter via the link to receive News & Events and/or New Books issues. Subscribers can expect the New Books issues to hit their inbox about once a month.

The SPL book club meets the fourth Monday of every month* at 6:30pm to discuss that month’s selected title(s). Readers can choose to participate either in person at SPL or online via Zoom. Email stonington.public.library@gmail.com to join the book club mailing list.

*Except December, when the discussion is bumped up one week to December 18.

February 27 Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King March 27 The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family’s Century of Art and Loss by Edmund de Waal April 24 Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent van Gogh edited by Irving Stone May 22 How to See: Looking, Talking, and Thinking about Art by David Salle June 26 Still Life with Oysters and Lemon: On Objects and Intimacy by Mark Doty July 24 Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy by Dave Hickey

August 28 The Mirror and the Palette: Rebellion, Revolution, and Resilience: Five Hundred Years of Women’s Self Portraits by Jennifer Higgie September 25 The Ongoing Moment by Geoff Dyer October 23 Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay November 27 The Shape of a Pocket by John Berger December 18 Wall and Piece by Banksy Why Art? by Eleanor Davis January 22, 2024 On Photography by Susan Sontag

Feeder Watcher Instructions

Contribute to citizen science from the comfort of your home!

Hello Feeder Watchers! Please keep track of the total amount of time over the day spent watching for birds, and count the maximum number of each species that you see and hear AT ONE TIME.

Tally the results and include the information below in your submission. To tally your sightings use this method: if you see 4 chickadees and hear another one at the same time, record 5. If you later see six chickadees, replace your earlier tally with 6. If you see two later, don’t add anything to your list.

Please also keep an eye out for “count week birds,” birds which are not seen in the count circle on count day but are seen 3 days prior or 3 days after the count. If you see something unusual during that time please report it! It could be included in our total number of species for the count.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you walk further than a tenth of a mile away from your feeder area to continue counting, please send a separate submission from your feeder results, including the distance you walked and the amount of time you spent. It is important to separate the counts to help ensure we don’t have someone else trying to count the same area.

Please email your results in the format below to Ken Crowell at kennethlcrowell@gmail.com

* total length of time you counted – hours/minutes or decimal hours

* all the birds you saw or heard within your time frame

* your name

*address

*phone

*email address

Thank you very much for your participation! You are helping to make our Christmas Bird count a success and we really appreciate it!

SPL will be closed on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Library patrons can enjoy Christmas treats and take home a free book when visiting SPL this week, Tues. 12/20, Thu. 12/22 or Fri. 12/23.

1000 Books Before Kindergarten is a reading challenge for kids from birth until they enter kindergarten. Read a book—any book!—or listen to an audiobook with your child. You can even read the same book more than once and count it each time. Earn a prize for every 100 books you complete. Keep going until you reach 1000 or your child starts kindergarten, whichever comes first. But don’t stop reading!

Keep track of books read at home, in daycare, or with other friends and family. You can reach 1000 books in a little under three years by reading just one book a day! Earn free ice cream at Stonington Ice Cream Company from June-August when you visit the library and show us your progress. Sign up here.

The program name is used with permission from the 1000 Books Foundation.