The Woods Hole Public Library will mark Juneteenth, the day when slavery was finally abolished in the United States by a reading of the book “All Different Now” by Angela Johnson, beautifully illustrated by E.B. Lewis. The reading will be held at 11 AM on June 19, matching the original date of the proclamation in 1865 in Texas, the last state in the Union to acknowledge the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth is our newest national holiday, and this reading by volunteers Jarita Davis and Aminta Steinbach will mark its creation.
Later in the summer, as in previous years, Story Time for children will take place in the Courtyard beside the Library every Wednesday in July at 10:30. Volunteer readers from the public will read books to preschool children in a program which usually lasts about ½ hour. Anyone who would like to be a reader should contact the library. People with pre-school children are welcomed to the event.
Another on-going Library event celebrating kids’ books will take place at the ballpark on Bell Tower Lane over the course of the summer. It is a Story Walk, in which a picture book is taken apart and mounted, poster-style, for kids to walk by, reading and walking. During the winter of the pandemic, the Library did this several times with different books exhibited in the Courtyard, but for the summer, thanks to co-operation by Falmouth’s Recreation Department, the display will be on the fence around the tennis court behind Taft’s Playground. The first book, which will be displayed starting at the end of June, is “The Thing About Bees, A Love Letter” by Shabazz Larkin. It will remain up for about three weeks.
The Library will also encourage independent reading for both adults and children with a summer reading program. Participants will keep a record of what and for how long they read. After successfully completing a week of reading, a prize will be awarded. In order not to stress local restaurants (already stressed by closures during the pandemic) which in previous years have donated prizes of cookies or ice cream, the Library will be awarding coupons for free books from the Library’s book sale, a prize that is sure to gladden the minds, if not the taste buds, of these avid readers. The program begins on Monday, June 28, and continues until Saturday, August 7. Readers are encouraged to stop by the Library beginning on June 28 to sign up and take home a reading log to track their progress.
Of course all readers are welcome to come into the newly opened Library to borrow books from the whole collection. The hours for the summer are basically 10 AM – 2 PM every day except Sunday when the Library is closed, with the addition of Wednesday afternoons until 5:30 PM. For more information, visit the Library’s website www.woodsholepubliclibrary.org.