Madison Library » programs

“The Great Little Madison”

madisonlibrary — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:00:15 +0000

Image from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Join us on Tuesday, August 24 at 6 pm for a community potluck and discussion. We’ll use Jean Fritz’s biography of President James Madison, “The Great Little Madison,” as a starting point as we talk about our town’s namesake and why our town’s founders chose to honor this Founding Father when the town was incorporated in 1852. Fritz’s book, a “brisk, highly accessible biography” (Publishers Weekly), is a good read for both children and adults.

Copies of the book are available to borrow at the library, but feel free to come to the potluck discussion whether or not you’ve read the book. Bring a dish to share, we’ll provide cold beverages.

Here are some resources about James Madison for further reading:

Library of Congress Web Guide: James Madison

Books available at the Madison Library:

The Federalist Papers
James Madison: Creating the American Constitution by Neal Riemer
Founding Brothers and American Creation by Joseph J. Ellis
Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America by Jack Rakove

Summer Reading Programs wrap up

madisonlibrary — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:41:34 +0000

Thirty-one readers took part in our “Make a Splash–READ” summer reading program. Children, teens, and adults together read 656 books, 13% more books than last year with fewer readers.

We celebrated in true “make a splash” fashion at the Old Home Week beach party on Sunday, August 8. Prizes were awarded to each child, teen, and adult who completed the program, special prizes were awarded to high achievers, and then we all enjoyed a fabulous cake made by Jennifer Sias, one of our adult summer readers. At least 60 people (we stopped counting) enjoyed a piece of the book-shaped yellow and chocolate cake complete with a reading moose floating in a marshmallow fondant inner tube.

We thank everyone who took part in our summer reading program, and congratulate the following readers:

Read to me category: Hunter Sias, Aiden Parsons, Maisie Brown (1st place with 88 books read), Ashley Garside, Catherine Shackford, and Kendyl Shackford

Read along and alone: Ava Jarell, Ella Dunker-Bendigo, Molly Arnold, Emma Arnold, Purlin Twigg-Smith, Madison Garside (1st place with 43 books read), Sierra Parsons

Read solo: Grace Jarell, Patrick Mulhern, Mark Mulhern, Eli Dunker-Bendigo, Kaeli Twigg-Smith, Minnie Brown, Tait Dickinson, and Gabby Ames (1st place with 32 books read)

Teens and adults: Kim Hamilton (1st in teen category with 9 books read), Marcie Shackford, Susan Dunker-Bendigo, Deb Parsons, Hazel Varella (2nd in adult category with 15 books), Betsy Hatton Wood, Lynn Brown (3rd in adult category with 13 books), Jennifer Sias, Anne Roser, and Becca Frazel (1st in adult category with 99 books).

All of the prizes were donated by the following generous local businesses; be sure to give them a “thank you” when you visit them: Yankee Smokehouse, Story Land, White Lake Speedway, Pirate’s Cove Adventure Golf, Conway Scenic Railroad, Settlers’ Green Outlet Village, White Mountain Hotel & Resort, Portland Sea Dogs, and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

“Make a Splash-READ!” Magic Show Saturday

madisonlibrary — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:00:58 +0000

Join us on Saturday, July 17 at 10 am as award-winning Magician Debbie O’Carroll fishes for books in a delightful, participatory magic show created especially for the summer reading program. Audiences ages 3 to 10 will have great fun as they meet some of the amazing and legendary creatures of children’s literature. They will play a game with the elusive Lake Champlain monster, meet Slewfoot Sue, a cowgirl who rides a catfish and participate in the magic of a weather predicting groundhog. All this and more is in store!

Magician Debbie O’Carroll is known for her highly innovative and comically theatrical magic shows. She writes the scripts, creates the costumes and builds the props for all her presentations.

Following the performance Debbie will teach a “Make a Splash with Origami Puppets” Workshop. Young readers ages 6 and up will learn how to fold origami ducks, turtles and fish puppets for their own puppet shows! There is limited space for the workshop, please call the library at 367-8545 to reserve a space.

Debbie O’Carroll’s appearance is thanks to the NH State Library, which each year coordinates the Kids, Books and the Arts grant program, enabling NH public libraries to offer summer performance programs for children. Funding sponsors for the Kids, Books and the Arts program are the Byrne Foundation, CHILIS, the Cogswell Benevolent Trust, the NH Library Association, and the NH State Library. Local sponsor the Friends of Madison Library provided matching funds for this program.

A change in plans

madisonlibrary — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 12:09:02 +0000

The presentation on “The Civilian Conservation Corps in the White Mountain National Forest” scheduled for Thursday, July 20 at 7 pm will not take place.

Instead, all are invited to meet on Friday, July 23 at 10 am for a trail walk at the Blackberry Crossing Campground on the Kancamagus Highway (Route 112), 6 miles west of Conway. PLEASE RSVP by 7 pm on Thursday, July 22 if you plan to go.

This campground is a former CCC camp, and features a self-guided interpretive trail with markers describing the history of the CCC in the White Mountain National Forest.

Please RSVP if you plan to attend. If we get a big enough group together, a guide from the Saco Ranger Station will accompany us on the trail.

If you’d like to carpool, please meet at the Madison Library at 9:15 am.

Call the library at 367-8545 for more information.

What’s new at the library

madisonlibrary — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:47:25 +0000

The library’s a cool place on a hot day. Here’s some of what’s going on:

We added a power strip to the reading table for folks to plug in laptops and a new laptop computer for public use.

The Art Show is back for July! Stop by during library hours to see a collection of luminous nature photographs by local artist MaryJane Beattie, on display in the Chick Room.

Wii Mario Kart Racing Tournament for teens, back again Wednesday, July 14 from 2 to 5 pm. We’re competing online against teens at libraries in Wilton, Hooksett, Milford, Seabrook, and Bedford, NH.

Save the date: Saturday, July 17, 10 am, a “Make a Splash” Magic Show for children ages 3 to 10 with magician Debbie O’Carroll, followed by an origami workshop, details to follow.

Summer Reading Programs start today

madisonlibrary — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:23:13 +0000

Reading programs for ages 4 to adult, check out our Summer Reading Programs page for more info. Stop in and sign up soon!

Community Concert tonight

madisonlibrary — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:32:46 +0000

Thursday, June 24 at 7 pm in the Chick Room

Come celebrate our “We the People” Bookshelf grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities! Madison Library now has a set of books on the theme “A More Perfect Union” for the community to enjoy.

Music! Kevin and Michelle Coffey and Natalie Rollins will perform songs from and about the Civil War. Come to listen and sing along with these talented local musicians, they’ve put together a great line-up of rousing tunes and sentimental ballads from both sides of the conflict.

Dessert! Homemade cookies and lemonade follow the performance.

New books! Browse the “A More Perfect Union” set of books, check one out.

And more to come! Find out about upcoming book discussions, humanities programs, and our “A More Perfect Union” reading club.

Skywatch program moved to Friday evening

madisonlibrary — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:59:56 +0000

The Skywatch with NH Astronomical Society scheduled for Thursday, June 10, 2010 has been rescheduled to Friday, June 11, when the sky has a better chance of being cloud-free (or mostly cloud-free.) We’ll start indoors with a presentation on using a telescope, then head out to Burke Field to gaze at the sky. Learn all about the library’s new telescope, which can be checked out and used at home.

Summer Programs in the works

madisonlibrary — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:08:33 +0000

We’re busy planning programs for summer, and soon we will publish our summer newsletter with events for all ages that will take place from June through August. Specific dates and times can be found here.

Some of the programs to look forward to:

Sky Watch with the NH Astronomical Society, June 10 (rain date June 11).
Summer Reading Programs for ages 4 through adult. This year’s theme is “Make a Splash!” Sign up starts on June 29 with songs, games, and fun with performer Stacy Sand. Come prepared to get wet!
A series of programs to mark our “We the People” Bookshelf grant, starting on June 24.
Mario Kart Wii online racing tournament for kids ages twelve and up, every other Wednesday afternoon starting June 30. We’ll be racing (two at a time) against teens at other NH libraries, and there will be a trophy for the winning library.
“Let’s Go Fishing” learn to fish program with NH Fish & Game, Tuesdays in July. For kids 8 to 12 years old accompanied by a parent, you must attend all 4 sessions. Space limited, let us know if you’re interested.
Old Home Week Photo Show, August 9-14, details to come. This year’s theme is “water,” be it a body of water, precipitation, etc. Photos must be taken in Madison.

If you can help us out with the Mario Kart tournament by lending your game and/or game wheels, please contact Mary Cronin at the library.

Come listen and learn about fiddle contests

madisonlibrary — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:11:20 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oberazzi/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/oberazzi/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The Friends of Madison Library invite everyone to a musical program on Thursday, April 29 at 7pm. This New Hampshire Humanities Council program, “Old Time Rules Will Prevail: The Fiddle Contest in New Hampshire and New England,” will be presented by fiddler Adam Boyce.

Whether large or small, fiddle contests tried to show who was the “best,” as well as preserve old-time fiddling, and raise money for local organizations. In recent years, the fiddle contest has declined significantly in New Hampshire and Vermont due to cultural changes and financial viability. A sampling of fiddle tunes recorded at past fiddle contests will be played during the presentation, as well as some live fiddling by the presenter Adam Boyce.

This program is free and open to the public. The presentation will be preceded by a brief annual business meeting of the Friends of Madison Library, and followed by homemade cookies and lemonade.