Register Now for Summer Programs in Youth Services

Registration for Youth Services' Summer 2014 Program Session is going on now through Saturday, June 21st. [View the summer program schedule]

Our preschool programs are drop-in during the summer, but registration is still required for our Stuff & Nonsense (for kids entering 1st grade) and Spotlight (for kids entering 2nd/3rd/4th grade) programs.

• Our program registration is by lottery
• You must have an active library card in good standing to register
• Obtain a registration postcard for the program of your choice from the Youth Services Circulation Desk
• Fill out ALL of the required information. Incomplete applications will not be considered
• Address the reverse of the card to yourself
• Affix a first-class stamp (49¢)
• Drop off your card at the Youth Services Desk by June 21st
• Registration cards will be mailed back to you a few days after the close of registration with your registration status

Questions? Please give us a call at 203-637-8802, or comment on this post.

Upcoming Event: Pat Wright- The Dog Listener of the East

Pat Wright: The Dog Listener of the East

Wednesday, May 14th, 2014

7:30 PM

Perrot Memorial Library Children's Wing

Pat Wright has been working with dogs for more than twenty years and seen just about every type of dog behavior there is. Wright will discuss why our dogs do what they do, and discuss how we can communicate with them in their language to let them come to peace in the human world. Some of the many topics to be discussed are: pulling on the leash, jumping up, aggression, separation anxiety, and excessive barking. There will be a question and answer period at the end of the talk.

Teens: Looking for a summer volunteer opportunity?

. . .Perrot needs you! Perrot is looking for teen volunteers for its Youth Services department to help run the summer reading program for kids.

Who can be a Perrot Library Summer Teen Volunteer?
Anyone who is going into Grades 7 and up, and who can volunteer at least 5 hours during the summer.

When do volunteers work?
From June 23rd to August 1st, whenever the library is open. You can set your own schedule and sign up for shifts during mornings, afternoons, or evenings.

Why volunteer?
• To help others
• To learn job skills
• To earn community service hours
• To meet other teens and have fun!

How do I become a Summer Teen Volunteer?
Easy! Just pick up an application at the Youth Services Desk (or download one here- PDF), have a parent or guardian sign it, and drop it off.

How do I learn what to do?
All volunteers must attend a 30-minute training session in June where we’ll teach you everything you need to know. (Even if you volunteered last summer, you must attend this year's training session.)

Have more questions?
Please call Kathy Jarombek, Director of Youth Services, at 203-637-3535.

Upcoming Event: Panel Discussion on Greenwich Community Gardens and Green Spaces

Panel Discussion on Greenwich Community Gardens and Green Spaces

Wednesday, May 7th, 2014

7:30 PM

Perrot Memorial Library Children's Wing

Perrot Memorial Library and the Greenwich League of Women Voters will present a panel discussion on Greenwich Community Gardens and Green Spaces, focusing on how the town utilizes, maintains, and beautifies its open spaces, and what we as citizens can do to help. 

Featuring the following panelists:

Patti Sechi: Founder and President of Greenwich Community Gardens
Terri Browne Kutzen: Chairman of Greenwich Community Gardens
Nancy Caplan: Chairman of the Greenwich Board of Parks and Recreation
Mary Hull: Executive Director of Greenwich Green and Clean, and Board Member of Greenwich Point Conservancy and Greenwich Tree Conservancy
Heidi Smith: Board Member of Greenwich Tree Conservancy

YCC's Favorite Book of 2013/2014 Is...

The Young Critics' Club (YCC), Perrot's book club for 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-graders, has declared that its favorite book of 2013/2014 is....

...It's a tie! The two winners are:


GOLDEN BOY
by Tara Sullivan

Thirteen-year-old Habo has always been different--light eyes, yellow hair and white skin. Not the good brown skin his family has, and not the white skin of tourists. Habo is strange and alone. His father, unable to accept Habo, abandons the family; his mother can scarcely look at him. His brothers are cruel and the other children never invite him to play. Only his sister Asu loves him well. When the family is forced from their small Tanzanian village, Habo knows he is to blame. Seeking refuge in Mwanza, Habo and his family journey across the Serengeti. His aunt is glad to open her home until she sees Habo for the first time, and then she is only afraid. Suddenly, Habo has a new word for himself: Albino. But they hunt Albinos in Mwanza, because Albino body parts are thought to bring good luck. And soon Habo is being hunted by a fearsome man with a machete. To survive, Habo must not only run, but find a way to love and accept himself.

AND

COUNTING BY 7s
by Holly Goldberg Sloan


Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life-- until now. Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.

See the rest of YCC's favorite books from the last year!

Y2C2's Favorite Book of 2013/2014 Is...

The Young Young Critics' Club (Y2C2), Perrot's book club for 4th- and 5th-graders, has declared that its favorite book of 2013/2014 is...

ESCAPE FROM MR. LEMONCELLO'S LIBRARY, by Chris Grabenstein

Kyle Keeley is the class clown, popular with most kids, (if not the teachers), and an ardent fan of all games: board games, word games, and particularly video games. His hero, Luigi Lemoncello, the most notorious and creative gamemaker in the world, just so happens to be the genius behind the building of the new town library. Lucky Kyle wins a coveted spot to be one of the first 12 kids in the library for an overnight of fun, food, and lots and lots of games. But when morning comes, the doors remain locked. Kyle and the other winners must solve every clue and every secret puzzle to find the hidden escape route. And the stakes are very high. Readers will become enthralled with the crafty twists and turns of this ultimate library experience.

See the rest of Y2C2's favorite books for some great picks!

New Catalog Interface Allows Patrons To Create Reading Lists, Organize Groups, Rate Materials And Contribute Content

The Greenwich Public Libraries have partnered with software company Bibliocommons to completely transform our current online catalog, making it easier to discover the Library’s collections while also giving users the power to create reading lists, rate the latest books, and organize groups. The Greenwich Library system is the first library in Connecticut to offer this service.

Features include:

•     Greatly improved search engine performance
•     Personal “shelves” of books and reading lists for users
•     The ability to contribute reviews, tags and ratings
•     Shared content with all libraries using Bibliocommons (so, for example, a user can read a review a book from someone in Ottawa or Boston)

The new catalog is also available in a new mobile browser and a Library app, available for Apple and Android devices. To download, search "Greenwich Library" in the App Store or the Google Play Store.

Explore the new, improved catalog today! http://greenwichlibrary.bibliocommons.com/

Golden Y Award Winners, Spring 2014

CONGRATULATIONS to the winners of the Semi-Annual Young Young Critics' Club (Y2C2) Jeopardy Tournament!

The winning team, The Bookworms (L-R): Samantha B., Samantha Y., Fiona, Pip, and Davies

They are the current holders of the coveted Wonderful Golden "Y" Award! The winners have demonstrated their mastery of trivia questions related to the books that the Young Young Critics' Club (our book club for 4th- and 5th-graders) has read during the past year. (Yes, it looks like a lobster, but trust us, it’s also a wonderful golden ‘Y’-- stop by the Youth Services Department and see for yourself!)

Youth Services Summer Program Schedule Now Available

The Youth Services Summer 2014 Program Schedule is now available!

Please note that during our summer program session, all our preschool programs are DROP-IN, and most are limited to the first 20 children and their caregivers to sign in before each program. Our Stuff & Nonsense and Spotlight programs will still be by registration only.

Pick up a registration postcard for the program of your choice from the Youth Services Circulation Desk, beginning on Tuesday, May 27th, 2014. Don't forget to bring a stamp! The registration period closes at 5 PM on Saturday, June 21st, 2014. Our programs are selected by lottery. You may view our complete registration instructions online and see descriptions of our program offerings.

If you have questions about our programs or registration process, please comment on this post, or give us a call at 203-637-8802.

Upcoming Event: Ecologist and Author Tom Wessels on Sustainability

The Foundational Principles of Sustainability 

with Ecologist and Author Tom Wessels

Wednesday, April 30th, 2014

7:30 PM

Perrot Library- Children's Wing

For 3.8 billion years, life has not only sustained itself, it has thrived on our planet. Ecologist and author Tom Wessels will discuss how our current path toward progress, based on continual economic expansion and inefficient use of resources, runs contrary to the foundational scientific laws that govern all natural, complex systems. It is a myth, he contends, that progress depends on a growing economy. Mr. Wessels makes scientific theory readily accessible, and will demonstrate how all environmental problems have their source in a disregard for the laws of sustainability based on the myth of progress. 

Tom Wessels is an ecologist and the founding director of the Master's Degree program in Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England. Tom has conducted landscape ecology and sustainability workshops throughout the United States for over 30 years.

Perrot Newsletter

The Spring 2014 edition of Perrot's newsletter, Précis, is now available! Pick up a copy in the library, or read it online (in PDF format).

Author Jennifer Vanderbes returns to Perrot on April 9th to discuss her latest novel

Author Jennifer Vanderbes returns to Perrot to discuss her latest novel, 

The Secret of Raven Point

Wednesday, April 9th, 2014, at 7:30 PM  

Children's Wing, Perrot Memorial Library

1943: When seventeen-year-old Juliet Dufresne receives a cryptic letter from her enlisted older brother pleading for help, and then finds out he’s been reported missing overseas, she lies about her age and volunteers as an army nurse to find him. Shy and awkward, Juliet is thrust into the bloody chaos of a field hospital, living in a sprawling encampment north of Rome, where she forges new friendships with her fellow nurses and is increasingly consumed by the plight of her patients. One in particular, Christopher Barnaby, a deserter awaiting court martial, may hold the answer to her brother’s fate—but the trauma of war has left him unable to speak. Racing against the clock, Juliet works with an enigmatic young psychiatrist, Henry Willard, to heal Barnaby’s psychic wound before the authorities take him away and any clues as to her brother’s fate are forever lost. Plunged into the horrifying depths of one man’s combat memories, Juliet and Willard are forced to plumb the moral nuances of a so-called just war, and to face the dangers of their own deepening connection. Kirkus Reviews calls the novel "unusual and affecting."

Upcoming Event: Author Marta McDowell on Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life

Upcoming Event: 
Author Marta McDowell on Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life
Wednesday, March 19th, 2014, at 7:30 PM in Perrot's Children's Wing

Marta McDowell, author and past New York Botanical Garden Instructor of the Year, will discuss the origins of Beatrix Potter's love of gardens and plants, and show how this passion was reflected in her work. McDowell's book, Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Classic Children's Tales, is a biography, a season-by-season tour of Potter's gardens, as well as a traveler's guide. Rich with photographs and Potter's own charming watercolors, the book brings to light a delightfully different side of the celebrated author.

Donald Davis Family Storytelling Concert, Feb. 22nd

Perrot Memorial Library will present an afternoon of storytelling in memory of our beloved Children's Librarians, Kate McClelland ("Mrs. Mac") and Kathy Krasniewicz ("Mrs. K"). Those who knew Kate and Kathy know how much storytelling was a part of their lives and how they used it to enchant and educate the youth of our community.

We are delighted that Donald Davis, a nationally-known storyteller and a friend of Mrs. Mac and Mrs. K, will be returning to entertain us with more of his fabulous tales in a special family storytelling event. Please join us at the First Congregational Church of Greenwich at 3:00 PM on Saturday, February 22nd, 2014. No tickets are required, but seating is limited.

Donald Davis was born in a Southern Appalachian mountain world rich in stories. "I didn't learn stories, I just absorbed them," he says as he recounts tales learned from a family of traditional storytellers who have lived on the same Western North Carolina land since 1781. Davis grew up hearing gentle fairytales, simple and silly Jack tales, scary mountain lore, ancient Welsh and Scottish folktales and, most importantly, nourishing true-to-life stories of his own neighbors and kin.It was Uncle Frank, a man who "talked in stories," who helped Donald capture the real and daily adventures of life... and it was Uncle Frank who gave him the creative courage to tell about them. Davis remembers, "I discovered that in a story I could safely dream any dream, hope any hope, go anywhere I pleased, fight any foe, win or lose, live or die. My stories created a safe experimental learning place.”

For more information about Donald Davis, please visit his website: http://www.ddavisstoryteller.com/

Perrot staff in the news

Perrot's Youth Services Director, Kathy Jarombek, was a member of the 2014 Newbery Award Committee. The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery, and is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. This year's Newbery winner is Flora & Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo. Four Newbery Honor Books were named this year: Doll Bones, by Holly Black; The Year of Billy Miller, by Kevin Henkes; One Came Home, by Amy Timberlake; and Paperboy, by Vince Vawter. Read an interesting interview with Kate DiCamillo, that includes her experience receiving the call informing her of her Newbery win. And kudos to Mrs. J for all her hard work this year!

Part-time Youth Services Staff Member Annie Merrill has advanced to the finals of the Intel Science Talent Search! She will travel to Washington, D.C., in March to compete for the first-place prize of $100,000. Annie's research focused on the environmental benefits of pairing a form of charcoal known as biochar with worms. Read more about Annie's research in the front page Greenwich Time article, Greenwich High senior reaches Intel finals. Congratulations, Annie!