One Book One Belmont October 2018
This October, the Belmont Public Library will present Mary Shelley’s  Frankenstein as the featured title for One Book One Belmont 2018, the library’s seventh community reading program.
The library and 13 community organizations invite town residents to read the book (reserve your copy here ) and participate in book discussions and other exciting activities throughout the month. Charlotte Gordon, author of R omantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley , will cap the month-long celebration on the evening of Thursday, November 1st at the Beech Street Center with a talk focused on the life of Mary Shelley, her mother Mary Wollstonecraft, and the lasting impact of Shelley's Frankenstein. Read on for a list of special events and resources, and visit onebookonebelmont.com for more information.
Monster Misunderstood
Exhibit at the Belmont Public Library

Monday, October 1st through Saturday, November 17th
on display throughout the Library

The Belmont Gallery of Art's 'Monster Misunderstood' - in honor of One Book One Belmont - is the featured inaugural show of the BGA's new gallery partnership with the library. With themes that include nature, science, identity, prejudice, isolation, alienation and family, Shelley's Frankenstein, though originally published 200 years ago, still has a resonance to the many difficult issues that face our world today. Both 2 and 3D media will be on display including: textiles, ceramics, assemblage, painting, collage,/mixed media, drawings, prints and photography.
One of the Monster Misunderstood pieces on display at the Belmont Public Library throughout October in honor of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Free Viewing
Young Frankenstein (1974, PG)
at the Belmont Studio Cinema

Thursday, October 4th
6:30 - 8:30 pm
Belmont Studio Cinema
376 Trapelo Road, Belmont

******** Free Admission *********

Join the Library at Belmont Studio Cinema for our One Book One Belmont kickoff event - a special screening of the cult classic Young Frankenstein (1974, PG).
Special guest: Frankenstein's monster!  

It's Alive! 3D Printing Workshop
Saturday, October 6th
10:00am-12:00pm
Assembly Room
I n honor of this year's One Book One Belmont selection, Frankenstein , come create your own 3D creature* with Tinkercad.

3D printing courses are led by John Walsh; this workshop will guide participants to create their own unique masterpiece, muah-ah-ah-ah. For ages 10 & up.

* reanimating your 3D printed monster is the sole responsibility of the participant and must be practiced OUTSIDE of library grounds.

Book Discussion Groups
Senior Book Discussion
Friday, October 12th
11:00am-12:00pm
Beech Street Center
266 Beech Street, Belmont

The senior book discussion group will meet on Friday, October 12th at 11:00 AM in Classroom A at the Beech Street Center at 266 Beech Street in Belmont to discuss the novel  Frankenstein  by Mary Shelley, in conjunction with One Book One Belmont. The senior book discussion group is co-sponsored by the Belmont Public Library and the Belmont Council on Aging. All are welcome to attend.
Belmont Book Discussion
Wednesday, October 17th
3:00-4:00pm
Flett Room

Belmont Book Discussion has added an October meeting for One Book One Belmont. We'll be discussing Mary Shelley's classic,  Frankenstein . Copies available at the library.

Parent Child Book Club
Wednesday, October 17th
6:30-7:30pm
Assembly Room
This book club is for children in grades 3-6 and their parent or other special adult. This month, in accordance with One Book One Belmont activities, we will be reading the young reader's edition of Frankenstein . All registered families can pick up a copy of the book to borrow at the Children's Room desk. Pizza will be served thanks to the Friends of the Belmont Public Library.
Mad Science's Radical Robots
Monday, October 15th
4:30-5:30pm
Assembly Room
Space is limited, registration required
Children become wrapped up in the world of robotics! Volunteers act out a robot, remote control device, and an automaton. A reading and writing robot draws shapes, detects objects, and tracks lines. Children circulate learning centers to control an automaton through sound, move a robot through a maze, and make a soccer robot score a goal! A soft and snuggly robotic seal pup is passed around for all to pet. Children build the Robot Hand to take home. Ages 6 to 12.
The Monster Within:
The Experience of the Outsider
Thursday, October 18th
7:00pm
Library Assembly Room
One of the most poignant and disturbing aspects of Frankenstein is the monster’s experience of rejection and isolation by everyone he encounters. Those he approaches perceive only his hideous, terrifying physical appearance, which masks an underlying benevolent and inquisitive being. The monster’s isolation and subsequent suffering is inflicted upon him by those he so desperately wishes to befriend, including his creator. Who, then, is the real monster? How does someone come to identify as an outsider? How do we contribute to this status? What are the consequences? The Belmont Human Rights Commission and One Book One Belmont invite the community to join in a discussion about these compelling questions. For more information, please contact Belmont.hrc@gmail.com
Guided Tour
MGH Museum of Medical History
Friday, October 18th
10:00-11:00am
MGH Museum of Medical History
2 North Grove Street, Boston
The Belmont Historical Society is happy to sponsor a free field trip to the MGH Museum of Medical History and Innovation.

The visit will include a guided and self-guided tour of the museum which contains interactive media displays, old and new medical instruments, and research stories. This will be followed by a tour of the famous Bulfinch Building (1821) and its Ether Dome.
Belmont Books Frankenstein
Read-Aloud
Saturday, October 20th
8:00am-5:00pm
Belmont Books
79 Leonard Street, Belmont
A marathon reading of Mary Shelley's  Frankenstein . Come hear local authors, store and cafe staff, town officials, and local community members tackle Shelley's horror classic.

From Liang Qichao to Hao Jingfang
A Very Brief History
of Chinese Science Fiction
Monday, October 22nd
7:00pm-9:00pm
Assembly Room
Please note: this lecture will be given in Chinese, with visual aids in Chinese and English

Join Dr. Jianbin Yao and the Belmont Chinese American Association for the library's first lecture in Chinese, on the history of Chinese science fiction, culminating in a look at 2016's Hugo Award Best For Best Novellete, Folding Beijing .

Dr. Jianbin Yao will give an overview of major Chinese science fiction authors and trends since the late nineteenth century, when science fiction per se was introduced into China. Tying the development of science fiction in China to the nineteenth-century importation of Western science and science fiction through the turbulent decades of the twentieth century. He will further connect the resurgence and international success of science fiction from China to China’s rise as a technological innovator and world power.
Novella Cover
Bei Jing Zhe Die (Folding Beijing)
by Hao Jingfang, China’s first female Hugo award-winning science-fiction writer
Dr. Jianbin Yao was born in Hanshou County, Hunan Province, P. R. China. He is a professor and doctoral supervisor of comparative literature and world literature in the School of Chinese Language and Literature at Beijing Normal University, where he was vice dean of International Exchange and Cooperation from 2010 to 2016. He is currently a visiting professor and the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at Tufts University. He is deputy editor of Chinese Literature Today.
Dr. Jianbin Yao, who will be leading the discussion of Chinese Science Fiction on Monday, October 22nd
Read Folding Beijing in English
Read Bei Jing Zhedie in Chinese
Listen to Bei Jing Zhedie in Chinese
Belmont High Orchestra Presents Masquerade Music For Food
Wednesday, October 24th
7:00-9:00pm
Belmont High Auditorium
221 Concord Avenue, Belmont
Donations of canned goods and cash all go to directly benefit the Belmont Food Pantry

Join Music for Food, the Belmont Food Pantry and the Fine and Performing Arts Department for a masquerade benefit concert.
Musicians will be performing two Frankenstein-themed pieces: The Transylvanian Lullaby from Young Frankenstein by John Morris, and Paul Hindemith’s Frankenstein’s Monstre Repertoire , originally composed for string quartet. The Masquerade Concert is hosted in collaboration with Music For Food, which raises awareness and funds for hunger relief in local communities.
Scene from last year's Masquerade Music for Food. BHS Orchestra conducted by Margot Reavey. Photo courtesy of Dr. Ann Celi
Pumpkin Decorating with
the Belmont Recreation Department
Friday, October 26th
3:00-5:00pm
Assembly Room
Register online with the Recreation Department, or by calling (617) 993-2760

You provide the pumpkin—we provide the party!
 
Join the Belmont Recreation Department and the Library for crafting fun -just in time for Halloween. Grades K-3 can decorate their pumpkins, and grades 4 and above have the option to carve. We’ll have staff on hand to help with your creation.
 
This party is BYO Pumpkin.
Frankenstein Escape Room
Saturday, October 27th
Flett Room
4 Sessions:

Come play as a team of mad scientists racing the clock to bring your own Frankenstein-style creation to life in our Frankenstein inspired Escape Room! You have 45 minutes to follow the clues and gather the body parts to assemble your creature before the life-giving storm passes and the wary villagers knock down your door.
Spooktacular Concert with Emily Hall
Wednesday, October 31st
10:30-11:00am
Assembly Room

Join Parents Choice Award winning singer and musician Emily Hall for spooky songs old and new and lots of interactive Halloween fun for your little one. Don't forget your costumes! Recommended for families with children ages zero to five.
Monster of the Week
Board Game Afternoon
Wednesday, October 31st
1:00pm-4:00pm
Flett Room
Registration required , for grades 6 to 12

Join us for a session of the tabletop roleplaying game, Monster of the Week , where you take on the role of an unwitting team of monster hunters! This game, in the tradition of Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop games, allows players to collaboratively create an improved story while fighting monsters. Dice and character sheets will be provided, no RPG experience necessary! Sign-ups required, for grades 6 to 12.
Charlotte Gordon to Discuss Her Dual Biography, Romantic Outlaws
Thursday, November 1st
7:00pm-9:00pm
Beech Street Center
266 Beech Street, Belmont

Charlotte Gordon wraps up our One Book One Belmont Frankenstein events this fall, with a discussion of her groundbreaking dual biography, Romantic Outlaws , which brings to life a pioneering English feminist and the daughter she never knew. Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein , has each been the subject of numerous biographies. Yet no author has ever examined both their lives in one book--until now.

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle award in biography, Charlotte Gordon's essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, The Washington Post, The Cambridge Companion to Early American Poetry, and Harvard Magazine. She has also published two books of poetry: When the Grateful Dead Came to St. Louis and Two Girls on a Raft.

A graduate of Harvard College, she received a master's degree in creative writing and a Ph.D. in history and literature from Boston University. She has been a frequent guest on NPR and the CBC, including spots on Weekend Edition and The Current. From 1999-2002 she was Elie Wiesel's teaching assistant at Boston University. Currently, she is the Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Endicott College.
Author Charlotte Gordon
READ Poster Gallery
Who's READing Frankenstein?
Check out the Belmont community members, business owners, and town personnel who are reading Frankenstein. To the right is Belmont Town Administrator, Patrice Garvin, reading her copy of Frankenstein !

Frankenstein-themed Book Lists
If you’ve already read Frankenstein but you’re not sure what to read next to stay in the One Book One Belmont spirit check out the titles on these Frankenstein-themed book lists put together by Belmont Public Library staff.

Learn about Mary Shelley’s life, explore the impact her creation has had on our culture, and discover some of her other work with this list of titles recommended by Belmont Public Library staff. Be sure to read Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon and see Gordon’s talk about Mary Shelley and Shelley’s mother Mary Wollstonecraft at the Beech Street Center on Thursday November 1st at 7pm.

See how other authors have used Shelley’s characters and themes to create their own works and check out the work of some of Shelley’s peers in Gothic literature.

Get your science and science fiction fix with these books that explain how artificial intelligence works and sci-fi novels centered on artificial intelligence.

If you’re looking for a copy of Frankenstein click here to be linked to the Minuteman catalog’s record so you can place your hold.