Because we cannot meet at Fowler Library in person in 2021, we will now watch - on your own schedule - selected movies on Kanopy, a free streaming service available to Library patrons. We will then gather on Zoom on scheduled evenings for a lively movie discussion. Below is the selected film for January 28th Zoom discussion, which is available on Kanopy. The films for February and March will be listed in subsequent newsletters.

About Elly (2009)

Thursday, January 28, 7:00 p.m. (Discussion date on Zoom)

An early feature from Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation). Young Iranians on vacation are frantic when a woman in their group disappears.

To register for the discussion and receive a Zoom link, please send an email to randall.warniers@gmail.com.

This series is sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library.

Wednesday, January 20, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Love a good mystery? All are welcome to join the book group discussion. January's title is Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason. Print copies of the title are available at the Fowler Branch to check out. An audiobook of the title is instantly available on Hoopla. An eBook copy of the title can be checked out from OverDrive. [Register for Zoom Link]

January 21 & 28, 8:30 - 9:00 a.m.

Join Be Well Be Here for a 30-minute morning meditation practice with the Concord Free Public Library, and start your day with a moment of ease. Discover mindful tools that center the body, settle the mind, and open the door to well-being. [Register for next session Zoom Link]

Now - February 5, 2021

Fowler staff will be available online for an hour, and we invite you to join us and your neighbors to chat about books, movies, and the world we live in. Get a cup of coffee and drop by! [Register for Zoom Link] (The same Zoom link is good for the entire series.)

Make dinner, and join us for an evening of murder, mystery, and detection! "Who Killed Charles Chowder?" is set on the opening night of chef Charles Chowder's new restaurant in a rural Maine hotel. Before the first courses can be served, Charles is found drowned in a pot of chicken stock. Luckily, famed detective and birdwatcher Oscar Oslo is taking a vacation at Hotel Prospero, and he gathers the dinner guests to conduct an investigation. Sponsored by the Friends of Concord Free Public Library. [Register to receive the Zoom link and further instruction] Registration closes two days before the event.

As we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Special Collections would like to recognize Henry David Thoreau’s writings as a major influence on King and the nonviolent protest movement. In his 1962 essay, “A Legacy of Creative Protest” (The Massachusetts Review 4, no. 1 (1962): 42-43.) King highlights how he and the Civil Rights Movement drew on Thoreau’s ideas for inspiration.

Thoreau initially delivered “The Rights and Duties of the Individual in relation to Government” as a speech at the Concord Lyceum in 1848, an event he referenced in a letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson. He expanded on the idea with the essay “Resistance to Civil Government” which he published in Elizabeth Palmer Peabody’s 1849 anthology The Aesthetic Papers. You can browse the titles in Palmer’s book collection in Special Collections here. In 1866, four years after Thoreau’s death, the essay was reprinted in a collection of Thoreau's work (A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers) under the title “Civil Disobedience.”

Stop by either the Main Library or the Fowler Branch to pick up this week’s #TakeAndMake kits via curbside service. Each week we have new surprise crafts to keep everyone's creative juices flowing!

Nature Connection: Storytime (ages 3-6)

Join The Nature Connection through Zoom as we explore plants and animals, geek out over nature, and connect with ourselves and those around us in new ways - all through nature based stories and poems. Our January program will explore the sparkles of light that we find in the darkness of winter: stars and snowflakes! [Register for Jan. 19 session]

Do you love writing? Games? If so, join us for a writing RPG, a game where you can create your own characters, interact with other participants, and jump into different worlds, in order to write a collaborative story. For tweens/teens ages 10-16. No writing experience required! For more information, contact Madeline at mklein@minlib.net. [Register for the Zoom link]

Join us on Zoom for some short stories, songs, and rhymes. This is a great way to build early literacy skills. Children of all ages are welcome. [Register for January 20 Zoom link]

Nature Connection: Explorations (ages 6-10)

Join The Nature Connection through Zoom as we explore plants and animals, geek out over nature, and connect with ourselves and those around us in new ways - all through nature based stories and poems. Our January program will explore the sparkles of light that we find in the darkness of winter: stars and snowflakes! [Register for Jan. 20 session]

Thursdays @ 10:00 a.m.

Join Branch Librarian Dorrie for stories, songs, and rhymes. Please register to receive the Zoom link. For ages 5 and under. The same link will work weekly. [Register for the Zoom link]

Fridays @ 10:00 a.m. on the Library's Facebook Page

and 2:00 p.m. on Instagram

Every Friday, thirteen year-old Concordian Jacob Edelman reads a special story from our staff-curated list of 101 Picture Books Concord Free Public Library Loves! Can't make the Facebook video premiere at 10? No problem! "Jacob Reads" storytimes will be archived in a playlist, linked above.

Friday, January 22, 10:00 a.m.

Join us on Zoom for an interactive sing-along with Ed Morgan, "The Music Man"! Learn fun ways to connect with your family through music. This family-friendly performance will have everyone up and moving, dancing and singing. Sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library. [Register for Zoom Link]

Join friends, impostors, and the like over Zoom, and play the very popular, freely downloadable game Among Us. [Register to receive the Zoom link] (The same Zoom link is good for the entire series.)

Join Library Assistant and Host Extraordinaire, Cary Stough for MONTHLY FAMILY TRIVIA. ~Sign up as family/group only~ Test your knowledge in a bevy of crazy categories! Win gift cards to local businesses! Laugh when Cary doesn't know how to pronounce historical figures' names! Sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library. [Register to receive Zoom link and Kahoot information]

Monday, January 25, 5:00 - 5:30 p.m.

Ages 5 and under

Get a jumpstart on bedtime with stories, songs, and rhymes! [Register to receive the zoom link] (The same Zoom link is good for every PJ Storytime)

Tuesday, January 26, 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Wellness coach Julie Manning will lead kids in a microwave cooking class and teach you to make a lava cake! Kids of all ages welcome, but younger children will need a grown-up's assistance. The virtual cooking program will be held on Zoom. Ingredient list will be shared with all participants before the program. Sponsored by The Friends of the Concord Free Public Library. [Register for the Zoom link]

Wednesday, January 27, 10:00 - 10:30 a.m.

Rockabye Beats is a fun, family group whose music is reminiscent of founder’s Marcos Valles’s Puerto Rico. Enjoy an interactive 30 minute concert that includes movement, dancing, counting, singing, and a little bit of Spanish vocabulary. We will also have an instrument show and tell with drums, guitar, rhythm instruments, and xylophone. Sponsored by The Friends of the Concord Free Public Library.

[Register for the Zoom link]