SCPL news & updates

October 2023

Upcoming Events

See what's happening this month.


Click on the Events Calendar to see a detailed listing of programs and events happening at SCPL.

Click Here For a Detailed List of Calendar Events

Calling All Foodies and Book Lovers!!


Children's Programming

Grand Opening of SCPL's STORYWALK® at Hatfield

Story Time
Our early literacy programs play a pivotal role in shaping the educational and personal development of young children while laying the foundation for a lifetime of learning and success. Our programs are designed to introduce children to the magical world of books and reading from a very young age. By engaging in interactive storytelling, rhymes, and reading activities, children not only develop essential pre-reading skills, but they cultivate their imagination and creativity. Our programs promote strong parent-child bonding and encourage parents to actively participate in their child's learning journey.

New Tween Program Alert!

1000 Books Before Kindergarten
Do you have a baby, toddler, or preschooler? If so, join SCPL's 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program to help your child be ready for school. This program promotes reading to newborns, infants, and toddlers and encourages parent and child bonding through reading. The goal of the program is to establish strong early literacy skills that will allow children to gain the confidence to become strong readers. There are 1,824 days between birth and turning 5 years old. That is less than 1 book per day! Contact our Children's Department or Click here for more information.
Adult Programming

Enter to Win!

Each month SCPL will feature a new puzzle challenge. For this month's challenge, download or pick up an October sheet at any branch. Return your sheet by email or drop it off at any SCPL location. Each person who solves the puzzle correctly will be entered into a drawing for a $10 local gift card.

Memorial and Honor Donations

Click here to view Memorial and Honor Donations

Looking For Your Next Read?

Discover this month's most exciting new books in the current issue of BookPage, provided courtesy of Spencer County Public Library.
Selections From the New Shelf

New Digital Titles

SCPL Book Clubs

Rockport Book Club

October 6th at 1:00 PM at Rockport in the Small Meeting Room


Discussing Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez


Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African-American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she hopes to help women shape their destinies, to make their own choices for their lives and bodies.


But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, Civil is shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are children—just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits, that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica, and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.


Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace, and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten.


Because history repeats what we don’t remember.


Inspired by true events and brimming with hope, Take My Hand is a stirring exploration of accountability and redemption.



-Excerpt from Amazon

November 3rd at 1:00 PM at Rockport in the Small Meeting Room


Discussing The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford


Dorothy Moy breaks her own heart for a living.


As Washington’s former poet laureate, that’s how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental health struggles into her art. But when her five-year-old daughter exhibits similar behavior and begins remembering things from the lives of their ancestors, Dorothy believes the past has truly come to haunt her. Fearing that her child is predestined to endure the same debilitating depression that has marked her own life, Dorothy seeks radical help.


Through an experimental treatment designed to mitigate inherited trauma, Dorothy intimately connects with past generations of women in her family: Faye Moy, a nurse in China serving with the Flying Tigers; Zoe Moy, a student in England at a famous school with no rules; Lai King Moy, a girl quarantined in San Francisco during a plague epidemic; Greta Moy, a tech executive with a unique dating app; and Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot in America.


As painful recollections affect her present life, Dorothy discovers that trauma isn’t the only thing she’s inherited. A stranger is searching for her in each time period. A stranger who’s loved her through all of her genetic memories. Dorothy endeavors to break the cycle of pain and abandonment, to finally find peace for her daughter, and gain the love that has long been waiting, knowing she may pay the ultimate price.


-Excerpt from Amazon

Hatfield Book Club

October 11th at 3:30 PM at Hatfield Branch

Patron Choice-choose a mystery title to discuss

November 8th at 3:30 PM at Hatfield Branch



Discussing Spare by Prince Harry


It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on.


For Harry, this is that story at last.


Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.


At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love. 


Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .


For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.


Richland Book Club

October 9th at 1:30 PM at Richland


Discussing The Boy From the Woods by Harlan Coben


Thirty years ago, Wilde was found as a boy living feral in the woods, with no memory of his past. Now an adult, he still doesn't know where he comes from, and another child has gone missing.


No one seems to take Naomi Pine's disappearance seriously, not even her father—with one exception. Hester Crimstein, a television criminal attorney, knows through her grandson that Naomi was relentlessly bullied at school. Hester asks Wilde—with whom she shares a tragic connection—to use his unique skills to help find Naomi.


Wilde can't ignore an outcast in trouble, but in order to find Naomi he must venture back into the community where he has never fit in, a place where the powerful are protected even when they harbor secrets that could destroy the lives of millions . . . secrets that Wilde must uncover before it's too late.

-Excerpt from Amazon.

November 13th at 1:30 PM at Richland



Discussing a Holiday book chosen at random.

Fun For the Whole Family
Have you tried Kanopy?
Kanopy is a new library service available to SCPL residents that offers thousands of documentaries, independent films, and classic movies to stream for free with your library card! Watch on your TV, computer, phone, or tablet.

In the Kanopy Kids section, you'll see only content suitable for children, focusing on ages 2-8. Kids can browse this section freely, and you can set up parental controls to ensure children can't view content outside of Kanopy Kids. Once parental controls are enabled, a PIN is required to exit Kanopy Kids.

Sign up today at https://www.kanopy.com/en/spencercounty or through the Libby app. 

SCPL Virtual Recipe Swap

Fall is finally here. Join SCPL's Virtual Recipe Swap page on Facebook to share comfort food and fall food delights. Click here to request to join. This group allows members to share tips, tricks, and recipes with each other. Join today!

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