Welcome to The G.A.R. Memorial Library's newsletter! 
 
We're excited to be able to keep you informed and hope you'll be able to use these newsletters to get even more enjoyment out of your local library. Please use the links at the right to get more information from our website, which is updated regularly.  
 
Sincerely,
The Staff of the
G.A.R. Memorial Library
Love Your Library!
Valentine's Basket Fundraiser
Will you choose the Kids' Baking, There's No Wine-ing in Tennis, or the Pamper Me! basket? Three great baskets to win! Show your love and support for the library. All contain wonderful products for someone on your Valentine's list (or yourself!) Drawing will be held Saturday, February 11th. Tickets $2.00 or 3 for $5.00
Stop in and make a Valentine for your Community
Come make Valentine's Day cards at the Library. Make a card for your Sweetheart or make a card to donate to the Council on Aging or our brave local first responders. Use our craft materials or bring some of your own. Help us spread some love around our town.
Stop in anytime during our regular hours, starting Saturday 2/4 through the following Saturday 2/11.
Collecting PJ's
Help us collect PJs for kids this winter. In conjunction with Cradles to Crayons we have set a goal of 75 pairs to donate. Drop off bin in the library..
After School Drop In Chess Club
Wednesdays - 4:00 - 5:00 PM
Come learn to play chess or improve your game. Open to all students in Grades 4-8. Low-key, fun, learning environment to experience the game of Kings! Drop in.

Interested in chess for other age groups? Please let us know.
Native Shrubs of New England
Monday, February 13 from 7:00—8:30 PM via Zoom

Planting native shrubs in our gardens is a valuable way to create habitat, but many of these beautiful and adaptable species are still little known or underutilized in horticulture. In this presentation, learn about the diversity and ecological value of the native shrubs that are common in our local woodlands, wetlands, and field edges, as well as how they can be incorporated into managed landscape settings.

Join us to get to know these hidden gems! This presentation will focus on shrubs available in the nursery industry, but also highlight promising species that are rarely cultivated, like sweetbells (Eubotrys racemosa). Meredith Gallogly is Manager of Programs for Grow Native MA.


This program is hosted by the Memorial Hall Library in Andover, in partnership with other area libraries. Paid for in part by the Friends of the West Newbury Library.
Children's Room
Music with Mrs. K
Mondays 2/6 & 2/13 from 4:30-5:15 PM
Join Mrs. K (Katrina Mancini) from Family Community Connection for a fun interactive music class.
We'll sing songs, play instruments, dance with scarves and more. Infants to age 8.
Please click on our calendar to sign up for each class.

Family Storytimes are back!
Tuesdays at 10:00
Wednesdays & Fridays at 10:30
Join Miss Kate for fun stories, songs, activities and more. Ages infant & up. Drop in.

Reading with Lulu 
Tuesdays, 4:00-5:00 PM
or Read to Digby
Thursday, February 16, 4 - 5 PM
Come and read to Lulu or Digby. Both are wonderful listeners.
Contact the library to sign up for your 15 minute spot.

Family Legos
Monday, February 27th 4:00 - 5:00 PM
Join Miss Kate and create a wonderful Lego scene. We provide the Legos and you bring your imagination. We will display it for the next month and you can come in and play with your own creation. Families welcome.
Drop in for 5 minutes or come for the whole hour.
Winter Yoga for Calm and Stability
Wednesdays, 2 weeks left at Old Town Hall across street from library - Drop in!

This series is perfect for beginners to the more experienced practitioner. We will focus on slow, mindful movement to create a sense of calm and stability in the body and mind.
 
Please bring a mat, beach towel and two yoga blocks. $5/per class paid directly to Sharon Gordon by cash or check. Drop-in, take one, some or all classes.

2/8 & 2/15 at Old Town Hall (491 Main Street, across from the library)


Who Done It? Mystery Book Group
Thursday, February 16th at Noon
Love mysteries? Join this lively group at the library to discuss next month's selection, Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby. All are welcome.

Abolition's Foot Soldiers: Female Anti-Slavery Societies in Antebellum Massachusetts
Wednesday, February 15 from 7:00—8:00 PM via Zoom

For at least the past three decades, scholars have argued that slavery's abolition would not have happened without interracial collaboration between politically-minded women. From 1830-1865, an interracial and transnational group of women insisted that the struggles for women's liberation and abolition were linked. They rooted their activism in their shared passion for religion, writing, reading, and teaching. They defended their activism from those who called their actions unbecoming for women by saying that their efforts were part of their duty as women and mothers. The abolitionist mother did not want her child to bear witness to the atrocities of slavery and therefore would do what she could to end it.

In this talk, Dr. Jaimie Crumley, Assistant Professor of Gender Studies and Ethnic Studies at the University of Utah, will show that the efforts of the anti-slavery women in Massachusetts demonstrate the distinctively feminist contours of antebellum abolitionism. Further, she will assert that learning from the successes and failures of antebellum female anti-slavery societies can inform contemporary feminist organizing.

REGISTER HERE for the Zoom link. If you do not receive the Zoom link, please check your spam folder.
This program is hosted by the Reading Public Library in partnership with other area libraries.