Letter from the Library Director
Hello, community members!
 
We are in the midst of the holiday season, and that time of year when your reading stash shifts from a beach tote to the coziest spot in your home. Whether shopping locally for that perfect gift, or stockpiling for the winter months ahead, what better time than now to highlight some of Somerville’s extraordinary artistic talent.
 
I’m fortunate to be surrounded by local writers, and I mean that literally, as two of them are my neighbors: Daphne Kalotay and Gilmore Tamny. Daphne’s recent novel, Blue Hours, published in 2019, is a story of friendship, love, and mystery that spans 20 years and two disparate locations - Manhattan circa 1991, and eastern Afghanistan in 2012. Like her novel Russian Winter, which is a perfect winter read with Boston as one of its settings, Blue Hours is a page-turner, and completely spellbinding.
 
Writer, artist, and musician Gilmore Tamny published HAIKU4U in 2019, and is a constant on our coffee table. The perfect blend of thoughtful, funny, poignant, and clever, it’s always a delight to open to a random page and discover something as timely as:
 
holiday hoo-haa
hark the season barks out lights
and many cookies
 
While I wish I could call Dave Ortega my neighbor, I’m just as happy to refer to him as a fellow Somervillian, and recommend his beautifully illustrated series Dias De Consuelo, another coffee table fixture. Dias De Consuelo is the multi-volume story of Dave’s grandmother, Consuelo Castñon Herrera, who was born during the Mexican Revolution. Throughout the series Dave explains the political, social, and economic impact of the Mexican Revolution through Consuelo and her family, and honors his grandmother through beautiful, often tender illustrations of the family cooking, performing household chores, going to school, and working.

Lastly, enjoy some recent images from West Branch, which is close to completion, and something to look forward to in the new year!
Wishing you all the best of the season,

Cathy Piantigini
Library Director
Upcoming Programs
Thursday, December 10 at 7 pm on Zoom (with meeting link)
Join local author Grace Talusan, chosen as this year’s Boston Book Festival’s One City One Story author, for an online discussion and writing session for all experience levels. The session will mostly be spent writing, but if there is time, some writers may volunteer to share aloud what they wrote and we may discuss the short story and the framing questions.

In advance of the session, you are encouraged (but not required) to read her short story, “The Book of Life and Death,” available for free download in English and in audio or multiple languages. Grace will lead you through a step-by-step process to write a new piece responding to the writing prompt:
“We were the invisible, for a moment, made visible…”

Funded by the Friends of the Somerville Public Library -- thank you, Friends!
Saturday, December 12 at 2 pm on Zoom (with meeting invite)
For our December "Getting Cozy" adult crafting project we will be creating a rustic Air Plant Wreath. Join library staff and fellow crafters as we sip hot chocolate (included in your bag), chat, and design a wreath from an embroidery hoop, that includes a live air plant. It's perfect as a homemade gift -- or for your own home decor -- and low maintenance for those with a less-than-green thumb. Decorate it with a festive holiday saying, or make something for year-round enjoyment.
Thursday, December 17 at 7 pm, on Zoom (with meeting invite)
Jazz and Blues - originated from the African American tradition - were a propelling force in the U.S. during the 1920s, providing females of all ages with an outlet for rebellion in a time when they were also fighting to win the right to vote. Join us as we celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment with a concert featuring Women in World Jazz along with the all-girl Women in World Jazz Junior Performers to pay tribute to that hard-won battle.

In this virtual concert, members of the ensemble share information about the music and the featured composers, as well as engage the audience with a Q&A and discussion at the end of the program. 

Funded by the Friends of the Somerville Public Library -- thank you, Friends!
Read Local This Season
This book has a hyper local connection: the Somerville Public Library is featured in this book! And the author once lived in Somerville.
Loner Tuesday Mooney and a wide-ranging cast of characters traipse around Boston trying to solve a puzzle left behind by a dying billionaire. Excellent, fast paced, super fun.

Recommended by Alison, West Branch Children's Librarian and Karen, Interim Head of Tech Services
Are You an American? by Caleb Cole and Greer Muldowney
Local artists Caleb Cole and Greer Muldowney reflect on xenophobia, and what it means to be an American in the late 2010s.

Recommended by Tim, Tech Librarian
Set in South Boston, this memoir portrays white poverty during segregation and the reign of Whitey Bulger.

Recommended by Heidi, Reference Librarian
A Phoenix First Must Burn by Patrice Caldwell
The heroines in these Sci-Fi, fantasy and magic stories star Black girls of all kinds. Teens and adults can celebrate their beauty and power! 

The author Patrice Caldwell. is a graduate of Wellesley College and the founder and fund-raising chair of People of Color in Publishing--a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting, empowering, and uplifting racially and ethnically marginalized members of the book publishing industry!


Recommended by Mary, Reference Librarian
The Body Papers by Grace Talusan

Winner of the 2020 Massachusetts Book Award for Non-Fiction, Grace Talusan's critically acclaimed memoir powerfully explores the fraught contours of her own life as a Filipino immigrant and survivor of cancer and childhood abuse.

Talusan grew up in Massachusetts and is currently the Fannie Hurst Writer in Residence at Tufts.

**Meet this author by signing up for our writing workshop on December 10 at 7pm!**

Recommended by Meg, Generalist Librarian
The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper

Susan Cooper's lovely poem was originally written in the 1970s for the Christmas Revels, a local tradition that welcomes light in a season of darkness. This illustrated version was published in 2019 and is the perfect Solstice read!

Recommended by Alison, West Branch Children's Librarian
Let Us Recommend Some Books to You!