April showers, they say, bring May flowers – May brings Spring Things. Back in the March newsletter we provided a survey, humbly asking that you “help us expand our Library of Things Collection” and you responded to our invitation and provided wonderful (and often unexpected) feedback. Well, we have started ordering plenty of new “things” for our collection – Thank You!

If you are not familiar with what a Library of Things collection is, it is a collection of items that can be checked out from the library for you to use. If someone is asked ‘what is a library?’ and they respond ‘it is that old building with all those books inside…’ that is not inherently wrong (the original part of our building dates from 1927 and we do have a LOT of books for you to borrow) but it is incomplete. The Grafton Public Library strives to be so much more for you, to meet your gardening needs as well as providing the latest DVD; to meet your baking needs along with the latest best-selling novel.

What type of items do we include in our Library of Things collection? Many are items you may only want to use infrequently. You may really want a Hello Kitty cake pan – but, really, how many times are you going to use it. Well, borrow ours. Other items may be cost prohibitive and you would like to try them out before you commit to purchasing them. If you or your child is thinking about taking up the guitar but don’t want to buy a guitar and all the gear involved just to realize that you’d rather play the oboe… well, we have a brand-new electric guitar (and amplifier!) for you to borrow.

If you are curious about what we have in our Library of Things collection, do a search in the online catalog for Grafton Library of Things and explore the results, which are organized in categories (Yard Games; Card Games; Cake Pans; Instruments; Tonies; etc). Or you could stop into the library and ask me what is new, I would love to show you… you may even see something there that you requested!

~ Tom O'Connell, Library Director

We will be closed on Saturday, May 24 and Monday, May 26 for Memorial Day Weekend.

Operating Hours

Monday - Thursday: 9 AM - 8 PM

Friday: 9 AM - 6 PM

Saturday: 9 AM - 2 PM

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris, and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, the orphan

Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the Resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

Request a book, a large print book, a CD Audiobook, an e-book, or an eAudiobook.

12 Months 12 Books

The Grafton Public Library is participating in the Massachusetts Center for the Book Reading Challenge.

May's Challenge

Choose a book with a first sentence of eight words or less. Click here for some book recommendations for the month of May!

How the Challenge Works

• Choose a book that fits the monthly challenge from our display
• If you would like assistance in choosing a book, consider asking a GPL staff member for a recommendation.
• After you read, fill out this form to tell the Mass Center for the Book about what you read.
• Dedicated readers will be invited to a year-end celebration hosted by the Massachusetts Center for the Book.

The Borrower Services and Reference staff invite you to

check out an item from our curated staircase displays in

Room 201 - Large Print/New Books.

Our Seed Library is Open! Grow your garden at home with our selection of flower, vegetable, fruit, and herb seeds, including organic and heirloom varieties! Located at the second level in Borrower Services and Reference.

In addition to the Libby app, we have another reading app for our Grafton residents. Hoopla has no holds and no waiting! These items are always available!

With Hoopla, you can borrow and enjoy audiobooks, eBooks, comics, movies, TV, magazines, or music everywhere you have a screen-your computer, your phone, your car, even your TV. All you need is a library card. Hoopla syncs across all your devices, so you can stream titles immediately or whenever you’re in the mood. Most titles can also be downloaded to your phone or tablet. Hoopla offers more content, in more places, than any other digital library platform and it’s all FREE thanks to your public library! You are allowed to check out 6 items each month on your library card.

If you had a Hoopla account previously through the Grafton Public Library your old login will not be valid. Click on this link to Register for your new account: https://www.hoopladigital.com/register

See all of our upcoming events, including Children & Teens:

See what is happening

around town:

Top 10 Books Requested in CW MARS

1. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
2. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
3. James by Everett Percival
4. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
5. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
6. Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
7. Heartwood by Amity Gaige
8. Nobody's Fool by Harlen Coben
9. Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
10. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Top 10 Movies Requested in

CW MARS

1. Outlander: Season 7
2. Sonic the HedgeHog
3. Flight Risk
4. Tulsa King: Season 2
5. Mufasa, The Lion King
6. Moana 2
7. Companion
8. The Room Next Door
9. All Creatures Great & Small: Season 5
10. Love Hurts

Check out the CW MARS OverDrive website for a great selection of eAudiobooks and eBooks.

The next scheduled Board of Library Trustees meeting is Wednesday, May 28 from 7-9 p.m. in Meeting Room A at the Grafton Municipal Center. The agenda will be posted on the Town of Grafton website: 

https://www.grafton-ma.gov/AgendaCenter/Board-of-Library-Trustees-Grafton-Public-9

The Friends of the Grafton Public Library will be taking donations on the first Friday and Saturday of the month. The Friends will be setting tables in the Friends Corner for people to leave the books on.  May's donation days are Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3.

Friends' gifts are available for purchase at the library.

Members can check the Friend's Facebook page for scheduled meetings.

https://www.facebook.com/GPLFriends

Join or renew your membership at www.friendsgpl.org/join. Questions? Please contact info@friendsgpl.org.