SCPL news & updates

May 2026

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.

Unearth A Story

 Dig into reading this summer! Unearth a Story with us in 2026 and discover a world of dinosaurs, archaeology, and adventure.

Now Accepting Applications

Calling all students in grades K–8! Are you excited to share your favorite stories with others? Join our Kid Librarian program and take over the stacks. You’ll get to curate your very own book display, share a personal "Meet the Librarian" bio, and highlight the must-read titles you love so other kids can discover their next great adventure!

Child Programming

Adult Programming

Enter to Win!

Each month SCPL will feature a new puzzle challenge. Download or pick up a May puzzle 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

Looking For Your Next Read?

SCPL Offers BookPage


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


Text Link

SCPL Book Clubs

Rockport Book Club

May 1st at 1:00 PM at Rockport in the Small Meeting Room


Discussing Need To Know by Karen Cleveland


Vivian and Matt are a seemingly normal suburban couple, experiencing the same struggles as many North American families: juggling work and children, budgeting for a house in a decent school district. They're in love and life is good. Though Vivian can't share much about her CIA assignment with him, Matt has always been supportive, and his job as a software engineer allows him the flexibility needed to raise their four kids. But when she makes a startling discovery researching the CIA's Russian account, everything about her life and her marriage is cast in a new light--forcing her to make impossible and dangerous choices before she loses her job, her family and her life.


-Excerpt from Amazon

June 5th at 1:00 PM in the Small Meeting Room


Discussing Saints For All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan


Nora and Theresa Flynn are twenty-one and seventeen when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan—a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand. Fifty years later, Nora is the matriarch of a big Catholic family with four grown children: John, a successful, if opportunistic, political consultant; Bridget, quietly preparing to have a baby with her girlfriend; Brian, at loose ends after a failed baseball career; and Patrick, Nora's favorite, the beautiful boy who gives her no end of heartache. Estranged from her sister, Theresa is a cloistered nun, living in an abbey in rural Vermont. Until, after decades of silence, a sudden death forces Nora and Theresa to confront the choices they made so long ago. A graceful, supremely moving novel from one of our most beloved writers, Saints for All Occasions explores the fascinating, funny, and sometimes achingly sad ways a secret at the heart of one family both breaks them and binds them together.



-Excerpt from Amazon

Richland Book Club

May 11th at 1:30 PM at Richland


Discussing Flight Patterns by Karen White


Georgia Chambers has spent her life sifting through other people’s pasts while trying to forget her own. But then her work as an expert on fine china—especially Limoges—requires her to return to the one place she swore she’d never revisit....

 

It has been ten years since Georgia left her family home on the coast of Florida, and nothing much has changed except that there are fewer oysters and more tourists. She finds solace in seeing her grandfather still toiling away in the apiary where she spent much of her childhood, but encountering her estranged mother and sister leaves her rattled.

 

Seeing them after all this time makes Georgia realize that something has been missing—and unless she finds a way to heal these rifts, she will forever be living vicariously through other people’s remnants. To embrace her own life—mistakes and all—she will have to find the courage to confront the ghosts of her past and the secrets she was forced to keep....


-Excerpt from Amazon

June 8th at 1:30 PM at Richland


Discussing The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate


Louisiana, 1875: In the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now destitute plantation; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half sister. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following roads rife with vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of stolen inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and siblings before slavery’s end, the pilgrimage west reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.


Louisiana, 1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt—until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, is suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled live oaks and run-down plantation homes lie the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything.



-Excerpt from Amazon

Hatfield Book Club

May 13th at 3:00 PM at Hatfield Branch



Discussing The Keeper of Stars by Buck Turner


It’s 1962 when Tennessee-native Jack Bennett meets out-of-towner Ellie Spencer. He quickly falls head-over-heels for the young woman whose greatest love has always been the stars...until Jack. As their summer romance blooms, so does their determination to be together despite the circumstances that threaten to keep them apart. But just when Jack thinks their future is certain, their romance is cut short by forces beyond their control.


Twelve years later, Dr. Elizabeth Spencer, now a renowned professor of astronomy, receives a mysterious package. Inside is a novel about a young man and woman who meet at the water’s edge and fall madly in love over one magical summer. As she immerses herself in the pages, Ellie realizes this is no ordinary story—it’s their story. And hidden among the tales of star-gazing and stolen kisses is a detail that has her questioning everything. Seeking the truth, Ellie returns to the water’s edge. But is it too late, or can the love story Jack penned bring them back together in time to rewrite the stars?



-Excerpt from Amazon

June 10th at 3:00 PM at Hatfield Branch


Discussing One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline


On paper, Chris Brennan looks perfect. He's applying for a job as a high school government teacher, he's ready to step in as an assistant baseball coach, and his references are impeccable.


But everything about Chris Brennan is a lie.


Susan Sematov is proud of her son Raz, a high school pitcher so athletically talented that he's being recruited for a full-ride scholarship to a Division I college, with a future in major-league baseball. But Raz's father died only a few months ago, leaving her son in a vulnerable place where any new father figure might influence him for good, or evil.


Heather Larkin is a struggling single mother who lives for her son Jordan's baseball games. But Jordan is shy, and Heather fears he is being lured down a dark path by one of his teammates, a young man from an affluent family whose fun-loving manner might possibly conceal his violent plans.



Mindy Kostis succumbs to the pressure of being a surgeon's wife by filling her days with social events and too many gin and tonics. But she doesn't know that her husband and her son, Evan, are keeping secrets from her – secrets that might destroy all of them.

At the center of all of them is Chris Brennan. Why is he there? What does he want? And what is he willing to do to get it?



-Excerpt from Amazon

For Your Viewing Pleasure

From heartfelt documentaries to unforgettable narratives, these films remind us why

moms matter. Discover Kanopy’s Mother’s Day collection today: Click Here

Looking to cut costs on streaming services? Explore the physical DVDs available at the Library! With over 5,000 titles in stock, the collection is regularly updated and features a wide range of popular films.

We are excited to announce that DVD players are available for patron checkout. Check one out so you can start enjoying our extensive film collection at home!

Facebook