The Westport Library invites you to an illuminating initiative: Join us in utilizing one of our state-of-the-art 3D printers to create solar-powered lanterns for Open Doors, a homeless shelter in Norwalk.
Learn valuable skills and build community while providing a meaningful and practical lighting solution for unhoused individuals, improving their safety and well-being during nighttime hours.
This maker activity is free to attend and will take place on Sunday, November 10, from 1 to 2 pm in the Library’s Board Room (Room 210). Register to attend here. No experience is necessary to participate; 3D printing training sessions will be held at the Library over the next couple of weeks.
For children under 12, a caregiver must remain in the library during the program.
Created and designed by Staples High School students Rohan Sareen, a sophomore, and Shreyas Gorre, a senior, using the Library’s Ultimaker S5 and brand-new Bambu P1S 3D printer, these lanterns incorporate lights, wires, batteries, and solar panels for sustainable illumination.
“We came up with the idea when we wanted to use our engineering skills to help out our local community,” Sareen and Gorre said. “We immediately started to think about how we could 3D print essentials for people in need. After more research, we realized that the best way to help would be to give them something that they could use for a long time. This led us to build a 3D-printed, solar-powered lantern.”
In addition to learning more about 3D printing technology, this workshop will foster tactile and technical skills and provide an opportunity to collaborate with coaches and other volunteers in the Library’s MakerSpace during the assembly process, exploring circuitry, soldering, and other pivotal engineering skills — all while making a tangible difference in the community.
The Westport Children’s Library is the introduction to reading for countless Westporters. Now, there are more options than ever get your child engaged — however and whatever they’d like to read.
The Children’s Library has purchased 379 new titles — books and audiobooks — to bolster their digital collection, adding offerings from some of the most famous and beloved children’s authors of today and all time.
“We consistently strive to meet kids where they are, to find ways to engage them in reading, and to foster their love of books,” said Westport Library Director of Youth Services Mary Parmelee. “This expansion helps advance our depth and breadth of titles for the digital age, while providing the same comfort that kids have found in great books for centuries.”
Among the authors added to the digital collection are Kwame Alexander, Dhonielle Clayton, Beverly Cleary, Suzanne Collins, Kate DiCamillo, Sarah J. Maas, Rick Riordan, Lemony Snicket, Jasmine Warga, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Other titles include works by Hanna Alkaf, John David Anderson, Victoria Aveyard, L. Frank Baum, Kiera Cass, Eoin Colfer, Leslie Connor, Lindsay Currie, Lamar Giles, Karina Yan Glaser, Tommy Greenwald, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Jenny Han, Varian Johnson, L.M. Montgomery, Garth Nix, Sara Pennypacker, Lisa Moore Ramee, Gary Schmidt, Brian Selznick, Christina Soontornvat, Angie Thomas, and Anne Ursu.
“We were very deliberate in the titles we chose,” Parmelee said, “because we know there are so many different types of readers with different interests. We hope this gives them more options to find a book they love, and we can’t wait to see them develop a love for books and learning. And then to come tell us about them! There’s nothing we love more.”
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Photo: Top Row (L to R): Kwame Alexander, Brian Selznick, Sarah J. Maas, Jasmine Warga, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Kate DiCamillo, and Dhonielle Clayton; Bottom Row (L to R): Rick Riordan, Karina Yan Glaser, Varian Johnson, Lemony Snicket, L.M. Montgomery, Beverly Cleary, and Suzanne Collins
First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker (far left), TEAM Westport Chair Harold Bailey (second from left) and Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer (far right) with the 2023 teen essay contest winners.
TEAM Westport, the Town of Westport’s diversity engagement committee, has announced that hate speech will be the topic for its 2024 Teen Diversity Essay Contest.
The contest is open to students attending public or private high school (Grades 9-12) in Westport. Those who live in Westport and attend public or private high school elsewhere are also invited to participate.
This year’s essay prompt is as follows:
The regulation of hate speech must balance limiting speech that may be considered offensive, threatening, or hurtful with the constitutional right of free expression. In 1,000 words or less, with respect to speech that targets specific people or groups based on race, religion, ethnicity, and/or LGBTQIA+ identification, consider the guidelines one should set for themselves within Westport’s schools and in our community. Explain how a diversity of opinions can be safely and respectfully shared. Are the rules different in a school community than on social media?
The entry deadline for the essay contest is 11:59 pm ET on Monday, March 4. The Westport Library is co-sponsoring the event and will host the winners for a special ceremony to be held Monday, May 6.
The prompt and contest entry rules are available online at teamwestport.org and westportct.gov/teamwestportessay.
Subject to the volume and caliber of entries received, at the discretion of the judges, up to three cash prizes will be awarded. The first prize is $1,000, second prize is $750, and third prize is $500.
“In our current environment, hate speech seems to rend the fabric of our society further on a daily basis.” said TEAM Westport Chair Harold Bailey Jr. “We look forward to this input from our young citizens to help us inextricably mend that fabric well into the future.”
Said First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker, “This community encourages constructive, respectful dialogue. As representatives of our talented and thoughtful population, the youth of Westport can be instrumental in sharing diverse ideas that ensure that everyone who lives, works, plays, and learns here feels welcomed and valued.”
The essay contest is now in its 11th year. Prior challenges have tackled topics from white privilege and Black Lives Matter to micro-aggressions and dialogue and have drawn widespread attention and engagement in Westport and beyond.
“As a library, our goals are to foster inclusivity, understanding, awareness, and the free and open exchange of ideas so that we all can grow and thrive — as individuals and as a community,” said Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer. “The annual TEAM Westport Teen Diversity Essay contest uniquely illustrates that commitment, all while engaging young people throughout Westport to consider and work through the important and complex issues of the day.
“Combating hate speech should be a commitment for everyone, in Westport and beyond. I look forward to reading the essays put forth by our town’s talented and thoughtful teens, and The Westport Library is once again proud to support the essay contest and honored to host the 2024 honorees.”
Once again in 2024, students are invited to enter a youth poetry contest sponsored by The Westport Garden Club, the Westport Arts Advisory Committee, Town Poet Laureate Jessica Noyes McEntee, and The Westport Library.
The contest is affiliated with the National Garden Club’s Youth Poetry Contest and enables youth to embrace their creativity through the art of writing.
The theme for the 2024 competition is: “I Spy With My Little Eye, Something Green Outside – Celebrating Our Green World.”
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Who Can Enter:
- Students in kindergarten through ninth grade.
- Including public and private schools, home-schooled students, special education, English as a Second Language, and general education students.
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Guidelines for Entries:
- All entries must be typed and titled.
- Include the participant's name, address, age, grade, and school on the back of the entry and the preferred email address for correspondence.
- All entries become the property of National Garden Clubs, Inc.
- Poems do not have to rhyme.
- Poems may be traditional verse, acrostics, blank verse, cinquains, diamond poems, limericks, or Haiku.
- The theme should not be used as the title of any poetry. (When judging, the title is worth 10 points.)
- Poems should be submitted by email to: westportctgardenclub@gmail.com by January 5, 2024.
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Scale of Points
Title: 10%
Content: 40%
Creativity: 30%
Style: 20%
Total: 100%
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Entries are due by January 5. The poems selected by a jury committee will then be submitted to the regional organization, New England Garden Clubs, for another round of judging. The region's final selections will then be submitted for National Garden Club Awards, where winning entries will be compiled into a booklet and made available to the winners.
Locally, poets will be invited to read from their work at a library event, open to the public to celebrate poetry in April 2024.
To view the 2023 winning entries, including local Westporter Owen Cloherty, click here.
From now through December 21, and starting up again after midterms in January, The Westport Library will be teaming with students from Staples High School to establish a near-peer tutoring program.
The program, to be held in the Children’s Library space, will feature Staples students tutoring local middle school and elementary school students in a variety of subjects. This is a drop-in program available between 4 pm and 8 pm, Monday through Thursday, with the tutor availability being posted weekly. (Click here to see the weekly schedule.)
“We’re so excited to bring back this program and thrilled to partner with these amazing students from Staples to provide this service,” said Jeanmarie Ryan, Westport Library teen services librarian. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for younger kids who need some extra help to get it in a supportive environment, while also benefitting the Staples students who get the chance to give back to the community.”
Tutors will focus on specific subject areas including English, math, science, social studies, and even programming and Mandarin. All tutors are past participants or have received a letter of recommendation from a current or previous teacher.
Adults with students under the age of 12 are required to stay in the Children’s Library while their child is being tutored.
Throughout his basketball career, Chris Paul has shined on platforms big and small, establishing himself as one of the premier point guards in basketball history and entering the zeitgeist through his star turn in national State Farm commercials.
For his next appearance, Paul is coming to a local stage, joining The Westport Library to discuss his life and his new memoir, Sixty-One: Life Lessons from Papa, On and Off the Court, an ode to his grandfather and family, with journalist, podcast host, and FOX Sports anchor Lindsay Czarniak.
The event, to be held on Tuesday, June 27, at 8 pm, in the Library’s Trefz Forum, will be livestreamed and recorded as part of Czarniak’s new podcast, Lunch with Lindsay. Paul will be joining virtually, with Czarniak appearing in person. Registration for the event is free and now open.
After the conversation, members of the audience will have the opportunity to ask Paul questions, with priority being given to kids in attendance. Autographed copies of Sixty-One will also be for sale.
“I can’t wait for people to see this side of Chris Paul,” Czarniak said. “I love uncovering the experiences, things, people that connect us all, and I’m excited to bring this podcast to life for a night and to give kids in the community a chance to hear from someone they look up to. His play on the court speaks for itself, but I’m especially pumped because Chris’ story about his inspiration to be the best basketball player he can be is much broader than sports. It’s about the human connection and inspiration. I think we can all relate to that.”
The event is a partnership between the Library, the Westport Weston Family YMCA, the Y’s Men of Westport/Weston, and the 06880 Blog.
“This is a truly incredible opportunity for the Fairfield County community — and beyond — to hear from one of the true legends of the sport of basketball in our forum,” Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer said. “And we’re thrilled to partner with Lindsay, a Westport resident and one of the country’s foremost sports journalists, on this exciting event. We hope to draw kids and adults far and wide for what we hope will be the first of many such conversations.”
Paul is one of the elite players in basketball history. A McDonald’s All-American as a high school player in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he garnered national attention when he made a run at the North Carolina high school scoring record, just five days after his grandfather died of a heart attack during a robbery at the service station he owned and just a day after the community icon was buried. Paul’s last attempt before coming out of the game was a free throw that he missed intentionally, ensuring that he would finish with 61 points, the same age as his grandfather, who he called Papa. It was six points shy of the state record.
Paul stayed close to home after high school, starring locally at Wake Forest, where he led the Demon Deacons to the No. 1 ranking his sophomore year and earned All-America honors. He was the fourth overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets and has gone on to enjoy a distinguished career with the Hornets (2005-11), L.A. Clippers (2011-17), Houston Rockets (2017-19), Oklahoma City Thunder (2019-20), and most recently, the Phoenix Suns (2020-23).
The 2006 NBA Rookie of the Year was the first player in league history to register 20,000 career points and 10,000 career assists, having since been joined only by LeBron James. Paul also is a 12-time All-Star, 11-time All-NBA performer (including four times first team All-NBA), and has finished in the Top 3 of the MVP voting on three occasions. In addition, the all-world point guard won two Olympic gold medals with Team USA, in 2008 and 2012, and was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.
Czarniak is an award-winning sportscaster known for anchoring SportsCenter for six years and most recently as a FOX NFL sideline reporter, CBS SRX Racing host, and studio host for NBC’s Summer and Winter Olympic Games coverage.
This year, Czarniak launched her new series Lunch with Lindsay in partnership with Shawn Johnson’s FamilyMade Media network, where she has sat down with icons across sports and entertainment, including country music star Eric Church, NASCAR standout Chase Elliott, and Indy500 champion Josef Newgarden, among others.
Staples High School students will be on hand at The Westport Library now through Thursday, April 27, for drop-in tutoring in a range of subjects for grades 2-8.
Tutoring will take place starting at 4 pm in the Children’s Library, on the Library’s second floor, covering the following days, grades, subjects, and times:
Please bring homework for which and workbooks with which you need assistance. And check back to the day’s schedule on the Library’s website for any cancellations or changes in schedule.
Adults with students under the age of 12 are required to stay in the Children’s Library while their child is being tutored.
The idea for Firekeeper’s Daughter percolated with Angeline Boulley for years, before she became a first-time novelist in her early 50s with its publication. It was worth the wait. Firekeeper’s Daughter was one of the best-reviewed books of 2021, earning raves from NPR, TIME, Entertainment Weekly, Good Morning America, and Publishers Weekly, among many others. In addition, it received the Printz Medal and the Morris Award, was named a Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club YA Pick, and has been optioned for a Netflix show by Higher Ground, the production company of Barack and Michelle Obama.
One week from today, Boulley will join us in the Library’s Trefz Forum to discuss her debut novel, which is this year’s WestportREADS selection. Before her appearance, Boulley, whose second book, Warrior Girl Unearthed, comes out in May, took some time to answer our questions on coming to the Library, her favorite books, and more.
[Related: ‘Firekeeper’s Daughter' by Angeline Boulley Named 2023 WestportREADS Book Selection]
Westport Library: What was your reaction to Firekeeper’s Daughter being named our WestportREADS pick for 2023?
Angeline Boulley: I was absolutely thrilled to be named your 2023 WestportREADS book! Community reading programs are such a great way for people to come together and discuss different perspectives. I especially love intergenerational events that bring teens, parents, and grandparents together.
What are your general thoughts on coming to The Westport Library to speak to our community?
I am excited to visit The Westport Library. A library says a lot about a community — it's evident that Westport values artistic expression and views the Library as the heart of its community. Also, I'm curious about your Seed Library.
There is so much information out there now and so many things to do and places to visit. Against that landscape, why do you think libraries still matter?
Libraries bring people together and foster engagement as a community. It's a place where everyone can access resources and ideas, and [where they] are valued as community members rather than as customers or consumers.
What are your favorite or most influential books?
Fiction:
1. The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
2. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
3. The Round House by Louise Erdrich
4. The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve
5. Chemistry by Weike Wang
6. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
7. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
8. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
9. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
10. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
I'm also a huge fan of audiobooks. Here are my favorites (fiction):
1. Sadie by Courtney Summers
2. The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe
3. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
4. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
5. The Martian by Andy Weir
6. I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
7. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
8. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
9. Tara Road by Maeve Binchy
10. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
And I listen to a lot of memoir/biography/autobiography/essays:
1. Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot
2. What Remains by Carole Radziwill
3. Hunger by Roxane Gay
4. Diana: Her True Story by Andrew Morton
5. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
6. Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
7. Becoming by Michelle Obama
8. Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe
9. God Said, "Ha!" by Julia Sweeney
10. The Drummond Girls by Mardi Jo Link
What music/musicians/albums inspire you?
Faouzia
Florence + The Machine
Luther Vandross
Martina McBride
MisterWives
One Republic
Patty Loveless
Sister Hazel
Vienna Teng
Yaz
[Related: Westport Library WestportREADS 2023 Freegal Playlist]
A good book is an immersive experience, an opportunity for the reader to get lost in imagination and explore a new world. A great book does that and more — it brings a community together to discuss, debate, and share in its wonder.
That is the goal of WestportREADS, which was created in 2002 as a way for Westporters to bond over a book and deepen the community’s engagement in literature.
The 2023 WestportREADS selection is Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley, the celebrated young adult novel centered on 18-year-old Daunis Fontaine, a Native teen who must navigate family tragedy, new relationships, and an FBI investigation to root out the corruption in her community.
Copies of the book are available for borrowing now at The Westport Library. Firekeeper’s Daughter is also available as a digital copy (e-book) and as an audiobook.
In addition, throughout the months of January and February, there will be events and programs centered on Firekeeper’s Daughter, including book discussions, celebrations, learning opportunities, and more. The capstone event will be held Thursday, February 16, when Boulley appears in-person at the Library to deliver the WestportREADS keynote address.
“We’re thrilled to celebrate Firekeeper’s Daughter as the 2023 WestportREADS selection and ecstatic to have her in the Library to deliver this year’s keynote,” said Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer. “Angeline is a master storyteller with a tale that will resonate throughout the Westport community and spark discussion and conversation in the way only a great book can.”
Boulley is a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and hails from Sugar Island, Michigan, located between the state’s Upper Peninsula and Canada. She served as her tribe’s education director and assistant executive director and on the board of regents at Bay Mills Community College before becoming director for the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education, and most recently, a first-time published novelist at age 54.
Boulley told The New York Times that she first had the idea for Firekeeper’s Daughter in high school but didn’t start writing it until she was 44. “The story started out as a whisper and then it got louder and louder,” she told the Times.
The book is a #1 New York Times Bestseller and a Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club YA Pick. It is being adapted at Netflix for TV with former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.
Among its many honors, Firekeeper’s Daughter was named a Printz Medal Winner, Morris Award Winner, American Indian Youth Literature Award YA Honor Book, TIME Magazine Best YA Book of All Time Selection, 2021 Kids’ Indie Next List Selection, Entertainment Weekly Most Anticipated Books of 2021 Selection, and PopSugar Best March 2021 YA Book Selection.
“Hitting hard when it comes to issues such as citizenship, language revitalization, and the corrosive presence of drugs on Native communities, this novel will long stand in the hearts of both Native and non-Native audiences,” raved Publishers Weekly.
Said NPR: “A contemplative exploration of existing between two cultural identities meets fake relationship romance meets backwoods thriller in this absolute powerhouse of a debut.”
Boulley’s father is a traditional firekeeper, which she described as one “who strikes ceremonial fires at spiritual activities in the tribal community and ensures protocols are followed.” She currently lives in Southwest Michigan but said that “my home will always be Bahweting (the place of the rapids) in Sault Ste. Marie.”
Past WestportREADS selections include The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, Towards a More Perfect Union: Confronting Racism by Layla Saad, and Exit West by Moshin Hamid, among others. For more past WestportREADS selections, and to learn more about the annual event, visit the WestportREADS homepage on The Westport Library website.
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Firekeeper’s Daughter Companion Books
Preschool and K-2
Fry Bread by Kevin Maillard
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
Grades 2-5
Jo Jo Makoons series by Dawn Quigley
We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell (nonfiction)
Middle School
Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids (short stories)
She Holds Up the Stars by Sandra Laronde
