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Looking for some new toys?  Check something out from the Library!  We’ve got you covered with fun games like...

Feed the Monkey: work on that pincer grip and feel like you’re accomplishing something.

Easy-Twist Animal Builders: fine motor skills, matching, and crazy animals.

And a personal favorite, Don’t Let the Bugs Fall: it’s like Jenga with dice.  (You can see SPL librarians playing this game at the Somerville Media Center!)

Available at all... Read Post

The East Branch is currently closed. Stay tuned for updates.

Power will be back on as soon as possible.

I read so many books in 2017 most of them seem to have run together in my head. But four absolutely stand out in my memory. The first one is a re-read. The other three were new discoveries.

Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner.

Every time I read this novel I am astounded and moved, often by passages I don’t recall from previous readings.  For those who haven’t read Absalom, Absalom!, it’s a novel within a novel. For his entire life, young Quentin Compson has heard vague,... Read Post

The Boston area's white Christmas has given way to bone-chilling cold. According to National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson, local temperatures are and will be 20-25 degrees colder than normal into the next week. Frostbite is possible after as few as 30 minutes outside. Tomorrow the wind chill will be -13.

Here's what you need to do to stay warm and safe:

Have your overdue fines been keeping you away from the Library? Don't worry, even the best of us have overdue fines from time to time (yes, even librarians)!

This month, December 2017, we're inviting you back to the Library and helping you with those pesky overdue fines!

We're happy to announce Fine-Free December, a one-month “amnesty” period that will allow you to return overdue Somerville Public Library materials without paying overdue fees.

Simply bring your... Read Post

Today (Nov. 28) was Giving Tuesday, a day designated by the United Nations and New York City's 92nd Street Y as a universal day of giving, as a way to establish a contrast to the consumerism of the holiday season. But despite that rampant consumerism, the month of December is when Americans are most likely to donate to charities. According to some sources, a third of all charitable gifts in any given year are made in December: partly due to cultural pressures and partly due to deadlines for... Read Post

Tomorrow is Veterans Day, the federal holiday in honor of all veterans, living or dead, who have served this country. Veterans Day was first observed as Armistice Day, because Nov. 11 is the date of the cessation of hostilities in World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 calling for an annual observance and Nov. 11 was declared a holiday in 1938. In 1954 President Eisenhower issued a proclamation renaming the observance Veterans Day to indicate the holiday was in honor of all... Read Post