Ready for the Super Bowl? It's coming, on February 3rd, 2019, the Patriots will play the Los Angeles Rams. Millions of Americans gather around the television on this day to celebrate this de facto holiday. The first Super Bowl took place in 1966, the Game was originally called the AFL-NFL Championship game, if you would like to read more about the history of the Super Bowl, click here!
If your interested in Tom Brady, check out his TB12 book today! Or try Giselle Bundchen's new book,... Read PostLibrary Blog
January 13th 2019
The government of the United States has now been shut down for longer than any other time in the nation's history. What does this mean? For starters, many Federal workers--who often live paycheck to paycheck--don't have an income. A food pantry has been opened on the Boston US Coast Guard Base. Over 400 families came for food during the first 2 days it was open. Government workers and their families are facing hardship as unpaid bills mount. Across the country business are trying to ease the... Read Post
January 8th 2019
By Sarah Smarsh
Sarah Smarsh writes a beautiful memoir about her life growing up in rural Kansas. She speaks to her future child wishing her child will learn from her life experiences and writes what she would have hoped for her child not to have experienced growing up in an area of America where it’s impossible to leave your situation because of socio-economic status.
Smarsh’s grandmother had her mother at 16 and her mother had Sarah at 17. Smarsh tells the heartbreaking... Read Post
December 3rd 2018
Our great senior substitute Annie Schapira is a dedicated and discerning reader of YA fiction. Enjoy her latest review!
What would you endure in order to be beautiful? The Belles, Dhonielle Clayton’s 2018 novel, introduces Young Adult readers (and others!) to the kingdom of Orléans, whose citizens have been cursed with grotesque appearances until and unless a Belle can be hired to transform them - slowly, painfully, and expensively - into visions of beauty. Although all of the... Read Post
November 11th 2018
Looking for something to read? Try checking out our staff picks page, here's the link.
It features what your current Somerville Librarians are reading!
Comment below and tell us what your going to read next!
September 20th 2018
This week we were spared the worst of Hurricane Florence’s destruction, but 80 years ago on September 21, the 1938 hurricane known as the Long Island Express walloped New England with 100+ mph winds, killing more than 700 and leaving more than $300 million in damage (in 1938 dollars).
Here in Somerville, the damage was estimated to be $1 million. According to the Somerville Journal, the storm hit around the 5pm rush hour, injuring a dozen people, uprooting thousands of trees, and... Read Post
September 11th 2018
We love storytime at the West Branch. We love the books, the friends, moving and dancing and singing, and we really love the song “Roly Poly”!!!
Some of our friends have recently moved and are missing Storytime at West, others want to share this song with grownups who can’t make it to storytime, and some just love Roly-Poly-ing their little hearts out. A few Storytime regulars sat down with Alison this morning to record an enthusiastic version of Roly Poly for everyone to share at... Read Post
September 4th 2018
It’s that time of year again: Banned Books Week is from September 23-29, 2018, celebrating books that a community or person has deemed as unfit or offensive and asked to be removed from a library, school or bookstore. Banned Books Week is a celebration of your freedom to read and your First Amendment rights!
Below are some staff picks of our favorite banned books!
Glenn, Library Director
Bible - Challenged for its religious viewpoints in schools
... Read Post
August 23rd 2018
Central Hill Park was the first public parkland in Somerville. Created in 1870 with the purchase of 38 acres by the City (price tag: about $38,000), the lot spanned Highland Avenue between Walnut and School streets, and bordered by Medford Street on the north. Public buildings included City Hall, the high school, the Central Library, and a fire station which was relocated early in the 20th century.
Central Hill was the site of Revolutionary War fortifications, and the park originally... Read Post
August 3rd 2018
...to cook. In New England many of us spend half the year longing for summer, but once it's actually here we realize that hot weather makes certain basic life-maintenance tasks (such as cooking) unappealling. However, we still have to eat, even when the thermometer goes way up and the weather is sizzlin' hot. Some of SPL's books on seasonal cooking and main dish salads can help you find dinners to prepare without turning your kitchen into a furnace. When Mark Bittman was still writing his "... Read Post
August 2nd 2018
The West Branch of SPL opened to the public on May 27, 1909. It was one of 2,509 libraries built in the U.S. with funds from Andrew Carnegie - the Central Library and East Branch were also built with Carnegie funds. The image here shows the adult reading room in the early 20th century, now home to mysteries and audiovisual materials. Wait, is that a ghost in the picture? See if you can find the double-exposure "ghosts" in the frame. More images (and more ghosts!) of the West Branch in its... Read Post
July 18th 2018
Dilboy is a familiar name our city: Dilboy Field in West Somerville, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 529 – Dilboy Post - on Summer Street; the statue of Dilboy by City Hall. He was killed in action on July 18, 1918, near Chateau Thierry, France, and awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery posthumously. In May of this year, he was honored along with other World War I veterans at the Chateau-Thierry American Monument in France, where the American Battle Monuments Commission launched an... Read Post
July 6th 2018
Somerville youth under the age of 19 can enjoy free breakfasts and lunches Monday through Friday from now until August 18th. The meals are prepared by Somerville's award-winning Food and Nutrition Services Department and are brought to you courtesy of the Somerville Public Schools and the Somerville Recreation Department. Look for the Food and Nutrition truck to get your free nutritious meal! A schedule of times and places the trucks will stop can be found here.
More information... Read Post
June 28th 2018
Well, if you would like to read a magazine in Spanish, we have a few to recommend! All magazines, including the most current issues are free to check out with your Minuteman Library card.
National Geographic en Español -- inspiraiόn para cuidar el planeta. A stunning array of photographic images from every corner of the planet with in-depth, well-researched articles. Become an adventurer with diverse writings on culture, people, natural marvels, the animal world, science and... Read Post