Join us in a discussion of one of my favorite novels, I Capture the Castle. There are different motivations in pulling a book from the shelves and deciding to follow the author into a different world. Sometimes we are looking for a little relaxation, mental stimulation, or belly grabbing laughter. This novel offers all of this through the eyes of Cassandra Mortmain, a young woman who realizes much about herself and her odd family in six short months… Written over 50 years ago, Dodie Smith takes you into a dilapidated castle and uncovers a heartwarming, dysfunctional family.

Join us and enter to win one of our Adult Summer Reading Raffles:
$30 to Cliff’s Country Inn
$75 to DiSiena Furniture

Tuesday, July 15th @ 6:30 pm

Wednesday, July 9th at 7:00 pm in Blockhouse Park!

Let’s get the Summer Reading Program off to the right start with a fun, educational show with live specimens of bugs, and lots of other stuff!

Check out the site dedicated just for this program: http://sflibrary.wordpress.com

the Stillwater Free Library will be closed for Independence Day Weekend on Friday, July 4th and Saturday, July 5th.

Join us in Blockhouse Park at noon to hear a reading of the Declaration of Independence by our own SHS Valedictorian and see who won the Book Cover Contest!

(Sorry, it’s Fenya, not Senya…)

Join us for a special experience in the library on Saturday, July 12th at 11:00 am.  Our friends, Fenya, who is a retired seeing eye dog, and her human, Mary Ellen, will be hanging out in the library so you can take a few moments to read to her.  DID YOU KNOW DOGS LOVE STORIES!?!?!?!?!

Parents - this is the perfect chance to get your reluctant reader to try a paragraph or two! 

Is this something you like?  Let us know and we can see if Fenya will visit once a month!

The Board of Trustees for the SFL will be meeting in the library on Tuesday, July 8th at 6:30 pm.  This meeting is open to the public and all are invited to attend!

The FOSFL Board will be meeting in the library on Wednesday, July 2nd at 5:00 pm.  This meeting is open to the public and all are invited to attend!

July 1st @ 6:30 we will be visiting with Michael Virtanen, a local author from the Adirondack region. Michael’s novel, Within a Forest Dark, recently won the 2007 Adirondack Writing Center Fiction award and will be the topic of discussion. “When Jack Kirkland travels to the Adirondack Mountains to investigate the death of a well-to-do engineer, he expects to uncover medical malpractice. Instead, he finds evidence of murder and falls in love with the only suspect, the dead man’s girlfriend. Will Kirkland give up his shot at happiness to get at the truth?”

Join the entire community in a summer reading frenzy!  Sign-ups begin Thursday, June 26th!  Children will receive a CATCH THE READING BUG bag to carry their summer reading treasures in - lots of starting prizes in each one!  There are only 150 bags - so don’t wait!  At the same time you can sign up to attend many of the special programs we are offering during the six weeks! Drop in crafts require no registration and every child gets a prize after so many minutes of reading!

Teens get to sign-up on the same day with their special prize coming all at the beginning.  That’s all I am saying!  You’ll have to risk it and sign up to find out what it is…

Not sure if you are a teen or child?  You decide which program meets your needs.  Children get to come for weekly crafts, earn prizes, and attend special programming.  Teens get one prize and a chance to win raffles.  They can also earn volunteer points by signing up to work one of the events.

Adults?  You better believe it!  There is an adult summer reading raffle with $30 to Cliff’s Country Inn or $75 from DiSiena Furniture.  More details at the library - stop in today!!!

Register now to attend a free interactive workshop on Saturday, June 21^st from 9-10 am at the Stillwater Free Library, 74 South Hudson Avenue on “Leadership Training Through Teambuilding.” Learn how to identify the four stages of group development and how to recognize the pitfalls of group dynamics. Managing conflict will also be discussed. This is a high-energy, fun workshop and involves team building activities you can use with your groups to encourage common goal achievement. To register, call the library at 664-6255, or email stilib@sals.edu.

Terrie Gifford combines a career in teaching with 15 years experience in sales. Using Toastmasters International leadership and public speaking training, she brings vibrancy and energy to her role as Corporate Team Building Facilitator for clients such as GE Pensions, Albany Molecular, Sabic Plastics and Berkshire Bank.

The Stillwater Free Library Board of Trustees will meet in the library on Tuesday, June 10th at 7:00pm in the upstairs meeting room. Open to the public. Preview the Meeting Agenda here…

Please note - this is a change from our usual time by one half hour…

At age three, she witnessed her mother’s death and still ended with her own suicide. In this rich piece of historical fiction by Margaret George (author of Mary, called Magdalene and The Autobiography of Henry VIII), we explore the possible life story of one the world’s most intriguing women.

Tuesday, June 17th @ 6:30 pm.

We are always looking for new members.  We understand discussing books with any group of people is frightening prospect (what if I sound silly or stupid?)  But we assure you, this is an open, fun bunch of readers with lots of anecdotes to share.  This is a fun way to get together once in a while and discuss what we thought of a piece we read - and YES, sometimes we have hated the book…

Knitting with Ali!

Join Ali as she guides you through a current project, introduces you to the art of knitting, or just offer some of your own sage advice.

Knitting is back - (did it ever leave?)

Wednesday, June 11th from 6-7 pm

7th graders and up - bring your manners and the best thing you have read…

Joseph Zarzynski, an underwater archaeologist, will be visiting on Tuesday June 3rd at 6:30pm. Joe helped uncover the 1758 Revolutionary Period radeau, Land Tortoise on Lake George. He is joining us to share clips from the new DVD and tell us what the whole experience was like.  Learn more about these ships and their purpose - call and save a seat! 664-6255.

The DVDs are available for sale in the library until the event itself for $37.40 (*tax included).  We also have a copy for you to check-out if you want a preview of what’s in store for you!  A perfect kick-off to the local season celebrating our colonial heritage!!

Special Event commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the Tornado that devastated residents of Mechanicville and Stillwater to be held Saturday, May 31st from 2-4 at the Riverside Pavilion…READ MORE

Join in the final conversation before a summer hiatus for the intellect! For the May meeting Charlie will guide us in trying to find the ties between all of the past titles we have discussed. How have you changed or become more adamant? Have you begun to see a difference in your viewpoints? Have the books shown themselves in your daily life?  Stop in to visit with us!

MAY 27th at 6:30 pm…

Daisy Goodwill Flett is “a middle-class woman, a woman of moderate intelligence and medium-sized ego and average good luck.” In other words, a woman so commonplace that her story would seem barely worth remarking, were it not, perhaps, for her own determination to tell it. And in telling it, give it shape and meaning - even if she must supply these herself.

This is the problem that Carol Shields addresses in The Stone Diaries: how do small lives, the kind most women were once assumed to lead, assume significance and coherence? How closely do our versions of those lives correspond to objective facts? Can facts be said to exist at all in the context of something as changeable and arbitrary as a life? To what extent do “our” stories really belong to us, considering the tendency that other people - parents, spouses, children - have to intrude in them, interpret them, claim them?

Join us for a discussion of The Stone Diaries on Tuesday, May 20th @ 6:30pm. New members are eagerly awaited - we’d love for you to stop and in and visit!

Join us in the library to celebrate the reading you do all month!  Play Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution or board games.  Enjoy what we have - or bring your own.  Whatever you do, bring your manners!

This month we are voting on a single title we will all read as the ticket in for next month.  Cant’s make it but want to be heard?  Stop in to give your suggested title.  Next month - we have to read the same so make it good!!!

Friday, May 9th from 5-8
5th and 6th grade students only 

Join us this month as we discuss the best thing we have read in the month of April! We are voting on a single title to read so stop in to cast your vote.

Same rules as always - Respect Yourself, Respect Each Other - and RESPECT THE SPACE!  See you at 5!!!!

Friday, May 2nd from 5-8 

It’s always OK to monkey around at Pre-School Storytime!
Every Friday at 12:30pm

Wednesday, May 14th @ 6:00pm

Join Ellen and Emma as they lead a group in crochet. Stop in to share what you are working on, learn the craft from scratch, or just to visit…

Crocheters of every level are more than welcome!

The Stillwater Free Library Board of Trustees will meet in the library on Tuesday, May 13th at 6:30pm in the upstairs meeting room. Open to the public.

I have decided to alter our schedule a tiny bit for the Thursday Activity. We are still meeting at 4:00 pm, but so nobody misses out and we don’t run into repeats - I will be doing the same craft for two weeks in a row. Following the craft, we all search the shelves for titles related to the theme! Starting this month you will find all of our children’s titles (fiction and non) in our re-designed children’s area! So come to the library on the Thursday afternoons that fit your schedule and hang out with your librarian! When we are all done - we can compare our projects to Michele’s version!

May 1st and 8th we will celebrate Mom with Mother’s Day Picture Holders!

May 15th and 22nd we are joining the high seas with a Pirate Eye Patch!

May 29th and June 5th we’ll help Dad keep track of his stuff with Alligator Fridge Clips!

June 12th and 19th we are getting ready for summer fun with Funky Monkey Magnets!

No need to reserve your seat - but supplies are limited! June 19th is our final day - Get Ready for Summer Reading 2008! I know we are!

True Stories of Lighthouses and Their Keepers

Getting ready for summer jaunts to the coastline?
Do you look for the far reaching towers of safety for passing ships?
Ever wonder what life was like for the keepers?

Kate Dudding, professional storyteller of Clifton Park, will join us on
Tuesday, May 6th at 6:30pm
in the library to share her tales on just that subject!

Join in the conversation as you enjoy stories from her CD,
“Lighting the Way Home: Stories of Lighthouses and Their Keepers”
This CD is available for sale in the library at $15 each. Supplies are limited and will be available until the night Kate comes to visit. You can get some more copies that evening and Kate will autograph them for you as well!

Listen to samples at Kate’s website: www.KateDudding.com