“When I was about eight, I decided that the most wonderful thing, next to a human being, was a book.” – Margaret Walker

Our childrenʼs programs are finished for the summer. We ended our “Be a Hero” series with music by Dan Simons. The kids love listening to him, and singing along. We are so grateful to all of our program heroes – we had a teacher, fire department and rescue people, a Maine author, and of course our musician, who read to us and presented so much great information and engaged our young patrons in beautiful conversations. We also thank the parents and grandparents who helped put together our craft projects – and we would have been lost without our summer program volunteer, Remi! Thanks also to Matt Dunn, as always, for providing ice cream certificates for the young patrons who signed up for summer reading and are working toward their goals of number of pages read.

The annual book sale was busy, and we got to visit with lots of people. Again, our volunteers made it all possible: everyone worked so hard, set-up was completed in record time! Thanks to all who helped load and unload innumerable boxes of books. We also want to thank the girls who set up a table to sell bouquets of wildflowers and homemade jewelry to benefit the library. In our book, all of our library volunteers are Super Heroes.

Monday, August 3rd at 7pm we will be at the Mt. Vernon Community Center for an information session on the proposed addition to the library building. The head of our board of trustees, George Smith, will be on hand to talk about the process and answer questions, and weʼll have the architectural drawings on display.

Then Thursday night that week, August 6, also at 7pm at the Community Center, weʼll have our annual Community Poetry Reading! Weʼve lost track of how long weʼve been doing this, but we guess itʼs been about 15 or 16 years. Join us for one of our most beloved programs. Bring a favorite poem to read, and listen to friends & neighbors recite Frost or Stevenson or Millay (or Silverstein). Weʼll have some anthologies there if you are inspired to read also, but forgot to bring a poem with you. Join us for a truly beautiful evening, and stay for light refreshments at the end.

To end the summer, respected Maine poet Stuart Kestenbaum will be reading his own work at the Vienna Union Hall on Wednesday, August 26 at 7pm. Iʼve been reading poems from his book Prayers & Run-on Sentences during quiet moments all summer. His writing is exquisite. It should be a fine night, please be with us.