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Pastel Painting with Greg Maichack

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Pastel crayons
We are excited to announce that we are hosting award-winning pastel artist Gregory Maichack via ZOOM on Wednesday, October 28th from 5:30 – 7:30pm!
He will be presenting an adult hands-on workshop entitled, “Pastel Paint the Miracle Flowers,” inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe. This pastel painting workshop is designed for sheer beginners to experienced artists.
Space is limited to 12 participants so please email the library at brimfieldlibraryrequests@gmail.com to reserve your spot and to schedule a curbside pick-up time to get your materials. That’s right! All participants will be provided pastels, red pencils, and pastel paper, in this fun pastel painting workshop that you will do from home! All we ask is that you return the red pencils once you are done.
Once you are a registered participant, we will email you the Zoom link.
This event is being sponsored by the Brimfield Cultural Council and the Friends of the Brimfield Public Library, Inc.

Virtual Cooking With Carla

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Join Carla, Registered Dietitian from Food Explorers to make quick and easy homemade Cinnamon Rolls! This event is being held on Wednesday, November 18th from 5-6pm. This recipe is yeast free, and uses self-raising flour to get the Cinnamon Rolls nice and fluffy. You’ll need the following ingredients to make this recipe: sugar, cinnamon, 5 cups self raising flour, 2.5 cups milk, 1 stick butter, powdered sugar and salt. You will need a rolling pin and non-stick baking spray, no electric mixer required! This class will be conducted using Zoom.
This event is for children ages 7+ and is limited to 10 families. Please email the library at brimfieldlibraryrequests@gmail.com to sign-up.
Once your family has signed up we will email you the zoom link. This event is being sponsored by the Friends of the Brimfield Public Library, Inc.

 

Social Justice Book Club

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The Social Justice Book Club is meeting via Zoom on Thursday, October 29th at 6:30pm. Call 413-245-3518 or email us at brimfieldlibraryrequests@gmail.com to reserve your copy of ‘The New Jim Crow’ today. From the book club:

“Come and have a conversation about some of the most important issues of our time. We seek to foster open, respectful conversation on difficult topics. The book of the month for October is: The New Jim Crow – Mass Incarceration in the Time of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.”

Visit the Facebook event for additional information: https://www.facebook.com/events/2680809738823100

Virtual Cooking with Megan

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Join Megan, Registered Dietitian from Food Explorers to make the quickest homemade Pizza of your life! This online event is on Tuesday, September 22nd from 5-6pm. In just one hour you’ll make your own pizza dough and have pizza for your whole family. To make this recipe you’ll need the following ingredients: sugar (1 TBSP), active dry yeast, olive oil, flour, salt and your choice of pizza toppings (sauce, cheese, veggies, meats, etc).This class will be conducted using Zoom.
This event is for children ages 7+ and is limited to 10 families. Please email the library at brimfieldlibraryrequests@gmail.com to sign-up.
Once your family has signed up we will email you the zoom link. This event is being sponsored by the Friends of the Brimfield Public Library, Inc.

 

Virtual Cooking with Katie

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Join Katie, Registered Dietitian from Food Explorers to make homemade chocolate Pop-tarts! This online event is on Tuesday, August 11th from 3:30pm – 5pm. You’ll learn how to make pastry dough from scratch, a chocolate fudge filling and delicious glaze to drizzle on top. You will need the following ingredients for this recipe: cocoa powder, chocolate chips, butter, AP flour, sugar, 1 egg, confectioners sugar and whole milk OR heavy cream (about 1/2 cup). A food processor would be very helpful, but not absolutely required. This class will be conducted using Zoom.

This event is for children ages 7+ and is limited to 10 families. Please email the library at brimfieldlibraryrequests@gmail.com to sign-up.

Once your family has signed up we will email you the zoom link. This event is being sponsored by the Friends of the Brimfield Public Library, Inc.

Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb

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Cover of "Nobody Will Tell You This But Me"

This is a touching remembrance of the author’s beloved grandmother, Bobby Bell. Bess Kalb saved every voicemail her grandmother had ever sent to her. This book is written around these sometimes explosively funny and sometimes very opinionated but always from a grandmother’s heart full of love, voicemails. If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to have that one person in your life who loves you and watches out for you more than anyone you will ever meet again and give you advice that no one else would ever dare to, this book will resonate with many touching emotions.

– Joanie, BPL

The Devil Wins by Robert B. Parker

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Parker has written many books, and Brimfield Library has a group of them.

This one is actually written by Reed Farrel Coleman, his second book continuing the Jesse Stone protagonist. If you enjoy reading in sequence, Blind Spot was Coleman’s first Stone book. I have not read this/these authors prior to picking up this book. Truth be told, I liked the cover!!

Paradise, MA is a coastal town, with a small population and very old roots. The residents are a tight-knit, and tight-lipped, community. Chief Stone is a newcomer, and as such, he is still making his way through the old bonds, working to understand whom to trust, and what to be wary of.

There are many secrets, lots of characters, and a fairly gritty beginning to the story, but I hung on & was glad that I did. There are similarities to Brimfield, given old and enduring relationships, some whispered secrets, and warmhearted townspeople.

– Beth, Mystery Buff BC

Imagine Your Story – Summer Reading Program – EXTENDED!

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Our Summer Reading Program kicks off on Wednesday, July 1st! We have a program for kids from Pre-K – Grade 6, and a program for teens from Grades 7 – 12. The theme this year is “Imagine Your Story,” a fun fantasy and fairy-tale theme. Prizes will be awarded!

Due to COVID-19 closures, we’re doing things a little differently this year. To sign up, please fill out our signup form here: https://forms.gle/gP85TEYENiRVt93f7

Once you’ve signed up, we’ll contact you about scheduling a time to pick up your summer reading materials. Paper logs will be offered for curbside pickup and are for you to help track your reading. To keep us informed of how much your child in the Pre-K – Grade 6 program has read, we also ask that you fill out our online reading log: https://forms.gle/gQvvjmX9NkB7qvQBA
We’ll get in touch when you’ve reached a prize!

Teens will get Bingo cards. Once a row is complete please email the library a picture of your bingo card at: brimfieldlibraryrequests@gmail.com
subject line – Summer Reading Bingo

The first completed line on the Bingo card earns you a prize. Each completed row after that earns you a ticket into a raffle that will be drawn on Aug 20th for 1 grand prize winner of a $25 gift certificate to a location of your choice. We will contact you to schedule a time to pick up your prize!

The window to sign-up for Summer Reading is July 1st -15th. The Summer Reading Program runs from July 1st – September 21st. If you have any questions, please call us at 413-245-3518 or email us at brimfieldlibraryrequests@gmail.com.

Out Past the Wires by Rod Picott

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Cover of "Out Past the Wires"

This is a beautifully written collection of short stories by one of my favorite singer/songwriters. I loved reading the stories behind some of his songs. These short stories reveal the heartache, misery and experiences of everyday working class Americans. The author’s insight, wit and compassion make these stories and characters so very real and fascinating that I’d like a full novel to be written around each one.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

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Cover of "A Great and Terrible Beauty"

Sixteen-year-old Gemma Doyle has lived in India her whole life, but dreams of moving to England. The year is 1895. Unfortunately, after the strange death of her mother, she’s shipped off to England due to her terrible change of fate. She’s accepted into a boarding school, where she is expected to become a proper young lady. Her transition into her new life is not an easy one, as she finds the other girls are not exactly accepting of her presence. She begins to experience strange, disturbing visions. To make matters worse, she’s been followed from Indian by a young man who watches her from a distance and warns her about the visions – as to why, she’s not sure.

As you can probably tell, there’s a lot of mystery and secrets in this book, and a little bit of romance. Gemma’s an interesting character, and a little hard to like at first, but I soon sympathized with her as she tried to deal with the difficult situation she’d been dealt as best as she could. The behavior of her fellow schoolmates was quite irritating at times, but these are teenage girls, after all!

This book is the first in a trilogy. Overall I enjoyed the book, but it’s not a favorite. I’m interested in what comes next in the story and may revisit the series later on.

– Anne, BPL