September 2022
September is Library Card Sign up Month! Come in & get a library card!

Welcome to the Portland Library! Come on in!
Come in and browse for items or use a computer or the copier. Curbside Delivery is also available; reserve items online and let us know when you want to pick up the items.

Wifi print from your mobile device or from home now available!

The bookdrop is open 24/7, is emptied frequently. The library is now fine free.

Children's Department

2022 Summer Reading Program Wrapup

Thank you to everyone who participated in Portland Library’s 2022 Summer Reading Challenge by reading, attending programs, completing our extra challenges to earn badges or volunteering to help run our programs or staff our volunteer desk.

An extra big THANK YOU goes out to the Friends of the Portland Library for funding the beautiful window artwork, prizes, programs and all aspects of this summer’s program.
We hope you had as much fun as we did!

337 kids and teens registered for summer reading
5,701 days read
174 Missions completed
35 programs offered for kids and teens
1,152 people attended our kids and teen programs
168 entries into our teen raffles

We’re looking forward to next year!

Congratulations to the winners of our teen raffles this summer!

$25 Amazon Gift Card:
Miles M. 
$25 Visa Gift Card:
Hailey B.
$25 Bass Pro Shops Gift Card:
Jack P. 
$25 Starbucks Gift Card:
Morganne P.
$25 Dairy Queen Gift Card:
Hannah L. 
$25 Game Stop Gift Card:
Alex B. 

We’re looking forward to next year!

Fall Storytimes

Registration is required and can be done through our website calendar or by calling the library at 860-342-6770 or registering through our library calendar at www.portlandlibraryct.org.

Preschool Storytime
Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m.
September 13, 20, 27, October 4, 11, 18, 25,
November 1, 15
(no program November 8 as there is no school)
Join us in our Wagner Room for stories, songs, and rhymes that encourage literacy and social skills and help get your preschooler prepared for kindergarten. We will offer a craft related to the weekly theme at the end of the program that can be done at the
library or brought home.

Storytime for Toddlers and Tots:
Mother Goose on the Loose
Wednesdays at 10:15 a.m. or 11:15 a.m.
September 14, 21, 28, October 5, 12, 19, 26,
November 2, 9, 16
Mother Goose on the Loose, a fun-filled interactive session for our youngest patrons, uses rhymes, a
story, songs, puppets, scarves, and more to stimulate the learning process of babies and toddlers. Two sessions will be offered each Wednesday to keep group sizes small and interactions personalized.

Become the Ultimate “Ologist” (grades 3-5)
Thursdays at 3:30 p.m.
September 15, 22, 29, October 6
The Ologies is a book series that delves into following lost journals and investigating unusual topics. Each week we will explore one of the Ologies in depth, from investigating Illusionology’s properties of magic to everything dragons and Wizardology. We will try out our spy skills with Spoyology and walk the plank while solving a Pirateology mystery. Get ready to become an expert investigator and the ultimate “Ologist.”

Registration is required and space is limited.

New Storywalk® at Riverfront Park
Come celebrate the installation of a new StoryWalk® at Riverfront Park by joining the Portland Library and the Portland Youth Services Little Hikers group for a short hike on Friday, September 9 at 10:30 a.m. The StoryWalk® concept was created as a way for people of all ages to combine physical activity with books and to help build children's interest in reading while encouraging healthy activity for all. The featured book is Duck on a Bike by David Shannon. After our walk, we will offer a craft and some light refreshments.

Save the Date: Pumpkin Painting for the Portland Fair
Wednesday, October 5 at 6:30 p.m.
Paint a pumpkin and we will bring it to the Portland Fair and enter it for you! Kids of all ages are invited to participate, but only those age 5 and up are eligible for fair entries. Pumpkins and paint will be supplied. A parent or guardian must be with children to help with supervision. Registration is required and space is limited.

Teen Advisory Group
Monday, September 12  at 3:30 p.m.

- Wish the library had more gaming events?
- Want to make sure the library orders that upcoming new release you’re so excited about?
- Interested in making a difference at your library and in your community?

Our Teen Advisory Group is taking on a new, more serious direction. Come share your thoughts with us on what you would like to see the library offer in terms of programs, materials and more while
enjoying some snacks and laughs with friends. You will earn community service hours for each meeting you attend. Registration is required.

Programs & Events

Art at the Library
Artist Reception: Sarah Schneiderman
Saturday September 10th 12-2pm
“Breaking Political Barriers 2020/2021” consists of portraits of elected persons who are members of marginalized groups, produced in part, to remind us why we all need to vote, no matter our political beliefs. Sarah Schneiderman transforms non-recyclable trash and repurposed objects into realistic and finely crafted images.  Her work investigates social, environmental, and political issues. Schneiderman has shown across the United States from Georgia to Washington state and Maine to California.  
Hosted by the Friends of the Library.

Saturday, September 24th
10:00a.m.-12 noon
Read & Recycle
The Friends of the Portland Library’s
are collecting gently used items
from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.
Bring gently used books, DVDs, CDs, puzzles and games. Thank you for your support.  Sales of these items benefit library services.

Constitution Day
September 17 is designated as Constitution Day and  Citizenship Day to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution  in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787.  

The Wadsworth Chapter of the  Daughters of the American Revolution has donated a poster and provided book marks during Constitution week: September 17th through the 23rd . Thank you to the DAR.

Book Clubs

September

Thursday September 1st @ 6:30p.m.
FTNBC (First Thursday Night Book Club)
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue.

Tuesday September 6th @ 1:00p.m.
Talk about Books (T. A. B.)
Things You Save in a Fire
by Katherine Center
Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's excellent at dealing with other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to uproot her life and move to Boston, it's an emergency of a kind Cassie never anticipated. The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew, even one as competent and smart as Cassie. 

Tuesday September 20th @ 1:00p.m.
Mystery Lovers’ Book Club
Velvet was the Night 
by  Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Mexico in the 1970s is a dangerous country, even for Maite, a secretary who spends her life seeking the romance found in cheap comic books and ignoring the activists protesting around the city. When her next-door neighbor, the beautiful art student Leonora, disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman—and journeying deeper into Leonora’s secret life of student radicals and
dissidents. 

Copies of all of these books are available!

View Online for More Information