Have you seen our Nutmeg Book Displays?

Right now, Clark Memorial Library’s Children’s Room and Teens & Tweens Area both have Nutmeg Book Award displays featuring the 2027 Nutmeg Nominees, as well as the 2026 Nutmeg Winners! Whether you’re just looking for a good summer reading book or plan to vote on which of the Nominees will become next year’s winner(s) in April, you’re sure to find something you’ll enjoy. Every Nominee has been selected from hundreds of submissions from children’s and school librarians – not to mention kids themselves! – from across the state, so you know they’re the best of the best!

If you don’t see a physical copy of the book you’re looking for, remember that many Nutmeg books are also available in ebook or audiobook format via the Library’s apps – Libby, Palace, and Hoopla. Palace even has a curated Nutmeg booklist featured on its homepage!

D&D Shorts

D&D Shorts is a new program for players who have already attended one of the Library’s Intro to D&D sessions, or otherwise have prior experience with the game! The program will take place upstairs in the Teens & Tweens area on alternating Saturdays, 1:00 – 4:00 PM, starting on July 18.

Up to 5 players will participate in 1-4 session “one-shot” adventures using premade characters. Registration is required. The program is for all ages, but players will be matched by age when possible, and may be asked to wait to join an age-appropriate group at Library staff’s discretion. Children under 12 must have a caretaker present in the Library during the program’s runtime, in accordance with CT General Statutes. Players (and/or caretakers) will be informed of how many sessions a given adventure is likely to take, and are expected to determine their availability in advance. Players who register after a group is at max capacity can be added to a waitlist; first-time players will be given priority when a new adventure starts.

To register, call the Library at (203) 393-2103 or email Antonio at astrumolo@bethanylibrary.org and provide a player name and age, caretaker name if applicable, and contact information (email preferred).

Comic Book Club

After the success of our Comic Book Workshop in January, we’re happy to be able to offer more comic-creation programming this summer! Join local artist James Vanderberg at the Library on Tuesdays, July 14, 21, & 28 from 2:00 – 4:00 PM for Comic Book Club!

During Comic Book Club sessions you’ll explore cartoon drawing, narrative storytelling, and autobiographical comic making, and work with simple tools and no-fail prompts to ignite your creativity, create your own characters, and tell your own stories. Whether you love reading graphic novels, making comics, or simply reading the Sunday funnies, you’re sure to find this program fun and engaging!

Comic Book Club is intended for ages 10 and up, but no previous artistic experience is needed. All supplies are provided. This is a drop in program – feel free to attend as many or as few sessions as you’d like! – but space is limited, so try to arrive as close to the starting time as possible.

Summer Open Sew

Saturdays | July 11, 18, & 25 | 2:00 – 4:00 PM

Join us on Saturday afternoons in July for our Summer Open Sew sessions, a chance to work on your latest needlework project – quilting, sewing, or mending! These drop-in “open studio” sessions are a chance to ask for pointers, show off your expertise, and enjoy shared interests and camaraderie. Sessions will be in the Community Room. The Library has invested in some beautiful sewing tools for everyone to use (special thanks to the Friends of the Library!), and this is a great option for anyone who works full-time. We hope to see you there!

Duct Tape Crafts!

We will be making duct tape crafts on Wednesdays in July, from 4:30 – 5:30 PM in the Teens & Tweens Maker Studio. We have the supplies to make wallets, clutches, and earrings – come join us and get creative! This is a drop-in activity for ages 12 and up.

The Library will be closed on Friday, July 3 AND Saturday, July 4 for Independence Day. Enjoy this particularly special holiday weekend – remember, this year is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence!

Planting Seeds to Read!

6 Week Summer Reading Program – Thursdays, July 9 – August 13
Drop In 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Come join us as we dig into plant-themed books and crafts this summer!
Planting Seeds to Read is a follow-up to last summer’s wildly successful Fractured Fairy Tales program – this time matching the “Plant a Seed, Read” theme of the Summer Reading Program. Each session will include the reading of a book, and then an associated craft. This is a drop-in program for ages 12 and under, and will take place in the Children’s Room. Caregivers must remain in the Library for the duration of the program.

Starting June 26, we invite our patrons to join us on Friday afternoons (3:30 – 4:30 PM) for Flashlight Fridays, when we turn off the lights and draw the curtains in the Children’s Room, then hand out flashlights for you to use to locate books and read them! We’ll keep it safe and magical and supply the flashlights, but feel free to bring your own if you’d like!

The Library’s America 250 Celebration may be over, but we will be keeping our Revolutionary Reading and Celebrating 250 Years of American History book displays up until Independence Day! Check out both fiction and non-fiction books covering a variety of touchstone periods in the history of the United States, including the Colonial Period, the Revolutionary, Civil, and World Wars, Westward Expansion, and the Civil Rights Movement. It’s a great chance to learn more about the history of our country!

Lunch Bunch Book Club

Wednesdays 1:00 – 2:00 | July 1, July 8, & July 15
Grades K – 2. Sign-up required.

Come join us at the Library for a summer book club designed to help our earliest readers, children grades K – 2, maintain and strengthen their reading skills during the summer break. Each week a new book will be discussed – the first meeting will have a read-along, and participants will pick up the book for the following week at the ends of the first two sessions. There will be light snacks provided for all participants, but you are free to bring your own as well!

Registration is required – the number of books available is limited. Call the Library at (203) 393-2103 or email us at clarkmain@bethanylibrary.org to sign up. Caregivers must remain in the Library while the program is in progress.