Visit NPL’s events page on Facebook for detailed instructions on how to participate in online events and programs! Questions? Visit the Library, email library@newtonplks.org, or call 316-283-2890.
Mystery Lovers Book Club: 5 p.m. Oct. 4. Read and discuss “Vanished,” by Joseph Finder. Copies of the book are available for borrowing.
Early Reader Book Club: 4 p.m. Oct. 5. For grades K-2, this club meets each month during the school year. Children read a picture book together, discuss it, enjoy snacks and activities, and go home with copies to re-read with their families. Participants need not be able to read independently. Call 316-283-2890 or email library@newtonplks.org to sign up.
TALK Book Discussion: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 5. Join a TALK book discussion of “The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature,” by J. Drew Lanham, with guest discussion leader Carmaletta Williams. Copies of the book are available for borrowing. Presented with generous support from Humanities Kansas. For more info, go to www.newtonplks.org/TALK.
KanCare/Medicaid Help: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 6. GraceMed’s Mayra Mauricio Rosales will be at the library to answer questions about Medicaid/KanCare, and assist with enrollment, first and third Fridays of each month.
Teen & Tween Breakfast Book Club: 11 a.m. Oct. 7. Youths ages 10-18, read and discuss “Amulet, Vol. 1,” a graphic novel by Kazu Kibishi, while enjoying breakfast goodies. Copies of the book are available for borrowing.
Introducing the 3D Printer: 6:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 9. In this introductory session, you’ll learn the basics of how a 3D printer works and create your own 3D printed item with staff guidance. Participants must be at least 14 years old. Space is limited. Email library@newtonplks.org or call 316-283-2890 to reserve your spot.
Creative Teen Writers: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 10. Youths ages 10-18, join other young writers to work on your writing, second Tuesdays each month. Participants will be invited, but not required, to share some writing, followed by time to write.
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Club: 7 p.m. Oct. 10. Read and discuss “His Majesty’s Dragon,” by Naomi Novik. Copies of the book are available for borrowing.
Nonfiction Book Club: 12 p.m. Oct. 13. Read and discuss “The Monster’s Bones,” by David K. Randall. Copies of the book are available for borrowing.
Dungeons & Dragons: 2-6 p.m. Oct. 14 & 21. Roll With It presents D&D tabletop gaming sessions. Interested in joining the fun? Email Andrew, therealandydp@gmail.com, or stop by the library during a game. Beginners are always welcome.
Author Talk & Jam Session: 6-8 p.m. Oct. 17. In the spirit of the Walnut Valley Festival, participate in (or just listen to) an informal acoustic jam session at 6 p.m. An author talk and Q&A with Seth Bate will follow at 7 p.m. Bate is the author of the 2023 Kansas Notable Book “Winfield’s Walnut Valley Festival.” The author talk portion of the event will be livestreamed on Zoom and on the Newton Public Library Facebook page.
Third Thursday Book Club: 7 p.m. Oct. 19. Read and discuss “Billy Budd & The Piazza Tales,” by Herman Melville. Copies of the book are available for borrowing.
Teen Pumpkin Decorating: 3 p.m. Oct. 21. Youths ages 10-18, decorate a mini-pumpkin with markers, stickers, glue, paper, etc. The public will vote for their favorites, and the contest winner will be announced Oct. 31.
Fourth Tuesday Photography with Toby Carrig: 7 p.m. Oct. 24. Now the coordinator of Newton’s Convention & Visitors Bureau, Carrig enjoyed a long career as a newspaper photographer and reporter. He will show photos from some of his favorite assignments, including the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002. This is a hybrid program: Join in person at the library, attend via Zoom, or watch a livestream on the library Facebook page.
Zoo Photography Field Trip: 9-11:30 a.m. Oct. 28. Join Lou Alexander and Fourth Tuesday Photography Club participants for a photo-taking field trip at the Sedgwick County Zoo. The group will meet at the Zoo’s front gates just before 9 a.m. Participants will need to pay their own admissions to the zoo.
Cinema SocieTea: 2 p.m. Oct. 28. Enjoy a free library screening of the 2020 movie version of “Emma,” with tea and treats from Crust & Crumb Bakery.
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Teen GameZone & Crafts: 4-5:30 Mondays. Youths ages 10-18, head to the library for video games, board games and crafts, every Monday (except holidays) from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
1,000 Books Before Kindergarten. Families are invited to join the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program, a nationwide challenge that encourages parents and caregivers to regularly read aloud to their children. Contact the Library to register.
Legos at the Library. Every Friday from 3 to 5 p.m., head to the youth services level to play and create with a sizeable collection of Lego construction toys.
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New Items Now Available:
Use the online catalog to get more info and place holds on these items, or contact the Library for assistance! The newest items are at the top of the list. This is just a selection of new items; more can be found at the library and under the “New Titles” tab in the online catalog.
Catton, Eleanor. Birnam Wood. The founder of a guerilla gardening group that plants crops on roadsides, parks and neglected yards fights an enigmatic billionaire over a parcel of land. New Fiction
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill must rally his team to defend the universe and protect one of their own. If the mission is not completely successful, it could possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them. DVD
Lacey, Catherine. Biography of X. X – an iconoclastic artist, writer, and polarizing shape-shifter – falls dead in her office. X’s widow, CM, wild with grief and refusing everyone’s good advice, hurls herself into writing a biography of the woman she deified, opening a Pandora’s box of secrets, betrayals and destruction. New Fiction
McBride, James. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. Pottstown, Pennsylvania, 1972: a skeleton is found at the bottom of the well. The question of who it was and how it got there threatens secrets long-kept by residents of Chicken Hill, a dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans live side by side. New Fiction
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia. Silver Nitrate. When Montserrat and her best friend, Tristan, agree to help a cult horror director shoot the missing scene from a film he never finished, they start seeing strange things. They may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies. New Fiction
Vlahos, Hadley. The In-Between. A hospice nurse shows that end-of-life care can teach us just as much about how to live as it does about how we die, sharing moving stories of joy, wisdom and redemption from her patients’ final moments while offering wisdom and comfort for those dealing with loss. New Nonfiction
Grann, David. The Wager. On Jan. 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were 30 emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of H.M.S. The Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. New Nonfiction
Hanks, Tom. The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece. The Academy Award-winning actor and bestselling author presents a thought-provoking novel about the making of a star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film based on a series of comic books that depict the changes in America and American culture since WWII. New Fiction
Paolini, Christopher. Fractal Noise. On the seemingly uninhabited plan Talos VII, there is a circular pit, not of nature, but of design. A small team must journey across the surface to learn who built it and why, followed with each step they take toward the mysterious abyss by the ghosts of their past. New Fiction
Sebag Montefiore, Simon. The World. Arranging the whole human story into a single narrative, the historian chronicles the world’s great dynasties, focusing on the one commonality they all share: families. New Nonfiction
Vladeck, Stephen. The Shadow Docket. The author, an acclaimed legal scholar, exposes the Supreme Court’s use of the behind-the-scenes “shadow docket,” through which the court regularly makes decisions affecting millions of Americans without public hearings. New Nonfiction
Wilbur, Matika. Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America. A social documentarian and photographer presents compelling personal narratives and photographs of Native people and the issues they face, seeking to educate and inspire. New Nonfiction
Benedict, Jeff. LeBron. This definite biography of one of the greatest athletes of all time chronicles not only Lebron James’ meteoric rise to fame but also his solid family, political activism and business empire. New Nonfiction
Cuffy, Nicole. Dances. Promoted to the rank of principal dancer at New York City Ballet, Cece Cordell, a young Black woman, still feels like she doesn’t belong, and, despite her dream achievement, is faced with a choice that may derail her career. New Fiction
Grisson, Kathleen. Crow Mary. Married to a white fur trader in 1872, a Crow Native woman has her journey to Saskatchewan interrupted. She steals two guns and saves five Nakota women who were kidnapped by drunken whiskey traders, setting off a culture war. New Fiction
Magsamen, Susan and Ivy Ross. Your Brain on Art. Combining breakthrough research, insights from multidisciplinary pioneers and real-life stories, this authoritative guide to the new science of neuroaesthetics shows how the arts, from painting and dancing to expressive writing, architecture and more, are essential for improving physical and mental health. New Nonfiction
Miranda, Megan. The Only Survivors. When a group of classmates reunite to mark the tenth anniversary of a terrible accident, one of the survivors disappears, casting fear and suspicion on the remaining individuals – and on the original tragedy itself. New Fiction
Rubin, Gretchen. Life in Five Senses. Drawing on cutting-edge science, philosophy, literature, and her own efforts to practice what she learns, the author of “The Happiness Project” offers insights and practical suggestions to heighten one’s senses and use powers of perception to live a richer life. New Nonfiction
Gomera-Tavarez, Camille. High Spirits. Eleven interconnected short stories center on an extended family across multiple generations, set in the fictional small town of Hidalpa as well as Santo Domingo, Paterson, San Juan and Washington Heights. New YA Fiction
Hammonds, Jas. We Deserve Monuments. When 17-year-old Avery moves to rural Georgia to live with her ailing grandmother, she encounters decades-old family secrets and a mystery surrounding her town’s racist past. New YA Fiction
Howl’s Moving Castle. Sophie befriends a wizard named Howl who lives in a magical flying castle. The evil Witch of Waste takes issue with their budding relationship and casts a spell to age Sophie prematurely. Now Howl must use all his magical talents to battle the jealous hag and return Sophie to her former youth and beauty. DVD & Blu-ray
Jumanji. A magical board game unleashes a world of adventure on siblings Peter and Judy Shepherd. DVD
Magic Mike’s Last Dance. Mike Lane is broke and bartending in Florida. Hoping for one last hurrah, he heads to London with a wealthy socialite who lures him with an offer he can’t refuse, and an agenda all her own. DVD
Sharknado: The Complete Collection. Across six feature films, total running time 9 hours, Ian Ziering and Tara Reid play a husband and wife who encounter “sharknadoes” wherever they go. Sharknadoes are tornadoes filled with sharks. DVD & Blu-ray.
Gay, Ross. Inciting Joy. Prize-winning poet and author Ross Gay considers the joy we incite when we care for each other, especially during life’s inevitable hardships. New Nonfiction
Goucher, Kara. The Longest Race. An Olympic runner and crusader reveals her experience living through and speaking out about her coach’s culture of abuse and how Nike stood by him for years, proving itself capable of shockingly misogynistic corporate practices. New Nonfiction
May, Katherine. Enchantment. May invites the reader to come with her on a journey to reawaken our innate sense of wonder and awe. With humor, candor, and warmth, she shares stories of her own struggles with work, family, and the aftereffects of pandemic, particularly feelings of overwhelm as the world rushes to reopen. New Nonfiction
Miller, Michelle. Belonging. The award-winning co-host of CBS Saturday Morning reflects on her decades-long journey to reconnect with the mother who abandoned her at birth and how her mixed-race heritage informed her own sense of self. New Nonfiction
Napolitano, Ann. Hello Beautiful. A modern homage to Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.” William Waters, a college freshman basketball player, meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman. With Julia comes her three younger sisters, who fold Julia’s new boyfriend into their loving, chaotic household. New Fiction
Porterfield, Amy. Two Weeks Notice. The host of the podcast “Online Marketing Made Easy” explains how she quit her office job and built an eight-figure online business on her own terms. New Nonfiction
Baldacci, David. Simply Lies. Two women – a former detective and a dangerous con artist – go head-to-head in a twisting game of cat and mouse. New Fiction
Forman, Gayle. If I Stay. While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, 17-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weighs whether to live with ner grief or join her family in death. New YA Fiction.
Hoy, Jim. Gathering Strays: Stories from Kansas and the Southwest Plains. The storyteller and folklorist has gathered a new collection of vignettes about Kansas, Great Plains and Western life, both historical and contemporary. New Nonfiction
Klosi, Liza Wallach. Getting Started with 3D Printing. An accessible guidebook for those with no prior knowledge of 3D printing, including info on free 3D modeling software, as well as 3D printing services for those who don’t want to immediately invest in equipment. New Nonfiction
Korman, Gordon. The Superteacher Project. Oliver and Nathan, determined to get to the bottom of their new homeroom teacher’s fishy behavior, discover that Mr. Aidact is actually an AI robot from a secret experimental program. New Children’s Fiction
Thunberg, Greta. The Climate Book. The Swedish environmental activist served as editor of this collection of essays and articles from over one hundred experts in climate change-related fields, including geophysicists, oceanographers, meteorologists, engineers, economists, mathematicians, historians, philosophers, and indigenous leaders. New Nonfiction