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.
Saturday Afternoon at the Movies: 2 p.m. March 25. Enjoy a free library screening of “West Side Story,” the 1961 movie adaptation of Leonard Bernstein’s musical retelling of “Romeo and Juliet.” Popcorn will be provided.
Teen GameZone: 4-5:30 p.m. March 27. Youths ages 10-18, head to the library for video games, board games and crafts.
TALK Book Discussion: 7 p.m. March 27. Read and discuss “Like Water for Chocolate,” by Laura Esquivel, with guest discussion leader Miranda Ericsson Kendall. Copies of the book are available for borrowing. The TALK program is presented with support from Humanities Kansas.
Fourth Tuesday Photography: 7 p.m. March 28. Sean Tomlinson will share what he created during a recent photography workshop, in a presentation titled “Rocky Mountain National Park in January, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Crampons.” This is a hybrid program: Attend in person at the library, join via Zoom, or head to the Newton Public Library Facebook page for a livestream.
Teen & Tween Breakfast Book Club: 11 a.m. April 1. Youths ages 10-18, read “Just Under the Clouds,” by Melissa Samo, then come to the library to discuss the book and enjoy breakfast goodies. Copies of the book are available for borrowing.
Teen Screen: 3 p.m. April 1. Youths ages 10-18, enjoy a free library screening of “Catch Me If You Can,” with popcorn provided.
Teen GameZone: 4-5:30 p.m. April 3. Youths ages 10-18, head to the library for video games, board games and crafts.
Hands-on Science with Cindy Blobaum: 4:30-6 p.m. April 3. Science author Cindy Blobaum will facilitate drop-in activities in the children’s area. Kids will get to make a buzzing bug; find and keep very small, real fossils; explore gravity through finger balance; and assemble a large dinosaur skeleton puzzle. Activities are best suited for children ages 5 through 12.
Big Read Community Discussion: 7 p.m. April 3. Join a community discussion of this year’s Big Read selection,” Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” by Roz Chast. The Newton discussion will be led by therapist and social worker Joanna Bjerum. Copies of the book are available for borrowing.
Mystery Lovers Book Club: 5 p.m. April 5. Read and discuss “The Thursday Murder Club,” by Richard Osman. Copies of the book are available for borrowing.
KanCare/Medicaid Help: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. April 7. GraceMed’s Mayra Mauricio Rosales and Esther Epp of the Kansas Division of Health Care Finance will be at the library to answer questions about Medicaid/KanCare, and assist with enrollment, first and third Fridays of each month.
Dungeons & Dragons: 2-6 p.m. April 8. Join Roll With It for a tabletop gaming session. Beginning D&D players are welcome.
Teen GameZone: 4-5:30 p.m. April 10. Youths ages 10-18, head to the library for video games, board games and crafts.
Nonfiction Book Club: 12 p.m. April 14. Read and discuss “The Orchid Thief,” by Susan Orlean. Copies of the book are available for borrowing.
Teen Crafts & Jewelry-Making: 3 p.m. April 15. Youths ages 10-18, head to the library for a free crafting and jewelry-making event.
Teen GameZone: 4-5:30 p.m. April 17. Youths ages 10-18, head to the library for video games, board games and crafts.
Kansas Author Talk with Jim Hoy: 7 p.m. April 18. Celebrated folklorist and author Jim Hoy will share stories from his new book, “Gathering Strays: Stories from Kansas and the Southwestern Plains.” Hoy covers areas like rodeos and cattle drives, taking us from Dodge City to Beer City and everywhere in between. This is a hybrid program: Join in person at the library, attend remotely via Zoom, or head to the Newton Public Library Facebook page for a livestream.
Third Thursday Book Club: 7 p.m. April 20. Read and discuss “Pnin,” by Vladimir Nabokov. Copies of the book are available for borrowing.
Saturday Afternoon Movie: 2 p.m. April 22. Enjoy a free library screening of the movie-musical “Singing in the Rain,” with popcorn provided.
Teen GameZone: 4-5:30 p.m. April 24. Youths ages 10-18, head to the library for video games, board games and crafts.
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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.
Buckwalter, Karen Doyle, Debbie Reed and Wendy Lyons Sunshine. Raising the Challenging Child. The authors empower frustrated parents with practical tips and real-life examples of how to minimize behavioral meltdowns, reduce conflict, increase cooperation and improve family relationships. New Nonfiction
Dodd, Christina. Forget What You Know. Zoey Phoenix is almost killed in a car accident. On the same day, her mother disappears. She must rely on her ex-husband to help her recover, and to search for answers. New Fiction
McGurk, Linda Åkeson. There’s No Such Thing As Bad Weather. Struggling to decide what was best for her family, the author embarked on a six-month journey to Sweden with her two daughters to see how their lives would change in a place where spending time in nature is considered essential to a good childhood. New Nonfiction
Rubin, Rick. The Creative Act: A Way of Being. The nine-time Grammy-winning producer illuminates the path of the artist as a road we can all follow, put the power to create moments, and lifetimes, of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us. New Nonfiction
Takamura, Kaoru. Lady Joker: Volume One. Tokyo, 1995. Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses. They have little in common except a deep disaffection with their lives, but together they represent the social struggles and griefs of post-war Japan. New Fiction
Figes, Orlando. The Story of Russia. Based on a lifetime of scholarship, this fresh approach to the thousand years of Russia’s history discusses the national mythologies and imperial ideologies that have shaped how Russians think about their past and how the country thinks and acts today. New Nonfiction
Hawkins, Rachel. The Villa. While on a girls trip to Italy with her best friend, Chess, Emily discovers their high-end villa was once the scene of a brutal murder, and, digging into the past, finds the truth seeping into the present as dangerous betrayals emerge. New Fiction
Hendrickson, John. Life on Delay. A senior editor at The Atlantic takes us deep inside the mind and heart of a stutterer, writing candidly about issues stutterers like him face daily, describing the evolution of speech therapy, and sharing portraits of fellow stutterers who have changed his life. New Nonfiction
Morimi, Tomihiko. The Tatami Galaxy. An unfulfilled Kyoto University student hurtles through four parallel realities to explore the what-might’ve-been and the what-should-never-be, in this Groundhog’s Day-esque campus chronicle. New Fiction
Nayler, Ray. The Mountain in the Sea. On the remote Con Dao Archipelago, marine biologist Ha Nguyen studies a highly intelligent, dangerous octopus species that could hold the key to extra-human intelligence. The scientist must protect the octopuses from powerful forces who want to use them for nefarious purposes. New Fiction
Saunders, George. Liberation Day. The short-story master explores ideas of power, ethics and justice, cutting to the heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. New Fiction
Bono. Surrender. One of the music world’s most iconic artists writes about his remarkable life for the first time, from his early days growing up in Dublin, to U2’s meteoric rise to fame, to his more than 20 years of activism dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. New Nonfiction
Galloway, Scott. Adrift: America in 100 Charts. Galloway demonstrates how crises such as Jim Crow, World War II, and the Stock Market Crash of 2008, as well as the escalating power of technology, an entrenched white patriarchy, and the socio-economic effects of the pandemic, created today’s perfect storm. New Nonfiction
Harjo, Joy. Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light. The Tulsa resident and past U.S. Poet Laureate has selected her best poems from across 50 years. Generous notes on each poem offer insight into her inimitable poetics, as she takes inspiration from sunrise, horse songs and jazz. New Poetry
Hillier, Jennifer. Things We Do in the Dark. Accused of murdering her celebrity husband, Paris Peralta must stop the only person who knows her dark secret from destroying the new life she’s worked so hard to build, along with any chance of a future. New Fiction
Maraniss, David. Path Lit By Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist presents a biography of America’s greatest all-around athlete. Jim Thorpe survived racism, alcoholism, broken marriages and financial distress to become a myth and legend. New Nonfiction
Wilson, Kevin. Now is Not the Time to Panic. As a 16-year-old, Frankie Budget causes hysteria in the small town of Coalfield, Tenn., by creating and distributing an unsigned poster with an enigmatic phrase: “We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.” Twenty years later, she gets a call from a journalist who is writing a story about the Coalfield Panic of 1996. New Fiction
Clayton, Dhonielle, Angie Thomas, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Ashley Woodfolk and Nicola Yoon. Whiteout. In Atlanta, just before Christmas, twelve teens band together to help a friend pull off the most epic apology of her life during the storm of the century, which results in a magical moment that changes everything. New Fiction
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. The psychologist turned philosopher posits that individual religious experiences, rather than the tenets of organized religions, form the backbone of religious life. New Nonfiction
Kaplan, Fred. The Bomb. The national-security columnist for Slate and Pulitzer Prize finalist, combining deep reporting with historical research, and discussing theories that have dominated nightmare scenarios, presents a history of American policy on nuclear war. New Nonfiction
Obama, Michelle. The Light We Carry. The former first lady shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today’s highly uncertain world. New Nonfiction
Peter, David. The Incredible Hulk: Fall of the Pantheon. Hela claims the Hulk in an Asgardian underworld epic. New Graphic Novel
Rushdie, Salman. Joseph Anton. Presents a memoir of the author’s nine years spent underground after he was sentenced to death by the Ayatollah Khomeini for his controversial novel, “The Satanic Verses,” describing how his family and he continued to live while constantly in hiding and under police protection. New Nonfiction
Fyffe, Caroline. Montana Dawn. When Luke McCutcheon finds Faith Brown about to give birth in her rickety wagon, his first instincts are to ride for help. Instead, he stays and delivers a beautiful baby girl. Unable to leave the pretty young widow and her little son and newborn unprotected in the Montana wilderness, he brings them along on his family’s cattle drive, to the absolute delight of the other friendly cowboys. New Large Print Fiction
Maté, Gabor. The Myth of Normal. The author dissects how, in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. What is really “normal” when it comes to health? New Nonfiction
Meyer, Marissa. Cursed. When the true intentions of the Erlking are revealed, which could forever alter the mortal realm, Serilda and Gild must foil the Erlking’s evil agenda by solving the mystery of Gild’s forgotten name in order to protect their unborn child. New YA Fiction
Sanderson, Brandon and Janci Patterson. Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians. Biblioden, founder of the Evil Librarians, is back to complete his goal of world domination and it is up to Bastille to lead the charge against him. New YA Fiction
Totenberg, Nina. Dinners with Ruth. The NPR correspondent delivers a memoir of her personal successes, struggles and life-affirming relationships, including her friendship of nearly 50 years with the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. New Nonfiction
Wendig, Chuck. Wayward. Five years after ordinary Americans sleepwalked across the country to a destination they only knew, followed by the shepherds—friends and family who gave up everything to protect them—the survivors seek to rebuild human society with the help of three unlikely heroes. New Fiction
Bogdanich, Walt and Michael Forsythe. When McKinsey Comes to Town. Conducting hundreds of interviews, obtaining tens of thousands revelatory documents and following the money, two prizewinning investigative journalists expose how the prestigious international consulting firm that advises corporations and governments has often made the world more unequal, more corrupt and more dangerous. New Nonfiction
Haberman, Maggie. Confidence Man. The New York Times reporter chronicles the rise of our 45th president, from his days as a New York City real estate developer to vanguard of a new norm-shattering era in American political history. New Nonfiction
MacAskill, William. What We Owe The Future. Making a case for “longtermism,” which positively influences the long-term future, as a major priority of our time, an Oxford philosopher shows how if we put humanity’s course to right, our future generations will thrive. New Nonfiction
Meacham, Jon. And There Was Light. The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer examines the life and moral evolution of Abraham Lincoln and how he navigated the crises of slavery, secession and war by both marshaling the power of the presidency and recognizing its limitations. New Nonfiction
Munroe, Randall. What If? 2. The author consults the latest research on everything from swing-set physics to airliner catapult design to answer his readers’ questions, clearly and concisely, with illuminating and occasionally terrifying illustrations. New Nonfiction
Ripa, Kelly. Live Wire. The beloved daytime talk show host shares sharp-witted and insightful stories about her life as a professional, wife, daughter and mother, bringing hard-earned wisdom and an eye for the absurdity of life to every minute of the day. New Nonfiction