Children’s Services

The Children’s rooms hold our collections for kids age 0 through middle school! Everyone is welcome to browse the collection and enjoy our beautiful mansion rooms, but seating in these spaces is designated for children and families. Children under 9 must be accompanied by their grown up at all times, please. 

The yellow Harwick Picture Book Room holds our picture books, board books, Easy Reader books for Beginning Readers, Concept Books, Early Literacy kits, and children’s toys. We hold storytime and many programs for children in this sunny space!

The “red” Chapter Book Room contains our chapter books for kids up through around age 12, as well as our graphic novels for the same age group. Look for everything from American Girl and Mercy Watson, to Harry Potter and Warriors.

The purple Junior Nonfiction Room contains non-fiction information resources for children of all ages. Teens may find some sources from this room useful, although anything that is specifically for teens is located in YA non-fiction. This room also houses the children’s computers, which are reserved for kids and families to use.  In order for everyone to have a chance to use the computers, we ask that you limit your computer time to 30 minutes when the library is busy. 

In the middle of it all, you will find Miss Mo the youth services Librarian in the green hallway, across from the 3D printer! 

Recurring Programs

Family Storytime
Every Wednesday at 11am, join us for Family Storytime! This traditional storytime features 3 picture books, lots of songs, and action rhymes to keep all our littlest library visitors entertained! Children ages 0-5 or 6 will find something to enjoy!

Farmer’s Market Storytime:
During the summer months, watch for Miss Mo at the Newport Farmers Market on the Common at 4pm on Fridays when the weather permits! Children age 0-7 will find something to love. 

LEGO Days:
The library has a giant collection of LEGO, and every month we get them out at least once for a LEGO day for everyone to free-build and enjoy.

Needle-Felting:
Watch our calendar for our monthly needle-felting craft, for kids ages 6-11. This fascinating craft is one of Miss Mo’s specialties. 

Book Groups:
“My First Book Group” for new readers and their grown-ups, meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 3:30 pm. We read a beginning reader book together, have a snack, and discuss! Grownups are asked to stay.

Chapter Chats meets right after at 4:00pm on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. We start reading a chapter book together by taking turns reading aloud, and discuss it over a snack! This group is for grades 2-5, depending on reading level. Parents of children under 9 are asked to stay.

Every month we hold around 15-20 programs for children, including storytimes, crafts, STEM projects, and more. Watch for our monthly calendar, or sign up to receive our email newsletter!

Summer Reading

For more information about this year’s summer reading program, check out the Summer Reading page!

Did you know that reading during the summer months helps prevent summer learning loss amongst students? Kids who have less access to reading choices and less encouragement to keep reading are more likely to fall behind their peers. That’s where libraries come in! We pull out all the stops on our summer reading program every year to help keep as many Newport kids reading through the summer as we can. 

Our summer readers get a calendar to track their reading– every day that they spend at least 15 minutes reading, they cover with a sticker. When you come in to show me, I’ll stamp all the days you’ve read! 5 days of reading earns a free book from my book cart, and 10 days of reading earns an ice cream coupon to McDonalds. Along the way, they earn beads to add to their brag-tag necklace for each day of reading! 

Get to Know Your Children’s Librarian!