Richards Free Library

Engage, Enrich, Entertain

Calendar

RFL September Calendar of Events

September

To download the calendar, scroll to the bottom of this post!

9/2 Temporary Tattoos (grades 6-12), 3 PM.

9/3 After School Coloring Party! Join us when you get out of school today to color with friends and get to know the Children’s Librarian.

9/4 Teen Hang-Out (grades 6-12), 2:30-4 PM.

9/8 LEGO Day Drop in, 2-4pm. Let your imagination loose to build anything at all with the library’s LEGOs.

9/9 My First Book Group, 3:30. Read a beginning reader book together. We’ll have a snack, read, and discuss. Grownups are asked to stay. BOOK: Dot the Ladybug: Dot Day

9/9 Chapter Chats, 4pm. We’ll start a chapter book together and discuss it! This is intended for grades 2-5, depending on children’s reading level. BOOK: Amber Brown is Not a Crayon

9/10 Needle Felting (Kids age 6-11), 1-4pm. learn how to needle felt or practice your skills! Make your favorite animal out of wool or try a simpler project!

9/11 Teen Hang-Out (grades 6-12), 2:30-4 PM.

9/16 Beaded Necklace (Kids 6-11 and their families), 3:30 pm. String a necklace or bracelet to take home!

9/16 Knitting group (adult), 6-8PM.

9/17 Craft Club: Paper Jewelry (adult), 5:30-7PM. Want to make a new accessory? We will make paper beads and quilled paper pendants! We’ll provide the supplies!

9/17 Teen Advisory Board (grades 6-12), 3 PM.

9/18 Kids’ Window Painting, 3:30pm-4:30pm. Help us decorate the Children’s Room with a fresh fall mural on the big window!

9/18 Legends and Truths About New England’s Wolves Presented by Susie Spikol (adults), 6 – 7PM. Discover how wolves survived, what forces lead to its extinction from the New England landscape, and how the stories and myths we tell about this creature continue to influence our perception of it today.

9/18 Teen Hang-Out (grades 6-12), 2:30-4 PM.

9/19 Newport Rec Building Play Group story time: 10-11am. We’ll be hanging out and reading stories at the Rec’s play group! Stop in and play and listen.

9/22 Bingo for Books (Kids 6-11 and their families), 3:30pm. Play Bingo for a chance to win free books!

9/22 Library Board of Trustees Meeting (open to the public), 6:30PM.

9/23 Writing Games (grades 6-12), 3 PM .

9/24 LEGO Day Drop in 1-5pm. Let your imagination loose to build anything at all with the library’s LEGOs.

9/24 Movie Night: West Side Story (2021), 5PM – 7:30PM. Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. An adaptation of the 1957 musical, West Side Story explores forbidden love and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds.

9/25 Poetry group (adult), 6-8PM.

9/25 Teen Hang-Out (grades 6-12), 2:30-4 PM.

9/29 Board Games (grades 6-12), 3 PM

9/30 Kids Stomp Rockets (Kids 6-11 and their families), 3:30. Weather permitting! Make a paper rocket and launch it with a stomp.

September 2025 Official (1)Download

Monica Wood to Accept the 2024 Hale Award

The Richards Free Library proudly announces best-selling Maine author, Monica Wood, as the recipient of the 2024 Sarah Josepha Hale Award. 

Monica Wood is an award-winning novelist, memoirist and playwright. Originally from Mexico, Maine, her writing tells character-driven stories about life-changing events. Wood was awarded the 2019 Constance Carlson Prize for contributions to the public humanities in

Maine; and the 2018 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Distinguished Achievement Award for her contributions to the literary arts.

Her newest novel, “How to Read a Book,” has already secured translation rights in five countries. Her previous novel, the bestselling “The One-in-a-Million Boy,” has been translated into 20 languages in over 30 countries. She is also the author of “When We Were the Kennedys,” a New England bestseller and winner of the May Sarton Memoir Award. Her other fiction, “Any Bitter Thing,” “Ernie’s Ark,” and “My Only Story” have also won awards and made bestseller lists. Her short stories have been widely anthologized and featured

on Public Radio International. Her nonfiction and reviews have appeared in O, the New York Times, Literary Hub, Down East, the San Francisco Chronicle, Martha Stewart Living, Parade and many other publications. She has also written several books for aspiring writers and three plays including “The Half-Light,” “Saint Dad,” and “Papermaker,” that in 2015 debuted in an extended run at Maine’s Portland Stage. She lives in Portland with her husband, Dan Abbott, and their cat, Susie.

Please join us Saturday September 7, 2024 at 7pm at the Newport Opera House for the award ceremony, which will include a speech by Wood as well as book sales and signing. The award ceremony is free and open to the public.

We will once again host a dinner with the author at the Old Courthouse Restaurant on the same evening at 5pm, prior to the ceremony. Dinner tickets are available for purchase at the library.

Summer Reading 2024 “Adventure Begins at Your Library” Events Schedule

June 27th 10:30am KICKOFF Family “Adventure Concert” with Miss Julieann Join us for a free family concert and adventure that will be fun for the whole family. Sing along to catchy new songs written and performed by music therapist Julieann Hartley, and come along as we go on an adventure around the library grounds and learn to look at things a little closer.

June 28th 10-12pm Kids’ Craft Button Making: Drop in to make a home-made button pin or two to adventure with this summer!

July 1st thru July 3rd Drop in Scavenger Hunt! Try out our library-themed scavenger hunt any time. Will you find everything we hid?

July 3rd 11am Adventure Family Story time! Pretend to be your favorite animal for this animal-themed story time for ages 0-6.

July 5th 10-4pm LEGO Day at the library! Build an obstacle to add to our LEGO obstacle course!

July 9th 2pm-3:30pm Unicorn and Dragon Party! Join us for stories, crafts, activities and snacks at this party celebrating our imaginations. Wear a costume to be part of our party parade!

July 10th 6pm Fantasy Map Making. Make your own fantasy map with some tips from an expert world builder! Big kids ages 8+, teens, and adults are all welcome to join in!

July 12th 12-4pm Let’s Crazy Craft! Make anything with our craft supplies: Summer Edition!

July 15th 2 pm Design a Hero: Needle Felt or use LEGO to build an adventurer to take home or use next week for Stop Motion!

July 17th 11am Adventure Story Time: Wonder Quest! Join in for an inspiring story time, and then we’ll go on a Quest around the library grounds to find the wonder surrounding us in the world outdoors. What will you find?

July 19th 1-3pm World Record Challenge. Kids and teens are invited to try out these challenges to see how quickly you can do them compared to the world record! It’s all fun and games, but can you get the fastest times?

July 22nd 1-3pm Make Your Own Adventure: Stop Motion Video. We’ll work together to film a stop-motion adventure, or you can learn some tricks to try it out in your own small group. For kids age 6-11 with their families.

July 23rd 2pm Author Visit with Marek Bennett, the beloved graphic novel author-illustrator who so many Newport kids love. Bring the whole family to meet Marek! The Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF) is sponsoring this visit and bringing 2 books for each child that attends. The presentation will be on the library side lawn.

July 24th 11 / 11:30am Fairy Houses! Come for our 11am family storytime, and stay to build nature-safe fairy houses on the library side lawn at 11:30. Items found in nature (fallen bark, sticks, shells) from home are welcome to supplement ours.

July 29th and 30th 2-5pm Library Escape Room: Register online or call to reserve a time slot to try our library-themed Escape Room with your friends or family. Kids under 9 will need at least one adult, please!

July 31st 11am Special Story Time: Bubbles! After a bubbly story time we’ll play with Ms Mo’s famous soap bubbles! Rain: Aug 7

August 2nd 10:30am-12 Navigation Games! Join expert Dawn Dextraze to learn an adventure skill and have a blast at the same time! Dawn is Sullivan county’s Natural Resources Education and Outreach Specialist, and she Knows. Her. Stuff!

August 3rd 10:30 -1:30 Stuffed animal drop-off! Drop off your stuffy for a weekend of epic stuffy adventures. Make your plushie a button pin before you go! See you Monday! (Registration required.) Note: Stuffies sleepover, not kids.

August 5th 1pm Stuffed Animal Tea Time Pick Up Party! Join the stuffies for a tea party in the ballroom, and watch a slideshow of all the adventures the Stuffies had over the weekend at the library!

August 6th 3:30pm Frozen T-Shirt Challenge: Can you wiggle into a frozen-solid t-shirt? Don’t miss this Newport tradition! We’ll round out the fun with other outdoor games.

August 8th 3pm Summer Reading Finale Ice Cream & Tie Dye Party! with ice cream donated by Sanctuary Dairy Farms. Bring something white to tie-dye! Kids, teens, and their families are all invited.

Looking Forward to Summer Reading 2024

Summer is around the corner!
It’s time to mark your calendars for June 27th for the kick off of the Summer Reading Program: Adventure Begins at Your Library! Mo is busily preparing activities and program to fill our warm months with fun! In the mean time, check out these events for May!

May 3rd- Kids Video Games, 4-5:00pm. Bring your friends and your favorite hand held video game, and join us for video games at the library! We’ll have our Nintendo Switches available for group games, too! This is just for kids ages 6-11 and their families.
May 6th-Let’s Crazy Craft! Drop in 1-6 pm. Let your imaginations run wild: Make anything at all with the supplies on the craft table! For families of all ages.
May 7th My First Book Group 3:30 read a beginning reader book together. We’ll have a snack, read, and discuss. This months book is Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff. Grownups are expected to stay
May 7th Chapter Chats 4:00pm We’ll start a chapter book together and discuss it! for grades 2-5, depending on reading level. This months book is Willa the Wisp by Jonathan Auxier. Grownups are expected to stay
May 9th Needle Felt! Kids Craft, drop in 1-4pm. For kids 6-11 and their families.
May 20th LEGO Day, Drop in between 1-6pm. Come build with our LEGOS! What can you build?
May 24th Newport Rec Play Group Story Visit, 10-11:30am at the Newport Rec Center down the road from us! Ms Mo will join the fun with some books to read aloud.
May 24th Kids Craft 1pm & 3pm – Suncatchers!
May 29th Kids Craft 1pm & 3pm – Shrinky dinks!

See you at the Library! 

Award Season Movie Nights at Richards Free Library!

Join us for two enchanting evenings filled with cinematic magic at Richards Free Library’s Award Season Movie Nights! On February 14th at 5 pm, immerse yourself in the world of glamour and fun as we screen the iconic “Barbie.” Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a touch of nostalgia and a sprinkle of sparkle. Then, on February 28th at 5 pm, get ready for an extraordinary experience with “Elemental,” a captivating film that promises to take you on a journey beyond imagination.

This is a free event and you don’t need to have a library card to watch with us! Don’t miss these cinematic celebrations – it’s more than just movies; it’s an award-worthy experience! 🍿