What makes a better world, and how do you build one? This is the question we invite you to consider through a wide variety of programs and events this summer at the MRV Libraries. From the summer reading program kick-off featuring live birds of prey with the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum, to a final community art project that gathers inspiration from a month of reflecting on what makes a better world, there is something for all ages and interests.
Explore building a better world with construction and help us design and build three little free libraries for our communities. Or, join us to make and play Giant Jenga using recycled materials. With their new 3D printer, Makey Makey and LittleBits, the Warren Library offers a technology twist on building a better world. And for our youngest builders, Duplos will be available for constructing and free play at the Moretown Library.
Art and Music also help create a better world. The Joslin library will host several engaging concerts, including “Trash to Tunes” with Dennis Waring demonstrating a variety of instruments handmade from recycled materials. Bring a picnic dinner and enjoy traditional and original songs with rampant audience involvement with Jon Gilmore at the Warren Library. Finally, travel to the Spring Hill School stage to see a live action performance of “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss.
Nature often knows best how to build a better world. Join us for a series of programs on Nature’s Engineers and learn about the amazing adaptations and abilities of birds, bees and beavers. Wild Man extraordinaire Luke Foley will lead adventures in the fundamentals of wilderness survival, exploring the core elements of staying alive regardless of setting or circumstance. And, enter a tiny world to create fairy gardens with the Warren Library. Details on the great events and books that make up the summer reading program are coming to all three libraries soon.
Finally, reading can build a better world by encouraging new perspectives, teaching new skills and connecting us to each other. Some recent recommended books at the Moretown Library include “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi. Beginning in Ghana in the 18th century with two sisters, Gyasi’s novel follows two branches of a family tree; one line that remains in Africa, and one that ends up in the United States after one of the sisters is enslaved. Through the next eight generations we see the lasting consequences of the slave trade on both sides of the ocean, as well as the resiliency and hope that carries through the families. For non-fiction reading, Neil deGrasse Tyson brings us “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry”. True to form, deGrasse Tyson is able to condense the expansive questions of how we fit into the universe and the nature of space and time into short, easy to read chapters. As he writes in his dedication, “For all those who are too busy to read fat books yet nonetheless seek a conduit to the cosmos.”
Moretown Memorial Library 