The Library Will Be Closed Monday in Honor of Memorial Day

The Library will be closed on Monday May 30th for the Memorial Day holiday. Summer hours will start June 4th. During the summer we are open Saturdays 9am-1pm and closed Sundays.

 

Evening of Poetry is this Tuesday Night

Don't forget our Evening of Poetry this Tuesday evening, May 24 at 6:30pm. All students who participated in the Library’s 14th Annual Poetry Contest, for grades K-12, are invited to read their poetry at this event, but this will be purely voluntary. The general public is encouraged to come and enjoy the readings. Prizes will be distributed in six different grade categories: K-2, 3 & 4, 5 & 6, 7 & 8, 9 & 10, and 11 & 12. Refreshments will be served. For more information please contact Denise LaFrance at 516-6082.

Check Out Our New Museum Pass!

We are THRILLED to announce that we've just added a 19th museum pass to our collection! Thank you to the Friends of the Library for sponsoring...(drum roll, please)...the Institute of Contemporary Art (the ICA) in Boston's Seaport District. The pass will admit two people (children under 17 are free) for $5 each (regular admission is $15). Reserve online now through our website's museum reservation system, or call us at 516-6050 to book your date. ENJOY!

2016 Poetry Contest Winners!

Dover Public Library’s

14th Annual Poetry Contest

The Dover Public Library would like to announce the winners of our 14th Annual Poetry Contest.  We would like to thank our judges: Janice Alberghene, John Michael Albert, Maria Faskianos, Marcia Goodnow, and Marsha Pelletier.

Category 1:   1^st Place: Nomusa Gwebu, Grade 1, Portsmouth Christian Academy
                    2^nd Place: Mariela Staniec, Grade 2, Portsmouth Christian Academy                     

                    Honorable Mention: Hailey Anzmann, Grade K, St. Mary Academy (tie)

                        Meredith Toland, Grade 2, Woodman Park School (tie)

Category 2:   1^st Place: Tim Kelm, Grade 4, Portsmouth Christian Academy

                    2^nd Place:  Cosette Meloon, Grade 4, Portsmouth Christian Academy
                    3^rd Place : Brooke Helliwell, Grade 4, Woodman Park School

                    Honorable Mention: Swami Dawar, Grade 4, Horne Street School
                                                 

Category 3:   1^st Place: Grace Russell, Grade 6, St. Mary Academy

                    2^nd Place: Keira Langus, Grade 6, Dover Middle School

                    3^rd Place: Katie McColley, Grade 6, Marshwood Middle School

                    Honorable Mention: Rory Perretti, Grade 6, St. Mary Academy
                                                   

Category 4:   1^st Place:  Emily Ferland, Grade 8, St. Mary Academy

                    2^nd Place:  Ashlyn Smith, Grade 7, Dover Middle School

                    3^rd Place:  Emalee Obyc, Grade 7, St. Mary Academy

                    Honorable Mention: Tatiana Davino, Grade 8, Dover Middle School (tie)
                                                      Madeleine Johnston, Grade 7, Dover Middle School (tie)

                                                  

Category 5:   1^st Place: Rachael Morong, Grade 9, Dover High School

                    2^nd Place: Morgen Smith, Grade 10, Dover High School

                    3^rd Place: Kathryn Komerska, Grade 9, Portsmouth Christian Academy
                    Honorable Mention:  Izabelle Wensley, Grade 9, Dover High School

                                                   

Category 6:   1^st Place:  Kristin Durham, Grade 12, Portsmouth Christian Academy

                    2nd Place: Mary McColley, Grade 11, Marshwood High School

                    3^rd Place: Anthony Harris, Grade 11, Dover High School

                    Honorable Mention:  Caitlin Angela McDonald, Grade 11, Dover High School
                                                     

Learn the truth about the Isabella Stewart Gardner heist: come and hear Stephen Kurkjian of the Boston Globe on May 23

The Dover Public Library is pleased to welcome author Stephen Kurkjian, author of “Master

Thieves”, on Monday, May 23 at 6:30pm.

     25 years after the famous art theft at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Stephen Kurkjian, the principal reporter on the case for The Boston Globe, has written a gripping account of the still-unsolved heist. In “Master Thieves”, Kurkjian reveals how the two criminal gangs, battling for control of Boston’s underworld, knew of the museum’s poor security, and that one had a motive to pull off the theft: to fashion an exchange that would result in the release of its leader from federal prison. It is a case defined by superlatives - the largest art theft in history, carrying the world’s largest reward offer, and a longer time on the FBI’s list of biggest unsolved art crimes than any other save one.

    

On March 18, 1990, two men disguised as Boston Police officers, tricked their way into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum after midnight, tied up two night watchmen and made off with an estimated half billion dollars’ worth of art, including three works by Rembrandt and a Vermeer masterpiece.

     A Boston native, Stephen Kurkjian spent nearly 40 years as an editor and reporter for The Boston Globe before retiring in 2007. During his career, he shared in three Pulitzer Prizes and won more than 20 regional and national reporting awards. Kurkjian graduated from Boston Latin School in 1962, majored in English Literature at Boston University, and earned his law degree from Suffolk University in 1970.

     Kurkjian was a founding member of The Globe’s investigative Spotlight Team, and its editor from 1979-1986. In 1986, he was named chief of The Globe's Washington Bureau. He covered the Supreme Court, the Justice Department, and the Bush White House during the first war in Iraq. 

     Returning to Boston in the early 1990s, Kurkjian undertook investigative projects at The Globe including the clergy abuse scandal inside the Boston Archdiocese, the devastating fire at a Rhode Island nightclub that took the lives of 100 people, and the recovery of a Cezanne still life that was stolen from a Berkshires home in 1978 and later auctioned for $29 million. He has also written extensively about the Armenian Genocide, which his late father survived as a three year-old in 1915. 

     Kurkjian’s 2005 article about the theft of 13 pieces of artwork from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is regarded as the most complete account of the still-unsolved crime. “Master Thieves”, his book on the theft, was published by PublicAffairs last year and received critical praise from The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post.  The book has been optioned to TriStar Studios and is currently being adapted into a screenplay.

      This program is free and open to the public. For more information call the Library at 603-516-6050.

Songs and Stories from WWII on May 17 @ 7pm with Richard Kruppa

     On Tuesday evening May 17 at 7pm, the Friends of the Library will host “Songs and Stories of World War II - Popular Wartime Songs and their Stories You Didn't Know”, presented by Richard Kruppa.

     Seventy five years ago this country entered World War II, and people of all ages love the music from the era, 1941-1945. This entertaining and informative program focuses on some of the most beloved songs from that era. Songs like “Bluebirds over the White Cliffs of Dover,” “Sentimental Journey,” and “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition." Richard not only sings the songs, accompanying himself on guitar, 5-string banjo, and baritone ukulele, but also tells their fascinating and unfamiliar stories as well; their meaning, how they came to be, and their significance.  

     Richard asks interesting and thought-provoking questions such as "What popular song was written in response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor?" "What song was popular world-wide and thought to be from each country where it was popular?" and "What WWII-era song was a top hit written and recorded by a state governor?”  

     Richard Kruppa, known musically as “Ramblin’ Richard,” is a member of the New England Foundation for the Arts, and is a retired professor from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. This program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will follow. Please call the Dover Public Library, 516-6050, for more information.