Exercise Your Creativity

 Have you tried our Creativebug database yet?  It is a collection of more than 1000 video classes, free to library patrons with their borrower card number, covering a wide variety of creative topics.  Classes range from 3 minutes to more than 6 hours long. 

Just a few of the topics are drawing, painting, lettering, sewing, paper crafts, book binding, knitting, baking, canning and preserving, upholstering, furniture restoration, home décor, jewelry, and kids’ crafts.  They constantly add new projects. Prepare for summer fun by creating your own rice paper lanterns, bubble wands, or a fun teepee for the kids.

 

The Creativebug link can be found on the Learning and Research page of the library's website: library.dover.nh.gov/research, and DPL cardholders get unlimited access to all videos!

Meet "The Gravestone Girls" Tuesday, May 21, 7pm

     On Tuesday, May 21 at the Dover Public Library at 7pm, cemetery historians “The Gravestone Girls” will present a virtual tour of New England cemetery art, history, and symbolism. Their 90-minute presentation, called "Welcome to The Graveyard", will be centered on local cemeteries and is built on photographs recently taken in burying places, particularly in Pine Hill Cemetery which began as Dover’s first public burying ground in 1731.

    The Girls, led by Brenda Sullivan, will explain why we have cemeteries and gravestones, why the stones look the way they do, and how their styles and art have evolved over almost 400 years. Brenda has been studying gravestones for nearly twenty years.  A lifelong Massachusetts resident, she has spent many hours in graveyards all over the world.  Her education in art history and restoration led to the creation of The Gravestone Girls whose mission, "Keep Our Dead Alive!", is accomplished through educational lectures, tours, and gravestone rubbing classes. The Girls also create beautiful and unusual sculpted castings of the primitive art found on the faces of old New England gravestones. Their gravestone art pieces are shown regularly at art and craft festivals.

      Brenda works with libraries, historical societies, genealogy groups, and museums to raise awareness and teach residents what history lies buried in their own back yards. She adds, “Almost everyone is interested in these peaceful and beautiful spaces, but may be hesitant to say so to others.  Our presentation lets you know you’re not the only one. Come see what we do!”

        If you’ve ever taken a walk through Pine Hill Cemetery and admired its beauty, you will delight in this presentation.  Visit www.GravestoneGirls.com for more information on their work. This program is free, sponsored by The Friends of the Dover Library. For more information about the program, call the library at 603-516-6050.

2019 Reading Challenge: Nominated for an award in 2015

Do you remember 2015? I know it seems like a long time ago so let me refresh your memory:

• Former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
•  An Amtrak trail derailed in Philadelphia, killing 8 and injuring over 200 passengers.
•  Two prisoners escaped from a jail in New York.
•  Satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo's Paris headquarters was attacked by a terrorist group.
• The Patriots were accused of under-inflating footballs in a scandal dubbed "deflategate."

But not everything was bad!

• Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars's "Uptown Funk" became the big hit of the year.
• Pope Francis made his first visit to America.
• The internet became divided over whether a picture of a dress was blue and black or gold and white.
• Same-sex marriage became legal in the US.
• William and Kate introduced Princess Charlotte to the world.

And all of these award-nominated books were released meaning our "to-be-read" piles suddenly became much longer...

Fiction

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A blind French girl on the run from the German occupation and a German orphan-turned-Resistance tracker struggle with respective beliefs after meeting on the Brittany coast.

 

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

A novel framed as a fictional oral history that explores the events and characters surrounding the attempted assassination of Bob Marley during the political turmoil on Jamaica in the late 1970s.

Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson

A collection of stories that delve deeply into love, loss, the decisions we make for ourselves, and the decisions we make for others.

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Marrying in a whirlwind amid predictions of future greatness, Lotto and Mathilde are shaped throughout a subsequent shared decade by complications, secrets, and powerful creative drives.

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

Lord Blackheart, a villain with a vendetta, and his sidekick, Nimona, an impulsive young shapeshifter, must prove to the kingdom that Sir Goldenloin and the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.

The Turner House by Angela Flournoy

As ailing matriarch Viola finds herself forced to leave her home and move in with her eldest son, the family discovers that the house is worth just a tenth of its mortgage. The Turner children are called home to decide its fate and to reckon with how each of their pasts haunts--and shapes--their family's future.

Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg

Surviving a disaster that kills everyone else in her family, June relocates West and settles into a directionless existence while other people impacted by the tragedy struggle with new circumstances.





   

Nonfiction

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

Drawing on the work of geologists, botanists, marine biologists and other researchers, an award-winning writer for The New Yorker discusses the five devastating mass extinctions on earth and predicts the coming of a sixth.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Coates takes readers along on his journey through America's history of race and its contemporary resonances through a series of awakenings--moments when he discovered some new truth about our long, tangled history of race.

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

Montgomery explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus--a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature--and the remarkable connections it makes with humans.

Want to participate in Dover Public Library's 2019 Reading Challenge? Download the form here!

Poetry Contest Winners Announced!

Congratulations for all who participated! 

Dover Public Library’s

17th Annual Poetry Contest

The Dover Public Library would like to announce the winners of our 17th 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: Ileana Milhauser, Grade 2, Berwick Academy
                        2^nd Place: Megan Merrigan, Grade 2, Horne Street School
                        3^rd Place : Lorden Trayer, Grade 2, Portsmouth Christian Academy

Honorable Mention: Sam Mezey, Grade 2, Portsmouth Christian Academy (tie)
                                          Sarah Dominic, Grade 1, Portsmouth Christian Academy (tie)

           

Category 2:       1^st Place: Josephine Lundborn, Grade 4, Woodman Park School

                        2^nd Place:  Sofia Milancovici, Grade 4, PCA
                        3^rd Place : Soroush Ashoori-Mehranjani, Grade 4, Woodman Park School

                        Honorable Mention: Everly Neri, Grade 3, Garrison School
                                                 

Category 3:       1^st Place: Patrick Bancroft, Grade 6, St. Mary Academy

                        2^nd Place: Madeline Shilling, Grade 6, St. Mary Academy

                        3^rd Place: Tori Quintanilla, Grade 5, St. Mary Academy

                        Honorable Mention: Jocelyn Bancroft, Grade 6, St. Mary Academy
                                                   

Category 4:       1^st Place:  Caroline Schultz, Grade 7, Dover Middle School (tie)

    Griffin Sawyer, Grade 8, Dover Middle School (tie)           

                        2^nd Place: Chelsea Thurston, Grade 7, St. Mary Academy

                        3^rd Place:  Noah C. Rich, Grade 7, Berwick Academy

                        Honorable Mention: Kylia Small, Grade 7, Dover Middle School

                                                       

Category 5:       1^st Place: Riley Lane, Grade 9, Dover High School

                        2^nd Place: Kaley Hanson, Grade 10, Dover High School

                        3^rd Place: Abhay Soman, Grade 9, Portsmouth Christian Academy
                        Honorable Mention:  Saroya Kinville, Grade 10, Dover High School

                                                   

Category 6:       1^st Place:  Caroline Hanna, Grade 11, Dover High School

                        2nd Place: Harry J. Tarbox, Grade 12, Dover High School

                        3^rd Place: Wyatt Codd, Grade 11, Dover High School

                        Honorable Mention:  Benjamin Stone, Grade 12, Dover High School
                                                     

Gather Your Group for Games

Looking for a free and fun night out? Join us every third Wednesday of the month from 6 - 8:30 for Games Night. All ages are welcome so bring the kids, bring your friends, or meet new friends here.We will supply the snacks and games. We have a big selection of games so you can choose an old favorite or learn a new game. See you Wednesday, May 15!

The Library's game collection includes:

Apples to Apples

Sour Apples to Apples

Candy Land

Carcassonne

Care Bear Dominoes

Disney Princess Dominoes

Mexican Train Dominoes

Choose One!

Clue

Harry Potter Clue

Connect 4

Cranium

Disney Princess Go Fish Card Game

Disney Princess Old Maid Card Game

Eco Fluxx

Forbidden Island x2

Labyrinth the Card Game

 Life

Love Letters

Monopoly x2

Munchkin Treasure Hunt

Pandemic

Poker Chips & Playing Cards

Qwirkle

Scattergories the Card Game

Scrabble

Scrabble for Juniors

Settlers of Catan

Star Trek Catan

Sorry! Sliders

Sushi Go!

The Ark of the Covenant

Trophy Buck Dice Game

Tsuro x2