Hello from the Stephenson Memorial Library. Winter is upon us with more great news. We’ve received 91 out of the 97 CLiF grant books we’ve ordered, and the last six will hopefully arrive soon. We are so excited for you to check out the new books and VOX books this grant enabled us to order.

On Nov. 22, we hosted the author and storyteller Simon Brooks at GES as our CLiF kickoff event. He was a blast to host and had teachers and students laughing with retellings of classic fairy tales like “Stone Soup,” “The Crab and the Jaguar” and an “Anansi” tale. Brooks generously donated three of his CDs and a copy of his book “Under the Oaken Bough” to our library if you’d like to hear more of his retold stories.

Each First Friend student received two books as part of the grant. In the spring, the older students will receive books at the grant finale event. In November, the library received news that the Keith M. Sullivan Foundation in Greenfield was granting us an award we applied for in October. This grant will cover the cost of Safe@Home for 10 students in fourth to sixth grade, two new Vox books, headphones for our Tonie Box, new Tonies and another dyslexic font book. We are so grateful for this grant and the opportunity to help kids learn safe habits, reading independence and to help struggling readers find the joy of reading!

We’ve had great success with programs this fall, with 21 people coming to decorate cupcakes with Ryan Richard in October, 20 people coming to our Craft Supply Swap in November, 20 attendees for the Greenfield Conservation Commission’s presentation on black bears in New Hampshire and 20 children who shopped at our Children’s Holiday Store. Thank you to everyone who helped make these programs a success!

In the coming year, Francestown and Greenfield are joining forces to create the Crotched Mountain Consortium. A library consortium gives the patrons of the involved libraries access to both collections using their card. Expect to see more details soon. We are looking to try a few new programs over the winter; if you’re interested in any of the programs, please let me know:

■ A Show and Tell Story Time: Are you a farmer? Engineer? Baker? Come in and read a story about your profession and show off tools of your trade.

■ Adult Read Aloud and Discussion Club: Have you ever struggled for conversation in a group setting? Do you want to get better at public speaking? Try this new club on for size. At each meeting, we’ll read a short story, poem, essay or article we found fascinating and discuss it. There will be light refreshments to share.

■ Penpal Program: Kids and adults are welcome to join in some good, old-fashioned letter-writing fun. All letters will use the library as a return address for patron privacy.

Do you want a voice in shaping the library’s future? The Board of Trustees and I have been working hard on strategic planning and are looking for input on the following questions:

■ What is the library doing well? What can the library do better?

■ Five years down the road, the Library is thriving in the community. What does a thriving library look like to you?

If you’d like to offer your answers to the questions above, please see me, the trustees, or the trustee alternates. The Stephenson Memorial Library staff hopes everyone has a safe and restful  start of 2025. We look forward to seeing everyone in the new year.

We have a lot of great programming coming this winter, and we hope you’ll join us! Murder Mystery will be held on Jan. 11 from 5 to 8 p.m. Pop-up Play and Create with the River Center is scheduled for Jan. 21 from 1 to 2 p.m. GES First Grade and Meals on Wheels will take place on Jan. 23 from noon to 1 p.m.

Animal Carving Class (ages 18 and older) is set for Jan. 25 from 4 to 6 p.m. Silent Book Club at Mi Corazon will be on Jan. 28 from 6 to 8 p.m., and Contra Dance with Dudley Laufman at GES will be held on Jan. 30 at 7 p.m.

For information about Greenfield’s Stephenson Memorial Library go to greenfield-nh.gov/stephenson-memorial-library. 

Ella Cademartori is director of Stephenson Memorial Library in Greenfield.