The Monthly Adult Book Discussion Group now meets in the Meeting Room of the Stephentown Memorial Library every 1st Thursday of the month at 1:00 pm.

Kids Page CATCH THE BUG! The New York State Library has announced it’s Summer Reading Program theme: Catch the Bug! The Stephentown Memorial Library is already busy planning all the good times we’re going to have with our Summer Reading Club this year – so stay tuned! Parents and caregivers are urged to keep their eyes open for our registration information for the New York State Summer Reading Program. It’s simple, it’s fun and it’s important! SO YOU LIKE HARRY POTTER? Your Library Director does, too! In fact, I got so inspired by re-reading the entire series (actually, I am planning on re-reading the entire series – right now I’m on book #2!) that I visited my own book shelves at home to see what else I could re-read (when I’m done with Harry Potter) that would have that same magical feel. You can’t believe what I found! I actually have all my books from when I was a kid and I’m so excited I’ve kept them! Below is a list of my all-time favorite magical series from when I was a kid… plus a few I read for the first time as a grown-up. If you want to read these, visit the Library! I know I’ve seen several of these series on the Library shelves. If we don’t have the one you are looking for, stop by the Circulation Desk and ask us to help. We can ask another library to loan their copy to you and call you when it’s ready for you to pick up. Enjoy! The Dark is Rising / series by Susan Cooper. (Grades 5-9). This award-winning series is a must for anyone enchanted with King Arthur and the Legend of the Grail. Barney, Jane and Simon Drew, three children from the everyday world who are vacationing in Cornwall, find an old map that seems to lead to the Holy Grail. What they find unleashes a battle between good and evil, aided on the side of the good by 11-year old Will Stanton (who, like Harry Potter, discovers he holds mysterious powers) and by the Drew children’s Great-Uncle Merry, who fades in and out of each book but somehow always knows just when to arrive again. This is the best of the best in children’s literature. 1. Over Sea, Under Stone / Susan Cooper 2. The Dark is Rising / Susan Cooper (Newbery Honor Book) 3. Greenwitch / Susan Cooper 4. The Grey King / Susan Cooper (Newbery Medal Winner) 5. Silver on the Tree / Susan Cooper Note to Grown-Ups: supplement this series with materials about King Arthur and the Grail. The Chronicles of Prydain / series by Lloyd Alexander. (Grades 6-10). Based on Welsh mythology, this award-winning series follows Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper, who lives in an enchanted land now threatened by warlords and wicked enchantresses as the forces of evil gather strength. Taran joins the fight against evil in a series that grows more and more grim as it unfolds. A classic good versus evil tale also explores themes of friendship, courage and self-identity as Taran comes of age and learns that even an Assistant Pig-Keeper has something to contribute to the world. For me as an adoptive parent, Taran, orphaned and with no knowledge of his birthparent, is an especially dear character as he discovers that it is who he is – not who he was born to – that will determine the life he leads. 1. The Book of Three / Lloyd Alexander 2. The Black Cauldron / Lloyd Alexander (Newbery Honor Book) 3. The Castle of Llyr / Lloyd Alexander 4. Taran Wanderer / Lloyd Alexander 5. The High King (Newbery Medal Winner) Note to Grown-Ups: Welsh mythology, not well-known, is richly imaginative. Older or more precocious readers may want to supplement this series with The Mabinogian Tetralogy by Evangeline Walton. All readers may enjoy The Prydain Companion: A Reference Guide to Lloyd Alexander’s Pyrdain Chronicles by Michael Tunnell. The Green Knowe Chronicles / series by L.M. Boston. (Grades 4-8). Young Toseland is lonely after he moves in with his mysterious great-grandmother at her house at Green Knowe – until he meets the ghosts of three children who lived there hundreds of years ago. With their powers, Tolly is able to move back and forth between his time and their time, uncovering as many secrets as there are rooms in this ancient home. This series actually belonged to my sister, Ellen. I was super, super nice to her whenever I wanted to borrow a book from it! This is an old series that will easily pass the test of time. 1. The Children of Green Knowe / L.M. Boston 2. Treasure of Green Knowe / L.M. Boston 3. River at Green Knowe / L.M. Boston 4. Stranger at Green Knowe / L.M. Boston 5. Enemy at Green Knowe / L.M. Boston 6. The Stones of Green Knowe / L.M. Boston 7. Adventures at Green Knowe / L.M. Boston Note to Grown-Ups: this is a haunted house series. The first appearance of ghosts might be scary to younger children.