Benedek Memorial Library Events for Summer Read Plus 2023! See what is happening at your local Library!

July 1, 12:00 pm – Sign up for 2023 Summer Read Plus: All Together Now (2023 SRP) starts! The program is open for all ages (birth to senior citizen).  You can sign up for the reading challenge of 1200 minutes over 6 weeks. Just for signing up you will get to pick a free book. You can earn a raffle ticket for every two hours of reading. See our list of raffle prizes on our website or stop and see the prizes at the Library. The reading challenge ends August 11. There will be an outdoor cookout of hot dogs. Join the Community Mini-Art Show by picking up your Art Kit. Open to all ages. You can start at the party. Take out books and other items at the party. Sign up for the limited seating events to get your place now! For more information on the Summer Read Plus and Community Art Show check out our website: https://benedekmemoriallibrary.org/ or come to the party and learn more.

Mondays and Wednesdays during the 2023 Summer Read Plus all ages can stop in and try our lighted sandboxes. See what picture you can create with sand and light.

July 3-8, Make and Take: Patriotic Necklace. Stop at the library and pick up a craft kit for your young one(s). While supplies last.

July 6, and 20 – 10 am, Story Hour! There will be stories, songs and other activities. Registration is requested to have enough supplies available. You can register by email: savona@stls.org, by phone (607)583-4426, or stop in the library during open hours.

July 9, 4 pm – 7 pm – An Afternoon of Music with the Sam Pallet Band! Save the date! The Community Event Committee will host the event with music from the Sam Pallet Band, on the lawn of the Benedek Memorial Library. Food will be available for purchase. Bring your own lawn chair and enjoy some music on the library lawn.

July 12, 26, and August 9 – 10:00 am – Senior Coffee Hour! The library will open at 10 am for our seniors. Free coffee and pastries will be available. Enjoy the company of others. There will be cards, newspapers and of course books for all to enjoy together, or just sit and visit. Meet old friends and make new friends.

July 12 and August 9, 4:30 – 5:00 pm – Young People’s Book Club (grades 5-8) Reading Tidesong by Wendy Xu. Enjoy talking with others about what you are reading. There will be snacks. Registration requested due to limited books available. You can register by email: savona@stls.org, by phone (607)583-4426, or stop in the library during open hours.

Sophie is a young witch whose mother and grandmother pressure her to attend the Royal Magic Academy—the best magic school in the realm—even though her magic is shaky at best. To train for her entrance exams, Sophie is sent to relatives she’s never met.

Cousin Sage and Great-Aunt Lan seem more interested in giving Sophie chores than in teaching her magic. Frustrated, Sophie attempts magic on her own, but the spell goes wrong, and she accidentally entangles her magic with the magic of a young water dragon named Lir.

Lir is trapped on land and can’t remember where he came from. Even so, he’s everything Sophie isn’t—beloved by Sophie’s family and skilled at magic. With his help, Sophie might just ace her entrance exams, but that means standing in the way of Lir’s attempts to regain his memories. Sophie knows what she’s doing is wrong, but without Lir’s help, can she prove herself?

July 12 and August 9, 5:30 – 6:00 pm – Teen/Adult Book Club – Banned Book Club by Sook, Kim Hyun/ Estrada, Ryan/ Hyung-ju, Ko. This book was banned in Florida and was taken off the shelf temporarily. Check out what the book is about and have a chance to talk with others about your opinion and how it effects our current times. Registration requested due to limited books available. You can register by email: savona@stls.org, by phone (607)583-4426, or stop in the library during open hours.

From Baker and Taylor Books:

When Kim Hyun Sook started college in 1983 she was ready for her world to open up. After acing her exams and sort-of convincing her traditional mother that it was a good idea for a woman to go to college, she looked forward to soaking up the ideas of Western Literature far from the drudgery she was promised at her family’s restaurant. But literature class would prove to be just the start of a massive turning point, still focused on reading but with life-or-death stakes she never could have imagined.

This was during South Korea’s Fifth Republic, a military regime that entrenched its power through censorship, torture, and the murder of protestors. In this charged political climate, with Molotov cocktails flying and fellow students disappearing for hours and returning with bruises, Hyun Sook sought refuge in the comfort of books. When the handsome young editor of the school newspaper invited her to his reading group, she expected to pop into the cafeteria to talk about Moby Dick, Hamlet, and The Scarlet Letter. Instead she found herself hiding in a basement as the youngest member of an underground banned book club. And as Hyun Sook soon discovered, in a totalitarian regime, the delights of discovering great works of illicit literature are quickly overshadowed by fear and violence as the walls close in.

In BANNED BOOK CLUB, Hyun Sook shares a dramatic true story of political division, fear-mongering, anti-intellectualism, the death of democratic institutions, and the relentless rebellion of reading.

July 13, 4pm – 6 pm – Drop in Crafting: Salt Painting. Learn how to create art with salt and paint. Open to all ages.

July 15, 10 am – 12 pm Sculpey Marbled Trinket Dish – Try working with Sculpey clay to make a simple trinket dish to catch small items. For ages 13 to adult and ages 8 – 12 with and adult. Registration is encouraged (to make sure we have room and enough supplies for all to use.). You can register by email: savona@stls.org, by phone (607)583-4426, or stop in the library during open hours. Let us create something together!

July 15, 1 pm – Special Story Hour with music. Join us with the Woodwinds from the Orchestra of Southern Finger Lakes as they tell a story from Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Free event to all ages on the library lawn. Bring a lawn chair. Fun for families.

July 17 – 22, Make and Take: Binary Code Wrist Band. Stop at the library and pick up a craft kit for your young one(s). While supplies last.

July 20 and August 25, 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm. Lego Club! Join the Benedek Memorial Library’s Lego Club for ages 8+. Participants can join any time starting at 4:30 pm. The event will end at 6:00 pm. Come for the full time or just part. Registration is encouraged (to make sure we have room and enough bases for all to use.). You can register by email: savona@stls.org, by phone (607)583-4426, or stop in the library during open hours. Let us create something together!

July 21, 4-6 pm – Drop in Craft – Shaving Cream Art. Learn how to use shaving cream to paint. Open to all ages while supplies last.

July 22, 1:00 pm-2 pm, Drone Club for Young Adults (14 yrs. old+). The Benedek Memorial Library has a drone club for ages 14+. Want to try your hand at flying a drone? Learn more about the laws governing drones? Or maybe design a course to see who can get a drone through successfully? We have two drones for young adults to share flying time and to learn on. Due to limited seating registration is required. You can register by email savona@stls.org, phone (607)583-4426, or just stop in at the Library.

July 27, 4-6 pm – Drop in Craft – Fusible bead craft. Make project with fusible beads. Open to all ages while supplies last.

July 28, 5-8 pm – Murder Mystery Dinner – Open to adults. Come and enjoy a great home cooked dinner and solve a mystery. Take on a character and try to figure out which one of your dinner mates was the murderer. Registration is required, to get a character to play. You can register by email: savona@stls.org, by phone (607)583-4426, or stop in the library during open hours. You must register by July 24 to play.

 July 29, 10 am – 12 pm – Drop in Craft – Spin Art. Try painting with a spin. Open to all ages while supplies last.

 July 31 – August 5, Make and Take: Kitty Craft. Stop at the library and pick up a craft kit for your young one(s). While supplies last.

August 3, 10 am – Special Story Hour with music. Join us with the Brass section from the Orchestra of Southern Finger Lakes as they tell the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. Free event to all ages on the library lawn. Bring a lawn chair. Fun for families.

August 4, 5 pm – 8 pm Sip and Paint (non- alcoholic) for young adults and adults. Have a great time painting a picture of a mushroom fairy house and enjoy a dinner and drinks. Limited seating so registration is required. You can register by email: savona@stls.org, by phone (607)583-4426, or stop in the library during open hours.

August 11 is the last day to be able to turn in reading times for raffle tickets. Please stop into the library between 2 pm and 7 pm to get the last of your reading time confirmed. Thank you.

August 12, 1 pm – Make Your Own Sundae Ending Party! Come and create your best ice cream sundae, see the full Community Art Show and see the raffle prizes pulled. All reading times must be recorded by August 11 at the Library to get a raffle ticket. No raffle tickets will be awarded at the ending party. Let’s have a sweet ending to the 2023 Summer Read Plus: All Together Now program.