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Author Visit with Susie Spikol Encourages Kids to Chase Dreams

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The Gay-Kimball Library was pleased to collaborate with Troy Elementary School this month to hold a visit by naturalist and author Susie Spikol as part of our grant from the Children’s Literacy Foundation on October 24. Susie spoke to students about her love for nature, what it’s like to be an author, and inspired them to chase their dreams. Ever since she can remember, naturalist and writer Susie Spikol has always looked for where nature and story meet. Her love of nature didn’t start with science. It grew out of a rich diet of fairy tales and legends. While out searching her Brooklyn neighborhood for fairies, gnomes, and other magical creatures, she remembers being charmed by fireflies and enchanted by snails. Nature, story, and the hope of magic cast a spell over Susie, whose life work has been helping people of all ages find ways to notice and connect with the wild creatures and enchantment of nature in our everyday world.

Over the course of her 30-year career as a naturalist, she has taught thousands of children, parents, and teachers and given hundreds of public talks at nature centers, schools, colleges, universities, libraries, and conferences.  She has received numerous awards, including the Garden Club of America’s Hull Award, New Hampshire’s Environmental Educator Award, and the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Districts Educator of the Year.  Whether she’s talking about star-nosed moles or how imaginative play helps children engage with the natural world, Susie’s passion and commitment resonate with audiences of all ages.

When not catching frogs with preschoolers, making gnome homes with second-graders, tracking bobcats with middle-schoolers, or hawk-watching with her own three children, Susie tucks away time to write. Look for her writing in Yankee,  Northern Woodlands, Taproot Magazine, and the Center for Humans and Nature magazine. Several of her essays have been featured in environmental educator and author David Sobel’s books. She is a regular contributor to the column “Backyard Nature” in her local paper, The Monadnock Ledger Transcript in Peterborough, NH. For over 25 years, Susie has been a contributor to the Harris Center for Conservation Education’s newsletter, The Hearsay.

Her first book, published in 2022,  The Animal Adventurer’s Guide: How to Prowl for Owls, Make Snail Slime, and Catch a Frog Bare-Handed, was recognized with a National Parenting Products Award.

Her new book Forest Magic for Kids: How to Find for Fairies, Make a Secret Fort, and Cook Up an Elfin Picnic is due out this April. Filled with activities inspired by imagination, folklore, and science, this book is an invitation to all readers to step outside and discover the beauty and magic of the world.

Her most recent book, Book of Fairies is casting a spell over people of all ages.

Awarded annually to 12 public libraries in Vermont and New Hampshire, the Children’s Literacy Foundation’s Rural Library Grant is designed to help small-town libraries create excitement around literacy, update their collections, increase circulation, and strengthen connections with the communities they serve. The grant is also intended to fill funding shortfalls for libraries with extremely limited budgets.

“We are so pleased to have been fortunate enough to receive this grant. Our objective is to help our town’s children stay inspired by reading quality books! This opportunity will allow us to work closely with Troy Elementary School to introduce young readers to new experiences, books, and authors. We plan to incorporate family activities into our programming so people of all ages are involved and look forward to working with our young patrons and beyond,” said Erin George, Director for Gay Kimball Library.

The grant provides $2,000 in new children’s books for the public library; $500 in new books for the local elementary school; two storytelling events for children at the local elementary school or library; a book giveaway for each child at the elementary school to take home; and funding for mini-grants that support family engagement over the course of the year.

Recognizing the increasing needs of small, rural libraries, CLiF recently expanded the grant to include a summer kickoff event featuring a storyteller and book giveaway; early childhood book kits for circulation in the library; board books for children ages 0-5; a selection from a multi-choice menu of options worth $1000; and a small stipend to recognize the time commitment from librarians who manage the grant in addition to their regular duties.

“CLiF’s Rural Library Grant is all about strengthening connections and building a community around literacy,” said CLiF Program Manager Cassie Willner. “In addition, we know how important it is to help small libraries update and diversify their children’s book collection and promote outreach through new titles and events.”

The Rural Library grant is one of CLiF’s longest running programs. Libraries with limited annual budgets that serve Vermont and New Hampshire towns with populations of about 5,000 or less are eligible to apply.

Since 1998, CLiF has been dedicated to creating literacy experiences that support success in life and learning for under-resourced children in communities across Vermont and New Hampshire. For more information, please visit www.clifonline.org.

Dive into Books: July at Gay Kimball Library!

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July’s been a busy month at Gay Kimball Library! From diving into summer reading challenges to finding ways to beat the heat of the dog days of summer, we’ve had a blast with our community through a number of events.

Thanks to our CLiF grant, we were able to purchase two book wagons and head out to the Historical Society’s Community Fair this month. There, we offered the town a glimpse at GKL history through storyboards. It was exciting to talk with patrons new and old about how the town’s library first began in the late 1800s as a room in our town hall. Our original circulation was just under 1,000 titles, and we started with one part-time librarian. It wasn’t until 1945 that the library moved out of the town hall into the brick portion of our building today. To learn more about our history, take a walk near the picnic table on the side of the library and read all about Gay Kimball’s history and the generous legacy of both the Gay and Kimball families!

In July, we also held an obstacle course event in conjunction with the rec department’s Community Day. Kids leveled up their agility by balancing balls, hoops, and noodles while following directions. We also created a new graphic novel section in our children’s room, leveled up our Lego building skills, hosted rec department camp visits, and saw a record number of children come out for story time – as many as 22 kids and 9 adults.

We also welcomed Rylan Christen to our volunteer team. He’s been a great asset in helping us with a variety of tasks, including setting up our shark scavenger hunt, collecting rocks for Storytime kids, helping patrons with computers, and troubleshooting building maintenance concerns. If you see Rylan around, please thank him for his service to the town.

We improved library safety this month by installing security cameras both in and out of the building. In addition to the town cameras for YouTube streaming of government meetings in our conference room, we are now able to ensure patron safety in all areas of the library and are thankful to all who helped make this happen!

With door counts rising and people meeting their summer reading goals, we are looking forward to meeting our own goals for August. This will include the addition of several new audiobook titles for adults, an extensive and diverse addition of adult titles, the announcement of new adult programming, the introduction of a Teddy Bear Tea program, a regular Story Walk for all ages, and an author visit. We will also be reaching out to local educators and speakers for a variety of adult presentations and programming opportunities.

We are super excited to have received word that our CLiF grant will cover tile replacement for our event space before summer’s end! This will come just in time for our author signing events and make for a brighter space for all!

What’s new and coming soon at GKL?

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Special thanks to all who came out for our Spring book sale despite the downpours. We had great success with our $5 a bag pricing and will be able to order fantastic prizes for this year’s summer reading program. We sold 31 bags in two hours on Friday night and 30 more bags on Saturday. Between sales and donations, we raised around $300 for library programming and summer reading prizes!
In May, we re-started our preschool story time program, The Hungry Caterpillars Book Club! The kids have had a great time seeing each other again, making Mother’s Day presents, and painting up bird houses donated by a generous patron. Story time will continue to run on Tuesdays at 11. All are welcome, including older and younger siblings! Story time includes a story, craft, and play time. This is a drop-by program and you don’t need to register. The only thing you should bring is play clothes and your imagination.
Also in May, we are busy with the Beyond the Bell Little Librarian program. For six weeks, our Little Librarians worked to build lemonade stands in teams. While reading The Lemonade War, kids are learning about how to run a small business and will compete to see who can sell the most lemonade at the end of the program. We have three teams – Slay Girls, Jolly Ranchers, and Da Blue and Da Pink. Each team is working on marketing, pricing, creating a stand, and making other decisions around how to make their stand successful. You can help by purchasing a cup and voting for your favorite when you see the kids selling outside the library. Watch social media for more information on dates and times the kids will sell their favorite flavors.
Looking ahead, we’re planning our summer reading programming and hope to see kids and adults meeting summer reading challenges! Coming soon is our Level Up Comic Con event, which will kick off this year’s Level Up Summer reading program. This event will take place on June 21 from 10 to 2. We will begin summer reading sign-ups for kids and adults at that time and for the weeks following June 21. Please keep an eye on social media and in the Troy group on Facebooks for specific events as the summer progresses.
After a break from our regular Book Club group, we’re hoping to bring it back. We’re looking to see if there’s enough interest in a regular adult book club. If you’re interested, or are a former member, please stop by or call the library. Our hope is to pick a book and bring the club (which meets monthly) back in July or August.
As we wait for news about a new director, we’re interested in learning about your interests and needs. We believe the library is a place not only for books but for the community. If you have suggestions on titles you’d like us to purchase, programming we can offer, or other resources you believe would be helpful for the town of Troy, please reach out by calling (603) 242-7743.
Thank you to everyone who has been so patient with us during this time of transition. Our goal is to continue to do what we can to make the library a welcoming, helpful place in town as we continue to grow!