The library is currently open Monday through Friday from 10:00am-5:30pm and Saturday 9:30am-12:30pm. The Children's Room and Archives are open by appointment. Please call for details: 207-582-3312.

Children’s Events ~ February 2018

Just letting you know some of the upcoming events in the

Children’s Room for the month of February.

Ms. Jenn and the Nutrition Detectives will visit twice this month  ~

Tuesday, Feb. 5th and Friday, Feb. 22nd

We will have a story, songs and a craft at

10:00am for preschoolers.

Maine’s Amazing Mammals presented by LC Bates Museum on

Tuesday, Feb. 19th at 10:00am during school vacation week.

Art @ the Library on

Tuesday, Feb. 12th from 6:00 to 7:00 pm.

We will be making Valentines.

Story Time & Crafts every Tuesday at 10:00 am.

Babies Love Toddlers on Fridays at 10:00 am.

Adults and children are welcome to attend these events.

Happy Valentine’s Day

If you’d like the history of the holiday, there are several good books in our children’s room that do a good job of presenting the information. In addition, there are some crafty books for kids to make cute Valentine crafts. You’ll also find a nice assortment of fun Valentine fiction books. For your perusal, the following is just a smattering of what we have to offer.

Presents the history of Valentine’s Day, as well as its past and present traditions; Juvenile Nonfiction 
 

 

The story of Valentine symbols; Juvenile Nonfiction

 

 
Recounts an incident in the life of St. Valentine, a physician who treated a small child for blindness.
 
 

 

Valentine crafts for kids, as well as Valentine decorations

 

 
A collection of Valentine stories, poems, and activities, by a variety of authors.

Valentine’s Day – Did You Know?

“More than two thousand years ago, a holiday similar to Valentine’s Day was celebrated in Rome. But in those times the Romans did not call it Valentine’s Day.  They called the holiday Lupercalia.  Lupercalia means ‘feasts of Lupercus’”.
“Celebrations of Valentine’s Day spread to other countries.  During the Middle Ages, people in England believed that birds returned from the south to choose their mates around February 14.  So Valentine’s Day seemed like a perfect time to choose a sweetheart.”
“In Italy, young men and women gathered together in flower gardens on Valentine’s Day to listen to music and poetry.  In France, fancy dress balls were popular.  Young Frenchmen were often expected to present their Valentine’s Day dance partners with bouquets of flowers.”
“The very first valentine was written at this time, about four hundred years ago, by a French nobleman named the Duke of Orleans.  He was taken captive during a war and imprisoned in a tower in England.  He missed his wife very much, and wrote her many love letters.  Many of the letters mentioned St. Valentine.”
“As more and more people learned how to read and write, they decided to send this kind of letter to their sweethearts.”
“Valentine’s Day was particularly popular in England while Queen Victoria ruled the land.”
All of these facts are quoted from “Valentine’s Day” by Clyde Robert Bulla, illustrated by Susan Estelle Kwas.  This book is available in the children’s room at the Gardiner Public Library.
Charlene Wagner, Children’s Librarian