Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Franklin Public Library is currently closed to the public. Curbside Pickup is available Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the vestibule of the entrance at the top of the parking lot ramp. Library Staff are available by phone, (508) 520-4941, and email ([email protected]) Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday hours are not available at this time.

The Library will be closed and Curbside Pickup will not be available on December 24, December 25, and January 1st.

No donations are being accepted at this time. Please do not place them in the return bins or outside the building.

Programs for Children and Teens

Weekly Virtual Events for Kids!

Wake Up Wiggles! Mondays 10:30 a.m. on Facebook Live!

Zoom Tummy Time for Babies! Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m., email Miss Caleigh at [email protected] to register for Tummy Time!

Zoom Toe Tapping Tuesdays! (Super Silly Dance Class for Ages 2+!) Tuesdays at 4 p.m., email Miss Bree at [email protected] to register for Cool Cruisers!

Bookworm Bounce! Thursdays at 4 p.m. on Facebook Live!

Teen Advisory Board, 2nd Wednesday of the Month on Zoom at 7:30 p.m.!

Teens! Want to get involved at the library from a distance? Join us as we plan teen-centric events, book displays, revamp our website and more! The perfect way to earn community service hours remotely! Email [email protected] to get involved!

Special Programs for Families

Winter StoryWalk at DelCarte Reservation! 

The Franklin Recreation Department and the Franklin Public Library are teaming up again for a cozy winter StoryWalk at DelCarte Reservation! Bundle up, mask up, and check out this season’s story, Got to Get to Bear’s! by Brian Lies! The StoryWalk will be up from early December to mid-January! 

Zoom Cooking Class: Holiday Cupcakes! Saturday December 19th, 1 p.m.

Join Miss Sandhya of Sandhya’s Kitchen for a special zoom cooking class for kids and their grown-ups! We will be making holiday themed cupcakes! To register and receive the recipe and zoom link, please email [email protected]!

Teen Noon Year’s Eve Mystery Party! December 31st, 12 p.m.

Join us on Zoom for a teen-centric celebration, as we ring in 2021 with an interactive mystery! To register and receive the zoom link, please email [email protected]!

Adults

Kitchen Table Art Workshop: Secret Pockets, Sunday, December 6, 3 p.m.

Got a secret? Secret Pockets are collage card creations that become secret pockets for more images, messages, quotes, and treasures, keepsakes and whatever else you might like. They can be created as intuition or inspiration cards, as mini-diaries, or artists’ trading cards – the possibilities are endless. This workshop is for adult and young adult artists and non-artists, no experience needed. A limited number of kits containing materials and tools to be used in the workshop will be available for pick up curbside at the library. More info. and registration at www.thecreativitycurator.com. Registration deadline November 19th. Please register early if you would like to receive one of the kits since quantities are limited. Priority for Franklin residents. Registrants who don’t receive a kit will be provided with a supply list to assemble their own. Contact Jacqueline Burke Volpe [email protected] .

Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are with Marjorie Turner Hollman, Wednesday, December 9, 7 p.m.

Getting outdoors can be exciting and challenging. For some, it’s especially challenging. You, or those you love, may have health and/or mobility issues that preclude venturing onto rocky or rooty trails. Your children may have special needs. You may have toddlers, or older parents who can no longer venture onto the demanding trails they used to.

If you are like many these days, you are spending a lot more time outdoors. Getting out on trails has taken on new appeal. But do you worry about finding a safe place to park when you consider visiting a local trail? What are the best clothes to wear? Things to bring with you? Regardless of your challenges, the outdoors is not off-limits.

“How do you find all these trails?” Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are is the answer. You’ll learn how to discover Easy Walks when visiting a new area, find new places to walk nearby as well, and so much more. Author Marjorie Turner Hollman loves the outdoors, and has completed three guides to Easy Walking trails in Massachusetts. With limited mobility, she uses hiking poles when heading outdoors. She has been published in local, regional, and national publications. For more information, please visit https://marjorieturner.com/easy-walks/ .

To register for this Zoom program, please visit https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85997554551?pwd=KzRQeXNZQzJIeGVCQlM5ZzBHV1pNZz09 .

Franklin Public Library Book Club, Tuesday, December 22, 7 p.m.

The book for discussion is Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah.

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother--his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.

To reserve a copy of the book or for more information, please contact Assistant Library Director Kim Shipala at [email protected] . To register, please visit  https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEscuqupjgoGd0XAfQuUAIIChGwkzLwWWsx  .