May and June are busy months at the Stettler Public Library with events for everyone in the family. Check out what the library has to offer and mark them on your calendar because you really would not want to miss them.
Bring the whole family to the Library’s showing of “Gnomeo and Juliet” on Tuesday, May 24 at 6 p.m. The neighbouring gardens of Montague and Capulet are at war, but the gnomes, Gnomeo and Juliet, are in love. Come with a snack and enjoy this animated adaptation of Romeo and Juliet with the ones you love.
The library’s gardening series continues with on Thursday, May 26 at 6:30 p.m. with Rob Spencer sharing his expertise on common yard and garden pests. Rob will help you learn to recognize some of the most common pests and he will give tips on how to prevent and combat the varmints. Rob will be back on Saturday, June 4, from 1 to 3 p.m. for those who cannot make it on May 26.
Rain barrels can be purchased at the Stettler Public Library as part of the Town of Stettler’s Rain Water Harvesting program. Each rain barrel comes in black with an overflow valve and a mesh screen on the intake to prevent any critters from getting inside and to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes. A portion of each rain barrel sale goes to supporting the programs of the Stettler Public Library.
The Stettler Public Library is excited to have two authors come to the library to speak about their books. On Saturday, June 11, at 2 p.m., we are pleased to have Killarney Sheffield come to talk about her books. She is a historical romance author from southern Alberta who has written five novels and two short romances. Her books are released first as e-books and then as paperbacks three to four months later. This will be an interesting presentation.
On Tuesday, June 14, at 6 p.m., the library welcomes Betty Jane Hegerat to talk about her book “The Boy”. In 1959, the Cook family were brutally slain in their modest home in Stettler and Robert Raymond Cook, the father’s son from his first marriage, was convicted of the crime and had the distinction of becoming the last man hanged in Alberta. Forty-six years later, a troublesome character named Louise in a story that Betty Jane Hegerat finds herself reluctant to write, becomes entangled in the childhood memory of hearing about that gruesome mass murder.
Through four years of obsessively tracking the demise of the Cook family, and dancing around the fate of the fictional family, the problem that will not go away is how to bring the story to the page. Is it a work of nonfiction about the Cooks and their infamous son, or a novel about Louise and her problem stepson? Both stories keep coming back to the boy. Part memoir, part investigation, part novella, part writer’s journal, “The Boy” is the author’s final capitulation to telling the story with all the troublesome questions unanswered.
Father’s Day is about a month away and the Stettler Public Library has a special “Something Cool After School” to help the kids celebrate dads. On Wednesday, June 15 from 4 to 5 p.m., the kids are invited to come and make a Father’s Day card for the special dads in their lives. This program is free of charge and all school-aged children are welcome.
There are iPhone apps for almost everything and now there is one that will allow you to check your library account with Parkland Regional Library and the Stettler Public Library. BookMyne can be downloaded free from the Apple App Store and will allow you to search our catalogue, place holds to request items and log into your account and renew items you have checked out.
This app also gives reading recommendations and finds nearby libraries and lets you choose your favourite (hint: the Stettler Public Library).