Brooks Memorial Library - Brattleboro VT

Read to a Dog
2026-04-07 15:30 - 16:30, 2026-04-14 15:30 - 16:30, 2026-04-21 15:30 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Children’s Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Read to a Dog is back! Read out loud to two sweet dogs, Kelso and Gussy! Both dogs are specially trained to read with kids and LOVE to be petted and cuddled!
Come to the Children’s Room to Read to a Dog–available on a first come first serve basis. Bring your own books or come early to pick some of ours! All Ages Welcome.

Mineralogical Society
2026-04-07 18:00 - 20:45 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Join the Brattleboro Mineralogical Society to discuss Minerals and other Geological topics!

Rhyme Time
2026-04-08 10:30 - 11:00, 2026-04-15 10:30 - 11:00 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Join us on Wednesday mornings @ 10:30 am for 30 minutes of stories, songs, and fun!
Rhyme Time is for kids 5 & under and their caregivers.
Free and open to the public.

Vermont Pastel Society
2026-04-08 15:00 - 16:30 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
pastel painting

A Lifeline for Difficult Times: The Taking Solace Series
2026-04-08 18:00 - 20:00 | Main Reading Room
Starting last November, Center for Solace (formerly Brattleboro Area Hospice) & Brooks Memorial Library
were inspired to begin an 8-month collaboration on the first Wednesday of each month, from 6-8 pm.
Come join us for a wide range of conversations
on tender topics, from Death Cafes, to film & discussion nights,
speaker panels, a climate-grief dialogue, and more.
Together we’ll explore some of the challenges of being alive in our time.
For instance, how might we navigate illness, caregiving, or loss?
Or beyond that, face a much broader anguish for our fragile planet itself?
Because we know that at least one form of solace
stems from staying connected.
To quote poet David Whyte, “Solace is not meant to be
an answer, but an invitation, through the door of pain and difficulty,
to the depth of suffering and simultaneous beauty in the world
that the strategic mind by itself cannot grasp or make sense of.”
Continuing our monthly Taking Solace series at Brooks Memorial Library, join us on April 8 from 6-8 pm to watch the award-winning 2022 documentary Living in the Time of Dying: Meeting the Truth of the Climate Crisis, by Australian filmmaker Michael Shaw. After the film there will be an hour for facilitated discussion on how we are feeling and how we can stay connected, with Michael Shaw attending remotely.
And to find out about further topics, please follow
Center for Solace or Brooks Memorial Library on Facebook:
centerforsolace.org, or brookslibraryvt.org.

Game Cafe!
2026-04-08 18:00 - 20:45, 2026-04-15 18:00 - 20:45 | Meeting Room D – Quiet Reading Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Come join game enthusiasts in playing Magic the Gathering in various formats (including Commander/EDH) as well as other fun and creative board & card games.
Bring your favorite games- All Ages Welcome!

Sing & Dance With Robin
2026-04-09 10:30 - 11:30, 2026-04-16 10:30 - 11:30 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Designed for ages under 6- all ages welcome! Free and open to the public.
This lovely class is an enriching musical experience for toddlers and preschoolers, designed to support healthy cognitive, physical, and social development. Children will sing, clap, stomp, dance, and play along with the curriculum of traditional and modern folk songs. Parents will be encouraged to fully sing and participate with their child in the class.
Sponsored by the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library.

SilverCircus - by NECCA
2026-04-11 11:00 - 12:00 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Strengthen balance and build social connection, all while playing and connecting to your inner child with SilverCircus by the New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA). These circus classes are designed for older adults and are welcome to all mobility and cognitive levels. We will work with each student where they are at, while fostering a supportive and playful group dynamic. Activities will challenge the brain and the body, and will be scaled up and down to be the perfect challenge for each participant.
It is not too late to join the circus! Join us at Brattleboro Memorial Library at 11am on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays in January through May (01/10, 01/24, 02/14, 02/28, 03/14, 03/28, 04/11, 04/25, 05/09, and 05/23).

Brattleboro in Stitches
2026-04-11 13:00 - 16:00 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Bring a work in progress to sew, knit, crochet, embroider, or mend. Sewing machines, irons, and companionship will be provided.

TESTED - Book Launch with Author Anna Monders
2026-04-12 13:00 - 14:30 | Main Reading Room
Brooks Memorial Library will host a book launch party with debut author—and library employee—Anna Monders at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 12 in the main reading room of 224 Main St., Brattleboro.

Set in a world ruthlessly divided by genetic class, Tested is a high-stakes novel for ages ten and up. Tested follows fourteen-year-old Mikayla, a genetic Elite, in the days before the exam that will secure her privileged life. When Mikayla discovers a secret in her DNA, she starts questioning her rigid society for the first time in her life.

Monders will demonstrate a DNA extraction experiment, engage in dialogue with Max Newirth, Teen Services Specialist and convener of the monthly Sci-Fi Readers meet-up, and answer questions about the novel, the writing life, and the publishing process.

The Friends of the Brooks Memorial Library will provide twenty-five free copies of the book to kids and teens who attend the event. Books will also be available for purchase. All ages are welcome. There will be high-grade chocolate!

Mud Season Speaker Series - Vermont Reads Book Discussion: THE LIGHT PIRATE
2026-04-13 18:30 - 20:00 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Mud Season Speaker Series
The Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center and the Brooks Memorial Library invite you to a series of programs based upon the Vermont Reads 2025-26 selection, The Light Pirate, with the themes of climate resilience through community and the unstoppable power of the natural world.
Monday, April 13, 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Vermont Reads Book Discussion: The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Join us for a thoughtful, guided conversation centered on The Light Pirate, a novel that follows one girl’s life as climate change reshapes Florida’s coast—and the meaning of home, resilience, and community. Rachael Cohen, environmental writer and editor, will facilitate this 90-minute discussion, creating space to reflect together on the book’s themes, characters, and emotional impact.
Participants will explore themes such as climate adaptation and how people respond—individually and collectively—to environmental change. All readers are welcome, whether the book moved you deeply or left you with lingering questions. Come prepared to listen, reflect, and engage in a meaningful exchange inspired by this powerful and timely novel.
About The Light Pirate:
Named after a catastrophic storm, Wanda is born into a world that’s rapidly changing. Rising sea levels and devastating weather patterns transform her coastal Florida town. As she moves from childhood to adulthood, Wanda adapts to this remade landscape, finding adventure, love, and purpose in a place largely abandoned by civilization.
Told in four parts—power, water, light, and time—The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton is a meditation on the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness. It considers the dissolution of the human-made world, and helps us see how human connection, adaptability, and a little bit of magic might guide us to a new future.
Thanks to Vermont Humantites, a limited amount of copies are available at the Circulation Desk.

Vermont Reads Speaker Bureau BIO:
Rachael Cohen has been a freelance editor specializing in environmental and regional studies, a teacher of writing, literature, and natural history, a caller of contra dances, and a farm hand. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Cornell University and a Master of Science in Environmental Education from the Audubon Expedition Institute/Lesley University. When she’s not teaching for the University of Michigan’s New England Literature Program, held each spring at a camp in New Hampshire, she’s a caretaker in southern Vermont.

Library Board of Trustees
2026-04-14 16:30 - 18:00 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Monthly meeting of the Brooks Memorial Library Board of Trustees. Citizen attendance and commentary welcome!
Board of Trustees

Friends of Island Park April Meeting
2026-04-14 19:00 - 20:30 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Friends of Island Park (FOIP) will develop riverfront activities, steward the twin bridges and island greenway, and promote bi-coastal river access.

Friends of the Library
2026-04-15 16:30 - 18:00 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Monthly meeting of the Friends of the Library. Community attendance and commentary is welcome!
Friends of the Library

Entrepreneurs of Brattleboro
2026-04-15 18:30 - 20:30 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
This is a regular gathering of entrepreneurs in Brattleboro & surrounding areas – for networking and connections.

Teen Movie Night! - SUPERMAN
2026-04-17 18:30 - 20:30 | Main Reading Room
The Teen Advisory Board invites you to join us for a Teens Only movie night showing of Superman!
Due to construction at the back of the library, this Teen Movie Night will be downstairs in the Main Reading Room of the library!
The movie will start at 6:30pm. Snacks provided!
Hosted by the Teen Advisory Board. “Teens Only” events are open to people in grades 7-12.

FREE yarn, fabric, (and more) exchange!!!
2026-04-18 13:00 - 16:00 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Brattleboro In Stitches fiber artist meet-up group will host a fiber arts materials exchange extravaganza on Saturday, April 18th from 1:00 to 4 PM. Artists and crafters are invited to bring fabric, yarn, roving, and other supplies and related equipment to swap or share in the spirit of spring cleaning and to spark seasonal inspiration. Come by and meet fellow needleworkers and score some new supplies while shedding some of your stash.

National Poetry Month Celebration - Poems Around Town (PAT)
2026-04-18 14:00 - 16:00 | Main Reading Room
Over 90 poems by area poets – as well as from poets throughout Vermont and the tri-state region – will be going up in downtown Brattleboro, including in some Canal Street locations. The poems will be displayed in shops and other locations throughout April, to celebrate National Poetry Month, and be up for the first Gallery Walk of the season on Friday, May 1st.
For this April 18th event, a self-selected group of about fifteen poets from PAT will give short readings, that include their posted poems. All are welcome.

Transom Story Lab Workshop - for Young People, Ages 8 - 18
2026-04-20 10:00 - 14:00 | VT
As part of National Library Week (April 19-25) celebrations, Brooks Memorial Library is delighted to host an exciting opportunity for young people, ages 8-18. As part of Retreat Farm’s America at 250 series, co-presented with Vermont Public and Vermont Community Foundation, journalist and radio producer Sophie Crane of Transom Story Lab will bring a team of tech assistants to the library on Monday, April 20th from 10 to 2 PM. They will present a hands-on audio storytelling workshop, with a focus on the topic of this year’s Library Week theme, “Find Your Joy.” Participants will learn interviewing skills, audio recording basics, and how to shape real conversations into short stories.
This workshop experience will be about curiosity, connection, and finding meaning and joy in everyday moments. Attendees will go off-site for interviews downtown, with adult supervision. Registration is limited to 18 participants. The program will conclude with public screenings of the finished stories during National Library Week at a Brooks Memorial Library Celebration on April 25. No experience is needed and all equipment – and light lunch – will be provided.

Please note: participants will be going off-site for interviews downtown with adult supervision. Registration is required, as is parent/guardian permission. For any questions, please email: outreach@brookslibraryvt.org.

Sci-Fi Reading Group
2026-04-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Meeting Room D – Quiet Reading Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
The Sci-Fi Reading Group will meet in the Quiet Reading Room from 7:00pm – 8:30pm to discuss A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker!
In the Before, when the government didn’t prohibit large public gatherings, Luce Cannon was on top of the world. One of her songs had just taken off and she was on her way to becoming a star. Now, in the After, terror attacks and deadly viruses have led the government to ban concerts, and Luce’s connection to the world—her music, her purpose—is closed off forever. She does what she has to do: she performs in illegal concerts to a small but passionate community, always evading the law.
Rosemary Laws barely remembers the Before times. She spends her days in Hoodspace, helping customers order all of their goods online for drone delivery—no physical contact with humans needed. By lucky chance, she finds a new job and a new calling: discover amazing musicians and bring their concerts to everyone via virtual reality. The only catch is that she’ll have to do something she’s never done before and go out in public. Find the illegal concerts and bring musicians into the limelight they deserve. But when she sees how the world could actually be, that won’t be enough.
The Sci-Fi Reading Group meets the third Monday of every month and is open to curious minds, whether or not they’ve read this month’s selection.

"PART FOR THE HOLE" - book launch with author Peter Gould
2026-04-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Main Reading Room
Postponed – due to a publishing matter. As soon as we have the rescheduled date, it will be posted. Stay tuned!
At a time of increasing politicization of the idea of arts support, this new novel, PART FOR THE HOLE, puts the reader into the mind and heart of a mild-mannered High School teacher who decides to rescue the National Endowment for the Arts all by himself—with the help of his sometime-lover and a bunch of his AP English students. They realize it’s time to take a stand, to not allow every working artist to disappear into a corporate world that could ask for their soul in return for their success. But be advised: no artists, teachers, students, or administrators were harmed in the writing or reading of this story: it’s all theater, all metaphor!
“Sentence by nimble sentence, Gould gallivants through his story, and I follow
his jazzy solo phrases, hoping that this book never ends.”
Peter Coyote, old hipster, author, actor, Zen Buddhist priest.
PART FOR THE HOLE will be published by Whetstone Books in April, 2026. Brooks Memorial Library is honored to host this book launch event. All are welcome!
———
Peter Gould founded (in 1998) and still directs the “Get Thee to the Funnery” youth Shakespeare camp in the Northeast Kingdom. For his work with theater and creative writing students around Vermont, he earned the Arts Council’s 2016 Ellen McCulloch-Lovell Arts Educator of the Year Award.

Brattleboro Stamp Club
2026-04-20 19:00 - 20:45 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Join the Brattleboro Stamp Club for all sorts of philatelic curios, conversation, and comradery!

Felting Fun!
2026-04-21 10:30 - 12:00 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Join this fun felting workshop with a local artisan and shepherd. Enjoy this beginner friendly introduction to the craft of felting where you will learn how to paint with wool!
During this wet felting class, students will learn about wool: where it comes from, what it is, and how to make wool felt by creating a small felted landscape picture. The felting process requires soapy water, so attendees are welcome to bring an apron if they want to protect their clothes from the water.
Ages 8-12. No sign up required.
PLEASE NOTE: Patrons must enter the library through the Main St. entrance while the back entrance is under construction.

Art & Exploration at the Library - Creating Cyanotype Art
2026-04-21 13:30 - 15:00 | Meeting Room A – Community Meeting Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
Join teaching artist, Evie Lovett, for this free 6-week book exploration and art-making course for learners ages 60+. Participants will have the opportunity to explore books on a variety of themes and create cyanotype art in response to those themes. Cyanotype is a process of making photographs with the sun or UV light. This course is perfect for participants new to creating art and interested in a social book club experience. Supplies provided. Registration is required; stop by or call the Circulation Desk at (802) 254-5290. Or, you can email: outreach@brookslibraryvt.org

Military Experience Reading Group
2026-04-21 18:00 - 20:30 | Meeting Room D – Quiet Reading Room, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301, United States
The Military Experience Reading Group offers those with military experience a chance to connect through a shared joy of reading. This group welcomes anyone with military experience – whether active, reserve, retired or military veterans. The program is on the 3rd Tuesdays; there are light refreshments and social time scheduled from 6 PM, before the book discussion at 7 PM. The Vermont Humanities Council is a proud supporter of this program, providing a trained discussion facilitator and a limited supply of books each month.
April’s book selection is WOMEN by Kristen Hannah. Interested participants can pick up a book at the Circulation Desk, while copies are available.
