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Needham Bank, Wellesley
Write Ahead, Wellesley

New mini-library a natural fit at Wellesley community garden

September 2, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

There are dozens of Little Free Libraries across Wellesley, but no other like the one that went up this summer at the Weston Road Community Gardens.

This unique mini-library is the product of collaboration between Wellesley High School’s Architecture Club, Woodworking Club, and Lisa Moore from the town’s Natural Resources Commission.

robin & ivy little free library
Robin Lee & Ivy Lei show off the library that they and fellow students built for the Weston Road Community Gardens in Wellesley

 

Architecture Club co-founder Ivy Lei and Robin Lee, both rising seniors at Wellesley High, gave me a tour of the library and shared its back story with me earlier this week at the gardens. They’re a powerful duo for the club, with Lei stronger on the engineering side, and Lee the more artistic one of pair.

They were looking for a club project last year that all members could work on, and Lei was inspired to propose a Little Free Library after noticing others in town. ”

“We wanted something that was really hands-on for everyone,” said Lee, who has had a busy summer interning at a lab.

The project began late last year, and as the initial drawings, measurements, and drafting was completed, they joined forces with the Wellesley High Woodworking Club to make the plans reality. The look of the library is partially inspired by The Hobbit.

library draft garden
A draft design done by Anna Subramaniam ‘24

 

library in works gardens
In the workshop…

 

Lei and Lee credit WHS engineering and robotics teacher Larry Lovett for helping with some of the more challenging aspects of putting the library together, including decisions around choosing a post (from an Oak tree) that could support the library’s weight, and shaping the wood and door to ensure rain wouldn’t drench the books inside.

Faculty advisor Lovett says the Woodworking Club decided to use Poplar as the main wood for the library. “It is strong and easy to work with. We have a lot of poplar in the shop,” he says. The sides and door are plywood, some bordering plexiglass. Using all treated wood might have meant longer life for the library, but Lovett said natural wood was chosen fit in with the gardens.

The WHS seniors, who also play violin together in and out of school, credit the NRC’s Moore for helping them make ecologically-friendly decisions about the design, including the sticks that adorn the library’s roof.  Earlier concepts included using artificial turf on top, or maybe bamboo. “We were able to recycle from nature,” said Lei, who enjoyed visiting national parks over the summer.

Inside the library there is a mix of books, and not surprisingly, a handful of the titles relate to plants and nature. It’s a natural fit at this location.

 

Inside the community garden little free library

New mini-library a natural fit at #Wellesley community garden https://t.co/FYqT8P2PT6 @WellesleyPS pic.twitter.com/GVfxZsxaK3

— swellesley (@swellesley) September 2, 2022


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Filed Under: Books, Wellesley High School

Linden Square, Wellesley
Riverbend, Natick

Wellesley schools summer reading, 2022

July 25, 2022 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Summer is flying by, so consider this a friendly reminder that Wednesday, August 31, is the first day of school for all Wellesley public school students. Now seems about the right time to get serious about summer reading requirements—not too early so that the plot points are forgotten by the first day, and not too late so that panic ensues.

Dump, books section
It’s such a satisfying feeling when a Summer Reading book turns up at the RDF book swap section.

Generally, elementary students are encouraged to read at least 30 minutes per day. At the middle school each student must read one book off a list of required reading, and one book of their choice. At the high school level the assigned reading depends on which class the student is taking. An assignment related to summer reading will be announced by the students’ individual WHS English teacher at the beginning of the school year.

Summer reading, elementary schools

Elementary school students are encouraged to read approximately 30 minutes per day. Teachers and librarians remind families that reading in summer is the #1 most important activity children can do to help themselves for the next school year.

Teachers and librarians have come up with lists that include books for pre-schoolers; K-5 students; audiobooks; biographies, picture books; graphic novels; early readers; non-fiction picture books; and chapter books.

Here’s a pdf version with extensive summer reading suggestions.

Summer reading, Wellesley Middle School

Wellesley Middle School students are required to read two books this summer—one book must be from the list of required choices for the student’s grade level. The other book can be any book the student wants.

The Wellesley Middle School librarians have posted the book lists here. Their web page is easy to navigate and includes summaries of the books.

Summer reading, Wellesley High School

All students are required to read the book(s) listed with the course they are taking next year. At the start of the school year, English teachers will explain how summer reading will be assessed. Some examples of possible assessments are an in-class essay, a Socratic seminar, a test, or a book review. See the WHS English Department’s page for other important information about summer reading.

Grade 12

12 CP (English 143)—The story “The Body” from the book Different Seasons Stephen King
12ACP (English 142)—The Wall John Lanchester
12H (English 141)—The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri
21st Century Literature—Crying in H Mart Michelle Zauner
Beyond the Binary—The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood; There are important instructions regarding this reading, but the link is password protected. You’ll have to ask your student to help you out here.
Diverse American Voices—The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley Malcolm X and Alex Haley
World Literature—There is a book list for this course, but it is password protected. You’ll have to ask your student to help you out here.
Evolutions (11/12)—The Evolutions Primer; see the Summer Engagement page of the Evolutions website for more information.

Grade 11

11CP (English 133)—American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang
11ACP (English 132)—The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates Wes Moore
11H (English 131)—1984 George Orwell (reading question) Available free online at: https://www.planetebook.com/free-ebooks/1984.pdf AND read a book of your choice from this list.
Evolutions (11/12)—The Evolutions Primer; see the Summer Engagement page of the Evolutions website for more information.

Grade 10

10CP (English 123)—The Pearl John Steinbeck
10ACP (English 122)—read this letter from the 10ACP team and follow its guidance
10H (English 121)—Behold the Dreamers Imbolo Mbue; *10H teachers encourage students you to find and follow their reading curiosities and preferences. See this list.

Grade 9

9CP (English 113)—The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo (optional guide)
9ACP (English 112)—Clap When You Land Elizabeth Acevedo
9H (English 111)—Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood Trevor Noah
AND—students should read one additional book of their choice from any genre

Summer learning

In addition to summer reading, many courses such as languages, the arts, math, science, engineering, and AP-level classes across the academic disciplines have summer requirements. Here’s a link to those resources.

Dana Hall students

In case you’re wondering how Dana Hall handles summer reading, below are some required titles the all-girls independent boarding and day school recommends for its upper grade students. In addition, the school provides students with an extensive list of recommended reading for grades 5-12.

Girl in Translation, Jean Kwok
Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
Mexican Gothic, Silva Moreno-Garcia

Good places to get books in Wellesley

We’re partial to the used books section at the Wellesley Recycling and Disposal Facility, but realize this is a hit-or-miss proposition.

You could take a peek at the offerings in one of Wellesley’s dozen or so Little Free Libraries. But again, that’s a bit hit-or-miss.

At this point it’s probably time to get serious:

The Wellesley Free Library. You can request that books be held for you at any of the three locations nearest your home—the main library (530 Washington Street), the Wellesley Hills branch (210 Washington Street), or the Fells branch (308 Weston Road).

Wellesley Books. The staff at Wellesley’s independent book store stays on top of the schools’ summer reading lists and makes sure there are plenty of copies in-store. Is your student at camp? No problem. At your direction, Wellesley Books will send along a nice care package to your camper.

Filed Under: Books, Education

Page Waterman, Wellesley
London Harness, Wellesley
Wellesley Lacrosse

Building a big list of writers who went to Wellesley High

July 13, 2022 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

Roots and Wings: Wellesley High’s Legacy of Nurturing Creativity will be a celebration of authors who went to Wellesley High School, and of the many teachers who have inspired, mentored, and nurtured them— from Pulitzer Prize winners to young people just publishing their first poems.

The Roots and Wings committee, led by WHS grad/author Beth Hinchliffe and former WHS English teacher Jeanie Goddard, is looking for names of living or deceased writers to include on the list.  Email Beth.hinchliffe@aol.com with candidates, and their contact information if possible.

Organizers plan to make the list of writers and publications available online, and are readying for an event in the fall to honor them.


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Filed Under: Books, Wellesley High School

Sara Campbell, Wellesley

Wellesley book news: Couple takes part in Nantucket Book Fair; Journalists coming to town to tout books

June 29, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Our roundup of Wellesley, Mass., book news:

Wellesley couple takes part in Nantucket Book Fair

Wellesley’s Jane Pirozzolo introduced her second mystery novel “Island Justice,” about a racially charged murder that takes place on Nantucket one cold January night. Writing under pen name JP Lathrop, her new novel reprises detective Quinn Callahan and other characters from her earlier mystery, “The Key West Affair.”

Pirozzolo’s husband, Dick Pirozzolo, co-author of “Escape from Saigon,” also took part in the event, which featured best-selling authors like Dave Barry, Alice Hoffman, and James McBride.

Meanwhile, no rest for Jane: She’s working on a third book that takes place on the South Shore.

Jane Pirozzolo (pseudonym J. P. Lathrop
Jane Pirozzolo (aka, J. P. Lathrop) and Dick Pirozzolo at Nantucket Book Fair

Journalists coming to town to tout books

In-person author visits are back, and Wellesley Books has a couple coming up at 82 Central St.

Sportswriter Sean McAdam will discuss “The Franchise: Boston Red Sox: A Curated History of the Sox” on Tuesday, July 19 at 7pm. Hope he curates out that awful ALCS Game 7 at Yankee Stadium from 2003.

This is a ticketed event ($5, which can go toward purchase of the book).

Reporter Jen Maxfield will visit on Thursday, July 28 at 7pm to discuss “More After the Break.” This is a free event, but you’re asked to RSVP.

No word yet on whether Swellesley Report editors are plotting a book. We can’t get them to call us back.


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Filed Under: Books

Little Free Libraries in Wellesley

June 25, 2022 by Duncan Brown Leave a Comment

If you’re in pursuit of free books, there are probably some within walking distance of you, nestled inside of a Little Free Library. Little Free Libraries are small wooden boxes, painted or otherwise decorated, and filled with free reading material. Anyone can take books out of the library, at any time of day, and either return them at their leisure or hold on to them indefinitely.

Little Free Library Wellesley 309 Washington Street
Little Free Library at UU Wellesley Hills, 309 Washington Street, Wellesley.

Despite what you may think, these little libraries don’t grow out of the earth, spawned by Wellesley citizens’ love for literature and accessible reading. Little Free Library is a non-profit organization who’s goal is to spread accessibility to reading for people all over the world. The accessibility to their Libraries is part of their effort to remove barriers, such as the difficulty in finding transportation to a library, or financial barriers to owning books.

Beyond concerns about accessibility, Little Free Libraries aim to make reading easy and exciting. If you go around to the various LFLs in town you might notice that they tend to cluster around elementary schools.

Little Free Library, Pickerel Road, Wellesley

You might be wondering just how Little Free Libraries come into existence; luckily, The Swellesley Report has had first-hand experience in setting one up. By contacting the LFL organization we were able to have one of their libraries delivered to us, unpainted and in separate pieces. From there it was a simple matter of hiring an artistically inclined friend to add some art to the sides, putting the pieces together, and getting permission from the town to install it. The Swellesely Little Free Library now resides on Barton Road, stocked with books for the taking. Ours is certainly not the only one in town, and we have done our best to hunt down and take pictures of as many as we could find, which you can check out on our Little Free Library page.

little free library barton road
The Swellesley Report’s Little Free Library at Barton Road, Wellesley

 


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Filed Under: Books

Deland, Gibson, Wellesley
Rick Cram, leader

Spring is here, and so is the Friends of the Wellesley Free Library Book Sale

April 28, 2022 by admin Leave a Comment

After two years, the Friends of the Wellesley Free Libraries is thrilled to once again hold the annual spring book sale. This is a long-awaited moment for the community and patrons who depend on the spring sale to stock up for the summer. One of the librarians told us that a patron, upon seeing the book sale sign, let out a loud, “Yeah,” coupled with a  vigorous fist pump.

We concur.

Wellesley Free Library
Photo: Barbara Marx, president, Friends of the Wellesley Free Libraries

LOCATION: Wakelin Room, Wellesley Free Library, 530 Washington St.
MEMBER PREVIEW NIGHT: Thursday, April 28, 5pm-9pm
PUBLIC SALE: Friday, April 29, 9am-6pm
Saturday, April 30, 9am-5pm
BAG SALE ($10/bag): Sunday, May 1, 1pm-5pm

If you’re not already a member of the Friends, join at the door or on the Friends website.

Masks will be available at the entrance for patrons’ comfort.

Filed Under: Books, Fundraising, Wellesley Free Library

Friends of the Wellesley Free Library book sale—April 28 – May 1

April 21, 2022 by admin Leave a Comment

Wellesley book sale

Filed Under: Books, Wellesley Free Library

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