Witherle Memorial Library

Library Director Position Available June 15
The Board of Trustees has opened a search for a Library Director. Find out more.

Visiting the Library
The library remains open regular hours with limited access and curbside service. Masks are required and patrons are asked to practice social distancing when in the building. Please enter through the main doors.

Patrons who wish to browse the permanent adult collection of fiction, nonfiction, books on CD and DVDs may do so by appointment, one patron or family at a time. Very often immediate walk-in access is available. The Children’s Room and Book Sale Room remain closed to the Public; however you may browse by appointment.

We are still accepting book donations (thank you in advance). If you are donating books please leave them inside the ground floor entrance by the cubbies. If you need help unloading your car please call us. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Irene Hall

The Witherle Library has lost a colleague and friend, Youth Services Librarian Irene Hall, who died unexpectedly on Wednesday, February 17.

Utterly reliable and a fountain of ideas, she was a valued member of the library community, and particularly dear to the children and families she served. Irene will be missed.

Witherle Words

Witherle Words is a regular column in the Castine Patriot with contributions from the library staff, volunteers and community.

March 4, 2021

Graphic Novels for All Ages
by Anne Romans

When I was a child, lost in the mists of time, we had such things as comic books. It was a rare treat when my aunt bought Tales from the crypt, Superman and other riveting titles for my brother and me to keep us quiet. The cartoon of a gory hand rising out of a coffin and others of Clark Kent ‘leaping tall buildings in a single bound’ are still quite vivid for me.

Today comic books have been succeeded by graphic novels. They are a whole new kettle of fish. Everything is fair game for a graphic novel. Believe it or not Marcel Proust is available in a graphic novel format. Irene Hall, who we lost last week, was very aware of this trend in children’s reading. To her last day she was gathering new graphic novels for our children’s collection.

The Japanese were the first that I am aware of to explore the medium. Manga has a history in Japan of more than a millennium. Now there are countless new titles coming out all the time in the US and internationally.

Graphic novels often come in series. We have a new ‘maker’ series which shows: how to grow a garden, bake, fix a car, etc. Classics include the Odyssey, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, To Kill a Mockingbird. There are a multitude of mysteries and titles covering most genres in juvenile fiction and literature. Some of the new ones in the collection for teenagers include the Lumberjane series ‘It’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Gravity Falls and features five tough, rad, teenage girls wailing on monsters and solving a mystery with the whole world at stake.’ (Amazon). Billy Johnson and His Duck Are Explorers tackle perilous, out of this world, archeological adventures with humor, and zeal. (Barrace is a duck with a PhD in linguistics).

For the younger crowd there is Catwad, it’s me! He’s blue, a bit of a grouch, and his best friend is a happy-go-lucky cat named Blurmp. There’s also, The “Dog Man” series by Dav Pilkey. ‘When Greg the police dog and his cop companion are injured on the job, a life-saving surgery changes the course of history, and Dog Man is born. With the head of a dog and the body of a human, this heroic hound has a real nose for justice.’

There are close to 300 graphic novel titles available in our local collection and 3,500 from our Minerva consortium for borrowing. For more information check the catalog online at witherle.lib.me.us or email refdesk@witherle.lib.me.us.

Welcome 2021

Irene Hall

Witherle Words

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