What’s Happening at the Library? — May 16, 2025 Edition

May 15, 2025
- By WestfordCAT Staff

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WESTFORD — Assistant Director of the J.V. Fletcher Library Kristina Leedberg has shared the most recent edition of “What’s Happening at the Library?”

News from the J.V. Fletcher – 515 Groton Rd. (temporary location), Westford, 978-399-2300.

Unless otherwise noted, the following programs are made possible by the Friends of the Library.

Director’s Corner: Apple Blossom Parade – Look for the J.V. Fletcher Library’s parade entry on Saturday, May 17 at 10:00 a.m. The highly anticipated annual Westford Kiwanis Sponsored Apple Blossom Parade will march along Main Street and down to the Abbot School. This is the event where the Library Children’s Dept. entry reveals the theme for our upcoming Children’s Summer Reading Program. We hope to see you there!

Mother Goose: Join Miss Jill and Miss Hannah every Tuesday and every Wednesday from 10:30 – 11:15 a.m. on the 3rd floor of Roudenbush at the Recreation Department. Mother Goose is an interactive story time for children aged 0-5 with their caregivers. We include books, songs, an imaginary field trip, fun movements, and of course, dancing! No registration required.

Monday Mystery Book Club: Monday, May 19 at 2:30 p.m. (please note, meeting one week earlier than usual due to Memorial Day), Westford Recreation Department at Roudenbush Community Center – 3rd floor, 65 Main Street. The Mystery Book Club will discuss Cast Iron by Peter May. Copies of the book are available at the Main Desk. No registration required.

Virtual Job Search Help for 50 & Over – “Interview Strategies” Wednesday, May 21 from 9:30-11:30 a.m. The Massachusetts Library Collaborative’s 50+ Job Seekers Group meets bi-weekly on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month, from 9:30-11:30 a.m., via Zoom. If you are unemployed and actively looking, underemployed, seeking a new career direction, re-entering the job market after a long employment gap, or recently retired and looking for your “Encore Career,” this networking group program is perfect for you! Take advantage of these free, weekly skill-building and networking group meetings. A new topic will be covered at each meeting. Register here.

Virtual Creating A Tech-Healthy Family with Andrea Davis of Better Screen Time: Tuesday, June 17 at 7:00 p.m. Are you hoping to minimize the amount of screen time for your kids this summer? For parents of elementary & middle school children: Wondering how to help your kids thrive in a digital world? Let us give you the confidence and tools you need to tackle tech head-on with our Tech-Healthy Family Formula. This formula provides five steps parents can take to help reduce screen time, restore family time, and finally feel peace of mind. Parents will learn how to: ● Create a family tech plan with their kids ● Take a slow-tech approach to introduce technology ● Teach their children about digital dangers and distractions. Register here via Zoom. This program is hosted by and presented in partnership with the Groton Public Library.

Staff Recommends: “Nesting” by Roisin O’Donnell. On a bright spring afternoon, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes off the clothesline, she straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe–and that this time, when she leaves, she must stay away. On the surface, she has a perfect life: her husband, Ryan, is a good provider, sometimes even kind and attentive, from a nice Irish family, and they have another baby on the way. But he also monitors Ciara’s every move, flies into unpredictable rages where he convinces her she can do nothing right, and has isolated her from work, friends, and her beloved family. Was fleeing the right thing to do? With no job and no support, Ciara struggles to provide a sense of normalcy for her little girls. Facing a broken housing system, they move into a hotel room on a floor reserved for women like her, eating takeout, washing their clothes in the bathroom sink, and building a community with the other residents. Ryan, meanwhile, wages a relentless campaign to win her back, and Ciara wavers. He never hit her, after all, and don’t the girls need a stable home?