Monthly Programs
BOOK TALK: REDGEE SHHH
“INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES”
September 17
6:30 pm
A talk by the author of Redgeee Shhh about his book Inspirational Quotes.
GET COVERED ILLINOIS
October 8
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Learn how Get Covered Illinois can help you with selecting quality, affordable health insurance coverage provided under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They encourage Illinoisans to purchase plans from the ACA Health Insurance Marketplace.
NO-CARVE PUMPKIN DECORATING CONTEST
Pumpkin Pick-Up: October 5 – October 8
Submission Due Date: October 14
Voting Period: October 14 – October 20
Winners Announced: October 21
Help us decorate the library for the Halloween season with our No-Carve Pumpkin Decorating Contest. Come by the library from October 5 to October 8 to pick up a free pumpkin (only a limited number will be available). Decorate it however you like, then bring it back to the library no late than October 14. Voting will begin October 14 and end on October 20. There will be three age categories: ages 5 to 12, ages 13 to 17, and ages 18 and up. Winners will be announced on October 21. The winner of each group will receive a $25 gift card! Entries must be retrieved after the contest.
BEGINNER’S KNITTING CLASS
October 16 & 30
5:30 PM
A Beginner’s Knitting Class will be held on October 13 and 30 at 5:30 PM. Participants must attend both classes. You will need to bring medium blue, pink, or gray yarn; size 9 knitting needles; and a pair of scissors. Limited seating; call to register.
VAPING AND ITS DANGERS
October 22
6:30 PM
The C. E. Brehm Memorial Public Library will be hosting guests from the Chestnut Health Systems for a live presentation on “vaping” and its many harmful effects. This presentation is open to the Mount Vernon Community.
A CONVERSATION ABOUT GHOSTS, WITCHES AND OTHER TERRORS
October 24
6:30 PM
Featuring Todd Atteberry, the author of The Haunted History of Southern Illinois, Volume 1: The Folklore, Backroads & Graveyards of Little Egypt. Todd is a native of Carmi and has spent much of his life in the area. Along the way, he listened to the stories of the old folks, and when he inexplicably found himself back here, started looking into the eerie side of the region’s past.
FOREST PARK OWLS:
HUNTING AND FEEDING
November 9
1:00 PM
Mark H.X. Glenshaw is an award-winning naturalist who has closely observed and documented the lives of Great Horned Owls in Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri since December 2005. Mark has learned many of the owls’ hunting perches and observed and documented many predatory attempts as well as seen the owls feed themselves and their many owlets. This talk will cover these hunting and feeding behaviors while using many of his photos and videos to illustrate the amazing behaviors of these beautiful birds.
BEGINNER’S CROCHET CLASS
November 13 & 20
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
A Beginner’s Crochet Class will be held on November 13th and 20th from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Participants must attend both classes. You will need to bring medium blue, pink, or gray yarn; an H metal hook (5mm); and a pair of scissors. Limited seating; call to register.
NEW YEAR’S EVE GAMING
December 31, 2024 – January 1, 2025
6:00 PM – 2:00 AM
Looking for a fun, inexpensive way to celebrate the New Year’s? Join us at the C.E. Brehm Memorial Public Library as we play board games, card games, and role-playing games. Snacks and soft drinks will be provided. No alcohol allowed; no children.
WONDERFUL WATERCOLORS AND CREATIVE COLORING:
AWESOME ART FOR ADULTS
September 10 | October 8 | November 12 | December 10
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
With our user friendly materials, you can create your own artwork! Join us for Wonderful Watercolors and Creative Coloring on the second Tuesdays of the month from 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM. Coloring sheets, colored pencils, crayons, watercolors, and paintbrushes will be provided. Call to register.
HORROR BOOK CLUB
Second Thursday of Each Month
6:00 PM
The Horror Book Club will meet at 6:00 PM on the second Thursday of each month. Copies of the books to be discussed will be available at the Circulation Desk on the First Floor.
September 12
Mexican Gothic
by Silva Moreno-Garcia
After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find, and Noemí knows little about the region. Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom. Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past.
October 10
Haunting of Velkwood
by Gwendolyn Kiste
Three childhood friends miraculously survive the night when everyone in their suburban hometown turns into ghosts.
November 14
You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight
by Kalynn Bayron
Charity Curtis has the summer job of her dreams, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests pay to be scared in this full-contact terror game, as Charity and her summer crew recreate scenes from a classic slasher film, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business. But the last weekend of the season, Charity’s co-workers begin disappearing. And when one ends up dead, Charity’s role as the final girl suddenly becomes all too real. If Charity and her girlfriend Bezi hope to survive the night, they’ll need figure out what this killer is after. Is there is more to the story of Mirror Lake and its dangerous past than Charity ever suspected?
December 12
Universal Harvester
by John Darnielle
Life in a small town takes a dark turn when mysterious footage begins appearing on VHS cassettes at the local Video Hut.
ADULT BOOK CLUB
Third Thursday of Each Month
10:00 AM
The Adult Book Club will meet at 10:00 AM on the third Thursday of each month. Copies of the books to be discussed will be available at the Circulation Desk on the First Floor.
September 19
Remarkably Bright Creatures
by Shelby Van Pelt
Widowed Tova Sullivan works the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium where she befriends Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened to Tova’s 18-year-old son, who disappeared on a boat in Puget Sound over 30 years ago. Now he must use every trick he can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.
October 17
The World Played Chess
by Robert Dugoni
In 1979, Vincent Bianco has just graduated high school. His only desire: collect a little beer money and enjoy his final summer before college. So he lands a job as a laborer on a construction crew. Working alongside two Vietnam vets, one suffering from PTSD, Vincent gets the education of a lifetime. Now forty years later, with his own son leaving for college, the lessons of that summer, Vincent’s last taste of innocence and first taste of real life, dramatically unfold.
November 21
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
by Lisa See
Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate–the first automobile any of them have seen–and a stranger arrives. In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city. After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley’s happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for generations.
General Programs
RIP & STITCHERS: KNITTING AND CROCHET WORKSHOP
September 3 | October 1 | November 5 | December 3
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Patrons who have taken a beginner class of crochet and/or knitting or who already know who to crochet/knit are welcome. This group is not for beginners. Attendees must have a library card in good standing with the Illinois Heartland Library System and must sign up to attend. Meetings are on the first Tuesday of each month from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Call to register.
LIBRARY GAME DAY
September 21 | October 26 | November 23
11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Come join us for our monthly Library Game Day! Play a round of your choice from our collection of board games, card games, and role-playing games. Children are welcomed if accompanied by and adult.