Due to distributor contracts, we cannot list movie titles here. Please call the Circulation Desk if you would like more information about a particular movie night: 815-875-1331, ext 200. All movies are free and open to all.

Monday Night Movies
Feb 6, 5:30 pm
Feb 13, 5:30 pm
Feb 20 LIBRARY CLOSED FOR PRESIDENTS’ DAY HOLIDAY
Feb 27, 5:30 pm

No Widmark Wednesday Movie this month

In-Person Preschool Storytime and Craft
Tues, Feb 7, 10:30 am – Planets, Circles and Circle drawing/tracing activity
Tues, Feb 14, 10:30 am – Hearts and Tissue paper suncatcher heart
Tues, Feb 21, 10:30 am – Ice cream and Homemade ice cream in a bag activity
Tues, Feb 28, 10:30 am – Shapes and Hanging mobile craft (we’ll supply cutouts and small objects for the mobiles, but feel free to bring your own as well)

Wednesday, Feb 1, 5:30 pm Princeton Knitting & Crochet Group (Formerly Chicks with Sticks) Experienced and novice knitters and crocheters are welcome to join in this social crafting time.

Thursday, Feb 2, 5:30 pm This month’s Read ‘Em and Weed Gardening Group discussion topic will cover planning your spring garden: drafting ideas and making a seed schedule. All levels of gardening enthusiasts are encouraged to stop in.

Wednesday, Feb 8, 7-7:45 pm Illinois Libraries Present: Saying Yes to Your Story—A Conversation with Kwame Alexander Join us for an evening of inspiration and conversation with best-selling and award-winning children’s and young adult author and poet, Kwame Alexander, author of the Newbery Award winning book, The Crossover, Newbery Honor/Caldecott Medal winning book, The Undefeated, and most recently, An American Story, for an Illinois Libraries Present event for young people and their families. Kwame will share ways to say yes to your story and persist in the face of rejection as he shares his own publishing journey. As a creator of more than 36 books, Kwame will energize our community to harness the power of words and storytelling for change! Please note that this program will be presented live without a recording. REGISTER HERE

Thursday, Feb 9, 3:30–5:30 pm Youth Dungeons & Dragons For ages 10 and up – second and fourth Thursdays 3:30-5:30 pm . For more information, contact the PPL Youth Services Desk (815) 875-1331, ext. 220 or e-mail jmargowski@princetonpl.org

Thursday, Feb 9, 6:30 pm Page Turners Book Club The book selected for February will be One Two Three: A Novel, by Laurie Frankel, a character-driven book about love and family. It is wholly original, complex, compelling, profound, quirky and brilliant. Triplets Mab, Monday and Mirabel are teenagers who live in the town of Bourne. Their single mom, Nora, works as Bourne’s only therapist, its only bartender, and the job she can’t let go of: lead plaintiff in Bourne’s class-action lawsuit against Belsum Chemical. Seventeen years ago, Bourne was national news when its water turned green. The Belsum Chemical plant was pumping toxic chemicals into Bourne’s river. Flowers stopped blooming, pets got sick, then their owners did too. The girls have come of age watching their mother’s endlesss fight for justice. When Bison announces plans to reopen the plant, the girls take up their mother’s cause in a race to find what Belsum is hiding and to stop them.

Saturday, Feb 11, 1 pm “Lincoln’s Years in Illinois, 1830–1861,” in collaboration with the Bureau County Historical Society Dana Collins’s talk and slide presentation will draw from her extensive personal library, and from her selection of over a hundred prints and photographs of the period and will cover Lincoln’s life in the state from his young manhood in New Salem to his departure thirty-one years later from Springfield to assume the Presidency.

Monday, Feb 20 LIBRARY CLOSED FOR PRESIDENTS’ DAY HOLIDAY

Tuesday, Feb 21, 5:30–7:30 pm Music Jam Bring your instrument or a song to sing, or just come to listen and enjoy a casual evening of (mostly folk) music.

Thursday, Feb 23, 3:30–5:30 pm Youth Dungeons & Dragons For ages 10 and up – second and fourth Thursdays 3:30-5:30 pm . For more information, contact the PPL Youth Services Desk (815) 875-1331, ext. 220 or e-mail jmargowski@princetonpl.org (Group will meet in Youth Services for this meeting)

Thursday, Feb 23, 5:30 pm Poems, Back Stories, and the Creative Process Local poet Kevin Shyne will read selected poems from his book The Faith of Fragile Things.  Between poems, Kevin and his wife Debi, married for 37 years, will discuss the back stories and the creative process behind this record of ordinary moments that touch the heart and imagination. Kevin’s poetry has been published in numerous journals and has been recognized in poetry competitions sponsored by The Bureau County Republican and the Niles (Illinois) Public Library.  Debi Shyne, a registered nurse for many years, has been published in professional and literary journals also. The Faith of Fragile Things is published by Kelsay Books, a small press publisher that specializes in poetry.  Kevin will be selling his book at this event.

Saturday, Feb 25, 1 pm “New Philadelphia, IL and the Free Frank McWorter Family” in collaboration with the Bureau County Historical Society Bureau County Historical Museum Associate-Curator Jessica Gray will present a captivating presentation about Illinois’s early history and one particularly amazing family’s role in forging new paths for Black citizens.  The story follows the Free Frank McWorter family from slavery all the way to the beginnings of the Golden Age of Flight.  McWorter founded the small town of New Philadelphia, IL., the only town founded and platted by a former slave.  After first purchasing the freedom of his pregnant wife, Lucy, and then himself, McWorter would use the sale of town lots, livestock, and produce to purchase the freedom of his grown children, their spouses, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  All told, 16 members and four generations of his family would be freed through McWorter’s tireless efforts.  McWorter’s grave is one of two in the state on the National Historic Register—the other being President Abraham Lincoln’s—and although the town today has returned to agricultural land, it has been designated a National Historic Landmark and a site on the Underground Railroad.