Bremen Library Newsletter

June 2026

Dear Bremen Library Patrons,

Memorial Day Weekend has come and gone– I guess we can officially be in summertime mode! I have been busy here at the library getting ready for this year’s summer reading program that will run from July 1 through August 8. I was lucky enough to get a summer reading grant from The Dollar General Literacy Foundation that is helping me provide some fun summer things! I will have raffle baskets that kids can get tickets for for every library visit; there is going to be a live animal presentation by Sparks Ark; I’ve gotten special prizes from Twist of Moody’s, The Penalty Box and Sherman’s Damariscotta. If you have a family member of the 12 and under set, be sure to stop in and find out more about it! I have included a list of the Summer Reading Activities towards the end of this email, and have printed versions at the library as well.

I am also excited about the Summer Concert series! As you may have seen, there has been a bit of outdoor work done over here. We are thankful to the Ehrenfeld Family Foundation for the financial gift that allowed us to have this work done. The deck is accessible now, and should provide a great set up for our concerts, as well as other outdoor activities. I am hopeful that Mother Nature will cooperate so that there will be plenty of room for everyone to enjoy the music outside, but concerts will be moved inside if there is inclement weather. I also need to remind you that overflow parking is in the town hall parking lot. No parking is allowed along the long driveway or on the grassy area across from the library parking lot.

I look forward to welcoming back our seasonal friends. Please remember that the library is a cool place to be- we have air conditioning on those really hot days and you are welcome during library hours to come spend as much time as you need to cool off. I’ve got a puzzle on the table upstairs to work on, free wi-fi, and plenty of books, magazines and newspapers to read!

Stay safe and be well!

Melissa Chase , Director (207) 529-5572 bremenlibrary.mchase@gmail.com

JUNE ARTIST OF THE MONTH LISA KYLE

We are pleased to welcome back Lisa Kyle as our June artist of the month. As far back she can remember, Lisa Kyle loved to draw and paint and always wanted to be a painter. Even when she began practicing architecture, she studied painting, taking art classes wherever she and her husband lived - at SMU in Dallas, at the Savannah College of Art while teaching architecture there, and at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Kyle spent many years as a residential architect, squeezing in time to paint whenever she could: early mornings before heading into the office, or on the weekends after finishing chores. In 2006, she had a scary awakening when diagnosed with breast cancer. She realized that a lot of those clichés are true: life is short, life can turn on a dime, you should follow your dreams, and there really is no time like the present. So after finishing cancer treatments in 2007, she began to make a plan: to live somewhere beautiful and to paint for a living. She and her husband moved to Maine in 2016, and in 2017, she began to paint full time. In winter, she paints in her studio while listening to music from a vast collection of CDs. For inspiration, she uses field sketches, plein-aire paintings and photographs. Whether her work is created in the field or in her studio, Kyle tries to capture the beauty of the natural world. She says her calling is to lift up nature by creating beautiful objects so that others can live with the beauty and serenity of nature.

Her art will be on display in the meeting room gallery throughout the month of June, with an artist’s opening reception on Wednesday, June 3, from 3-5 pm. Light refreshments will be served. Free and open to the public.

SUMMER CONCERT SERIES

LIVE MUSIC ON THE DECK

COME LISTEN TO SOME LIVE MUSIC!

BRING A BLANKET OR CHAIR

THURS JUNE 11 5:30 NO SPRING CHICKENS

THURS JULY 9 5:30 JUD CASWELL

THURS JULY 23 5:30 LAETITIA BRUNDAGE

THURS JULY 30 5:30 MOONTIDE

Concerts will be indoors if it’s raining (chairs provided/space will be limited)

AUTHOR TALK

THURSDAY JUNE 25 5:30

JACK MONTGOMERY

“FROM THE HOLOCAUST TO MAINE”

Jack Montgomery is a photographer based in Freeport, Maine. He has been making images since the early 1990’s. His subjects have ranged widely. His first major series of portraits was focused on Maine’s Holocaust survivors. He has since gone on to photograph New York Firefighters after 9/11, transgender youth, judges, villagers in the Dominican Republic, and dancers in Portland,Maine and Sienna, Italy among others. Montgomery says “This book has its origins more than 30 years ago, when I began photographing Maine’s Holocaust survivors. I had been stunned when I learned about Anne Frank at age 9, and remained acutely aware of the Holocaust and the scourge of antisemitism ever since. I began photographing seriously when I turned 40. After a few years learning the basics, I conceived my first project — photographing the faces of the people who had endured and survived the horrors of the Shoah. I listened carefully as we made the portraits together and heard their stories of rich lives before Hitler took

power, the horrible experiences during the ensuing years, and then the remaking of their lives in Maine. Those portraits became an exhibition that was shown in many venues across the state. They now reside as permanent exhibits at the Maine Jewish Museum in Portland and the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine in Augusta. For many years, I wished that someone would memorialize their stories in a book, and let them be told by the survivors in the first person. Finally, at the outset of the pandemic, I realized that if anyone was going to make that book, it would be me. “If not now, when? If not me, who?” The five years that followed have shown a frightening resurgence of antisemitism throughout the world, including the United States and even Maine. My sense of urgency increased over the time it took to complete it. Now, in 2026, I am reading daily about antisemitic violence as well as hateful anti-Jewish tropes creeping into the mainstream of political discourse. This book is my response. In particular, I hope that young people will read these stories and realize that there is such a thing as truthful history, that words have consequences, and that violence is not a video-game, but rather the imposition of pain and death upon our fellow human beings. These stories are the responses of those who endured the most terrible consequences of hateful rhetoric and actions. I read them as their warning to all of us.”

This program is free and open to all.

CHILDREN’S SUMMER EVENTS

SUMMER READING PROGRAM

JULY 1 THRU AUG 8

• JULY 1: SUMMER READING SIGN-UP BEGINS!
• DROP IN CRAFTS

WEDNESDAYS IN JULY 10:30-NOON

(JULY 1, 8, 15, 22, 29)

WE SUPPLY THE CRAFT, YOU SUPPLY THE CREATIVITY!

• FIRST FRIDAY STORYTIMES

FRIDAY JULY 3 AND AUGUST 7

MIXED AGES STORYTIME WITH SOCIAL AND PLAYTIME FOR KIDS AND GROWNUPS AFTER

• SPARKS’ ARK LIVE ANIMAL PRESENTATION

SATURDAY, JULY 18 9:30-10:30

• SATURDAY AUGUST 8 10:30-11:30

SUMMER READING ENDS!

COME JOIN THE PARTY AND GET YOUR CERTIFICATE AND ANY PRIZES YOU MAY HAVE WON!

Ongoing Programing

All ongoing programming is free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted

Monthly Book Club: May’s selection (for May 7) is Faith Bass Darling’s Last Garage Sale by Lynda Rutledge. The book for discussion on June 4 is The Templars by Dan Jones. Limited copies will be available at the desk to check out

Tech Help some Saturdays or Wednesdays 10-12 - Tech helper Caleb Pusey will answer your tech questions at the library (call the library for currents dates)

Knit & Stitch Group Thursdays 1-2:30 Bring your current fiber project and meet and support other like minded folks!

FIRST FRIDAY FUN Mixed ages storytime! June 5, July 3 and Aug 7 from 10:30-12

This mixed-ages storytime will take place on the first Friday of each month. We will start with some stories and songs, and then kids and their caregivers are welcome to stay and play and socialize together in the Big Room until noon. Registration is not necessary, but I’d appreciate a call if you plan to come!