ADULT PROGRAMS
INTO THE WEEDS
Wednesdays at 10am, May 7, 14, 21, & 28
Join Seed Library Coordinator, Wendy, to plan, prep, water and weed the library's gardens and community planters along the Common. Tasks will vary week to week. Bring your gloves, hand tools & knowledge to share! Many hands make light work!
ALL THINGS CHAMOMILE!
Tuesday, June 3 at 6pm
Elaine Fletcher-Jenzen, Michiana Unit Chairperson for the Herb Society of America and Michelle McCoskey, Director of Education at Fernwood Botanical Garden will delight you with a presentation on the International Herb Society's Herb of the Year: Chamomile. Participants will learn about its native properties, medicinal, culinary and cultural uses and how to grow this amazing herb. Handouts, recipes and tastings provided.
MEET THE AUTHOR | DANIEL CLARK
Thursday, June 5 at 6pm
Join us as we welcome author Daniel J. Clark to discuss his latest book, Listening to Workers, Oral Histories of Metro Detroit Autoworkers in the 1950s, as a part of the 2025 Michigan Notable Books tour. Drawing on years of interviews and archival research, Daniel J. Clark presents the rich, interesting, and sometimes confounding lives of men and women who worked in Detroit-area automotive plants in the 1950s.
Light refreshments will be served, and no registration is required.
MEET THE AUTHOR | KIM OCLON
Saturday, June 28 at 2:00pm
Kim Oclon is a former high school teacher and co-founder of the school's inaugural GSA. She is an active member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and PFLAG. Kim's first novel, Man Up, was published in 2020. Her second novel, The War on All Fronts, hit shelves in May, 2022. Kim's first literary love was a series of Care Bear books. She now considers The Things They Carried to be her favorite book. She lives in East Dundee, IL with her husband, daughter, son, and a little dog named Zero.
Join Kim as she discusses the inspiration for her novels, changes she's seen in the publishing industry, and answers questions about her writing journey. No registration is required and light refreshments will be served.
This program is for teens and adults.
Adult Beanstack Reading Challenges
The Buchanan District Library wants to encourage everyone to be life-long readers, and to that end we're posting more Beanstack Challenges throughout the year. Visit our Beanstack Challenges page for more details on our current challenges!
Coming soon- Summer Reading 2025! Register starting June first, and start logging your reading and activities June 6. See our Summer Reading page for more info!
BUCHANAN BOOK CLUB
Come join our book discussion! Meets the first Wednesday of the month *at 6:00-7:00pm* at the library unless otherwise stated. Please email l.hauch@buchananlibrary.org if you'd like to join the club/contact list.
January 8 (NOT THE 1st)- North Woods by Daniel Mason
February 5- The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon
March 5- The Women by Kristin Hannah
April 2- Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H.
May 7- The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
June 4- Free Love by Robert Shaplen
July 2- Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray
August 6- Waves in an Impossible Sea by Matt Strassler
September 3- The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
October 1- Albanian Escape by Agnes Mangerich
November 5- All We Were Promised by Ashton Lattimore
December 3- Framed by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey
Don't have the book and the library's copy is checked out? We can get it for you through MeLCat interlibrary loan! Go to www.mel.org or ask at the Front Desk to request it.
Let us know what you think! If you attended one of our programs, please take a moment to give us your feedback using the form below.
ARCHIVED PAST EVENTS
Cryptids Decrypted with Andrew Kercher
Everyone knows famous cryptids like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, but there are many more mysterious creatures around the world! Andrew Kercher tells the stories of animal demystification and curious cases when mysterious creatures turned out to be all too real!
This event took place via Google Meet on Thursday, November 7, 2024 at 5:30pm.
Forever Friends: the Buchanan Girl Scouts with Susan Haedtler Ruth.
Join Susan Haedtler Ruth as she shares stories of eight young Girl Scouts who graced the cover of the library’s 2022 Remembering Buchanan calendar. Susan, a Buchanan native and close relative of two of the women, set out to identify the other six and uncover “the rest of the story” about these eight remarkable women. This event took place at the library on Thursday, June 6, 2024.
Jack Knight Presentation with Patricia Lammersfeld
James H. (Jack) Knight, a former Buchanan resident and Buchanan High School student, flew for the U.S. airmail starting in 1919. Patricia Lammersfeld has collected cherished memorabilia about her famous grandfather, and will offer a slide presentation about his life and place in our country’s aviation history. This event took place at the library on Wednesday, June 1, 2022.
Beginning Genealogy with Judy Nimer Muhn
Join Judy Nimer Muhn, writer, speaker, blogger, presenter and researcher for Beginning Genealogy: Effective Strategies & Tools. Millions of people are trying to develop their family tree but how many know the effective, time-tested ways to do this? If you are beginning, learn the fundamental tips that will keep you on track and getting results! Judy has been researching her family tree from the age of 12, specializing in French-Canadian, Acadian, Native American and Michigan research. Beginning as a professional genealogist in Europe in 1993, she has lectured at the National Genealogical Society’s conferences in 1998 and 2000, as well as conferences in Europe and around the United States. She is currently writing a book of the matri-lineal descent of her oldest female ancestor in Normandy, France. Traveling extensively around the world, Judy has visited and researched in the villages and archives of Germany, France, Quebec, and Ontario where her or her husband’s family lived. Program handouts: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yhxX... https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wgqP...
This event took place via Zoom on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 7:00pm. A recording of the is below and on YouTube.
Meet the Author: Susan Ruth
Susan Haedtler Ruth shares stories about five female family members from her new book, Mayflower to Michigan and Beyond: My Family’s Journey. These five women descend from immigrants who arrived in this country between 1620 and 1855. Two of them settled in Chicago; two in Buchanan; and the fifth, Susan’s mother, was a bridge between the two cities. Born in Chicago, she later moved to her family’s 1850s homestead on Portage Prairie. Each story is unique, but they share common themes of adventure, sadness, and joy.
This event took place via Zoom on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, at 7:00pm. A recording of the is below and on YouTube.
Meet the Author: Gabrielle Robinson
On September 24, the Buchanan District Library hosted a special program with South Bend-based author, Gabrielle Robinson. She discussed her latest book, Api’s Berlin Diaries: My Quest to Understand my Grandfather’s Nazi Past, and talked about how you can capture your own family history through writing. Gabrielle tells stories about people that reveal their personal situation within its historical context.One reason for her fascination with the intersection of the personal and historical stems from her own experience. Born in Berlin in 1942, her father’s fighter plane was shot down in 1943. After her family was bombed out twice, they fled Berlin in 1945. After her mother’s death, Gabrielle Robinson found diaries her grandfather had kept while serving as a doctor in Berlin in 1945—only to discover that her beloved Api had been a Nazi. Moving and provocative, Api’s Berlin Diaries offers a first hand and personal perspective on the far reaching aftershocks of the Third Reich and the author’s own inconvenient past. You can learn more about Gabrielle and her writing by visiting her website, https://www.gabriellerobinson.com/.
This event took place via Zoom on Thursday, September 24, 2020, at 7:00pm. A recording of the is below and on YouTube.