We love to support our local schools and preschools. See below for an overview of our resources and programs that can supplement the educational experience for students and teachers. Please reach out if you have any questions/additional needs.
View and complete the form here. Use this form to let us know about upcoming class projects. Please give us at least one week's notice. The earlier you alert us, the more we can do to help.
Out-of-town students receive a 1-year library card which gives them access to the collection and eBooks. Come to the Library or sign up online here. Already have a library card from another CT library? Register your out-of-town library card at New Canaan Library.
Contact us to arrange librarian visits to your school and/or class visits to the Library. We love working with students of any age, from preschool through high school, and we can tailor visits to meet your curricular needs.
Our librarians can pull books on any topic your class is studying. Contact us at [email protected] or (203) 594-5002. Running short on time? Books can be checked out to you for fast and easy pickup. Have a little more time? We can pull books for you to browse at your own pace.
Our Family Services librarians can provide an in-depth overview of our services at the Library. Demo MakerLab tools like our Cricut machine, listen to themed book talks to supplement your lesson plans, or sign up for an educator library card. Email Rebecca Fox or Dajana Martinez to schedule your visit.
- Our SEL storytimes incorporate skills such as compassion, kindness, empathy, cooperation, diversity, and respect in exciting and engaging ways. We can present these storytimes at your school or you can request to borrow a box for classroom use.
- Our Kindness Storytime provides concrete examples of what kindness can look like, what it means to be kind, and respect for friends.
- Our Feelings Storytime provides an opportunity for children to identify their emotions, find constructive and respectful ways to interact with one another, and practice mindfulness to regulate emotions.
- The SEL Storytime Boxes include songs, QR codes to tunes, rhymes, felts, and books.
- Reach out to Dajana Martinez to schedule our visit to your preschool or to borrow a box.
Recommended Reads
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American Desi
Pavadais in bright gold colors
Jersey shirts and faded jeans
Swapping, changing, feeling seen...
Which is the color of me?A young girl longs to know where she fits in: Is she American? Or is she Indian? Does she have to pick or can she be both? With bright, joyful rhyme, and paired with an immersive art style using American and Indian fabrics, American Desi celebrates the experiences of young children growing up first and second generation Indian American: straddling the two cultural worlds they belong to, embracing all they love of both worlds and refusing to be limited by either.
This story is a powerful tribute to the joy of being South Asian and for every reader who aspires to bridge their worlds with grace, grit, and confidence.
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Brown is Beautiful
On a hike with her grandparents, a young Indian-American girl makes note of all the things in nature that are brown, too. From a nurturing mother bear, to the steadiness of deep twisting roots, to the beauty of a wild mustang, brown is everywhere! On her way, the girl collects the beautiful brown things she encounters as mementos for a scrapbook to share with a very special new addition to her family--a baby brother!
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Finding My Dance
In her debut picture book, professional Indigenous dancer Ria Thundercloud tells the true story of her path to dance and how it helped her take pride in her Native American heritage.
At four years old, Ria Thundercloud was brought into the powwow circle, ready to dance in the special jingle dress her mother made for her. As she grew up, she danced with her brothers all over Indian country. Then Ria learned more styles--tap, jazz, ballet--but still loved the expressiveness of Indigenous dance. And despite feeling different as one of the only Native American kids in her school, she always knew she could turn to dance to cheer herself up.
Follow along as Ria shares her dance journey--from dreaming of her future to performing as a professional--accompanied by striking illustrations that depict it while bringing her graceful movements to life. -
Let's Go
Every day, a little boy watches kids pass by on skateboards, and dreams of joining them. One day, his mother brings a surprise: her old skateboard, just for him! haw êkwa! Let's go! Together, they practice on the sidewalk, at the park, in Auntie's yard--everywhere. But when it comes time to try the skatepark, the skateboarders crash down like a waterfall. Can he find the confidence to join them?
Let's Go! features:- A glossary of Cree words featured in the book, and a Cree refrain (haw êkwa!) repeated throughout
- A note to the reader from Julie Flett about her inspiration for the story
This fun and touching story is a tribute to family, friendship, and perseverance. Julie Flett's renowned art and powerful text shows a community of support is all around, ready to help each other... go!
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Bowwow Powwow
Windy Girl is blessed with a vivid imagination. From Uncle she gathers stories of long-ago traditions, about dances and sharing and gratitude. Windy can tell such stories herself-about her dog, Itchy Boy, and the way he dances to request a treat and how he wriggles with joy in response to, well, just about everything.
When Uncle and Windy Girl and Itchy Boy attend a powwow, Windy watches the dancers in their jingle dresses and listens to the singers. She eats tasty food and joins family and friends around the campfire. Later, Windy falls asleep under the stars. Now Uncle's stories inspire other visions in her head: a bowwow powwow, where all the dancers are dogs. In these magical scenes, Windy sees veterans in a Grand Entry, and a visiting drum group, and traditional dancers, grass dancers, and jingle-dress dancers-all with telltale ears and paws and tails. All celebrating in song and dance. All attesting to the wonder of the powwow.
This playful story by Brenda Child is accompanied by a companion retelling in Ojibwe by Gordon Jourdain and brought to life by Jonathan Thunder's vibrant dreamscapes. The result is a powwow tale for the ages. -
This Land
This land is your land now, but who was here before? This engaging primer about native lands invites kids to trace history and explore their communities.
Before my family lived in this house, a different family did, and before them, another family, and another before them. And before that, the family lived here, not in a house, but a wigwam. Who lived where you are before you got there?
This Land teaches readers that American land, from our backyards to our schools to Disney World, are the traditional homelands of many Indigenous nations. This Land will spark curiosity and encourage readers to explore the history of the places they live and the people who have lived there throughout time and today. -
Revenge of the Tipping Point Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering.
Twenty-five years after publishing his groundbreaking first book, Malcolm Gladwell returns with a brand-new volume that reframes the lessons of The Tipping Point in a startling and revealing light.
Why is Miami…Miami? What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why do Ivy League schools care so much about sports? What is the Magic Third, and what does it mean for racial harmony? In this provocative new work, Malcolm Gladwell returns for the first time in twenty-five years to the subject of social epidemics and tipping points, this time with the aim of explaining the dark side of contagious phenomena.
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The Message
The renowned author of Between the World and Me journeys to three resonant sites of conflict to explore how the stories we tell—and the ones we don’t—shape our realities.
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The ABCs of Disabilities
Let's learn about our disabled friends together, from A to Z.
Introduce young learners to topics of disability, accessibility, and inclusion in an easy-to-understand ABC book format. Designed for both disabled and non-disabled readers, complicated issues are made simple through compassionate writing and fun illustrations. This book has something for everyone, from children to adults!
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Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio (Bilingual Edition)
The immigrant tenants of a building in Rome offer skewed accounts of a murder in this prize-winning satire by the Algerian-born Italian author (Publishers Weekly).
Piazza Vittorio is home to a polyglot community of immigrants who have come to Rome from all over the world. But when a tenant is murdered in the building's elevator, the delicate balance is thrown into disarray. As each of the victim's neighbors is questioned by the police, readers are offered an all-access pass into the most colorful neighborhood in contemporary Rome.
With language as colorful as the neighborhood it describes, each character takes his or her turn "giving evidence." Their various stories reveal much about the drama of racial identity and the anxieties of a life spent on society's margins, but also bring to life the hilarious imbroglios of this melting pot Italian culture.
"Their frequently wild testimony teases out intriguing psychological and social insight alongside a playful whodunit plot."--Publishers Weekly