Maplewood Memorial Library

10/15/2026

Music for Kids: Let’s Jazz it Up!
Interactive musical explorations for kids & families
📅 Saturday, October 17
🕙️ 10:15am AND 11:30am (two identical repeating sessions)
📍 Maplewood Memorial Library Community Room

Let’s Jazz it Up with the Michael Topping Trio, consisting of three young, up-and-coming jazz artists on bass, guitar, and drums. They’ll be playing jazz standards, demonstrating how jazz works, and teaching about the core element of jazz music: improvisation.

This live music event is geared for children ages 8 and under, with an adult. No registration required!

Save the date for our next Music for Kids event: Saturday, November 21

Music for Kids, a project of the Maplewood Library, is a series of interactive, engaging musical adventures designed for young children and their caregivers. The series is supported by a grant from a local civic foundation and is curated in collaboration with members of the Maplewood Arts Council. Inspiration for this series comes from a similar program created 30 years ago by Maplewood’s late, beloved community arts pioneer Jim Buchanan.

10/15/2026

Bilingual Storytime in Mandarin/English @ Hilton Branch
📅 Tuesday, October 20
🕓️ 4:00pm - 4:20pm
📍 Hilton Branch Library

Language-learning fun with familiar rhymes and songs for preschoolers! Join us at Hilton Branch for a bilingual storytime in Mandarin and English for ages 2-5, presented by Ms. Aki, local resident, native Mandarin speaker and preschool teacher.

10/15/2026

Scrapbook Saturdays: a Junk Journaling Mini-Series
📅 Saturday September 12, October 17 & November 14
🕛️ 12:00PM - 2:00PM
📍 Maplewood Memorial Library Create Space

Bind your own junk journal in the first workshop in our three-part miniseries focused on the art of scrapbooking, junk journaling, collage, and more.

This event begins with an hour-long workshop with local artists Nicole Golden and Naomi Losman. Together we will each bind our own junk journal from various papers and discarded book pages. The second hour will be open studio time where you can work on your own scrapbook, junk journal, or collage.

Supplies will be provided but please feel free to bring your own scrapbook, journal, and/or scraps. *You do not need to attend all three events; registration for the October event will open on 10/1/26 and for the November event on 11/2/26.

Registration is required: https://maplewoodlibrary.libnet.info/event/17268253

*You do not need to attend all three workshops; registration for the October workshop will open on 10/1/26 and for the November workshop on 11/2/26

10/14/2026

Filmmaker Workshop For middle school students 🎥
📅 Wednesday, October 21
🕞️ 3:30PM - 4:30PM
📍 Maplewood Memorial Library Create Space

Lights, camera, create! Explore the basics of filmmaking in this fun, beginner-friendly workshop, from brainstorming stories to planning shots and choosing camera angles.

Through creative activities and collaboration, participants will learn how to bring their ideas to life and discover simple techniques to start making movies of their own. No experience needed—just curiosity and imagination! Led by Chris Cassidy of South Mountain Film Academy.

Register here: https://maplewoodlibrary.libnet.info/event/17383573

10/14/2026

𝗠𝗔𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗪𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗟𝗜𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗟𝗔𝗨𝗡𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗦 “𝗟𝗜𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦” 𝗙𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗘𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗗 𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗠𝗦, 𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗦, 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗦 & 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘

Maplewood Library launches a Library of Things, letting residents borrow tools, electronics and game kits to save money and reduce waste.
Read https://www.tapinto.net/towns/soma/sections/community/articles/maplewood-library-launches-library-of-things-featuring-household-items-electronics-games-more or visit TAPinto SOMA to read more https://www.tapinto.net/towns/soma

10/13/2026

The Things We Never Said: An Evening with Playwright Eric Alter
📅 Tuesday, October 20
🕡️ 6:30PM - 8:00PM
📍 Maplewood Memorial Library Community Room

Join us for a talk about playwriting, secrets, and Alter's new play, Kill Goofy

At thirteen, Freddy and Barney were inseparable. Then Barney's family left town, and the two best friends spent thirty years not talking about why. Kill Goofy, the new full-length play by Eric Alter, brings them back into the same childhood bedroom for one night.

Alter, who grew up in Maplewood and South Orange and now lives in Livingston, has written more than 185 plays and has produced original theater at Montclair's Grove Street Theater for 26 years through his company, Apricot Sky Productions. In this talk, he shares how the Kill Goofy came to be, why he writes about the things families almost say to each other, and what it takes to bring a brand-new play from the page to a 360-seat house. The evening will feature short readings from the script, a look inside the rehearsal process, and an open Q&A.

Kill Goofy runs October 9 to 25 at the Grove Street Theater in Montclair. The play deals with the aftermath of childhood sexual abuse, and this library program is suitable for adults. For full details and content advisory: https://apricotskyproductions.com/killgoofy/

10/12/2026

Read all about the staff changes underway at Maplewood Library in this Matters Magazine feature on our retiring longtime staff members and some of the new faces at the library!

Maplewood Memorial Library gets a different kind of faceliftBy Mason LevinsonSometimes words aren’t necessary to convey what someone means to you and your community.“I had a young kid yesterday who put his arms around me and just sobbed,” Jane Folger, head of children’s services at the Maple...

10/12/2026

Player Intro to Dungeons and Dragons - ages 10 & up
Monday, October 19
🕓️ 4:00PM - 5:00PM
📍Maplewood Memorial Library

Join Jon Campbell, high school teacher and roleplaying game player/storyteller of over 20 years, as he helps you understand and enjoy roleplaying games like D&D! Participants will learn the basic rules of Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs, focused specifically on how to be a player in those games.

This workshop offers not only an overview of rules, but insight on how best to approach the game, how to make the game fun for everyone, how to design the best character for the game you are playing, and the social and emotional benefits of roleplaying games.

This session is for ages 10 & up, including adults. There will be another session of this workshop geared towards ages 9 & under on Saturday, November 7 @ 11am -- save the date!

Register here: https://maplewoodlibrary.libnet.info/event/17526770

Find Jon Campbell on Instagram:

10/09/2026

The Friends of the Maplewood Library Fall Book Sale will take place at the Main Library on November 13, 14 & 15 -- save the dates!

Book donations will be accepted at Main Library on October 30, 31 & November 2 between 10AM-4PM.

The Friends of the Library can only accept book donations in good to very good condition and are unable to accept moldy or mildewed books, textbooks, computer books, encyclopedias or magazines.

For more information about the Friends of the Maplewood Library, visit our website at https://www.maplewoodlibrary.org/friends

10/08/2026

"Do One Thing!" A Banned Books Week event
📅 Saturday, October 10
🕑️ 2:00PM - 4:00PM
📍Maplewood Memorial Library Community Room

Join us at Maplewood Library on “Let Freedom Read Day” to commemorate Banned Books Week 2026: whether you have 5, 10, or 30 minutes, stop by the Library to support the Freedom to Read!

Supporting the Freedom to Read could look like participating in our banned books “Read Out!”, checking out a banned book or two, making a button, stocking up on library merch to support the freedom to read, or learning about all the big and small ways you can protect books from censorship!