Adult Summer Reading Bingo Challenge ‘23, a Deep Dive into NAUTICAL READS – “Under the Sea”

Are you working on the Adult Summer Reading Bingo Challenge ‘23? Looking for inspiration for titles that will cover the square: “Book About the Ocean”? If so, read on and let’s dive “under the sea” together! (Disney’s Little Mermaid reference 100% intended). 🙂

Feel free to also reference this earlier list, but be warned: there is some overlap…

Below is a list of 6 nautical topics/themes (in no particular order) under which I’ve categorized a number of books held here at MML and/or available through Minerva. Also, some of these categories overlap such as Sea Life and Mysteries of the Ocean: Science Writing. Just giving you a heads up!

NOTE: All lists are alphabetical by author last name!

Topics:

• Shipwrecks
• Sea Life 
• Mysteries of the Ocean: Science Writing 
• Resorts & Beach Vacations 
• Pirates
• Mermaids and Sirens

Shipwrecks: Beyond the infamous Titanic…

FICTION (3 titles)

NONFICTION (3 titles)

Sea Life: From coral reefs to sharks and dolphins

FICTION (3 titles)

NONFICTION (3 titles)

Mysteries of the Ocean: Science Writing*

*This category is NONFICTION only.

NONFICTION (6 titles)

Resorts & Beach Vacations: Beyond Emily Henry and Elin Hilderbrand.

FICTION (4 titles)

NONFICTION (2 titles)

Pirates: Bring your flask and enjoy some rum!

FICTION (3 titles)

NONFICTION (3 titles)

Mermaids and Sirens: Folklore and fairy tales from the sea

FICTION (5 titles)

NONFICTION (1 title)

Finally, as a bonus, if you want to read about oceans that are literally out of this world (or at least off of this planet), check out this recent scholarly publication (through Oxford University Press). This title was co-authored by a geologist and a paleobiologist about ocean worlds that may exist elsewhere in our galaxy and beyond.

Happy reading adventures!

-Courtney Kleftis

Adult Services Librarian

Intergenerational Local History Scavenger Hunt (co-hosted by MML & YHC)

Fun for ALL ages! Stop by the library anytime on Monday, August 7th to pick up this scavenger hunt guide taking you around 7 fascinating sites all within walking distance of the library. This week-long local history scavenger hunt will come to an end with a mini-presentation and local history talk by Katie Worthing, Director of the Yarmouth History Center, at Royal River Park on Friday, August 11th at 2pm.

If you want to learn more about Yarmouth’s history, check out the short bibliographies Courtney has curated for each site as well as the fantastic historical blurbs written by Katie. All of this information is available IN PRINT at the library and at each of the 7 physical sites.

Images (L-R): YHC building, 1795 map of Maine & book cover (Yarmouth Revisited)

General Guidelines:

1. First and foremost, HAVE FUN! This is an unorthodox scavenger hunt…It’s very loose and relaxed.
2. Go in any order you want, start with ANY hint you wish. (Hints on pg. 2). This is low-key and (mostly) rule free. (As you can see, I like to rhyme).

Prize:

• Pick up a Summer Reading 2023 pin at Royal River Park (or stop into the library and ask for one for having participated in this fun and educational program). 

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact the Adult Services Librarian, Courtney Kleftis, at ckleftis@yarmouthlibrary.org. Enjoy this adventure.

Here are the hints for each site:

SITE 1:

• Red brick building on a street corner (a few blocks away from the library) with 4 tall chimneys on both sides of the roof; a building designed for studying AND living since 1841!

SITE 2:

• A beloved natural landmark; provided shade and shelter for numerous creatures; helped humans breathe clean and fresh air; a memorial (of sorts) is on display just across the street from the library!

SITE 3:

• Get ready for a trip on the Hogwarts Express (just kidding!); get out your Word Reference and translate from Spanish to English ferrocarril for more info. about where to find this site in the scavenger hunt. 🙂 This site is close to the library and is a great place to buy some local fresh veggies during the summer months.

SITE 4:

• Pirates, beware! This is a spot you may want to hide your contraband/stolen goods. 🙂 This white 19th century Italianate style home originally belonged to a Yarmouth-based ship’s captain. It’s just a few blocks away from MML and is currently a place to learn how to jam. The building has recently been renovated and expanded! The building has a beautiful lookout on top called a belvedere!

SITE 5:

• Check out the white Federal 2-story home of one of the most prominent original benefactors of NYA just down the street. Notice the four white brick chimneys on each side and corner of the roof. This was the home of an 18th-century medical doctor.

SITE 6:

• An old (18th-century) white building up a hill off of Main Street beside land where the town’s beloved dead “sleep” and a space for people to gather together as a community. It’s a TALL building with a steeple. 🙂 

SITE 7:

• What remains of a formerly massive complex of 19th-century brick buildings overlooking falls in Royal River Park where paper was mass produced for decades here in Yarmouth. Just five years after the factory closed down it was decimated by a devastating fire.

Note: While arranged in order from the closest to the library to the most distant (more or less!), you are welcome to go in any order you wish to. This is a pretty relaxed scavenger hunt. (For instance, SITE 7 is rather out of the way no matter what order you go in!)

Capturing Indigenous Voices in Maine’s History

To supplement the Summer Reading ‘23 Local History Scavenger Hunt (intergenerational fun!), I’ve curated a short working list of materials capturing indigenous voices in Maine’s history. While I was unable to find information specific to Yarmouth, there are abundant resources available both online and in print pertaining to this topic. I’ve compiled all this information because of the importance of celebrating and honoring the lives of indigenous people. While white settler/colonizer history is generally more well-documented this does not make it more valuable. 

Indigenous History of Maine (MML resources)

*Mawopiyane means “let us sit together” in Passamaquoddy (in this case the term is referencing a group of coauthors).

**The Talty book is a READ ME ‘23 title (sponsored by the Maine Humanities Council). Also, if you feel compelled to join, come to our library’s discussion about the book: Thursday, August 17th at 7pm.

Small Sampling of Digital Archival Resources (from Maine Memory Network):

• Waponahki Rematriation: A story by Sherri Mitchell Weh’na Ha’mu Kkwasset 
• Mali Agat (Molly Ockett) the famous Wabanaki “Doctress”: A story by Maine Historical Society from 1740-1816 
• Pauline Shay weaving a basket, Portland, 1923 
• Wabanaki participants at the Maine Centennial, Portland, 1920 
• William Neptune, Portland, 1920 
• Miniature rootclub, ca. 1850 *potentially a ceremonial club belonging to a Wabanaki shaman*
• Wabanaki beaded pouch, ca. 1860 
• Nation to Nation: Treaties and Legislation between the Wabanaki Nations and the State of Maine (Gr. 9-12 Lesson Plan)

Organizations Supporting Indigenous Mainers (Wabanaki Peoples)

• Abbe Museum (located in downtown Bar Harbor)
• Wabanaki Reach (located in Stillwater)
• YCARE (located here in Yarmouth) * Their website links to numerous others! 

MML will be hosting an event co-sponsored by YCARE and Wabanaki Reach (among others) on Tuesday, October 17th at 5:30pm. Stay tuned for more information as autumn approaches, especially in case any of the details change!

Documentaries

• Bounty (trailer avail. on website)
• Dawnland (trailer avail. on website)

SITE 7 (OF 7): 

Forest Paper Company (by Royal River Park)

Photo Source: Wikipedia (circa 1900)

Forest Paper Company: Yarmouth’s largest mill produced wood pulp for the paper industry. Growing from a modest cluster of wood frame buildings established in 1864, the mill quickly expanded under the ownership of S.D. Warren, producing high quality soda pulp for use in the paper making industry. At its height around 1910, the Forest Paper Company was the largest mill of its kind in the United States, employing 250 workers who daily produced 80 tons of poplar pulp which was shipped to paper mills all over the world. The mill closed in 1923 and burned in a spectacular fire in 1931, leaving the 10-acre site in ruins. Following a massive clean-up effort in the early 1980s, the former mill site is now part of Royal River Park, one of Yarmouth’s most popular parks and the site of many community events.

Fun fact: Mill manager George Hammond built his summer house, Camp Hammond, within sight of the mill around 1889 so that he could keep an eye on operations while he was in residence. It still stands at 275 Main Street.

Bibliography:

Adult (3)

• Arsenault’s Mill Town: Reckoning with what Remains (2020) – no copy at MML, but available in over 50 Minerva libraries
• Hillard’s Shredding Paper: The Rise and Fall of Maine’s Mighty Paper Industry (2020) – MML has 1 copy; 13 more copies in Minerva
• Kurlansky’s Paper: Paging Through History (2016) – MML has 1 copy; 22 more copies in Minerva

Juvenile (3)

• Jackson’s How is Paper Made? (2016) – no copy at MML, but available in 1 Minerva library
• Macauley’s Mill (1983) –  MML has 1 copy, 25 more copies in  Minerva
• Marshall’s From Tree to Paper (2003) – no copy at MML, but available in 3 Minerva libraries

SITE 6 (OF 7): 

Old Baptist Meeting House (3 Hillside St.)

Photo Source: Wikipedia (June 2022)

Old Baptist Meetinghouse: Built in 1796, the Meetinghouse housed the newly-formed Baptist Religious Society. It was likely built by local men who lived in the immediate area at a cost of about $6,790. In the 1820s and ’30s, the building underwent significant alterations that brought its appearance closer to what we see today. A larger porch was built along with a new tower, belfry, conical spire, and larger windows (some with the pointed Gothic arches visible on the front façade). In 1889, the building ceased to be used as a church, as the Baptists had built their present church on Main Street. Local philanthropists George and Ellen Hammond purchased the building in 1890 and renovated it for use as the town’s library and antiquarian society. It continued in this use, as “Memorial Hall,” until about 1910, after which it was used for town meetings. The Meetinghouse was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and is currently owned by the Town of Yarmouth with operations overseen by Yarmouth Historical Society. 

Fun fact: During World War II, local volunteers used the Meetinghouse belfry as a lookout for enemy aircraft.

Bibliography:

Adult (4)

• Birge’s Life and Liberty in Their Souls: Georgetown’s Free Will Baptist, 1800-1840 (2019) – no copy at MML, but available in 1 Minerva library (a filmed talk at Patten Free Library about a late colonial-era Maine Baptist congregation)

• Gragg’s By the Hand of Providence: How Faith Shaped the American Revolution (2011) – no copy at MML, but available in 1 Minerva library

• Green’s Inventing a Christian America: The Myth of the Religious Founding (2015) –  no copy at MML, but available in 1 Minerva library

• Meacham’s American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation (2006) – no copy at MML, but available in 13 Minerva libraries

Juvenile (3)

• Granfield’s Amazing Grace: The Story of the Hymn (1997) – MML has 1 copy; 2 more copies in Minerva

• Martin’s Leo the Magnificat (1996) – MML has 1 copy; 4 more copies in Minerva

• Otto’s Pioneer Church (1999) – MML has 1 copy; no additional copies in Minerva

SITE 5 (OF 7): 

Mitchell House (333 Main)

Photo Source: Wikipedia (November 2011)

Dr. Ammi Mitchell House: This beautiful Federal style house was built around 1801 for Dr. Ammi Mitchell, who was a prominent Yarmouth physician and representative to the Massachusetts legislature. Remember, Maine didn’t become a state until 1820, many years after this house was built! Following Mitchell’s ownership, another well-known local doctor, Dr. Eleazar Burbank, owned this house. Look for balance and symmetry in the façade of this house. Those qualities, plus the hipped roof and the elegance of the detailing around the door and windows, are hallmarks of the Federal style in American architecture.

Fun fact: The rounded window above the door is called a fanlight. In addition to serving as a beautiful decorative element, it also allows more natural light into the central hall.

Bibliography:

Adult (4)

• Coss’ The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic That Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics (2016) – MML has 1 copy; 6 more copies in Minerva

• Pickover’s The Medical Book: From Witch Doctors to Robot Surgeons: 250 Milestones in the History of Medicine (2012) – no copy at MML, but available in 3 Minerva libraries

• Porter’s Blood and Guts: A Short History of Medicine (2003) – no copy at MML, but available in 3 Minerva libraries

• Younker’s Bleed, Blister, Puke, and Purge: The Dirty Secrets Behind Early American Medicine (2016) – MML has 1 copy; 2 more copies in Minerva

Juvenile (3)

• Farndon’s Strange Medicine: A History of Medical Remedies (2017) – no copy at MML, but available in 2 Minerva libraries

• Kudlinski’s Boy Were We Wrong About the Human Body! (2015) – no copy at MML, but available in 5 Minerva libraries

• Storring’s A Doctor’s Life: A Visual History of Doctors and Nurses Through the Ages (1998) – no copy at MML, but available in 3 Minerva libraries