Visitors Find Much More Than Books At Booth Library

By Nancy K. Crevier

There is a little boutique on Main Street full of fun gift ideas and it could be overlooked if you are wandering around with your nose in a book.

The C.H. Booth Library has, through its own generosity in sharing space, become a low-key shopper’s paradise featuring a variety of wares that support numerous local organizations, including the library.

“It is just amazing what we have here,” said librarian Kim Weber. “We have signed prints from area artists, we have cookbooks, and of course, we have the annual pewter Christmas ornament from the Newtown Woman’s Club. I’m not sure people know all of the great goodies we sell here,” she said.

While waiting to pick up a book on reserve, items in the display case near the main circulation desk might catch your eye. Biographies about local historical figures, Meeting House paperweights, and the Sarah Booth Cookbook are all featured there, as is the signed limited edition color lithograph by David Merrill available for $40. Funds raised from the sales of the lithograph support Newtown Historical Society and Newtown Meeting House.

 Other art lovers might appreciate a print by local artist Ruth Newquist. The Heritage Preservation Trust benefits from the $25 purchase of an unsigned poster featuring the meeting house or one featuring Newtown General Store. Signed posters are available  for $35.

A little more browsing about reveals treasures tailor-made for stocking stuffing. For just $3, buy a car magnet to support the local dog pound, the ROOTs conservation organization, or just to brag that you are from Newtown. The Newtown, CT, car magnet supports Merryhill Child Care Center on Queen Street.

Ten dollars will buy you either the annual pewter ornament from Newtown Woman’s Club, this year featuring The Budd House, or a great little pewter rooster pin. Ornaments from past years are available as well, at the library, just in case your collection has a gap.

Another $10 deal is a copy of Flower Buds to Taste Buds, the recipe collection of the Garden Club of Newtown. Plenty of creative and tempting recipes are included in the spiral bound book. It might be one gift to give a little early, in time for the holiday parties.

The Newtown 2005 coffee table book is way too big to put in a stocking, but remains a great present for anyone who wants to relive the tercentennial year of our town’s founding. All of the festivities and just day-to-day living of that year are captured in color photographs. Whether you were around town in 2005 or not, it serves as a wonderful memento.

Make sure the hanger is plenty sturdy if you try to fill a stocking with a copy of local author and town historian Dan Cruson’s A Mosaic of Newtown History, also available at the main circulation desk for $20. Loaded with tales of the town, A Mosaic covers highlights of the town’s history from early days to present times.

Vera Rockwell Coghill, who lived in Hawleyville as a child, and who recently was in town to share her memoir Cowshit and Strawberries, has donated several copies of the book to the library. The book costs just $12 and all proceeds benefit the library. For anyone with a love of Newtown history, this little book offers a peek into the 1930s era of the Hawleyville section of town.

Also on the second floor of the library is the Book Nook, an ongoing collection of nearly new books for sale. Priced in the single digits for the most part, the books cover genres from romance to do-it-yourself. There is no need to feel bashful if you stop by the Book Nook to pick up a treat for yourself.

Down one flight of stairs, the children’s department is offering a set of eight note cards and envelopes this year that depict the four author signature quilts designed and created by local quilters. The quilts are permanently displayed in the children’s department following a November 18 author book signing and show, but with the purchase of the cards you can enjoy the beauty of the handicrafts every time you dash off a note to someone. Or give a gift recipient the chance to appreciate the art of the specially crafted quilts. The $7 cost supports the children’s department of C.H. Booth Library.

The library’s hours, 9:30 am to 8 pm, Monday through Thursday; 11 am to 5 pm, Friday; 9:30 am to 5 pm, Saturday; and noon to 5 pm on Sunday, and “counter help” that know you by name make this boutique a shopper- friendly place. Even with shopping, it seems, it is Nicer in Newtown.