The library is sponsoring a new program to encourage parents/caregivers to read to their babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. “1000 Books Before Kindergarten” promotes the love of reading in children as they earn prizes along the way. The number of books read can be tracked using the READsquared app or any other way that works for you. Contact the library for more information.

The Book Challenge for January is to read a book whose author uses some form of initials in their name. When you have completed the challenge contact the library and you will be entered to win a gift certificate from a local business.

The library will be closed Monday, January 18 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Readers are invited to participate in our exclusively online Winter Reading Program. Track every book you read on the READsquared app or website. For each book read we will add a snowflake to our Winter Reading wall.

Virtual Story Time is held each Tuesday at 10 A.M. on Facebook Live for preschoolers. During this time children may listen to stories, join in songs and fingerplays and have fun. Like the library’s Facebook page so you may participate. Don’t forget to stop by the library to pick up the take-home craft kits each week.

The Book Club meets every Monday at 4 P.M. via Skype. The link is on the library’s website at http://www.harlempubliclibrary.org. We are currently reading “The Big Finish” by Brooke Fossey.

A new Vera Stanhope novel by Ann Cleeves is “The Darkest Evening.” Detective Stanhope loses her way home one snowy evening and comes upon a car that has skidded off the road. With no driver to be seen Vera assumes the owner has gone for help. But she hears the cry of a toddler strapped in the backseat.

“I Give It to You” is written by Valerie Martin. American writer Jan Vidor rents an apartment in a villa in Tuscany to work on a novel about Mussolini. But as she visits with Beatrice, the villa’s owner, Jan finds herself drawn into the stories of WWII, the murder of Beatrice’s uncle in the villa’s driveway, and how Beatrice will hold on to the villa.

Three new true crime selections include “Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher” by Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz, “The Case of the Vanishing Blonde” by Mark Bowden, and “The Perfect Father: The True Story of Chris Watts” by John Glatt.

Brian Freeman has written “Funeral for a Friend.” Police detective Jonathan Stride’s best friend Steve Garske makes a shocking deathbed confession: he protected Stride by covering up a murder. Hours later, police uncover a body buried in Stride’s yard with a bullet hole in the skull.

“Something Worth Doing” is by Jane Kirkpatrick. In this inspirational novel nineteen-year-old Abigail Scott, a school teacher in the Oregon Territory marries Ben Duniway. This means she must give up her teaching post. When Abigail finds herself the sole breadwinner for her family, she learns how truly appalling working conditions are for women. She devotes her life to fighting for women’s rights.

The library offers many services including notary, Faxing, scanning and laminating.