Forgotten Women: Biographical Sketches of Worcester Free Public Library's First Assistant Librarians

We have previously written about the founding and early years of the Worcester Free Public Library and recently introduced readers to the life of its first head librarian, Zephaniah Baker. Now is the time to highlight the lives of the first two assistant librarians who helped organize and maintain the library. These forgotten women, known during their tenure at the library as Miss Callina Barnes and Mrs. Z. Baker (hereafter known by her given name, "Frances," because we're focusing on her, not Zephaniah), deserve not only recognition for their work in our library's history but also for their lives beyond the library. Therefore, in honor of National Library Week, we invite you to enjoy the following post. 

Miss Callina Barnes

Callina "Calla" Barnes with her husband, Rowland Parker Pollard, June 16, 1874

Callina and her twin brother, Moses Barnes Jr., were born on December 7, 1831 in Dudley, Massachusetts to Eliza (Larned) Barnes and her husband Moses. Moses was previously married to a woman named Callina Ammidown Barnes, who died at the age of 30 in 1827, leaving Moses with an infant son, George. 

Callina Barnes was listed as being a pupil at the Nichols Academy in Dudley in 1850 and 1852, where Zephaniah Baker also attended school several years prior. By the 1855 Massachusetts state census, 23-year old Callina was listed as living with her parents, while her brother Moses was living in Worcester and working as a clerk. Callina's mother died in 1856 and her father Moses remarried (again) in 1858 to Aurelia M. Barber Rice, the widow of Erastus Rice. 

In early 1860, the Worcester Free Public Library board of directors first approved Zephaniah Baker as the head librarian of the newly established library, and then later approved Miss C. Barnes as assistant librarian, with a salary in the first year of $250 (half the salary of Zephaniah). The 1860 federal census lists Callina's occupation as librarian, and she is listed as living in a Worcester residence with several other people. She would be listed as a boarder at 15 Portland Street in 1861. Both Zephaniah and his assistant were credited by the Library Board of Directors in the First Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library as having "discharged their duties with approved assiduity and fidelity" (1861, p. 5).

1860 Federal Census

The Worcester Almanac, Directory, and Business Advertiser for 1861, 1861

Callina's salary increased to $300 by the second year of her employment at the library (compared to Zephaniah's salary raise to $800). By the third year, it seems one of her primary responsibilities was assisting in the Circulating Department, because the second assistant librarian was responsible for working with the Green Library's collection. Callina would continue to serve as first assistant librarian until April 1866, when she resigned her position. It is not known what Callina immediately did after she left the library but the 1870 federal census lists Callina as having no occupation and living in Dudley with her father, Moses, and step-mother, Aurelia Barnes. As far as we can tell, Callina never worked again outside of her household responsibilities.

Callina Barnes married Rowland Parker Pollard on June 16, 1874 at the age of 42 in Chester, Vermont. Rowland was a 59-year-old farmer and widower of Mary Ann Shedd Pollard, who died in October 1873 of consumption. Incidentally, Mary Ann Shedd was the younger sister of Frances Maria Shedd (Baker), the former wife of Zephaniah Baker. Frances, of course, was also one of the Worcester Free Public Library's original assistant librarians. Small world, right?!

Marriage Record of Callina Barnes and Rowland Parker Pollard, June 16, 1874

Rowland had two adult children from his first marriage but Callina and Rowland had a son, Arthur, in November 1875. The 1880 federal census lists Callina's occupation as "keeping house," while Rowland is listed as being a farmer. 

Rowland died in 1899, at the age of 84 years. Callina and Arthur would continue to live together after selling the family farm and moving to several properties within Chester throughout the years as evidenced by the 1900, 1910, and 1920 federal censuses. By the 1920 census, 44-year-old Arthur was a postmaster who lived with his 88-year-old mother and a housekeeper. Arthur would eventually marry 29-year-old schoolteacher Cola M. Martin in July of that year. Callina Barnes Pollard died of valvular heart disease, with a contributing disease of senile degeneration, on December 28, 1920 at the age of 89 years. She was buried in the family plot at the North Street Cemetery in Chester.

Death Record for Callina Barnes Pollard, December 28, 1920

Mrs. Z. Baker, a.k.a. Mrs. Frances M. Baker, a.k.a. F. M. Baker, a.k.a. Frances Maria Shedd

Frances M. Baker - Mrs. Zephiniah [sic]: President 1880-1881, Officers of the Worcester Woman's Club, photo from circa 1880s 

Frances Maria Shedd was born on November 22, 1812 in Reading, Vermont, to Sally Mann Shedd and William P. Shedd. She was the oldest of seven children (including the aforementioned Mary Ann Shedd) but not much is known about her early life prior to her marriage. As we mentioned in our biographical blog post about Zephaniah Baker, Frances and Zephaniah married on June 1, 1840 in Chester, Vermont and eventually moved around the Northeast and later Ohio as Zephaniah ministered to different Universalist congregations.

In the early 1840s, Frances and Zephaniah lived in Canterbury, Connecticut. In 1842, Frances Baker published a couple of articles in the Samaritan, and Total Abstinence Advocate, a short-lived temperance newspaper based in Providence. Zephaniah was pro-temperance, in part because his father had suffered injuries during an accident caused by a drunk man, but it is not known whether Frances was in favor of temperance before she married Zephaniah. 

During this time, Frances also became the corresponding secretary of the Connecticut Anti-Slavery Society and wrote a letter that was published in the abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. She also developed a high school for young ladies in Canterbury in 1845.

Select Young Ladies' School, Trumpet and Universalist Magazine, April 19, 1845

Frances wrote two children's books, including one titled Louisa Murray, and Other Stories, published in 1846.

Cover page of Louisa Murray, and Other Tales, 1846

Frances would also continue to write articles and poems for newspapers throughout her life, including a piece called "The Spirit's Mission," published in the Ohio-based The Anti-Slavery Bugle in 1851.

Excerpt from "The Spirit's Mission," The Anti-Slavery Bugle, December 6, 1851

The Second Assistant Librarian

Frances is first mentioned in the context of the library in the Second Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library, when she is acknowledged for creating a Numerical Catalogue with "great care and neatness" for the benefit of the librarians. During the following year, she would commence a detailed cataloging of the Green Library and would finish the catalogue a couple of years later. 

Index to the Catalogue of the Books in the "Green Library" Department of the "Free Public Library, September 1, 1865

In 1867, Frances would be credited with creating the Second Supplement to the Circulating Department's catalogue. Future Head Librarian, Samuel Swett Green, would praise Frances on behalf of the Committee on the Reading Room in the Eighth Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library, stating, "[The Committee] would express its entire satisfaction in regard to the superintendent of this department of the library by Mrs. Z. Baker, our accomplished First-Assistant Librarian, and congratulate the Board on having so able and faithful a servant" (1868, p. 30).  The Ninth Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library would recount the observations by the "very efficient Assistant Librarian" of how the Green Library was used.  

Excerpt from The Ninth Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library, 1869

Other Interests

Of course, Frances had many other interests besides her responsibilities as an Assistant Librarian at the public library. As previously mentioned, she believed in temperance and would speak at a public temperance meeting at Sons of Temperance Hall in 1863. She would also be on a committee of the Freedman's Relief Society to raise funds to support teachers of freed slaves.

Most notably, however, was her groundbreaking accomplishment of being one of the first two women elected to the Worcester school committee in 1868. As we previously noted, Frances was quite interested in education. Alas, she resigned her position in April 1869 due to unknown reasons.

School Committee, Worcester Evening Gazette, December 9, 1868

By September 1869, Frances moved onto the newest stage of her life: leaving the library to pursue other intellectual opportunities. First, Frances opened a new select school in the Insurance Block on Main Street.

Select School, Worcester Daily Spy, September 3, 1869

Then in December 1869, Frances became the secretary of the newly formed Worcester Woman's Suffrage Association. The 1870 federal census has Frances M. Baker living separately from her husband. At some point before 1873, she and Zephaniah divorced and while he eventually remarried, Frances never remarried.

Woman's Suffrage Association, Aegis and Gazette, January 1, 1870

Frances loved to give lectures and read aloud important papers on a variety of topics including biology, botany, and geology at meetings of the Worcester Natural History Society. 

City News, Worcester Daily Spy, February 10, 1874

In late 1872 Frances wrote a 5 1/2 page historical poem that she read at the centennial celebration of the founding of her hometown of Reading, Vermont.

Excerpt from Historical Poem by Frances Maria Shedd Baker from Centennial Celebration Together with a Historical Sketch of Reading, Windsor County, Vermont, 1874

Frances enjoyed traveling all over the world and then recounting her travels to attentive audiences at the Natural History Society and other Worcester organizations. For instance, she shared details of the "Glacier on the Stachine River" as seen during her Summer 1880 trip to Sitka, Alaska during a January 1881 meeting of the Natural History Society. She also talked about her trip to Scandinavia and Eastern Europe to the Young Ladies' Club of the Church of the Unity.

Passport Application for Frances M. Baker, May 28, 1878

Amusements, Meetings, &c., Worcester Daily Spy, January 11, 1883

Natural History Society, Worcester Sunday Telegram, November 23, 1890

In 1880, Frances joined the newly created Worcester Woman's Club, an association that was devoted to "mutual improvement in literary and social matters" (Worcester Daily Spy, March 21, 1881). Early meetings met in member's houses and members would present original papers on topics such as "Enlightened Motherhood" and "Electricity" (Worcester Evening Gazette, March 19, 1881). Frances would serve as the first president of the organization and would be posthumously honored years later at a 75th anniversary celebration of the club. As you can see below, one of the 1955 club members acted as Frances in a commemorative play and the club created a figurine meant to represent Frances as well.

Rehearsing Anniversary Play, Worcester Telegram, April 17, 1955

The Death of Frances M. Baker

Frances M. Baker returned to Worcester on August 10, 1891 but felt under the weather upon her arrival at the house of her friend, Mrs. Charles W. Smith, where she would be staying while in the city. Alas, her illness turned into pneumonia and she died on August 25, 1891 at the age of 78. Her obituary in the Worcester Daily Spy noted that she had last visited the Worcester Free Public Library two weeks prior. Her obituary in the Worcester Evening Gazette paid tribute to her brilliance, stating "if anyone wanted to know a quotation or an historical date, Mrs. Baker was pretty sure to have it at her tongue's end" (Worcester Evening Gazette, August 25, 1891). She was taken to Plymouth, Vermont, where she was buried in the Plymouth Notch Cemetery.

Conclusion

We hope you've enjoyed our post about Callina Barnes and Frances M. Baker - we actually think Frances had a much more fascinating life than Zephaniah Baker! For more information about the history of Worcester Public Library and its first head librarian, visit our previous blog posts.

Acknowledgements

A special thank you to Wendy Essery, the Library and Archives Manager at the Museum of Worcester, for helping us locate a photo of Frances M. Baker! We were positively giddy upon opening the scrapbook of the Officers of the Worcester Woman's Club and seeing the name of Frances M. Baker under the first photograph.

Sources:

"Amusements, Meetings, &c." (1883, January 11). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 1.

Baker, F. M. (1844, May 10). "Anti-Slavery in Canterbury." The Liberator, p. 1.

Baker, F. M. (1851, December 6). "The Spirit's Mission." The Anti-Slavery Bugle, p. 5.

"City News." (1874, February 2). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 1. 

Davis, G. A. (1874). Centennial Celebration Together with a Historical Sketch of Reading, Windsor County, Vermont. Steam Press.

"The Education of Freedmen." (1864, April 14). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 2.

"Frances Shedd Baker." (1891, August 25). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 5. 

Free Public Library (1861). The First Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library.

Free Public Library (1862). The Second Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library.

Free Public Library (1863). The Third Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library.

Free Public Library (1867). The Seventh Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library.

Free Public Library (1869). The Ninth Annual Report of the Directors of the Free Public Library.

Gallina "Calla" Barnes Pollard. (2017). https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/180827168/gallina-pollard

"Local Notes." (1881, January 8). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 2. 

Natural History Society (1890, November 23). Worcester Sunday Telegram, p. 4.

"An Old Teacher Gone." (1891. August 26). Worcester Telegram, p. 1.

Rehearsing Anniversary Play (1955, April 17). Worcester Telegram, p. 1D.

"School Committee." (1868, December 9). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 2.

"School Matters." (1869, April 7). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 3.

"Select School." (1869, September 3). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 1. 

"Select Young Ladies' School." (1845, April 19). Trumpet and Universalist Magazine, p. 2. 

"Temperance Meeting." (1886, September 1). Worcester Daily Spy, p. 3.

"The Women's Club." (1881, March 19). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 2.

"Women's Suffrage Association." (1870, January 1). Aegis and Gazette, p. 4.

The Worcester Almanac, Directory, and Business Advertiser for 1861. (1861). Henry J. Howland.

What to Read Next When You've Finished Binge-Watching The Pitt

We never thought we'd crush on ER's John Carter as a teenager, and Dr. Michael Robinavitch aka Dr. Robby on The Pitt as an middle-aged adult, but here we are; must-see TV is back on Thursday nights for HBO subscribers, and the Emergency Department hospital drama set in Pittsburgh has been a runaway success. If you can't get enough medical jargon; fast-paced, high-stakes emergency medicine; patient stories; and pointed political views on healthcare in America--with a side of personal personnel stories--here's some suggestions for what to read when you've finished binge-watching both seasons of The Pitt.

FICTION

These novels focus on the experience of being a doctor or working in a hospital, particularly during trying times, like an outbreak or pandemic:

Cutting For Stone by Dr. Abraham Verghese
Physician Marion Stone and his twin brother Shiva, born from a secret love affair between an Indian nun and a British surgeon in Addis Ababa, come of age in an Ethiopia on the brink of revolution, where their love for the same woman drives them apart.

Gone Before Goodbye by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon
Maggie McCabe has always lived life at the edge, and it was all going to plan until a series of tragedies led to her medical license being revoked. Maggie is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague, an elite plastic surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand absolute discretion along with the best care money can buy. When one of the world’s most mysterious men requires unconventional medical assistance, Maggie - one of the few surgeons in the world skilled enough to take the job - fulfills her end of the agreement. But when the patient suddenly disappears while still under her care, Maggie must become a fugitive herself - or she will be the next one who is... gone before goodbye?

The House of God by Samuel Shem
First in a series, The House of God takes readers into the lives of Roy Basch and five of his fellow interns at the country's most renowned teaching hospital in Columbia, NY.

Joan Is Okay by Weike Wang
An ICU physician at a busy NYC hospital, 30-something Joan, a workaholic with little interest in having friends, let alone lovers, is required to take mandatory leave until the day she must return to the city to face a crisis larger than anything she’s encountered before.

Last Patient of the Night by A.J. Docker
Emergency physician AJ Docker is no stranger to violence, but the brutal torture and murder of an innocent, young patient demands a response. Together with his policeman friend and a police dog, he sets out on a quest for justice for his lost patient. Doc's investigation leads him into the dark world of organized crime, and when the killers come after him, it becomes a fight for survival. Will he survive to find justice for his patient, or will he be the next victim of Dyyavola, the Devil?

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin
Determined to leave a mark on the world even though they are in the hospital and
their days are dwindling, unlikely friends, 17-year-old Lenni and 83-year-old Margot, devise a plan to create 100 paintings showcasing the stories of the century they have lived.

Viral by Robin Cook
With his wife in a coma after contracting a rare and highly lethal mosquito-borne viral disease, Brian vows to seek justice against the hospital and insurance company that won't cover the costs by exposing the dark side of a ruthless industry and bring down the executives preying on the sick.

Not strictly about the hospital ER experience, these novels center on the patient experience, from diagnosis to treatment to progression of specific diseases:

Counting Backwards by Binnie Kirshenbaum (Lewy body dementia)
Manhattan medical researcher and professor Leo is diagnosed with Lewy body dementia at 53, shattering his world and leaving his wife, collage artist Addie, balancing caregiving, work, grief, and her own mental health. Told primarily in second person by Addie, this witty novel sharply examines marriage, memory, loss, and loneliness.

Every Note Played by Lisa Genova (ALS)
A once-celebrated concert pianist who is gradually succumbing to ALS is forced to accept help from the estranged wife he pushed away, a situation that forces the couple to reconcile their past before time runs out.

Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova (Huntington's Disease)
When 44-year-old cop Joe O'Brien is diagnosed with Huntington's disease, his wife, and their four children must decide whether or not to be tested for this incurable hereditary condition. As Joe's health worsens, his youngest daughter Katie, at 21, just starting her adult life, and she isn't sure she wants to know what her future holds. How the O'Briens cope is both heart-wrenching and riveting.

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova (traumatic brain injury)
A woman in her 30s suffers a traumatic brain injury in a car accident that leaves her unable to perceive left-side information, a disability that prompts her struggle to recover and heal an estrangement.

More Or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova (bipolar disorder)

Maddy Banks, a college student with stand up comedy ambitions, is just like any other stressed-out sophomore at NYU. Between schoolwork, navigating life in the city, and a recent breakup, it’s normal to be feeling overwhelmed. But Maddy’s latest low is devastatingly low, and she goes on an antidepressant. She begins to feel good, dazzling in fact, and she soon spirals high into a wild and terrifying mania that culminates in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. As she struggles to find her way in this new reality, navigating the complex effects bipolar has on her identity, her relationships, and her life dreams, Maddy will have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough.

Still Alice by Lisa Genvoa (Alzheimer's Disease)
Feeling at the top of her game when she is suddenly diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease, Harvard psychologist Alice Howland struggles to find meaning and purpose in her life as her concept of self gradually slips away.

NONFICTION
The titles encompass emergency room doctor memoirs, from interns to seasoned professionals; an expose on a phamceutical company; a history of the first ambulance service in the United States, and odes to nurses.

All That Moves Us: A Pediatric Neurosurgeon, His Young Patients, and Their Stories of Grace and Resilience by Jay Wellons
A pediatric neurosurgeon shares moments from his life and career that show what his young patients have taught him about courage while he literally held their lives in his hands.

American Sirens: the Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics by Kevin Hazzard
A history of the Freedom House and the paramedics who pioneered emergency services (as mentioned on The Pitt).

The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper
New emergency room physician Michele Harper's shares encounters with the patients who changed her life.

The Blood of Strangers: Stories from Emergency Medicine by Frank Huyler
This memoir is a collection of stories set in the ER introduces a neurosurgeon who practices witchcraft, a trauma surgeon who commits suicide, a wounded murderer, and a man chased across the New Mexico desert by a missle.

The Bodies Keep Coming: Dispatches From a Black Trauma Surgeon on Racism, Violence, and How We Heal by Brian H. Williams 
Narrating the grief and anger as a Black doctor on the front lines, a trauma surgeon recounts the events that thrust him into the spotlight in 2016, which forced him to rethink everything he thought he knew about medicine, injustice and what true healing looks like.

Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children's Health by Adam Ratner
A professor of pediatrics examines the resurgence of measles and the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that distrust in vaccines and weakened public health systems have led to preventable tragedies and urges restoration in confidence in science to protect future generations.

Code Gray: Death, Life, and Uncertainty in the ER by Farzon A. Nahvi
A medical memoir focusing on one emergency room doctor's shift in an urban ER follows the experiences of real patients and focuses on the story of a forty-three-year-old woman who arrives in sudden cardiac arrest and the challenges it presents for physicians.

The Desperate Hours: One Hospital's Fight to Save a City on the Pandemic's Front Lines by Marie Brenner
Drawing on more than 200 interviews, Brenner takes us inside secure ICU units, sealed operating rooms, locked executive suites, unknown basement workshops, and makeshift clinics to provide extraordinary witness to the war as it was waged on the front line at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER by Thomas Fisher
From a renowned emergency room doctor and healthcare policy expert comes the riveting story of a year in the life of an emergency room on the South Side of Chicago during a pandemic—and a powerful argument that American healthcare is designed to sacrifice the lives of the most vulnerable.

ER Nurses: True Stories From America's Greatest Unsung Heroes by James Patterson and Matt Everson
Around the clock, across the country, these highly skilled and compassionate men and women sacrifice and struggle for us and our families. You have never heard their true stories. Not like this. From big-city and small-town hospitals. From behind the scenes. From the heart. This book will make you laugh, make you cry, make you understand. When we're at our worst, E.R. nurses are at their best.

Letter to a Young Female Physician: Notes From a Medical Life by Suzanne Koven
Tracing the arc of her life, the author reflects on her career in medicine, revealing how she forged her authentic identity in a modern landscape that is as overwhelming and confusing as it is exhilarating in its possibilities.

No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris
In this blistering exposé, an award-winning investigative journalist uncovers reams of evidence showing decades of Johnson & Johnson’s deceitful and dangerous corporate practices that have threatened the lives of millions.

Patient Care:  Death and Life in the Emergency Room by Paul Seward
A retired physician who was one of the first to specialize in emergency medicine recounts his half-century of medical practice through suspenseful and memorable cases and highlights the important roles of nurses, pharmacists and other colleagues.

The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly: A Physician's First Year by Matt McCarthy
A young doctor stumbles through his experience as a first year intern at New York's Presbyterian Hospital.

Something For The Pain: One Doctor's Account of Life and Death in the ER by Paul Austin
An ER doctor's memoir describes the psychological impact of his profession, explaining how his daily exposure to critical illness, injury, and tragedy in the industrial setting of a modern hospital rendered him bitter and estranged from his family.

Taking Care: The Story of Nursing and Its Power to Change Our World by Sarah DiGregorio
A journalist chronicles the lives of nurses past and tells the stories of those today—caregivers at the vital intersection of health care and community who are actively changing the world, often invisibly.

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New Releases - April 2026 Edition

Check out these highly anticipated new releases featuring fiction and nonfiction titles. Click on the title to request a copy or get your name on the waitlist. Don’t forget to watch for more featured releases next month!

FICTION

We Burned So Bright by TJ Klune
Don and Rodney have been together for 40 years, but their wedding vows never included "until the Earth is destroyed." They face that now, as a black hole will consume the planet in a month. Rodney and Don know that time is up, but they have one last promise to fulfill. It's one they have delayed but can no longer, and it is a race against time in their old RV to get from Maine to Washington State. For these two men, it is not just the journey but also the destination. Along the way, they encounter many others who are facing the end of the world--in denial, in heartbreak, in joy--and will wonder if the best that they gave through the decades was enough, even if no one will be left to know it. VERDICT Klune's (Somewhere Beyond the Sea) heart-wrenching plot and emotional prose are on full display in this wonderful queer apocalyptic story.--Kristi Chadwick.  Copyright 2026 Library Journal

Bumblebee Season by Eileen Garvin 
Garvin's (Crow Talk) new novel is told from the perspective of three very different Oregonians: Jake, a wheelchair-using beekeeper; Flaco, a teen who has recently migrated from Mexico; and entomology grad student Abigail, who studies endangered bumblebees. When a local lawman both calls for detaining immigrants and threatens the wilderness where honeybees and other creatures thrive, Jake, Abigail, and Flaco are each galvanized in different ways to resist. The characters' perspectives contrast sharply and shift in each chapter, making this a dynamic and engaging story. The writing is engaging and speeds along compellingly, further enhanced by well-divided chapters, though the somewhat-rushed ending might have added more meaning if it were longer and delved deeper. VERDICT Garvin's latest is akin to Emily Habeck's Shark Heart and Shelby Van Pelt's Remarkably Bright Creatures with their animal themes and focus on human bonds, while the novel's treatment of multiple perspectives recalls Fredrik Backman. For fans of a wide range of genres, including literary and historical fiction, as well as those interested in science, thanks to the fun bee facts scattered throughout the novel.  Copyright 2026 Library Journal

Transcription by Ben Lerner
In the beautiful and resonant latest from Lerner (The Topeka School), a middle-aged man constructs an elaborate farewell to his mentor. In the first of three sections, the unnamed narrator travels to Providence, R.I., to interview 90-year-old artist Thomas for a magazine article. The narrator plans to record their conversation on his iPhone, which he accidentally breaks just before the appointment. Unable to admit the problem to Thomas, he proceeds with the interview, and Thomas embarks on his characteristically stunning soliloquies on art, light, and sound ("There is always music playing that we cannot hear.... We are deaf to the bats singing in ultrasound, or the elephants conversing in their infrasound.... The air is alive with messages"). In the second section, set after Thomas's death, the narrator travels to Madrid for a symposium on Thomas's work, where he's questioned after saying that he had drawn some of the now published interview with Thomas from memory. The novel concludes with a dialogue between the narrator and Thomas's son, Max. The pair, who have been friends since college, grapple with their complex relationships with Thomas ("Maybe you were the real son, maybe I was the clone or robot or doppelgänger," Max tells the narrator), and new mysteries arise over the course of their conversation. Lerner's lyrical narrative brims with insights into how memories take and change shape, the nature of father figures, and the ways an artist's influence echoes through time. It's a knockout. Copyright 2026 Publishers Weekly

NONFICTION

Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class by Noam Scheiber 
This insightful investigation from New York Times reporter Scheiber (The Escape Artists) examines how a radical new cohort of young, college-educated workers at major American corporations powered a wave of unionizations and strikes in recent years. The "dismal economy" during and after the Great Recession led to many college graduates taking low-wage jobs in retail and customer service, or working for years for low pay within their profession. This widening "gap... between the expectations of many graduates and their actual prospects" fueled an upswing in labor activism. Scheiber tracks workers preparing to unionize at an Apple store in Towson, Md., and a Chicago Starbucks, along the way spotlighting other labor disputes and developments, such as the Writers Guild of America's 2023 strike and the United Auto Workers' election of president Shawn Fain by an insurgent collective of "fed-up autoworkers and... graduate students." Scheiber mixes nitty-gritty contract fights with poignant profiles of workers like Apple employee Chaya Barrett, who was "radicalized" by CEO Tim Cook's astronomical $750 million stock windfall ("I'm working my butt off for not even a full percent of what you just sold"), as well as glimpses of corporations' anti-union intimidation efforts, such as Starbucks establishing new benefits and wage increases only for non-union workers. It's a galvanizing look at a stymied white-collar generation with the "politics... of the proletariat." -Copyright 2026 Publishers Weekly

Lucky Devils: The True Story of Three Rebel Gamblers Who Beat the Odds and Changed the Game by Kit Chellel
In this absolute page-turner, Bloomberg reporter Chellel details the history of the tight, mostly secretive community of "advantage players," gamblers whose creative and unrelenting application of increasingly powerful computers has reaped unimagined financial rewards while upending the notion of casino gambling itself. Chellel focuses on three pivotal figures: Bill Benter, realizing that casinos barred card-counting because it worked, won $16 million in one evening betting on horses in Hong Kong; Bill Nelson, applied physics and mathematical models to predict where the ball would likely land on a roulette wheel; and Rob Reitzen, armed with a high-school diploma and a deceptively goofy persona, could crunch card combinations in his head with the skill of a math genius. Remarkably, casinos had trouble proving advantage play was illegal, since gamblers argued it was "un-American" for casinos to offer games based on skill, then bar those who played them skillfully. Even as casinos have embraced advantage play, the high-stakes, cat-and-mouse match between casinos and gamblers continues, as the author relates, if on a vastly larger stage.- Copyright 2026 Booklist

The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present by Steve Brusatte 
From the renowned paleontologist and bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, a sweeping evolutionary history of birds, from their dinosaur origins to the 10,000+ extraordinary species alive today. Tens of billions of birds share the planet with us, an astonishingly diverse array of species that are present nearly everywhere humans call home--and many places we do not. With their flamboyant plumage, joyous dawn serenades, extraordinary aerial feats, they have captivated human imagination for millennia. Undeniably delicate creatures with hollow bones and thin skin protected by downy feathers, how did such a seemingly fragile species break the bounds of Earth and begin to fly, how have they survived millennia, and how does their legacy shape our world? Hailed as "one of the stars of modern paleontology" (National Geographic), Steve Brusatte now tells the extraordinary story of the dinosaurs' living legacy: birds. He begins by exploring how dinosaurs gradually developed the trademark features of birds one-by-one--feathers, wings, beaks, big brains, keen senses, and warm-blooded metabolisms. He investigates why birds were the only dinosaurs to survive the cataclysmic asteroid impact 66 million years ago and chronicles how these survivors rapidly proliferated to produce the diversity of avian species we know today. Along the way, we meet a variety of remarkable - now extinct - species: 10-foot-tall terror birds with beaks that sliced flesh; elephant birds that lived on Madagascar and laid eggs the size of footballs; pelagornithid seabirds with 20-foot wingspans; a ferocious Jamaican ibis that used its wings as clubs to attack rivals Yet, Brusatte also urges us to appreciate the extraordinariness of birds alive today - penguins that literally fly underwater, parrots that can mimic human speech and crows that can make tools and are smarter than most mammals. A fascinating scientific history that unearths the origins of birds, The Story of Birds establishes the living legacy of this remarkable species. Copyright 2026  - provided by publisher.

 

Spring Forward with WPL’s Money Matters Series and New Events for Entrepreneurs

Spring is the ideal time for new beginnings as we dust off the remnants of winter and enter a bright new season.  Maybe it’s a time to put your financial house in order or you’re giving fresh thought to move in a new direction and start your own business. Either way, the library has you covered when it comes to learning opportunities to help you reach your goals.

WPL’s Money Matters series offers plenty of opportunities to tidy up your financial life. This series covers a variety of topics:

On Tuesday, April 14 at 6pm we’ll host Demystifying Life Insurance which will cover how life insurance can play a role in financial planning. Click to register.

On Tuesday, April 28 at 6pm we’ll host Retire with Confidence which will cover how to plan for and transition to retirement. Click to register.

How Money Works is the ideal beginners’ class that covers a variety of financial topics. This class will take place on Tuesday, May 19 at 6pm. Click to register.

New Events for Entrepreneurs

We are excited to share that Lawyers for Civil Rights is hosting the inaugural BizGrow Conference Worcester on Tuesday, April 14 at 1:00pm to 4:00pm at the library. This event brings together small business owners—current and aspiring—who are eager to access legal resources that can help them grow and thrive. BizGrow Worcester will feature a free legal clinic to provide small business owners with guidance on issues such as entity formation, contracts, intellectual property, and more in the Banx Room. During the conference, a small business resource fair, allowing entrepreneurs to network with business support organizations in the region will be held in the Saxe room. This event is in collaboration with the City of Worcester, Executive Office of Economic Development.

SCORE Small Business Counseling has returned to the library on the fourth Tuesday each month from 4:30pm to 6;30pm. SCORE mentoring support is completely free. To register for a session, please go to score.org/Worcester to register with SCORE directly. Take a moment to fill-out the SCORE online intake form and request an appointment to take place at the library.

Happy (Irish) Women's History Month!

For this Women’s History Month (and this post roughly coinciding with St. Patrick’s Day), we are bringing a handful of female authors/artists with connections to the Emerald Isle to you. Some of these authors you may know and some you may not. With this little list we tried to get a variety of formats that include fiction short story, non-fiction, and graphic novel. With such a wide spread, hopefully we can find something that’ll interest everyone.

The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen

This novel takes places during the interwar period in Paris, France. The story takes place over the period of a single day in the lives of two children within the titular House in Paris. Much like Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, the narrative is grounded in realism by showing a slice of life for these two children. It is not an escape into fantasy, but rather a transportation to another’s lived-in existence. You may not find a lot of frills, but you will find complexities of human nature that will ring true with your own life. 

Country Girl: A Memoir by Edna O’Brien

This book is written by an author who could’ve appeared on this list with any number of the novels or short stories that she has written. But instead, we choose to highlight the author herself and her own personal experiences within and outside of the literary world. While it is easy to know an author by their works, we oftentimes never get to know the author as they are themselves. This memoir is a chance to peek behind the curtain and see what life is like for someone who has created so many fictional lives for us to get lost inside. 

Milkman by Anna Burns

This book is actually set in Ireland and won a lot of praise for its author. Taking place during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, we see what life was like for a teenage girl who feels hemmed in on all sides by her circumstances. While it feels like much of the story’s action is beyond her control, the main character shows a resilience and will to live life on her own terms that is inspiring. 

Happiness and Other Stories by Mary Lavin

This collection of stories offers a bit of escapism to a world that exists only in our idealized memories of the past. Mary Lavin may not have the name recognition that she once had, but that does not mean that her stories have lost any of their potency. If you’re looking to rescue a book from obscurity, then look no further. These stories are short enough to get through them easily, but also enjoyable enough that you will be checking the library catalog to see what else she may have written. Take a step outside the Classics and give contemporary literature a chance to percolate a minute longer while you relish in this collection of short stories.

What We Don't Talk About by Charlot Kristensen

This book is written and illustrated by a Danish/Zimbabwean author based in Dublin, Ireland. The story follows an interracial couple trying to navigate life in a world that prioritizes sameness. Kristensen has created characters that have to face a world that is uncomfortable with, if not hostile to, them being together. It is a unique gift that the author is also the artist and has given us the ability to not only read the story as she imagined it in her head, but to also see her vision for the characters and the world they inhabit.

Through the Embers of Chaos: Balkan Journeys by Dervla Murphy

This book opens up a world that many of us may not remember and certainly few of us have ever seen. Murphy documents her travels via bicycle through the Balkan states as they recover from the years of violence that had dominated the region. While it is a documentation of her travels, it is also a reminder of the human spirit’s ability to rise from the rubble and extend goodwill to strangers.

 

All of the above-mentioned books are available at the Worcester Public Library and can be requested online or picked up in the library. If none of these books quite tickled your fancy, or you’d like more recommendations like these, you can fill out our book recommendation form. One of our librarians will curate a list of books for you according to your interests. The more information you give us, the easier it will be to home in on what you really want. Happy Reading!

March Madness!

What is March Madness? It's an annual single elimination tournament for American collegiate basketball. This competitive sportsball event is sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), runs for a couple of weeks, and inspires fans to download their own bracket worksheets to make predictions (or just follow the wins and losses).

More information can be found online at the NCAA website. Download your own bracket to play along! If you're caught up in March Madness and want some basketball history to read between games--or if you're on the couch supporting your sports fan and want to read some basketball fiction--here are a some suggestions. If you're visiting the Main Library, check out our March Madness display on the third floor.

Got teens? Check out this list of basketball themed reads for ages 12-18!

NONFICTION
The Back Roads to March: The Unsung, Unheralded, and Unknown Heroes of a College Basketball Season by John Feinstein
With his trademark humor and invaluable connections, John Feinstein reveals the big time programs you've never heard of, the bracket busters you didn't expect to cheer for, and the coaches who inspire them to take their teams to the next level.

Basketball: A Love Story by Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew, and Dan Klores
The defining untold oral history of how basketball came to be, and what it means to those who love it, through interviews with players, coaches, and administrators: Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Steph Curry, Magic Johnson, Dr. J, Jerry West, David Stern, Phil Jackson, Coach K, Yao Ming, Cheryl Miller, Lisa Leslie, and more.

The Big East: Inside the Most Entertaining and Influential Conference in College Basketball History by Dana Pennett O'Neil
From the formation of the league to the backstories of the people who shaped it, to inside the epic games and players that sealed its relevance and laid the groundwork for its eventual rebirth, The Big East tells the tale of the most powerful and entertaining league in college basketball history.

Black Market: An Insider's Journey Into the High-Stakes World of College Basketball by Merl Code
From a former college basketball player and executive at Nike and Adidas, this explosive insider's account of the business of college basketball exposes the corrupt and racist systems that exploit young athletes and offers a new way forward.

Breaking Barriers: A History of Integration in Professional Basketball by Douglas Stark
Stark details the major moments that led to the sport opening its doors to black players. He charts the progress of integration from Bucky Lew—the first black professional basketball player in 1902—to the modern game played by athletes like Stephen Curry and LeBron James.

Bracketology: March Madness, College Basketball, and the Creation of a National Obsession by Joe Lunardi 
Lunardi delves into the early days of Bracketology, details its growth, and dispels the myths of the process --a must-read for college hoops fans and anyone who has aspired to win their yearly office pool.

Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever by Jack McCallum
A behind-the-scenes look at the controversial selection process for the 1992 Olympic men's basketball team, recounting of late-night card games and bull sessions in the Olympic Suites, where the athletes debate both the finer points of basketball and their respective places in the NBA pantheon, and a riveting possession-by-possession account of the legendary July 1992 intrasquad scrimmage that pitted the Dream Teamers against one another in what may have been the greatest pickup game—and the greatest exhibition of trash talk—in history.

Dust Bowl Girls: The Inspiring Story of the Team That Barnstormed Its Way to Basketball Glory by Lydia Reeder
Combining exhilarating sports writing and exceptional storytelling, Dust Bowl Girls takes readers on the Cardinals’ intense, improbable journey all the way to an epic showdown with the prevailing national champions, helmed by the legendary Babe Didrikson.

Inaugural Ballers: The True Story of the First U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball Team by Andrew Maraniss
A League of Their Own meets Miracle in the inspirational true story of the first US Women’s Olympic Basketball team and their unlikely rise to the top. Packed with black-and-white photos and thoroughly researched details about the beginnings of US women’s basketball, Inaugural Ballers is the fascinating story of the women who paved the way for girls everywhere.

The Joy of Basketball by Ben Deitrich illus. by Andrew Kuo
Deitrich celebrates the meteoric rise of basketball over the last quarter century by ignoring the bland, traditionalist binary of wins or losses. Instead, the book’s focus is on everything else. Using text, charts, and illustrations that upend conventional jock wisdom, the book details the most incredible players in history, draft flops, long-limbed oddballs, superteams, the international talent wave, brawls, scandals, the rapid evolution of contemporary gameplay, coaching, fashion, crime, positional erosion, tragic tales, memes, and the sacred Kardashian Blessing.

Last Dance: Behind the Scenes at the Final Four by John Feinstein
An in-depth portrait of the NCAA Final Four competition is presented from the perspectives of schools, coaches, and players who have made it to college basketball's final weekend, in a collection of dramatic and inspiring stories that also includes accounts by officials, referees, and scouts

Sports Illustrated the Boston Celtics at 75: Celebrating the History of Celtics Basketball
Celebrate the championship glory, Hall of Fame personalities, and passionate fans that make the Boston Celtics one of the most revered teams in basketball. Sports Illustrated™ celebrates basketball greatness with The Boston Celtics at 75, an extraordinary collection of classic stories and photographs from the pages of SI. This commemorative book salutes hall of famers like Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Bob Cousy, Paul Pierce, and coach Red Auerbach.

State: A Team, a Triumph, a Transformation by Melissa Isaacson
With the intimate insights of the girl who lived it, the pacing of a born storyteller, and the painstaking reporting of a veteran sports journalist, Isaacson chronicles one high school team’s journey to the state championship. In doing so, Isaacson shows us how a group of "tomboys" found themselves and each other, and how basketball rescued them from their collective frustrations and troubled homes, and forever altered the course of their lives.

When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball by Seth Davis
The 1979 NCAA finals, that meeting launched an epic rivalry between two exceptional players: Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Larry Bird. Davis recounts the dramatic story of the season leading up to that game, as Johnson's Michigan State Spartans and Bird's Indiana State Sycamores overcame long odds and great doubts to reach the game's grandest stage, transforming the NCAA tournament into a multibillion-dollar enterprise, and laying the groundwork for the resurgence of the NBA.

FICTION

Chasing Red by Isabelle Ronin
He had everything: wealth, adoration, a brilliant future. Until one chance encounter changed everything. The moment Caleb Lockhart spotted the mysterious woman in her siren red dress, he couldn't tear his eyes away. For the first time in his life, he wanted something. Something he knew he could never have. The unforgettable stranger he dubs RED.

Fire Sale by Sara Paretsky
When V.I. takes over coaching duties of the girls' basketball team at her former high school, she faces an ill-equipped, ragtag group of gangbangers, fundamentalists, and teenage moms who inevitably draw the detective into their family woes. A player voices her worries about sabotage in the little flag manufacturing plant where her mother works. As V.I. begins to investigate, she finds herself confronting the owners after the plant explodes, and she gets injured.

Full Court Press by Mike Lupica
When the owner of the worst pro basketball team in the world decides to sign Dee Gerard, the first woman ever to play in the NBA, chaos ensues as Dee tries to play the best game there is while spoiled young millionaires, personal and professional relationships, and the press wreak havoc on her life, in a rollicking and hilarious new novel by the author of Bump and Run. 125,000 first printing.

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So it's a relief when his skill on the basketball court earns him a scholarship to college, far away from his childhood home, where he meets artist Julia and her family.

Jump by Mike Lupica
When a high-profile basketball star is accused of rape, ex-lawyer and pro sports investigator DiMaggio is called into the case and must sift through a media circus of innuendo and lies in order to discern the truth.

One False Move by Harlan Corbin
Myron is asked to keep an eye on the star of the new women's basketball league who's been receiving threats on her life.  Myron takes on the seemingly innocuous task, figuring he'll pick up the star as a new client.  But soon her beauty and her quiet strength have him falling for her terrible story--the mother who disappeared twenty years before and the father who was recently discovered murdered--as he moves headlong into a case that prevails against his own better judgment, maybe to win her heart, maybe to save his own.  The answer is at the end of a narrow trail of lies, lust, and murder, where one false move can cost both of them their lives.

One on One by Tabitha King
A small-town school in western Maine, milltown Greenspark has a single claim to fame: its high school basketball team. A hero on the court, senior Sam Styles has led Greenspark Academy to three consecutive state championships. He has become an off-court mover-and-shaker as well, and he sends a shockwave through the school's social hierarchy when he decides that capping his own high school career with a fourth victory will not be enough: he wants the girls' team to win one, too.

Rabbit, Run by John Updike
Harry Angstrom was a star basketball player in high school and that was the best time of his life. Now in his mid-20s, his work is unfulfilling, his marriage is moribund, and he tries to find happiness with another woman.

Sooley by John Grisham
Samuel “Sooley” Sooleymon, a raw, young talent with big hoop dreams, gets the chance of a lifetime: a trip to the United States with his South Sudanese teammates to play in a showcase basketball tournament. During the tournament, Samuel receives devastating news from home: a civil war is raging across South Sudan, and rebel troops have ransacked his village. His father is dead, his sister is missing, and his mother and two younger brothers are in a refugee camp. Samuel desperately wants to go home, but it’s just not possible; he becomes determined to bring them to America, instead.

Testimony by Anita Shreve
At Avery Academy, a prestigious New England boarding school, the headmaster finds himself in possession of a videotape - of three star basketball players with an underage female student. A Pandora's box, the tape unleashes a storm of shame and recrimination throughout the small community.