Beavers Star in Jones Library Activities for All Ages This Month
Photo: Jones Library
14th Annual On the Same Page Community Read
Source: Joneslibrary.org
The 2026 book chosen for the 14th On the Same Page community reading program is Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America by Leila Philip. There are activities highlighting beavers for all ages throughout March. All are free and open to the public. Paperback copies of the book are available at the Jones Library reference desk at 101 University Drive, and at both library branches. E-books can be borrowed through Overdrive/Libby. Amherst Books also has copies for purchase.
About the Book
Praised by reviewers (“Fascinating” ~ The Washington Post; “Full of charm and wonder” ~ The Wall Street Journal; “Inspiring” ~ The New York Times), Beaverland offers a revelatory dive into the world of the beaver – the wonderfully weird rodent that has surprisingly shaped American history and may save its ecological future. Award-winning author Leila Philip follows fur trappers through waist-high water, as well as wildlife managers, PETA activists, Native American environmental vigilantes, scientists, engineers, and the colorful group of activists known as beaver believers. Philip describes the ways in which beavers can repair our broken landscapes – cleaning water of nitrogen and phosphorus, helping to stave off droughts, providing refuges for wildlife during massive wildfires, reducing the impacts of flooding, protecting valuable topsoil. She presents solutions that allow people and beavers to coexist, and shows why this keystone species deserves the public’s support.
This book was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and an NPR Science Friday Book Club Selection.
Schedule of Events
Thursday, March 19 at 7:00 p.m. – North Amherst Library Meeting Room @ 8 Montague Road
Beaver Tales: Native Traditions and Colonial Relations – This talk by Dr. Margaret M. Bruchac considers shifts in Indigenous approaches to hunting beaver in the Connecticut River valley. For millennia, hunting practices were rooted in reciprocity and sustainability, as recorded in oral traditions and archaeological records. During the 1600s, however, the English colonial settler fur trade encouraged over-hunting and introduced a debt economy, provoking land loss and conflicts that resonate into the present day.
Dr. Margaret M. Bruchac is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she founded the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative. For more than 30 years, she has also served as a consultant to Historic Northampton, Historic Deerfield, the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, and Old Sturbridge Village Museum.
Saturday, March 21 at 10:00 a.m. – Wentworth Farm Conservation Area @ Old Farm Road entrance
Family Beaver StoryWalk and Program – Wood you believe that beavers are some of nature’s most important engineers? Join the Hitchcock Center for a beaver StoryWalk for young ones! We’ll waddle through beaver habitat, reading the pages of a beaver-themed StoryWalk as we go. We’ll slap our “tails,” waddle like beavers, and sing a song about our favorite lodge-builders. Spend time in the outdoors engaging in early literacy and movement. Best for little explorers ages 1-6 with their caregivers. Led by Katie Koerten of the Hitchcock Center.
Katie Koerten is the Education Director at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst, MA.
Saturday, March 21 at 3:00 p.m. – Jones Library Program Room @ 101 University Drive
Book Discussion of Beaverland – Join Jones Library staff member Linda Wentworth for an in-depth discussion of our selected title. She will be joined by Conservation Agent Erin Jacque, who will bring her beaver-related expertise to the discussion.
Linda Wentworth is the Head of Collections at the Jones Library.
Erin Jacque is the Conservation Agent in the Conservation Department for the Town of Amherst.
Monday, March 23 at 6:00 p.m. – Hitchcock Center @ 845 West Street
Screening of Beaver Family Life – Join us at the Hitchcock Center for a screening of a new documentary by New England Forests, as we follow a beaver family over a year’s time, beginning in autumn as they prepare for and endure winter; and then as warm spring and summer weather returns. The filmmaker, Ray Asselin, will be on hand to answer questions.
Wednesday, March 25 at 3:00 p.m. – Jones Library Kids Room @ 101 University Drive
Drop-in Activities and Beaver Trivia with MassMammals – Kids of all ages are invited to meet students from Amherst College MassMammals Watch and learn amazing facts about beavers! We will have trivia, coloring sheets, and activities in celebration of our On the Same Page community read program.
Friday, March 27 at 2:00 p.m. – Jones Library Program Room @ 101 University Drive
Teen Art Hang: Beavers – Join us for an early release day Teen Art Hang! We’ll be meeting from 2:00 – 3:30 pm and this time, in honor of Beaverland (the 2026 On the Same Page book), we’ll be enjoying some snacks and using watercolors to capture the essence of the industrious beaver.
Wednesday, March 25 at 7:00 pm – Munson Memorial Library Hall @ 1046 S. East Street
On the Same Page with Leila Philip
Join us for an exciting in-person evening with author Leila Philip, as she reads from and discusses her book Beaverland. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
About the Author
Leila Philip is the author of award-winning books of nonfiction that chronicle diverse, personal journeys. In The Road Through Miyama, Leila, already fluent in Japanese and a potter, traveled to Japan to apprentice to a master potter in southern Kyushu. A Family Place: A Hudson Valley Farm, Three Centuries, Five Wars, One Family, took her much closer to home (literally), and weaves the history of the Hudson Valley farm where she spent her childhood with a revealing account of what’s involved in cultivating orchards. Both books received awards and glowing national reviews. A Guggenheim Fellow, Leila has also been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She works across genres, publishing poetry, essays, and theatrical scripts, and is currently at work on a documentary film. She was a contributing columnist at the Boston Globe and teaches in the Environmental Studies Program at the College of the Holy Cross, where she is a professor in the English Department. She lives in Connecticut.
On the Same Page is made possible due to funding from the Friends of the Jones Libraries.