Honor Book Weekend Lets You Put a Loved One’s Name Inside the Mystic & Noank Library

Honor Book Weekend Lets You Put a Loved One’s Name Inside the Mystic & Noank Library Friday and Saturday, when a collaboration with Bank Square Books turns buying a book into something that can remain on the library’s shelves for years.

The idea is wonderfully simple.

Mystic & Noank Library librarians have pre-selected books they would like to add to the collection. Visitors browse those titles at Bank Square Books, choose one or more to purchase for the library and dedicate the donation to someone they want to honor or remember.

The book then becomes part of the library’s collection, complete with a custom bookplate creating a permanent record of the donation.

One transaction supports the library, supports an independent Mystic bookstore and creates a lasting tribute to someone who matters to you.

The Librarians Have Already Done the Shopping

Honor Book Weekend isn’t a general book drive.

Instead of purchasing an arbitrary title and hoping the library needs it, visitors choose from books selected in advance by Mystic & Noank Library staff.

That distinction matters.

Modern libraries have limited shelf space and collections that are continually changing. Librarians have to consider demand, gaps in the collection, condition, relevance and what their particular community actually reads.

Here, that selection work has already happened.

The donor’s job is the fun part: browse the choices and find the book that feels right.

Perhaps it’s a children’s book dedicated to a new grandchild, a novel honoring someone who never went anywhere without a book, a history title for the person who loved the past or something chosen simply because it reminds you of somebody.

Once donated, the custom bookplate connects that person to the book.

It’s a small memorial that doesn’t have to feel like one.

One Purchase Helps Two Mystic Institutions

There’s another layer to the weekend.

The books aren’t being ordered from a warehouse. They’re being purchased through Bank Square Books, Mystic’s independent bookstore.

Bank Square has been part of the community since 1988 and describes its mission as extending beyond selling books. The store hosts author appearances, book clubs, children’s programming and workshops while also donating books and money to local nonprofit organizations.

Its relationship with Mystic & Noank Library is visible throughout the year.

The two organizations collaborate on literary programming and author events, creating the sort of relationship that makes sense in a town where an independent bookstore and independent library serve many of the same readers.

Honor Book Weekend makes that partnership particularly direct.

Buy one book and the bookstore makes a sale.

The library gains a title its librarians have already decided belongs in the collection.

And the donor gets to attach someone’s name to it.

Mystic & Noank Isn’t a Municipal Library

There’s also a financial reason events like this matter more than people might assume.

Despite serving the community as a public library, Mystic & Noank Library is a private nonprofit rather than a municipal library.

According to the library’s 2025 annual report, roughly 27 percent of its operating funding came from the towns of Stonington and Groton and the State of Connecticut.

The rest has to come from the library itself through fundraising, philanthropy, its endowment and careful financial management.

That means community support isn’t merely paying for extras.

It helps sustain the institution.

Donating a requested book is a particularly tangible way to contribute because you can see exactly where the money goes.

It goes onto a shelf.

A Library Built by a Gift

There’s something especially fitting about honoring someone through a donation to Mystic & Noank Library.

The institution itself began with philanthropy.

In 1891, Mystic ship captain Elihu Spicer announced plans to build a library for the communities of Mystic and Noank. He died before seeing the project completed, but his sister, Sarah Dickinson, continued the effort.

The Roman-brick library was dedicated in January 1894 and remains one of downtown Mystic’s most recognizable civic buildings.

More than 130 years later, the model has changed considerably. The library now offers digital books and audiobooks, streaming services, computers, children’s programming, workshops, book discussions, museum passes and community events alongside the shelves of physical books.

But the basic idea behind Spicer’s gift remains remarkably recognizable.

Someone gives something because they believe other people should be able to use it.

Honor Book Weekend reduces that idea to its smallest possible unit.

One book.

One donor.

One name inside the cover.

And then, potentially, hundreds of readers who will never know the person being honored but will continue benefiting from the gift.

Two Days to Choose a Book

Honor Book Weekend runs Friday, Sept. 25, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 26, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The event takes place off-site at Bank Square Books rather than at the library.

One important location note: although some older library calendar information still displays Bank Square Books’ former downtown address, Bank Square Books is now located at 80 Stonington Road, Suite 8, in Mystic, and the event description specifically directs participants to the new location.

There’s no requirement that the person being honored be a reader, donor or library patron.

The permanence comes afterward.

Years from now, somebody may pull the book from a shelf at Mystic & Noank Library, open the cover and find a name waiting inside.

More information is available at the Event Website link below.

Details

Event: MNL Honor Books at Bank Square Books
Dates: Friday, Sept. 25 and Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026
Friday Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Saturday Hours: 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Location: Bank Square Books
Current Address: 80 Stonington Road, Suite 8, Mystic, CT 06355
Who Can Participate: Everyone
How It Works: Browse books pre-selected by Mystic & Noank Library librarians, purchase one or more for the library’s collection and dedicate the donation in honor or memory of someone
Bookplate: Donated books receive a custom bookplate creating a permanent record of the gift
Benefits: Mystic & Noank Library and Bank Square Books
Library Contact: Christine Bradley
Phone: 860-536-7721

 

 

Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.