Cleveland Park
Neighborhood Library

Would you eat a cookie with a spider on it? What about one with worms? What if it was a super delicious cookie that you got to decorate with your very own choice of licorice spiders, gummy worms or other tasty yet gross-looking treats?

Kids ages 6 and up are invited to join Ms. Jackie on Thursday, July 5 at 4:30 p.m. for gross-out cookie decorating. She’ll supply the cookies and the decorations, you’ll supply the imagination.

Everyone will get to decorate and eat the cookies.

On Tuesday, July 3th at 7:00PM children are invited to dress in their pajamas and bring their teddy bears to a special pajama story time and teddy bear sleepover. We’ll sing songs and read stories during our story time and then all of the teddy bears and other stuffed animals are invited to spend the night in the library.

Comic actors are an underrated lot. Being a good comedian requires a mastery of timing and emotion, transcendence of physical setting, empathy and the ability to manipulate each in real-time. A brilliant comic actor knows how to overdo it because he/she already knows how to do it.  Consider:

     • Jim Carrey in Man on the Moon and Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
     • Jamie Fox in Ray
     • Robin Williams in One Hour Photo, The Night Listener, Dead Poets Society’, Good Will Hunting, Insomnia, The Fisher King, etc.

If you need more proof that comedy is not only a legitimate art form, but a true art, let’s not forget one of the most important comic artists of history: William Shakespeare.  Who do you suppose played in Shakespeare’s famous comic roles?  These weren’t beer-hall entertainers. They were the same actors who play Hamlet and Richard III!

It should not be surprising that many artists with the comedy bug have tried their hands at the written word. I’d like to focus on one actor who succeeds in extending his reach into the realm of literature: Mr. Gene Wilder.

On Wednesday, June 20 at 3 p.m., children ages 8-11 are invited to participate in an entertaining and educational program to strengthen their historical thinking skills.  Smithsonian Institution staff will guide them as they explore original historical artifacts and other records of the past, helping the children understand the historical importance of material culture while giving participants the tools they need to preserve their own history.