Southeast
Neighborhood Library

Tuesday Feb. 22nd, 4pm: Black History Month Crafts and Activities for kids 6-12.
                              7pm: Black History Art Show and Poetry Reading with AJ Giovanni, for adults.

Thursday Feb. 24th, 7pm: Music and Civil Rights since 1968, for adults.

Our fiction book clubs also meet this week! Tuesday's book is House Rules by Jodi Picoult and Thursday's is People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.

Call 202-698-3372 for more information about any Southeast Library activities.

Look out for our upcoming special activities for Women's History Month (March), and our kids' programs celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday on March 2nd!

Thursday, March 3 6:30pm Margaret hollister will discuss growing up in Peking in the 1930s and will read from her new memoir, Inheriting China.  Margaret has been a strong advocate for reading and teh city's libraries for over 40 years.  She re-established the Friends of the Southeast Library in the 1970s.  As a retired social worker, she designed programs to get donated books into public housing and the city jail.  During the 1990, she became affectionately known as "the bathroom lady", attending DC Public Library Board meetings and pleading for the replacemnt of decrepit restrooms.  At age 94 Margaret is still one of the most active members of the Federation of Friends.  

It's sad, but there are not a lot of nice picture books about fairies being published for the younger reader right now.

Fortunately, we can turn to older books, which offer us a few delightful possibilities!

Absolutely the best picture book to read in one sitting about an actual fairy that I know is A Fairy Went A-Marketing, from the poem by Rose Fyleman (pictures by Jamichael Henterly). The pictures are lovely; the text is brief and charming; and they make a wonderful combination for any fairy lover!

This is the story of Thomas Gradgrind, an educator, wealthy entrepreneur and Member of Parliament and his family in the industrial city of "Coketown," England. As parent and educator, Gradgrind is influenced by his personal philosophy and worldview of rationalism, self-interest and fact. Thomas Gradgrind believes the individual should not engage in fanciful or imaginative pursuits. Gradgrind raises his children on this philosophy, and as the children grow older and move from home, this social exchange worldview follows his daughter Louisa into her marriage with a much older man and a friend of her father, Mr. Josiah Bounderby.