Come check out the second annual Mt. Airy Kids' Literary Festival- from Friday, April 11 to Sunday, April 13, 2008, presented by the Big Blue Marble Bookstore in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia! Authors/illustrators/musicians include Two of a Kind, Alix Berenzy, Charlene Crawford, Dar Hosta, Adam Rex,Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Eloise Prescott, Muriel Feelings, Miriam Peskowitz, and Denise Valentine.

Here's the full schedule:

Mt. Airy Kids' Literary Festival
Friday April 11 through Sunday April 13, 2008
Friday, April 11

7:00-7:45pm - KIDS' CONCERT! with Two of a Kind.
Location: Big Blue Marble Cafe
Saturday, April 12

10:30am - Olivia Crafty Fun and Activities! (For preschoolers and younger readers)
Location: Big Blue Marble Cafe
Join Olivia the pig, and color, cut, and race her through a variety of paper activities.
With pastry refreshments from High Point Cafe.
Sponsored by High Point Cafe

11:00am - Reading and Collage/Art Activity with Dar Hosta, author of Mavis & Her Marvelous Mooncakes and If I Were a Tree.
Location: Big Blue Marble Cafe

12:00pm - Reading with Alix Berenzy, author of Sammy the Classroom Guinea Pig.
Location: Big Blue Marble Cafe
With refreshments from Weavers Way.
Sponsored by Weavers Way Co-op

12:45pm - Game/Giveaways!
Location: Big Blue Marble
Wander around the Big Blue Marble and participate in games and giveaways of kid literary fun!

1:00pm - Reading with Charlene Crawford, author of Adventures with Granny in the Garden.
Location: Big Blue Marble Cafe

2:00pm - Reading with Adam Rex, author of The True Meaning of Smekday and Pssst!
Location: Big Blue Marble Cafe

3:00pm - Reading with Catherine Gilbert Murdock, author of Dairy Queen and Princess Ben.
Location: Big Blue Marble Cafe

4:00pm - Daring Book for Girls Scavenger Hunt/Book Signing! Join us while we scavenge for books, following clues around the Big Blue Marble, and meet Miriam Peskowitz, co-author of The Daring Book for Girls.
Location: Big Blue Marble Cafe

5:00pm - Favorite Bedtime Story Reading!
Location: Maternal Wellness Center
Join the folks at the Maternal Wellness Center and cuddle up in their community living room for a cozy bedtime story reading. Kids, come dressed in your pajamas, share your stories, and eat snacks.
Sponsored by the Maternal Wellness Center
Sunday, April 13

12:30pm - Craft/Art Activity and Signing with Jan Jugran, author of Willow Becomes Brave and Puppy Love.
Location: Big Blue Marble Cafe

1:30pm - Reading with Muriel Feelings, author of Jambo means Hello and Moja means One.
Location: Big Blue Marble Cafe

2:30 - Storytelling with Denise Valentine, of Keepers of the Culture Storytelling Organization.
Location: Big Blue Marble Cafe

3:30 - Reading with Eloise Prescott, author of Aisha's Crowning Glory.
Location: Big Blue Marble Cafe

Yay!

Check out these upcoming beautiful poetry events in November:

Wednesday, November 14, 7:00pm. Poetry with Pandora Scooter and Samantha Barrow. Spoken wordsmiths Pandora Scooter (NJ) and Samantha Barrow (Philly-now-NYC) share new works inspired by motorcycles, sexuality, life, vegetarianism, introspection and love. Amazingly supportive of each other's work, Sam and Pandora go together like a Philadelphia Book Store and a poetry reading. Don't miss the fun!

Tuesday, November 20, 7:00pm.Poetry with Marion Cohen and Elaine Terranova. Marion Cohen’s new book, Crossing the Equal Sign, consists of poetry about the experience of mathematics. Her own experience of math has been as mathematician, mathprof, and most of all math lover. Her books total seventeen, and her previous book before crossing was Dirty Details: The Days and Nights of a Well Spouse. Other interests are classical piano, singing, Scrabble, thrift-shopping, four grown children, and two gran's. Elaine Terranova was named a Pew Fellow in the Arts for 2006. Her most recent book of poems, NOT TO: New and Selected Poems, was nominated for a Pulitzer. For her first book, The Cult of the Right Hand, she won the 1990 Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets. She has received an NEA fellowship and two Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowships for her poetry. Her poems have been published in The New Yorker, Prairie Schooner, The American Poetry Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Antioch Review and other magazines and appear in various anthologies.

At: Big Blue Marble Bookstore
551 Carpenter Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19119
215-844-1870
www.bigbluemarblebooks.com

All events are free and open to everyone.

HARRY POTTER MADNESS!

Friday, July 20 and Saturday, July 21.

Harry Potter Book Release Party! The party starts at 7:30 pm with a handmade costume contest (with a chance to win a free book!), then the night is filled with a Harry Potter band, ''The Marauders'' , playing a smashing set of Potter tunes, plus card games, crafty circles, Potter trivia and dialogue, a kids' section filled with multimedia activities and crafts, and more! Midnight starts the book release; remember to preorder your book. Recommended for ages 7 and up.

A visit by three-time Caldecott winner David Wiesner? A free kids' concert by Prose from Dover? Crafts, free pastries from High Point Cafe, award-winning storytelling, local children's authors and illustrators? All this and more awaits you at the first ever Mt. Airy Kids' Literary Festival on Saturday, April 14, and Sunday, April 15, 2007, all day! Free! Activities for preschoolers to young adults and beyond! Check out the full schedule here: http://www.bigbluemarblebooks.com/kidslit07.html

Hey all,
Check out these great upcoming events at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore in Mt. Airy. They're all free, and open to everyone. Also save the date for our upcoming first ever Mt. Airy Kids' Literary Festival, scheduled for the second weekend in April 2007(Saturday, April 14 and Sunday, April 15). It will feature readings/signings, crafts, contests,workshops, and kids' concerts -- multicultural, intellectual, and fun-filled events celebrating the community of Mt. Airy, wonderful children's literature, and a love of reading.It will take place in collaborative venues throughout the Mt. Airy neighborhood.

Saturday, February 10, 3:00pm.
Growing Up Girl Book Reading. Join Editor Michelle Sewell, along with local contributors Rasheedah Pillips, JScales, Natalie Illium, and Lisa Joyner in this eclectic collection of essays, short stories, and poems that document the transition from girl to woman, as told by the girls and women who know the journey best. Sewell is an award-winning poet and screenwriter whose work has appeared on NPR, Black Entertainment Television, Sinister Wisdom, and Port of Harlem Magazine.

Tuesday, February 13, 7:00pm.
Erzulie's Skirt with Ana-Maurine Lara. At its core, Erzulie's Skirt is a love story between two women who travel different paths but share similar goals—securing the survival of their African birthright as healers and spiritual guides for the next generation. Infused with the language of ritual and indigenous beliefs, Erzulie's Skirt is a credible narrative, in which dreams and the spirit world communicate with the living, blurring boundaries and borders as a method of teaching humanity about tolerance and the curative nature of hope.(from Rigoberto Gonzáles, El Paso Times review)

Wednesday, February 14, 5:00pm.
Afternoon Valentine's Day Celebration! Join Big Blue Marble to celebrate love in all its forms. In our kids’ section we’ll be making valentines out of all kinds of crafty materials. Upstairs in our café we’ll offer free tea tasting and a haiku challenge.