Celebrate the Re-Opening of the Downtown Library

So the downtown library is re-opening this weekend and will celebrate with Houston families on Saturday & Sunday. The celebrations are free. Here are a few things that I think will be of particular interest to kids:

• I think both music groups (at noon and 2 pm on Saturday) will be really fun for young kids.
• There will also be a gadget petting zoo so the kids can play with digital cameras, printers, MP3 players, etc. Kylie loves that stuff. For a free event, it sounds fun.
• On Sunday at 1:30 pm, author Rosemary Wells will be there to chat with kids. She's the author of the book and corresponding TV show "Max & Ruby" on Noggin. That's usually pretty cool.

THE HOUSTON PUBLIC CENTRAL LIBRARY IS FINALLY RE-OPENING THIS WEEKEND WITH A TWO-DAY EXTRAVAGANZA. The Houston community is invited to join Director of Libraries Dr. Rhea Brown Lawson, Mayor Bill White, Council Member James Rodriguez, and other City officials for the opening ceremony Saturday, May 31 at 10am, followed by a free celebration throughout the weekend. There will be something for everyone to enjoy including music, crafts, food, multicultural dance performances, library tours, technology test-drives and author appearances. The first 1,000 people through the Library's doors receive a commemorative book bag. Scheduled events are 10am-6pm Saturday, May 31, and 1-5pm Sunday, June 1.

The Central Library is located in downtown Houston at 500 McKinney. The weekend of entertainment includes a festival on the Library's Plaza with music by Trout Fishing in America, Jose Luis Orozco, Grupo Kache, and more. There will also be 20 booths of family entertainment, Ringling Bros. clowns, appearances and book signings by visiting authors including Rosemary Wells, David Wiesner, Anita Bunkley, Bill Crider, Ellen Hopkins, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Bapsi Sidhwa, and Katherine Center. Multicultural dance performances take place throughout each day, and the gadget petting zoo will be a crowd favorite.

And this year, the Houston Public Library is turning their annual "Summer Reading Program" into a fun family affair. Everyone is invited to participate in the program running June 1 through August 1, including kids, teens, and adults. To register go online or visit one of Houston's 38 neighborhood and HPL Express library locations.

For more information, call 832.393.1313 or log onto http://www.houstonlibrary.org/.

Until the next nap time...