Save the date for this extra special evening Storytime event! 

Uncle Bobby is getting married and you're invited to the launch party! We're excited to celebrate the launch of this inclusive and beautiful book that celebrates love and family! 


When Chloe's favorite uncle announces that he's getting married, everyone is excited. Everyone except Chloe, that is. What if Uncle Bobby no longer has time for picnics, swimming, or flying kites? Chloe just wants to keep having fun with her favorite uncle, but she's afraid everything is going to change. Can Uncle Bobby and his boyfriend Jamie show Chloe that, when it comes to family, the more the merrier? In this inspiring, love-filled story, Chloe learns just what family means.

Uncle Bobby's Wedding was produced in coordination with GLAAD. This adorable picture book is a positive example of same-sex marriage and a celebration of family.

We've got fun surprises planned for this special event! Stay tuned for more details! 

 

There are a lot of hard-working leaders and creators in our community! We are proud to bring them in for a chat, a demonstration, and some Q&A!


Fresh off a multi-million dollar rennovation and the opening of a new outdoor play space, Discovery Woods, the Discovery Museum is more popular than ever! Families from all over the state are coming to Acton to visit the beautiful Museum and the Tree House. Did you know that the Discovery Museum provides in-classroom programming to students throughout our region, and offers opportunities for all sorts of families to visit thanks to generous invitations and accomodations? 

Neil Gordon, CEO of the Discovery Museum, will be with us to talk about the Museum's growth and change over the last few years, the programming it provides to children in Acton and beyond, and why providing a safe place for children to play, learn, and grow is important to our community. 

We look forward to learning more about the Museum! 

There are a lot of hard-working leaders and creators in our community! We are proud to bring them in for a chat, a demonstration, and some Q&A!


Jay Ford, director of The Music Maker School located on 2A here in Acton, will be in our store to speak about running his school and teaching kids the power of music. He and a few of his student might even perform a few tunes!

Learn about the school's history and approach to teaching music.  Find out about the range of instruments that are taught at Music Maker. Learn more about why Jay and his wife Donna choose to run their business here in Acton and what the Music Maker means to our community.  If you've thought about enrolling your child in music lessons, but have questions about how, this is a fantastic opportunity ask!
Come out and learn more about this long-running small buisness doing great things in our community! 

We are excited to be part of the Discovery Museum Speaker Series. We encourage you to come out for this talk and then come see us! We'll be selling Dr. Lemery's book at the event!

Dr. Jay Lemery is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Chief of the Section of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, and Faculty in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Colorado School of Public Health. Dr. Lemery has expertise in austere and remote medical care, and in 2017, co-authored “Enviromedics: the Impact of Climate Change on Human Health,” which highlights one of the greatest human challenges of our time.

About Enviromedics:


While the subject of climate change is often in the news and social media, and its realities debated in various arenas of science and government, the health impacts are often overlooked. Here, two seasoned physicians dispel myths, clarify science, and help readers understand the threats of environmental change to human health.

Many of us have concerns about the effects of climate change on Earth, but we often overlook the essential issue of human health. This book addresses that oversight and enlightens readers about the most important aspect of one of the greatest challenges of our time. The global environment is under massive stress from centuries of human industrialization. The projections regarding climate change for the next century and beyond are grim. The impact this will have on human health is tremendous, and we are only just now discovering what the long-term outcomes may be. By weighing in from a physician’s perspective, Jay Lemery and Paul Auerbach clarify the science, dispel the myths, and help readers understand the threats of climate change to human health. No better argument exists for persuading people to care about climate change than a close look at its impacts on our physical and emotional well-being. The need has never been greater for a grounded, informative, and accessible discussion about this topic. In this groundbreaking book, the authors not only sound the alarm but address the health issues likely to arise in the coming years.


The location of this event hasn't been determined yet. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer! This is a free event with a suggested $5 donation. Light refreshments will be served. You need to pre-register for the event. To do that and learn more, please visit the Discovery Museum website. 

 

We are delighted to help with the Discovery Museum Speaker Series! We invite you to come out to Congregation Beth Elohim to listen to Dr. Winner's talk. We will be there to sell her book! 

Ellen Winner, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology at Boston College and Senior Research Associate at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education. She directs the Arts and Mind Lab, which focuses on cognition in the arts in typical and gifted children as well as adults. She has written over 200 articles and is author of four books and co-author of three, including 2018’s How Art Works: A Psychological Exploration. Dr. Winner has served as President of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Division 10, Psychology and the Arts in 1995-1996, and received the Rudolf Arnheim Award for Outstanding Research by a Senior Scholar in Psychology and the Arts from Division 10 in 2000. She is a fellow of APA Division 10 and of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics.

About How Art Works: A Psychological Exploration:

There is no end of talk and of wondering about "art" and "the arts." This book examines a number of questions about the arts (broadly defined to include all of the arts). Some of these questions come from philosophy. Examples include:

• What makes something art?
• Can anything be art?
• Do we experience "real" emotions from the arts?
• Why do we seek out and even cherish sorrow and fear from art when we go out of our way to avoid these very emotions in real life?
• How do we decide what is good art? Do aesthetic judgments have any objective truth value?
• Why do we devalue fakes even if we -- indeed, even the experts--- can't tell them apart from originals?
• Does fiction enhance our empathy and understanding of others? Is art-making therapeutic?

Others are "common sense" questions that laypersons wonder about. Examples include:

• Does learning to play music raise a child's IQ?
• Is modern art something my kid could do?
• Is talent a matter of nature or nurture?

This book examines puzzles about the arts wherever their provenance - as long as there is empirical research using the methods of social science (interviews, experimentation, data collection, statistical analysis) that can shed light on these questions. The examined research reveals how ordinary people think about these questions, and why they think the way they do - an inquiry referred to as intuitive aesthetics. The book shows how psychological research on the arts has shed light on and often offered surprising answers to such questions.



This is a free event with a suggested $5 donation. Light refreshments will be served. You need to pre-register for the event. Visit the Discovery Museum website for more details.