Calendar

Wednesday

August 12

• 10:30 AM

  Summer Reading: Outdoor Story Time & Chalk Party (Central Square)

  Central Square Branch, 45 Pearl St., Cambridge, MA 02139

  Close out Summer Reading with stories, chalk drawing, and a summer treat. Recommended for children of all ages and their caregivers. No registration required. In the case of inclement weather, this program will take place in the Children's Room. Please call 617-349-4012 for more information.

• 12:00 PM

  Video Game Days (Main)

  Main Library, Teen Room, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138

  Every Wednesday during the summer, the Teen Room will host video game days! Buddy up in 1, 2, Switch, or battle each other in Super Smash Bros. Between 12 PM and 2 PM grab a controller and hop into the game! For more information contact Ellen at ekaluza@cambridgema.gov.

• 1:00 PM

  Summer Reading: Observing the Partial Solar Eclipse with #Popscope (O'Neill)

  O'Neill Branch, 70 Rindge Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140

  Join us during the partial solar eclipse and learn how to safely observe it! Eclipse glasses will be provided. This program will happen outside. In case of bad weather, there will be modified activities inside the Library. Funding for Summer Reading has been generously provided by the City of Cambridge, Cambridge Public Library Foundation, Friends of the Cambridge Public Library and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

• 3:00 PM

  Summer Reading: Bingo Afternoon (Main)

  Main Library, Curious George Room, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138

  Five squares in a row and BINGO! Join us for an hour of this fun, exciting game. Recommended for children ages 6+ and their caregivers.

• 6:00 PM

  Summer Reading: Tiny Gardens Everywhere (Main)

  Main Library, Lecture Hall, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138

  Uncover the radical roots of urban gardening with Kate Brown, author of Tiny Gardens Everywhere (2026). The history of gardening in European and North American cities in the 20th century is a story about ordinary people working with each other—and with plants and microbes—to cultivate life in the unlikeliest of places. Using the deluge of nutrients that flow into cities, working class gardeners regenerated wasteland, built the first garden city communities, and engaged in the most productive agriculture in recorded human history. Following the plants and microbes, urban gardeners also built mutual aid societies that advocated for equity, social welfare, and rights—rights not to liberty and the pursuit of happiness (who can eat that?) but to food, fuel, and shelter; to well-being for all. Kate Brown is the Thomas M. Siebel Distinguished Professor in the History of Science at MIT. Her prize-winning books include Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future (2019), Plutopia: Nuclear Families in Atomic Cities and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters (2013), and A Biography of No Place: From Ethnic Borderland to Soviet Heartland (2004). Presented in partnership with City of Cambridge Community Garden Program.

• 7:00 PM

  Summer Reading: Sunú Film Screening (Central Square)

  Central Square Branch, 45 Pearl St., Cambridge, MA 02139

  Join us at the Central Square Branch for a screening of documentary film, Sunú. Seen through the eyes of small, midsize and large Mexican maize producers, SUNÚ knits together different stories from a threatened rural world. This film documents how people realize their determination to stay free, to work the land and cultivate their seeds, to be true to their cultures and forms of spirituality, all in a modern world where corn is being threatened at the center of its origin: Mexico. Popcorn and movie snacks provided.