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Celebrate the breathtaking art of Xiang Li, featuring over a dozen selected canvas portraits of Chinese empresses. Meet the artist Xiang Li and her daughter Fei Wu (the mother-daughter team) in person, hear their artist talk and presentation, and enjoy a relaxed and engaging conversation. Ask questions, connect, and discover the stories behind the art. Light refreshments will be provided.

Co-sponsored by the Cambridge Public Library and the Cambridge Public Library Foundation, the Boston Globe columnist, Barbara Wallraff will speak about her career and column on language, “May I have a word?”. She has had a long career in journalism, primarily as a copy editor, starting at Boston Phoenix then at the Atlantic and today as a columnist at the Globe.

Join the Central Square Book Group! This month, we're reading The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. Copies are available for pickup at the Branch. Questions? Contact Ruby (rvail@cambridgema.gov).

Our monthly Middle Grade Mystery book group is for kids aged 10-14. Check out a copy of the book beforehand, or download it from the Libby app. Our July book is The Case of the Missing Marquess (Enola Holmes #1) by Nancy Springer. This book group will meet virtually and in person at the O'Connell Branch. Please register below if you would like to attend virtually. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants one hour before the event. Need a laptop or hotspot to participate? Call the O'Connell Branch at 617-349-4019. For questions about the Middle Grade Mystery Book Group, please email cmeisler@cambridgema.gov.

Come explore the nature in our urban backyard! We will take a leisurely walk as we observe and learn together about the animals and plants at Alewife Reservation. You are welcome to bring binoculars, magnifying glasses or any other observational tool. The walk will meet at the stone benches by the wetland boardwalk. The paths and boardwalks are well maintained but can be muddy in places. Limited free parking is available in the Alewife Reservation lot on Acorn Drive. In case of inclement weather, this event will be canceled. Registration is helpful but not required. For more information call the O’Neill Branch at 617-349-4023.

The climate is changing, and we're all here on the planet together. Join us for a monthly community gathering and discussion of a variety of books about climate change. We will share thoughts, resources, and occasionally host special guests in a welcoming small-group environment. For our December meeting, we will discuss This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by Naomi Klein. Copies of the book are available at the Main Library Q&A Desk. E-book copies of the book are available to borrow on the Libby app and audiobook copies are available immediately on the Hoopla app. Registration is required. Please contact alengel@cambridgema.gov with questions.

The climate is changing, and we're all here on the planet together. Join us for a monthly community gathering and discussion of a variety of books about climate change. We will share thoughts, resources, and occasionally host special guests in a welcoming small-group environment. Our November book is Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. Copies are available to pick up at the Q&A desk at the Main Library, on the Libby app, and immediately on the Hoopla app. This is a hybrid event. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants 1 hour before the event. Registration is required. Please contact alengel@cambridgema.gov with questions.

Learn about the structure of the plants we eat from root to fruit and what portions of different plants are or are not edible. Recommended for ages 5 and up. 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.

Join the Cambridge Public Library in welcoming Philip Taubman, former Washington Bureau Chief of The New York Times and Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Taubman for a discussion of their latest book, McNamara at War, a captivating and authoritative psychological portrait of Robert S. McNamara. Informed by newly discovered diaries, letters, and interviews with those closest to him, the authors uncover an emotionally tortured man—a man who mastered everything in life, until the Vietnam War mastered him. The discussion will be moderated by Fredrik Logevall, the Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School and the author of JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century.

Every month we will read and discuss a short story as a group. For December we will be reading "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James. Copies of the story are available for pick up at the Central Square Branch. Registration is helpful but not required!