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Join us for a relaxed Saturday morning concert with Radius Ensemble! The concert, geared toward preschool children but appropriate for all ages, features a delightful abridged version of Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolf (at the end of which the wolf, instead of meeting his demise, is taken to the zoo), plus also other silly songs about animals, as well as a show-and-tell of the instruments of the woodwind family. For the final piece of this 45-minute program, children are invited to play along on hand percussion instruments such as tambourines and claves, and each child receives a free colorful shaker to take home. Recommended for children ages 3 to 5 years with caregiver. This program can accommodate 130 people. Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis on the day of the program. The entire party must be present to receive a ticket. This program starts promptly, and any unclaimed seats will be offered to someone waiting. We appreciate your patience and understanding. Please call 617-349-4038 for more information.

To mark the 250th anniversaries of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States, a coalition of local non-profits and government agencies will present Washington in American Memory, a seven-part speaker series. Retrace George Washington’s post-inaugural journeys and explore how he sought to unite a fragile new nation, featuring: Peter Drummey, Chief Historian of the Massachusetts Historical Society (Ret.) Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy, along with many other New York Times bestselling books

Join us for live Folk Music with award-winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist Kim Moberg and enjoy classic folk songs, treasured favorites, and original music! Kim was born in Juneau, Alaska, the daughter of a mother of Alaskan Native Tlingit descent and a US Coast Guard veteran father from Kansas. Her mission is to connect people in empathy and social consciousness through the storytelling power of Folk Music. Recommended for school-age children ages 6+ (younger siblings welcome with parent/caregiver). No tickets needed. Thank you to Folk New England and peaceeducators.org for their generous support!

Join us for live Folk Music with award-winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist Kim Moberg and enjoy classic folk songs, treasured favorites, and original music! Kim was born in Juneau, Alaska, the daughter of a mother of Alaskan Native Tlingit descent and a US Coast Guard veteran father from Kansas. Her mission is to connect people in empathy and social consciousness through the storytelling power of Folk Music. Recommended for school-age children ages 6+ (younger siblings welcome with parent/caregiver). No tickets needed. Thank you to Folk New England and peaceeducators.org for their generous support!

Join José Mateo Ballet Nutcracker cast members in the Lecture Hall for a fun story time reading of The Nutcracker coupled with live ballet dancing. Learn some ballet moves and meet the dancers as well! All ages.

Join us for a 90-minute workshop where you’ll learn the simple, meditative basics of Chigiri-e (“chee-gee-ree-eh”), a traditional Japanese art form where the name literally means "torn picture." Rather than using scissors for sharp, clean cuts, we carefully tear the paper to create soft, feathered edges that look almost like a watercolor painting. Whether you’re a long-time crafter or haven't picked up an art project in years, come enjoy some quiet, analog crafting time making a handmade picture, led by instructor Chihiro Sato. You will bring home not just a unique piece, but also the know-how to continue enjoying Chigiri-e at home. Space is limited. Registration is required.

Due to the popularity of Sifu Diaz's classes, we expect participants to attend all sessions and participation in this program will be decided by lottery. Join us in this eleven-week Tai Chi Paradigm practice, which focuses on the mind and body connection. Tai Chi is a fluid sequence of movements choreographed in a low impact routine. This is an in-person event at the Valente Branch. To enter the lottery, please register for the waitlist below. This waitlist will constitute the pool from which 15 names will be drawn randomly. Registration will open Wednesday, March 4 at 9AM and close Wednesday, April 1 at 5PM. Participants selected will be notified on Friday, April 3. Sponsored by the Cambridge Public Library Foundation

In January 2020, the largest and most eagerly awaited cache of new materials written by the Nobel-Prize-winning poet T. S. Eliot was finally opened: the 1,131 letters he sent Emily Hale, his little-known American love, over the course of their lifetimes. Their relationship was, in their own words, an “unnatural” love affair, one that began in Cambridge in 1913, when Eliot was a graduate student at Harvard and Hale, an aspiring amateur actress, and that played out in Boston, England and California over the years. Named as one of its "Fifty Notable Non-fiction Books of 2024" by the Washington Post, Fitzgerald's biography of Hale is based on the embargoed letters and extensive research into Hale’s life and times. Hale was much more than just a muse to a literary celebrity. She overcame personal hardship to pursue a career as a professor of speech and drama at prominent American women’s colleges and schools, including Simmons and Smith Colleges and Abbot and Concord Academies. She was a talented amateur actress and director, who performed at many Boston area theaters and later guided Eliot as he tried his hand at playwriting. But in the end, Eliot disavowed her, sending a secret letter to Harvard in 1960 that claimed his love for Hale was that of “a ghost for a ghost,” and confirming that he had arranged for Hale’s side of their 27-year correspondence to be destroyed. In the words of The Washington Post reviewer, “Missing letters, a secret love affair, a famous poet, a beautiful actress—what else could you possibly want in a story?" Sara Fitzgerald is a retired journalist whose career included fifteen years as an editor and new media developer for The Washington Post. In 2020, she also published The Poet’s Girl: A Novel of Emily Hale and T. S. Eliot. Since then, her essays about Hale have appeared in multiple volumes of the Journal of the T. S. Eliot Society and the T. S. Eliot Studies Annual. She has presented at the annual meetings of the Modern Language Association, the American Historical Association, the International T. S. Eliot Society, and at the T. S. Eliot Summer School at Oxford. She is also the author of the biography, Elly Peterson: “Mother” of the Moderates and Conquering Heroines: How Women Fought Sex Bias at Michigan and Paved the Way for Title IX.

Join us at Donnelly Field (behind the Valente Library) for a joyful celebration with musician and educator Otha Day! A Drum Circle is a highly interactive group of people who play drums and percussion instruments together to create in-the-moment music. Through the experience of rhythm and sound we experience what it means to beat as one heart: we become a vibrant community. This drum circle will include playful and accessible rhythm activities, games, traditional ensemble pieces, songs and most importantly, improvisation. No experience necessary; all ages can participate. No registration is required. In the event of rain, this program will move indoors to the Community Room of the Valente Branch. Funding for Vacation Week Programming: Live at the Library has been generously provided by the Cambridge Public Library Foundation.

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.