Calendario

Free photobooth pictures at Excelsior Branch! Bring your friends and leave with a strip of pics. For ages 12-18. Contact Marla at mbergman@sfpl.org or 415-355-2868 for more information.

Join Summer Reading Teen Volunteer Training to help the Summer Reading Program at Chinatown Branch Library and gain community service credits. Limit to twenty-five participants. Pre-registration is required. For teens, ages 13 to 18 years old. For information, please contact Jewel at Chinatown Branch Library, Tel: (415)355-2888 or jewelchen@sfpl.org

Boswick Turnstyle the Clown!"

Come see the wonderful Boswick!

This SPCA program pairs trained dog-and-owner therapy teams with kids to grow their literacy, self-confidence, and socio-empathic skills. Whether your child underperforms in reading, or needs extra attention in vocabulary and grammar, s/he will love reading to this calm canine companion in a non-judgmental setting!  For ages 4-7 but older welcome. Call 415-355-5707 to reserve your spot. Space limited.

Summer is the time for bubbles and no one blows bubbles like Rebecca Nile. She will astound you with her unique bubble creations! For ages 5 and younger.

The San Francisco Zoo brings animals from different habitats, including some that live in our own backyards, but you might not realize it. The exact species visiting will be a surprise - possible animals include tortoises, owls, snakes, opossums and more. For children ages 4 and older. Space is limited to 35 people. Tickets will be given out at Children's Ref desk day of performance.

Teen DJ workshop with KMEL & Project Level

Program for Tweens and Teens, ages 11-18

Come learn how to spin and scratch records with KMEL and Project Level

No musical experience needed.

For more information please contact Eric Hannan

A bi-monthly event of book reading and discussion in Chinese.

Brave San Francisco firefighters will come to talk simply about fire safety and show off their marvelous firetruck. A must for all firetruck fans! Firefighters are on duty, so there is a chance they will get called away to fight a fire.  For ages 5 and under.

This SPCA program pairs trained dog-and-owner therapy teams with kids to grow their literacy, self-confidence, and socio-empathic skills. Whether your child underperforms in reading, or needs extra attention in vocabulary and grammar, s/he will love reading to this calm canine companion in a non-judgmental setting!  For ages 4-7 but older welcome. Call 415-355-5707 to reserve your spot. Space limited.

The San Francisco Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated and the Bayview Branch of the San Francisco Public Library presents a discussion and readings by three authors:

• Mykah Montgomery: The Girl Who Wanted a Tail (children’s book)
• Patricia Saunders: Through the Fire (poetry)
• Lisa White: Pink Milk (children’s book)

Moderated by Karen Johnson of Marcus Bookstore

Rebecca Nile - "The Bubble Lady!"

The biggest bubbles in the world!  Big bubbles!  Huge bubbles!

Much fun with lots of chances for children to participate with the amazing Bubble Lady!

Join renowned architect and Chinese American studies historian Philip P. Choy for an insider’s guide to the history and architecture of San Francisco’s Chinatown in his book San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to Its History and Architecture.  In this lecture and slide presentation, witness the triumphs and tragedies of the Chinese American experience in the United States from the city's earliest days to its post-quake transformation into an "oriental" tourist attraction as a pragmatic means of survival.

Mr. Choy co-taught the nation's first college level course in Chinese American history at San Francisco State University.  He has served on numerous boards including the California State Historic Resource Commission, the San Francisco Landmark Advisory Board, and the Chinese Historical Society of America.  He is the recipient of the prestigious San Francisco State University President's Medal.

A book sale and signing follows this event.  This program will be conducted in English.

Explore the world of sharks, skates and rays, with Aquarium of the Bay!  Through Naturalist-led, hands-on activities, find out how sharks are a special kind of fish with unique adaptations to help them find food and survive.  Participants will also discover the importance of sharks in marine environments, the threats they face, and what Aquarium of the Bay is doing to help protect them. Ages 6 and up. Advance sign-ups Required

Teen space in the meeting room. Activities include gaming, doing homework, and sometimes a movie. Ages 11-18. For more information, contact Marla at mbergman@sfpl.org or 415-355-2858.

Learn about endangered species, while meeting some of the coolest snakes and lizards on our planet! Teressa Kileen shares her vast knowledge and love of reptiles with curious people of all ages! For more info, contact Marla, (415) 355-2858 or mbergman@sfpl.org.

Learn to create and draw dynamic comic book characters, backgrounds, and storylines with expression and movement. You will produce several cartoon scenes and the start of a comic book. Space is limited, please call for reservations, 355-2880.

Magic Dan delights and astounds! Magic for children of all ages.

The Insect Discovery Lab

The Center for Ecosystem Survival presents The Insect Discovery Lab.  Real live insects for you to learn about and maybe even hold!

Love LEGOs? We do too! Join us to build fabulous LEGO projects. Ages 5 and older.

Magician Gerald Joseph will WOW you with amazing sleights of hand and magic! For ages 4 and up.

Join us for a reading and booksigning with Alysia Abbott, author of Fairyland,  a  vibrant memoir about growing up motherless in 1970s and ’80s San Francisco with an openly gay father.

In Alysia’s teens, Steve’s friends—several of whom she has befriended—fall ill as AIDS starts its rampage through their community. While Alysia is studying in New York and then in France, her father tells her it’s time to come home; he’s sick with AIDS. Alysia must choose whether to take on the responsibility of caring for her father or continue the independent life she has worked so hard to create.

Reconstructing their life together from a remarkable cache of her father’s journals, letters, and writings, Alysia Abbott gives us an unforgettable portrait of a tumultuous, historic time in San Francisco as well as an exquisitely moving account of a father’s legacy and a daughter’s love.

This event is co-sponsored by the Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center and the San Francisco History Center.

Magician Gerald Joseph will WOW you with amazing sleights of hand and magic! For ages 4 and up.

Celebrate the Summer Solstice with a perfect introduction to the joys of gardening. In this hands-on workshop, Jonathan Silverman, Founder and Managing Director of Feel the Earth, will offer LEARN the ART of SEEDING for children and their families. You will learn how seeds work, best ways to plant seeds, how to care for your seedlings, and begin to cultivate fresh produce or blossoms. Research shows that gardening improves children’s learning, self-confidence, health & feeling of community spirit. For ages 2 and older.

Brave San Francisco firefighters will come to talk simply about fire safety and show off their marvelous firetruck. A must for all firetruck fans! Firefighters are on duty, so there is a chance they will get called away to fight a fire.  For ages 5 and under.

Simple Machines

Recommended ages: 8+

Simple Machine & Powered Machines were designed for ages 8-up.  The kits enable children to be young engineers, designers & scientists.  Through use of the materials children are encouraged to think creatively about how things work and establish links between cause and effect.  The materials provided enable children make machines such as windmills, power cars, dogbots, clock mechanisms, fishing rods, letter balances & various vehicles. Limit 10 children. Please call for a reservation. 355-2822

Join us to assemble and program a lego robot using Lego Mindstrom kits.  All materials provided.

Space is limited.

Ages 9 and up.  For more information contact: Maricela Leon-Barrera at mleonbarrera@sfpl.org.

Bonnie Lockhart - Songs and Stories!

For children of all ages

Join Tammy from Destiny Art Center and learn a new skill! Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial-art that incorporates dance, agility, grace, music, instrumentation and play. Participants will learn the fundamentals of capoeira movements, philosophy, instruments and call and response songs. For ages 5-up, space limited to 30 participants arriving day of class.

Simple Machines

Recommended ages: 8+

Simple Machine & Powered Machines were designed for ages 8-up.  The kits enable children to be young engineers, designers & scientists.  Through use of the materials children are encouraged to think creatively about how things work and establish links between cause and effect.  The materials provided enable children make machines such as windmills, power cars, dogbots, clock mechanisms, fishing rods, letter balances & various vehicles. Limit 10 children. Please call for a reservation. 355-2822

Feel the Earth and Learn the Art of Seeding:  In this hands-on workshop learn how seeds work, the best ways to plant seeds, how to care for your seedlings, and begin to cultivate fresh produce or blossoms. Research shows that gardening improves your child's learning, self-confidence, health & feeling of community spirit. For children of all ages.

Kodi SKodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mitz-Plasse

Focus Focus Features; Directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell

Rated PG; 92 minutes; 2012 When a small town comes under siege by zombies, who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman, who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he’ll have to take on ghosts, witches and, worst, of all, grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. But this young ghoul whisperer may find his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.

Space is limited. Please call up to 6 days in advance for a reservation.

Step to Poetry is a colorful literary art installation on the Main Library's staircase written by WritersCorps youth. The youth, who range in age from 12 to 19, attend an afterschool workshop run by WritersCorps at the Main Library. The installation will be on view from May 10 through June 10, and consists of nine brief poems about popular culture.

A launch event will take place on Friday, May 17 at 6 pm, featuring a stair crawl from the first to fifth floors with WritersCorps youth performing their poems along the way. Space is limited and an RSVP to the event is required as the event takes place after library hours. Contact hello@writerscorps.org or (415) 252-2546.