Creative Crafts for Kids Include Papermaking, Calligraphy, Illuminating, Illustration, Bookbinding, Printmaking, and More!

New York, NY, February 4, 2003 -- On Sunday, March 2, New York Public Library halls, usually filled with researchers and scholars, will bustle with parents and kids at the Library’s third annual Family Party, a benefit for its book collections. Budding booklovers and their chaperones will participate in a festive series of activities related to literature and bookmaking led by artists and artisans. Each child will have an opportunity to create a literary masterpiece by writing and illustrating a story, making paper, designing a book jacket, illuminating the text, printing personalized book plates on a real printing press, and binding the pages into a book.

Barbara Siebel Thomas, illustrator of the Amelia Bedelia books, will lead an illustration workshop, and party guests will also have the chance to meet Saxton Freymann and see how he illustrates his books with food sculptures. A Dixieland band will greet guests as they arrive, and Clara the Cow, star of the award-winning children’s book series, will be on hand to entertain.

Then there’s disco dancing to tunes for children, storytelling, a puppet performance, and festive food and beverages to entertain parents and kids alike. Children will also have an opportunity to sign up for free library cards throughout the day so that their relationship with libraries can continue long after March 2. The New York Public Library Family Party will be held at the landmark Humanities and Social Sciences Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

“It’s never too early to get kids excited about books,” said Dr. Paul LeClerc, President of The New York Public Library. “The Family Party is a fun way for children to learn how books are made from the inside out and also to introduce them to the many resources available at their library.”

Tickets for the Family Party are available starting at $50 per child and $100 per adult. For more information about purchasing tickets, please call 212.930.0730.

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Press Contact: Herb Scher, Sabina Potaczek at 212.704.8600.

th: pro