Ages 12-17 are invited into the teen space at Benning Library on Fat Tuesday to make Mardi Gras masks, listen to traditional Zydeco music, and taste authentic New Orleans snacks.

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream; what’s yours? Participate in an
essay contest, and you could win a prize. Submit entries between
December 15 and January 13. A first-, second- and third-place winner will
be selected. For more information, call 202-442-7740/7741. Ages 6 -
12.

What was being a slave in the United States really like?  This database has links to more than 4,000 interviews with former slaves in the 1930s. The stories cover both what it was like to be a slave and what it was like to be free.  Here are some excerpts:

“One instrument of torture is worthy of particular description. This was an oak club, a foot and a half in length and an inch and a half square. With this delicate weapon she would beat us upon the hands and upon the feet until they were blistered.”  
–Lewis Clarke

“I had been in jail but a short time when I heard that my master was sick, and nothing brought more joy to my heart than that intelligence. I prayed fervently for him—not for his recovery, but for his death.”               –William W. Brown

Read more slave narratives.

Books and Authors allows you to search by character, subject, location and/or time period.

For example, if you choose detective, adventure and the 2000s decade, you will find Michael Connelly’s A Darkness More than Night: A Novel, about a former FBI profiler who “agrees to try his hand at identifying a murderer whose modus operandi suggests he may be a budding serial killer.”  You will also find the John Deal series by Les Standiford, a series of action thrillers that feature “gritty private detective John Deal who, often aided by police detective Vernon Driscoll, faces a wide array of dangers including terrorists and other assorted criminal types. Most of the cases are somehow related to government intrigue.”

If you searched on cheerleader and U.S., you’d find All-American Girl by Meg Cabot, about three sisters, one cheerleader, one gifted, and one (Samantha) who dyes her hair and clothes black.  Sam accidentally saves the president’s life, leading to a hilarious adventure, including a date with the president’s son.  You’ll also find Dead Connection by Charlie Price about a shy loner (Murray) who talks to children and teenagers buried in the local cemetery. One day Murray hears a voice he thinks is the cheerleader missing from his high school.

On the other hand, if you search for acrobat, aardvark, Africa and the 1930s, you won’t find much to read!