Storyteller Jess Carleton presents “Oy Vey, Wild Things!” on Saturday, November 12 at 1:00 pm at the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake Street. Featuring lively folktales and imaginative Midrash stories celebrating Maurice Sendak’s Jewish heritage, this event is best for ages 5 and up. Free tickets will be available for pick up at the Library beginning October 31. Families are encouraged to the view the corresponding exhibit, titled "In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak," at the Oak Park Public Library from October 26 until December 16, 2011.

Jessica Honor Carleton has been storytelling professionally for over 15 years. Her programs range from telling folktales for young children to personal stories for adult audiences. Jessica graduated cum laude from Northwestern University, with degrees in Theatre and Creative Writing for the Media. Since then, she has worked as a storyteller and actor in the Chicago area, performing at schools, libraries and festivals, as well as theater companies like Piven and the Goodman. Jessica is the senior writer and original ensemble member on Green Screen Adventures, a children’s television show that adapts and performs the writing of elementary school students to encourage literacy. You can check out a sample of her storytelling on the show at: http://greenscreenadventures.tv/videos/index.php?video=124158 [1].

More about "In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak"

"In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak," a national traveling exhibit, will be at the Oak Park Public Library from October 26 until December 16, 2011. This exhibit, which combines art and words, reveals the push and pull of New and Old Worlds in Sendak's work and shows how Sendak's artistic journey led him deeper into his own family's history and his Jewish identity. This special exhibit will be open at the Main Library (834 Lake Street) seven days a week during regular library hours.

Maurice Sendak is best known as the illustrator of more than 100 picture books including Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen. He was born to Polish immigrants in Brooklyn in 1928, and his childhood was typically American in a number of ways. At the same time, he became fascinated as a child with the worn black-and-white photographs of his European relatives, and the influence of both of these worlds - the threads of Jewish family, geography, and culture - can be seen in his imaginative works.

"In a Nutshell" is an exploration of Sendak's illustrations and picture books, revealing connections between these iconic works and Sendak's childhood, family, and the popular culture of the time. The colorful exhibit panels feature illustrations of ferocious creatures, curious children, and vibrant neighborhoods, alongside thematic explorations of the Jewish culture and history and Sendak's own family experience.

"In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak" was organized by the Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia, and developed by Nextbook, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Jewish literature, culture, and ideas, and the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The national tour of the exhibit has been made possible by grants from the Charles H. Revson Foundation, the Righteous Persons Foundation, the David Berg Foundation, and an anonymous donor, with additional support from Tablet Magazine: A New Read on Jewish Life. The exhibit was curated by Patrick Rodgers of the Rosenbach Museum & Library.

More Oak Park Public Library events related to “In a Nutshell” are listed at www.oppl.org/sendak/ [2].