5EPTYUIORASDFGHK CALIFORNIA KIDS! Family Fun Guide • APRIL 2010 5EPTYUIORASDF Table of Contents Who Wrote That? Donna Gephart by Patricia M. Newman .....................page 6 Wordsearch: It’s Earth Day! ...............page 7 Make it Yourself! ................................page 8 The Book Report: Bed Time Stories by Connie Goldsmith ........................page 9 Summer Guide ..................... pages 15 –21 Calendar of Events ............. pages 26–28 Hubble D Blasts Off! ................... page 29 Parties! Parties! ..................... pages 30–31 www.valcomnews.com Publisher: George Macko General Manager: Kathleen Egan Contributing Writers: Connie Goldsmith, Patricia M. Newman Art Director: John Ochoa Junior Designer: Ryan Vuong Sales Manager: Patty Colmer Advertising: Marc Harris Distribution/Subscriptions: George Macko California Kids! is published monthly and distributed to more than 1,000 locations in the Sacramento Valley, including all of Sacramento County, and portions of Yolo (Davis and Woodland), Placer (Auburn, Newcastle, Rocklin and Roseville), El Dorado (Cameron Park, El Dorado Hills, Placerville), and Nevada (Grass Valley, Nevada City) counties. Subscriptions are available for $30/year. Mail prepaid check or money order to California Kids!, 2709 Riverside Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95818. Make sure to specify the person and address to which you wish issues to be mailed. Deadlines for advertising and calendar listings are the 25th of the month prior to publication. Calendar listings should be mailed to 2709 Riverside Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95818, faxed to (916) 429-9906, or e-mailed to [email protected]. Copyright 2010 by Valley Community Newspapers Inc., 2709 Riverside Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95818. Phone: (916) 429-9901. Fax: (916) 429- 9906. E-mail:[email protected]. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. APRIL 2010 • CALIFORNIA KIDS! Family Fun Guide 5EPTYUIORASDFGHK CALIFORNIA KIDS! Family Fun Guide • APRIL 2010 5EPTYUIORASDF Matinee Performances airytale Town’s own repertory company of young actors returns for a third season of original and innovative fam- Fily entertainment. “The Little Mermaid and the Yellow Submarine,” promises to be a major production in both size and scope. A cast of 25 young actors between the ages of 5 and 19 gather together to enact a creative new adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen classic fantastically re-imagined as a “Lost Adventure of Sgt. Pepper.” It features eleven mystical mermaids, seven sappy sailors, three environmen- tally incorrect witches, miscellaneous sea urchins and even a pesky puppet or two–not to mention a soundtrack by a certain Lonely Hearts Club Band. A loving tribute to 1960’s pop culture clashing with twenty-first century eco-savvy silli- ness, this wondrously weird production promises a parade of dazzling color and eccentric accents across the universe and under the psychedelic sea. “The Little Mermaid and the Yellow Submarine” star- ring the Fairytale Town Troupers opens April 10, with Egg- matinee performances in the Children’s Theater at Fairytale Town. Tickets are only $1 (Fairytale Town Members receive a 2-for-1 discount) in addition to paid park admission. Children strava- two and under are free. Saturday matinees are scheduled for 12:30 and 1:30, Sunday performances are at 11:30 and 12:30. Performance dates are April 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, and 25. ganza! The Children’s Theater at Fairytale Town is located at 3901 Land Park Drive, Sacramento, in William Land Park. op down the bunny trail General Admission to Fairytale Town is $4.50 weekends and with Peter Cottontail and holidays. For more information, call (916) 808-7462 or Hcelebrate spring with family [email protected]. at friends at Fairytale Town’s annual Spring Eggstravaganza. The event is set for Saturday and give a child their first experience additional charge), or participate Sunday, April 3 and 4, from 11 seeing live theater, and helps in a variety of age-appropriate a.m. to 3 p.m., and offers egg build interest in stories and spring art activities, which you Outdoor Nature hunts, puppet shows, hands-on reading. Most activities for the can take home as a souvenir. arts activities and photos with Spring Eggstravaganza event are Fairytale Town is open 9 the big Rabbit himself! included in paid park admission. a.m. to 4 p.m. daily (weather Programs Egg Hunts will be held Tickets for Puppet Art Theater permitting), and event activi- promptly at noon, 1, and 2 performances are an additional ties take place from 11 a.m. to p.m. each day and guests are $1 for members, $2 for non- 3 p.m. Park admission is $4.50 Looking for Eggs in Nature- Sunday, April 4, 1:30 p.m. encouraged to bring a basket for members, with showtimes at per person, ages 3 and up. Join the fun at Rancho Del Oso Nature and History Center collecting eggs. The Egg Hunts 12:30, 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. Children 2 and under are free for a special nature walk for children who like to look for eggs in are separated by age groups. After seeing a show, head on of charge. nature. Search for frog eggs, insect eggs, newt’s eggs and other Children three and under will over to the Mother Goose Stage “special” eggs. The hike will be about a half-mile in length. This hunt on the main lawn in front where you can take a photo with For more information, call (916) 808- event is fun for all ages. of the Mother Goose Stage, the Big Bunny of the season ($5 7462 or visit www.fairytaletown.org. Rancho del Oso is located 17 miles north of Santa Cruz on ages four to six will find eggs Highway 1. Turn right before the Waddell Bridge, there is a sign in the Pooh Corner, and those marked “Rancho del Oso Nature and History Center” on the right ages seven to 12 will track eggs side. Please watch for newts on the road each spring. behind King Arthur’s Castle! Each child will return their eggs Tidepool Exploration at Waddell Beach – Sunday, April 18, to Mr. McGregor’s Garden to at 9 a.m. receive a prize - no matter how Low tide is at 9 a.m., so meet at the Waddell Beach parking lot few or how many eggs they find! and walk about a mile to the tidepools. Spring is a great time to (This activity is included in park see colorful nudibranchs (sea slugs), octopus and a wide variety admission.) of crabs. Families are welcome. Please wear layers of clothes and After the Egg Hunts, guests sturdy shoes or boots that can get wet. Participants will gather are invited to the Children’s back at the nature center afterwards to warm up with hot choco- Theater to see the puppet show, late, tea or coffee around the fire and learn more about what they Bunny Boot Camp. The zany have seen. Meet at the Waddell Beach parking lot off of Highway comedy includes heroic char- 1, just south of Año Nuevo State Reserve. More information is acters, devious villains, and available at (831) 427-2288. madcap chase scenes. The pup- Located 16 miles north of Santa Cruz along Highway One, at pet show is also a safe place to Waddell Creek. For more information, call (831) 427-2288. APRIL 2010 • CALIFORNIA KIDS! Family Fun Guide 5EPTYUIORASDFGHK list became the brain- child of a character Who Wrote That? named David Green- berg, a funny Jewish kid whose role model The Creators of Your Child’s Favorite Books is Jon Stewart of The Featuring Donna Gephart By Patricia M. Newman Daily Show. Gephart thought David might possibly write a book to help others survive onna Gephart’s first novel, middle school. “That As If Being 12 ¾ Isn’t Bad morphed into—well D Enough, My Mother is maybe he can create Running For President!, was the videos [starring his recipient of the 2009 Sid Fleis- pet hamster, Ham- chman Humor Award. When my] and put them she reflects on what drew her on YouTube to help to humor, she recalls, “The other kids and him- big family dinners where my self survive middle aunts and uncles and cousins school.” and everybody would be sit- G e p h a r t w o r k s ting around the table laugh- from her home in ing our heads off and telling south Florida, divid- stories and pigging out.” She ing her time between also read the humor columnist writing and family. She prefers out from me and from the Erma Bombeck, as a kid—even to create in the morning when story. Ultimately, she was though Bombeck’s column she is fresh, leaving revision, right on target and [her was written for a more mature promotion and other busi- comments] always helped audience. “I was interested in literature. “I knew no one. I the original novel, but ex- ness-related activities for the the whole.” humor even back then,” she knew nothing,” she says of pressed interest in the book afternoon. Usually she ends Gephart says, “Before my says. the business. She stumbled about the candidate’s daugh- her writing day when her sons teen years, I did not have a Somewhere between the ages onto a critique group of like- ter. Gephart says, “I didn’t (now 15 and 17) return home lot of friends. The library was of eight and ten, her mother minded children’s writers. have a book.” from school, but there are my second home and books made a fuss over something One of the members told her She did what all writers do times when deadlines loom and were my friends…Children’s she had written and Geph- about an editor searching for whose bluff had been called.