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Photo by soraccophoto.com.

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Oakland

June 7
Noon to 5 p.m.

Where can you kick-start your summer reading list and play cornhole with the Pittsburgh Pirates? Reading rules at the 15th annual Summer Reading Extravaganza.

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Photo by soraccophoto.com.

Free and open to all ages, the lively outdoor festival features hands-on activities for kids and families, live music, creative crafts, fun games, engaging storytelling and more.

Every hero has a story—what’s yours? Launch the new summer reading season—and have fun doing it—this Sunday at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh‘s (CLP) main branch in Oakland.

Pop into the EQT Performance Tent for shows by Pittsburgh Puppet Works, Pittsburgh Musical Theater, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Timbeleza, GeeksDanz and others. Learn to navigate a Finch Robot, play with iPads and check out a 3D printer in Technology Tent, and rock out with The Labs@CLP in the Music Tent.

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Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Discover creative ways to use locally grown produce during cooking demos led by CLP’s Gardening Thyme programs, and then sample declicious fare from Pittsburgh’s food trucks.

Test your skills playing games like iSpy Board, Win Lose or Read and Heads Up Books, learn how to say “good morning” in a new language and participate in bilingual storytimes in the Language Tent and meet cuddly animals from Rabbit Wranglers, the Western PA Humane Society and Animal Friends.

Have your photo taken with a real ballerina from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, personalize an Eat’n Park smiley cookie and enjoy stories from a puppeteers such as Number One Sam, Pennsylvania’s One Book and Every Young Child. Be sure to browse the library annual book sale to add some great titles to your summer reading list!

Attendees can also enroll in one of the CLP’s  popular Summer Reading programs held through August 7th and learn all about online registration, online book logs and the library’s vast selection of downloadable and streaming books.

The free event is held rain or shine from noon to 5 p.m.

Jennifer has worked at the Mattress Factory, Brooklyn Museum of Art and Dahesh Museum of Art and is co-author of Pittsburgh Signs Project: 250 Signs of Western Pennsylvania. She also is co-coordinator of Handmade Arcade. Musically, she is in a band called The Garment District and is a founding member of Brooklyn's The Ladybug Transistor.