Join the Elizabeth Taber Library for a lively and immersive program with Linda Booth Sweeney, author of The Noisy Puddle, winner of the Massachusetts Book Awards picture book/early reader category. Designed for young children and their caregivers, this special event blends storytime with hands-on discovery, celebrating the wonder of vernal pools and the living systems they support. The program will begin in the library with a read-aloud of The Noisy Puddle, followed by a conversation with the author. Families will then be invited upstairs to the Marion Natural History Museum for guided, hands-on exploration.

The Noisy Puddle is a rhythmic, nonfiction celebration of vernal pools, brought to life through rich collage art, playful textures, and joyful onomatopoeia. Accessible for younger readers and fascinating for older ones, the book encourages children to be curious about nature and to notice how a place can change across the seasons, revealing new activity, patterns, and life each time they look.

This program is sponsored by the Mass Book Awards Speakers Bureau and is presented in collaboration with the Massachusetts Center for the Book.

LINDA BOOTH SWEENEY blends story, art, science, and humor to reveal the often-hidden interconnections that shape our world. Her books invite children—and the adults who read with them—to be “curious about connections,” helping young readers become systems-smart and confident navigating complexity as they grow. Her children’s books include Monument Maker; Apart, Together; The Noisy Puddle (a Kirkus & Science Friday Best Book); and Do Bees Pee? (forthcoming from HarperCollins, June 2026).