New York Historical Society
Our guide to cultural events in New York City for children and teenagers happening this weekend and in the week ahead.
CELEBRATING RICHARD SCARRY AND BUSYTOWN! at the New-York Historical Society (Dec. 14-15, 1-3 p.m.). These days, this venerable museum goes by a new name: the Busytown Historical Society. New York, of course, is always busy, but this nomenclature refers to another metropolis entirely, the bustling imaginary world of the beloved children’s author and illustrator Richard Scarry (1919-1994). In honor of the centennial of his birth, the society has created “Holiday Express: All Aboard to Richard Scarry’s Busytown,” an exhibition, on view through Feb. 23, that combines the museum’s annual display of antique toy trains and playthings from the Jerni Collection with animal characters and texts from Scarry’s books. The result is a railroad-dominated miniature city, circa 1919, complete with a menagerie of suffragists and even a feline nurse, Nellie, who is working to defeat the flu pandemic. This weekend, the society salutes the show with children’s crafts (finger puppets and paper trains), book readings and appearances by the storyteller Conductor Abe. It also welcomes a special guest: the illustrator Huck Scarry, Richard Scarry’s son, who will draw Busytown characters and discuss his father’s work.
212-873-3400, nyhistory.org
‘A GOLEM FROM BUENOS AIRES’ at the Theater at the 14th Street Y (Dec. 14, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.; Dec. 15, 1 p.m.; through Dec. 22). In this American premiere, the golem […]
