Vol 11 # 1 October 15, 2026

From Sabah Abdulla, Branch Manager & Nathan Page, Children's Librarian 

October is a busy month at the Piedmont Avenue Branch, with programs for families, gardeners, artists, and the whole community.

On Saturday, October 24 at 10:15 a.m., toddlers and their grown-ups can join us for a cozy Halloween Storytime, with silly, spooky stories and Halloween fun before the big parade down Piedmont Avenue. Following storytime, children and families can join our instructor from the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) for a hands-on art workshop beginning at 11:00. Then, on Halloween afternoon, Saturday, October 31 at 3:30 p.m., Mike the Magician will bring his Not-So-Scary Halloween Show, a magic show full of Halloween fun for all ages.

There’s plenty more happening this month, too. On October 17, families can make their own mini piñatas in the morning, followed by an Edible Landscaping workshop with a UC Master Gardener in the afternoon. 

And looking ahead to November, we’ll welcome the Alzheimer’s Association on November 7 for a presentation on supporting brain health in our community.

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The Piedmont Avenue neighborhood celebrates Halloween on Sat. 10/24

• The Piedmont Avenue Halloween Parade kicks-off at 11:00am. Don your costume and join the parade at 3868 Piedmont Avenue/Rio Vista Ave (Pet Food Express). 
• The Friends of the Piedmont Avenue Library hosts free books and crafts for kids at the Key Route Plaza (Piedmont Avenue at 41^st St) from 11:00am to 1:00pm.
• The annual Halloween carnival is happening from 11:00 am-3:00 pm in the yard at Piedmont Avenue Elementary School. The PTA-sponsored Carnival will include FREE entry and trunk-or-treat! Tickets are required for food, games, inflatables, and the haunted hallway, with all proceeds directly supporting the school through the PTA. 

Programs at your Library: The Friends of the Piedmont Avenue Library helps support a wide range of programs for all ages and interests.

Make Your Own Mini Piñata Saturday, October 17, 11:00am–12:30pm

Join us to make your own mini piñata! The piñata is a vibrant and iconic symbol of Hispanic and Latino/x culture, with a rich history that spans centuries and continents. 

Gardening Workshop: Edible Landscaping Saturday, October 17, 2:00pm–3:00pm

Discover how to create a productive and beautiful edible garden! A UC Master Gardener will guide you through selecting the right planting site based on sun and shade, preparing and improving your soil, watering, mulching, fertilizing, choosing what to plant, and managing pests at acceptable levels.

Halloween Storytime for Toddlers Saturday, October 24, 10:15am–10:30am

Join us Saturday morning for a cozy Halloween storytime at the library, especially for toddlers and their grown-ups. We’ll share some silly, spooky stories and Halloween fun before the big parade down Piedmont Avenue!

MOCHA At The Library! Saturday, October 24, 11:00am–12:30pm 

Join us for monthly art workshops for children and families led by teachers from the Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA). For ages 5-15 and caregivers.

The Not-So-Scary Halloween Show Saturday, October 31, 3:30pm–4:15pm

Join Mike the Magician for the Not-So-Scary Halloween Show Surprise! It’s a magic show full of Halloween fun appropriate for all ages!

Supporting Brain Health in Our Community Saturday, November 07, 2:00pm–3:00pm

Join us for an informative presentation on supporting brain health, presented in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association. 

Ongoing programs

Toddler Storytime, every Tuesday Songs and stories for ages 18 months to 3 years. Stay and Play after Storytime with fun toys through 11:15am. 

Knitting & Crochet Circle with Susan Segal Join us for knitting and good company every 2nd & 4th Monday, 11:00am-1:00pm. Everyone is welcome!

Teen Pop Up Crafts Come to hang out, 2nd and 4th Tuesday, 3:30 to 4:30pm and get creative. Supplies provided. 

Plot Twists & Page Turners: Book Club First Tuesday, 6 - 7:15 pm Come to our monthly Book Club. Share your current reads or just hang out and chat about books.

Chair Yoga Thursdays, 10/22 and 11/5, 10:30 - 11:30 am Chair Yoga is designed for those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. Learn how a daily practice will improve your strength, flexibility, and balance. 

Honoring the Black Panther Party Rank & File Members: 60th Anniversary

Special Exhibit at the Main Library, Oakland History Center, through January 9, 2027.

This October marks 60 years since the formation of the Black Panther Party (BPP) in Oakland! The Oakland Public Library is commemorating this milestone with an exhibit honoring the The Black Panther Party's rank & file members, curated by BPP Historian, Billy X Jennings.

The Avid Reader by Louis Segal

I’ve been an avid reader since I could read. In high school I used to cut school to read in the Berkeley Public Library.  I’m writing this column to share some of the books I love. I hope, perhaps, you might grow to love a few of them. 

Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (2025)

Beyond family much of my life has been devoted to travel, to varying vocations from the sordid to the mundane to the divine.   Books in my knapsack, my bed stand, on an easy chair, in coffee houses or on public transportation have helped me learn about new places, to confront new ideas and to meet people, fictive or real, whom, in general, I’m happy to meet.  I see reading as travel by sedentary means.  Elizabeth and Justin, friends and fellow flấneurs at Café Chiave, recommended that I read Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me.  And for this I am deeply grateful.

Mother Mary is a memoir full of life of a childhood in Aymanam, Kerela in the Southwest of India, of a most difficult mother who Arundhati both praises and denounces, of lovers and comrades, of dreams and activist campaigns. She has led an unconventional life, a life against the grain, against expectation, seemingly a life that is serendipitous.   By turns she became a runaway, a street kid in Delhi, an actress, an architect, a civil rights activist, an environmentalist, a champion of the voiceless and oppressed, an uncompromising opponent of Modi’s Hindu nationalism and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a champion of Kashmiri secession, a global anti-imperialist, and a superlative author of novels, screenplays, and essays on politics, culture, sex and economics.  

Her mother, at best, was a believer in tough love, a tiger mother, who, in Arundhati’s words was “my shelter and my storm," an educator and a feminist, a haughty elitist, and a brave woman.  She was cruel without limits and feared by both young Arundhati and her brother who were abused verbally and physically.   She ran away from home and learned how to both respect her mother’s achievements and despise her domestic tyranny. Nonetheless, she tenderly took care of her mother in her last days.  That by itself is remarkable.  

 Arundhati achieved celebrity.  Her books and novels have been global bestsellers and this memoir, too, will be read around the world.  What did I learn from Mother Mary?  I have a much more nuanced understanding of India, its relationship to Pakistan, the intolerant rule of the BJP, the patterns of misogyny, class, and caste, the vastness of its cultures and peoples, the penetration of the western counter-culture to the East, all through the eyes of a candid, wise and learned woman.  She admits that “[m]y education, the class I came from, and, above all, the fact I spoke English protected me and gave me options that millions of others did not have.”  Yet she is neither obsequious nor particularly humble.  She sees her life and the world she lives in with great clarity. Shame is not in her vocabulary.  Her confessions and insights are illumined with boldness.  For those who love hard-earned ideas, disillusion turning into strength, and an abiding love of wit, kindness, witness, and resilience will find this an uplifting and revealing book.



https://youtu.be/7O25WRk61pc?si=tHzHA4ySIIBk9XcZ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feHF2XMIQRw

Friends of the Piedmont Avenue Library Board of Directors 2026

President: Ronile Lahti; Secretary: Arleen Feng; Treasurer: Joanna Smith; Judith Stone

The Friends of the Piedmont Avenue Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our tax ID is 84-4203055.

All contributions are tax deductible.

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