Events: anytime, any location, all ages

The Kansas City Public Library hosts Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper and captain Jimmy Nielsen for the launch of his new memoir Welcome to the Blue Heaven.

Nielsen was once scouted by Manchester United and a host of other leading European clubs, but his career was derailed by a gambling habit that earned him the nickname “Casino Jimmy.” He managed to piece his life back together and started a record 398 games for Aalborg, the team he supported as a boy; but he was ready for a change and contemplating retirement when he received a call from Kansas City in 2010 to play for a team that he did know existed until that very moment.

Trying to get your child more excited about reading? Friday Night Family Fun might be able to help.

Curtis Hed uses humor, magic, juggling, and audience participation to share the importance of reading and the ways libraries have played an important part in his life.

Appropriate for all ages.

Music from India. American gospel. The traditional Chinese Lion Dance. These are some of the ways in which different faiths and cultures manifest their deepest-held beliefs and customs through the arts.

Midsummer’s Light offers an afternoon of music, dance, and storytelling designed to build an awareness of various faith traditions and their commonalities, and to provide a colorful, dynamic, and moving experience.

Long viewed as unjust and mercenary, the Mexican-American War allowed the U.S. to seize control of vast expanses of the Southwest, paved the way for the Civil War, and led to the political rise of Abraham Lincoln.

Historian Amy S. Greenberg discusses her book A Wicked War and its cast of colorful characters: James K. Polk, the dour president committed to territorial expansion; Henry Clay, the aging statesman with one last great speech up his sleeve; and Lincoln’s archrival John Hardin, to name just a few.

The slave Dred Scott claimed that his residence in a free state transformed him into a free man. When the Court decided otherwise, the ruling sent shock waves through the nation and helped lead to the Civil War.

Earl M. Maltz discusses his book Dred Scott and the Politics of Slavery and argues that the case revealed a political climate that had grown so threatening to the South that overturning the Missouri Compromise was considered essential.

Artist Glen Hansen presents and discusses the more than three dozen drawings and paintings that make up his show opening June 27 in the Library’s Guldner Gallery. Subjects range from historic turn-of-the-century structures to the modern TWA Building and the iconic Town Topic Hamburgers.

A teacher at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Hansen early on became fascinated by the details of ornate Victorian houses. Among his works are many focusing on the architecture of Prague, Paris, and Venice.

This two-piece, nationally known kids’ band puts on a fun family concert full of funky tunes so interactive that everyone gets to be part of the act!

The band has been mentioned in Time, People, and Parents magazines. You can hear their two number one hits on SiriusXM Kids Place Live and listen to them on the NPR show Car Talk.

Appropriate for all ages.

Old Mother Hubbard loves her dog, and he loves her. In this comic poem, written in 1805, Old Mother Hubbard is always looking out for her best friend and in return he is dancing and spinning and sitting and standing, all to the delight of Old Mother Hubbard. In a quaint old cottage, the comedy of a dog and his master opens and unfolds to delight and captivate in this story of this good old lady and her funny dog.

Come and learn about different musical stringed and woodwind instruments. You can see the instruments up close, meet the musicians, and hear beautiful music!

Serengeti Steve performs over 600 shows a year throughout the country and has been featured as a Las Vegas finalist on NBC's hit show, America's Got Talent. His talents even earned him a place in the famous Guinness Book of World Records. Various reptiles and arachnids from around the globe are brought to you in a comical and fun-filled hands on experience.