Sunday May 18, 2025
11:00 am – 3:00 pm

Free for kids and included with admission for adults

Join us for a special Family Day program featuring guest author Catherine Little reading from her latest book, Jane and the Blue Willow Princess. After the reading, take part in a hands-on-clay activity in the exhibition Test Kitchen: A Museum Project inspired by the patterns of blue-and-white ceramics in our collection.

Copies of Jane and the Blue Willow Princess will be available in the Gardiner Shop.

Program Schedule:

Book Reading with Catherine Little
Location: Rosalie Wise Sharpe Gallery, 2nd Floor
Times: 11:00 – 11:30 am, 12:30 – 1:00 pm, and 2:00 – 2:30 pm

Hands-On Clay Activity
Location: Exhibition Hall, 3rd Floor
Time: Ongoing from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm, 20-minute intervals
Please bring a box or recycled container in which to transport your work home.

About the Book

On a beautiful spring day, sisters Jane and Cassandra enjoy tea with Mother in the garden. Jane is in the throes of writing a story for Father’s birthday, but too many ideas swirl in her head and she cannot get started. The Blue Willow pattern on the tea set catches Jane’s attention. Will that be the inspiration she’s looking for? Jane and the Blue Willow Princess commemorates the 250th birthday of Jane Austen. It celebrates Austen’s writing, which continues to engage readers around the world, and highlights the deep love between Jane and her sister Cassandra. The book introduces children to Jane Austen and her enduring legacy as an author, and may perhaps inspire them to become writers themselves.