Cotsen Children’s Library staffers and Princeton residents Elizabeth Lemoine and Dana Sheridan get into the spirit of Princyclopedia. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)

By Alice Su

The Olympian gods will descend upon Dillon Gym at Princeton University for 5 hours the afternoon of April 9 as the Cotsen Children’s Library plans to bring Rick Riordan’s children’s book The Lightning Thief to life.

The gym will be transformed into an ancient Greek world of mythical proportions for the 5th year of Princyclopedia, Cotsen’s signature annual event. Each year, the library chooses a different children’s book and creates Princeton’s own version of its world through a variety of activities, shows and demonstrations.

The Lightning Thief is part of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which follows a school-aged boy in New York as he discovers that all the Greek gods of classical myth are alive and well today. The Lightning Thief has sold more than a million copies since its publication in 2005, leading to 4 bestselling sequels and a movie in 2010.

When visitors arrive at Princyclopedia this year, they will be transported into Percy Jackson’s Greco-modern universe.

Highlights are set to include a toga party, professional harpist, mechanical bull Minotaur, nectar and ambrosia gelato, Spartan warrior re-enactors, and kids’ (grape juice, really) wine tasting.

Graduate students from Princeton’s Philosophy Department will be manning a Socratic table to tease out visitors’ philosophical sides. Sweet and Sassy, a salon and spa for girls, will offer Aphrodite-inspired up-dos, complete with glitter stars and goddess-worthy glam. The Plasma Physics Lab is literally bringing lightning, using plasma balls and a dancing lightning bolt to demonstrate Zeus’ scientific roots.

Dana Sheridan, education and outreach coordinator at the Cotsen Children’s Library, dreamed up the event during her first year at Princeton.

“The idea was that inside every book you love to read is another world. An encyclopedia of fiction, non-fiction, different disciplines, art, science, history, food, everything,” Sheridan said, “It takes that book you love and it brings all those pieces out, and presents them to you in one big, giant, hands-on form.”

The first Princyclopedia took place in 2007, when Sheridan coordinated a simulation of Harry Potter’s world. It featured “almost every wizarding course and every wizarding shop,” Sheridan said, with activities ranging from making personalized wands to testing pseudo-magical potions.

Since its first year, Cotsen has worked together with University departments, local businesses and non-profits to pull off each theme. Harry Potter in 2007 led to Aladdin in 2008, Alice in Wonderland in 2009, Treasure Island last spring, and a steadily growing number of sponsors and participants with each year.

Kathryn Wagner, director of the Princeton Chemistry Outreach Program, has been involved with Princyclopedia since its inception. Her program started with Severus Snape’s magical potions, and then made genies and magic sand for Aladdin, played with looking-glass molecules and Chesire Cat grins for Alice, and sponsored treasure diving and map-making for Treasure Island.

“Princyclopedia is too good to miss,” Wagner said, “We love the enthusiasm of the visitors, and we love showing that chemistry is fun.”

Jennifer Jang, curator of education at the Princeton Historical Society, is working with Cotsen for the second time this year. Her table will highlight Greek Revival architecture in Princeton, showing kids Olympia’s influence on the local township.

“I love that children’s literature is the focus,” said Jang, “It’s one of the most important community-building events in Princeton.”

Although Princyclopedia incorporates booths and features from all these partners, Sheridan invents the theme and plans most of the event by herself. According to Sheridan, the frenzy of planning is a “trot in January, a canter in February and a full-out gallop in March until the end.”

“If something needs to be created, or painted, we fabricate it all ourselves,” Sheridan said, “It gets crazy. It’s all about stamina.”
Nevertheless, Sheridan is driven by a passion for the children’s books that she works with.

“I exclusively read children’s chapter books and I admire and love them. I love this job,” Sheridan said, “Where else can I wear a toga and book inflatable mechanical bulls and taste-test gelato flavors at The Bent Spoon?”

Four to five thousand guests attended Princyclopedia last year, and Sheridan expects the same or more this spring.

“We get people who come without kids,” Sheridan said, “When we did Harry Potter, there were some people from Manhattan who were tailgating at the event before it even opened.”

But the best part of Princyclopedia, Sheridan said, is the way it brings books to life for the kids there.

“The beautiful part is when the event unfolds and you’re watching kids interacting, discovering things and just having a really good time,” Sheridan said, “That never fails to amaze me. Standing there and looking out and thinking it worked, and the book is alive right now, for these five hours.”

The Cotsen Children’s Library is a wing of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections in Princeton University’s Firestone Library. It was opened in 1997 through funding from Lloyd E. Cotsen, a Princeton alumni in the class of 1950.

Cotsen donated his collection of rare children’s books – including original Beatrix Potter letters, manuscripts from the Brothers Grimm, paper cuts from Hans Christian Andersen, and 1st edition drawings by Dr. Seuss – on the condition that the library would provide programs that promoted a love of literacy. The Cotsen Library now runs a number of book readings, classroom presentations, performances and workshops year-round, in addition to the annual Princyclopedia.

Princyclopedia, the Cotsen Library and all its other events are open to the public and free of charge. On the Web: www.princeton.edu/cotsen.