?????Avi Tour???
Saturday, Oct. 15, 1-2:30pm
Departs from John Brown House Museum (52 Power St.)
??$15 for one child and adult; each additional child, $5; each additional adult, $10
?????Avi Tour??? Brings Popular Providence-Based Young Adult Novel to Life
School Group Walking Tour, a Perennial Favorite, Open to Public for One Day Only
(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) ??? One of the Rhode Island Historical Society???s most requested private walking tours will welcome a wider audience for one day only on Saturday, October 15.
Participants can join the RIHS???s expert guides in exploring the streets of Providence through the lens of Avi’s Something Upstairs, a book that has been captivating young readers for three decades with its blending of time travel, ghosts, fact, and fiction. Tour groups, departing the John Brown House Museum at 1pm, will walk the same streets as characters Kenny and Caleb, visit the waterfront, and see the very house in which the story is set.????
???The Something Upstairs tour is one of our best, by far! As staff and volunteers, we love taking kids on a journey, helping history come to life for them in a very real sense. And kids have a blast learning that both reading and history can be cool, interesting, and based right in their backyard. After years of holding these walks for school groups, we decided to open it up to families so parents and kids could experience Something Upstairs together,??? said Jennifer M. Wilson, Assistant Director, Newell D. Goff Center for Education and Public Programs.????
???Avi, who lived in Providence at one point, was inspired by the city’s history. He does a wonderful job capturing the old and new with his language, allowing students to see and hear Providence both in 1800 and now. Avi also writes to his audience, never talking down to them. Instead, he believes in their abilities as young adults and teaches them about the importance of self-reliance and memory throughout the novel.???
To attend, it is requested that young readers be in fourth grade and above and have finished the book in its entirety before participating in the tour; minors must be accompanied by an adult. The tour is 90 minutes long and covers a mile. Admission is $15 for one child and adult together; admission for each additional child is $5, and $10 for each additional adult.
Reservations for Avi???s Something Upstairs Walking Tour are highly recommended, and may be made by contacting Wilson at jwilson@rihs.org or (401) 273-7507 x360.
About the Rhode Island Historical Society
Founded in 1822, the RIHS is the fourth-oldest historical society in the United States and is Rhode Island???s largest and oldest historical organization, as well as its only Smithsonian Affiliate. In Providence, the RIHS owns and operates the John Brown House Museum, a designated National Historic Landmark, built in 1788; the Aldrich House, built in 1822 and used for administration and public programs; and the Mary Elizabeth Robinson Research Center, where archival, book and image collections are housed. In Woonsocket, the RIHS manages the Museum of Work and Culture, a community museum examining the industrial history of northern Rhode Island and of the workers and settlers, especially French-Canadians, who made it one of the state???s most distinctive areas.