About Family Workshop: Popsicle Characters
Be inspired by authors Yu Rong, Sojung Kim-McCarthy and Anne Chen as we design and perform our very own stories.
Experiment with colour, texture and collage to create an exciting backdrop for your story. Then imagine and create puppet characters on popsicle sticks to live in their story world. What adventure will they discover?
Your support
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Anne Chen
Anne Chen has written two middle grade books for Oxford University Press.
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She is currently writing an adult-YA crossover Chinese fantasy with magical martial arts, secret societies and sentient swords. She also enjoys reading and writing science fiction. She is currently co-chair of Story Feast, Little Story Feast's mother organisation.
Sojung Kim-McCarthy
Sojung Kim-McCarthy is an award-winning author-illustrator based in Bournemouth.
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She makes stories and pictures about finding a new home and family, belonging and fitting in, and her Korean heritage. When not working on books, she is making soup for her local community kitchen in her giant cauldron, or learning new recipes from the refugee guests she hosts in her spare bedroom.
Yu Rong
Yu Rong is an acclaimed British-Chinese picture book illustrator.
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Yu Rong has thrice been shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway/Carnegie Award for Shu Lin's Grandpa by Matt Goodfellow (2022), The Visible Sounds by Yin Jianling (2023) and Flying High by Cao Wenxuan (2025). Yu Rong lives in the countryside of Cambridge with her husband, Donkey, her three children, Caterpillar, Chilli Pepper and Bean, and their German Pointer, Captain Sniff.
Family activities at the Library
We have lots of free family events and workshops in London and West Yorkshire. Spaces can fill up quickly, so please book ahead.
You can also pick up a Family Trail from the Information Desk to help you explore the Library further, and visit our free Treasures Gallery.
Food and drink
Families are welcome at all of the Library’s cafés and restaurants. The Terrace Café on the first floor has lots of seating (including an outdoor terrace for sunny days). Highchairs are available in the Terrace Café and the Upper Ground Floor Café, subject to availability.
Families with children may also bring their own food to eat outside on the Piazza or in our public spaces, and there are water fountains that can be used to refill water bottles across the building. Please do not consume food or drink inside the exhibition galleries.
Baby-feeding
Parents are welcome to breastfeed or bottle-feed anywhere in the Library. Please ask a member of Library staff if you would like help finding a quieter space.
Please note that we cannot heat bottles or baby food in our cafés and restaurants.
Bags, cloakrooms and lockers
Our cloakroom and digital lockers are free to use, located on the Lower Ground Floor with step-free access. Please note our cloakroom is closed on Sundays, but you can still use our lockers. View more information on our bags and luggage restrictions.
Baby-changing and toilets
There are baby-changing stations available in the following toilets:
- in the men's and women's toilets on the Lower Ground Floor, near the cloakroom
- in the women's toilets near Reader Registration on the Upper Ground Floor
- in the men's and women's toilets in the Terrace Café on the First Floor
- in the men's and women's toilets in the Knowledge Centre.
Accessible toilets can be found on all floors. The nearest Changing Places toilet is at King's Cross station.
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