Bold visions

In 1978, at the age of 7, Giselle Potter toured Italy with her family's theater troupe. She relives that adventure in "The Year I Didn't Go to School," a children's book she wrote and illustrated.

In a delightful exhibit at the New Art Center in Newton, the journal she kept that school-free year sits next to illustrations from her book. The 13 artists represented in "The Visions & Voices of Children's Book Illustrators" tackle subjects serious (Hank Greenberg, Anne Frank, and Nelson Mandela) and silly (farm animals putting on a rock concert) with bold strokes.

Yet the impromptu creativity that bubbles up is just as brilliant. Since the exhibit opened on March 19, dozens of children have created their own books, now on display in the gallery. And next to Rebecca Doughty's illustrations for "Some Helpful Tips for a Better World and a Happier Life," to be published next year, is a basket for suggestions. Recent additions include "sleepovers every night!" and "kittens and puppies in every school."

The exhibit, curated by Julie Bernson and Ceci Mendez, closes May 20. For information on related events, visit newartcenter.org.

Two lively author series begin this week: the spring season of Four Stories and the annual Writer's Life. Tomorrow, Four Stories hosts four crime novelists at the Enormous Room, 567 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, at 7 p.m. The room usually fills to capacity early.

The Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 56 Brattle St., hosts panel discussions at 8 p.m. on the next four Wednesdays. This week three authors talk about the journey from idea to publication. Subsequent sessions consider master's of fine arts programs in creative writing, the online literary world, and the art of communicating with editors. Tickets are $6 per session.

Forget where you put your keys? Can't come up with the name of your son's teacher? It is a difficult fact for many of us that the processing of information slows down in mid life.

Frustrated by her failing memory, Cathryn Jakobson Ramin interviewed the top cognitive neuroscience researchers in the United States, many of whom are at Harvard, MIT, and Boston University. Her new book, "Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife," offers suggestions on ways to combat the decline.

Ramin speaks at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St., Brookline.

"American Visa , " by Juan de Recacoechea (Akashic)

"Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations," by Simon Rich (Random House)

"The Wizardology Handbook: A Course for Apprentices," by Dugald A. Steer (Candlewick)

Megan Sullivan of Harvard Book Store recommends "Jamestown" by Matthew Sharpe (Soft Skull) : "Set sometime in the future, it chronicles a group of settlers from Manhattan traveling to Virginia to establish an outpost.

They encounter Indians who aren't technically Indians (there are none left), but white people imitating what they've read in books. Sharpe's masterful writing goes beyond verbal pyrotechnics into what happens when two groups who speak the same language still cannot understand one another."

Jan Gardner can be reached at JanLGardner@yahoo.com.