Sparks’ Ark Animal Services conducting May 18 event

AUGUSTA — Sparks’ Ark Animal Services will conduct a wildlife presentation at 5 p.m. Monday, May 18, as part of Lithgow Public Library’s annual community reading project, A Capital Read 2015. The free family friendly program will feature animals native to Africa at Viles Arboretum, 153 Hospital St., according to a news release from the library.

The community is invited to read two books by travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux for A Capital Read 2015. The novel, “The Lower River” and nonfiction title, “The Last Train to Zona Verde,” both focus on the African continent and share similar themes, according to the release.

Josh Sparks of Sparks’ Ark will bring an assortment of wild animals for the interactive program, including a tortoise, sugar glider, hedgehog, chinchilla, owl and boa constrictor. The family-owned business, founded by David Sparks, offers animal outreach programs, birthday parties and nuisance wildlife control, according to the release.

A Capital Read is sponsored by Bangor Savings Bank and the Friends of Lithgow Library, in partnership with Viles Arboretum, the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine, the University of Maine at Augusta, and the Kennebec Journal.

The author event and book signing with Theroux is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, May 30, at the University of Maine at Augusta’s Jewett Hall.

Copies of the books are available at Lithgow Library’s temporary location, Ballard Center, 6 East Chestnut St.; Bangor Savings Bank, Senator Way; Viles Arboretum; and The Holocaust and Human Rights Center at UMA, while supplies last.

A Capital Read 2015 events are free and open to the public. For more information, call Lithgow Library at 626-2415 or visit lithgow.lib.me.us.