STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Two-year-old Shepard Eagan cut his fork into a slice of Tres Leches cake, a decadent, moist Mexican cake soaked in whole, condensed and evaporated milk, with the studied curiosity of a scientist examining a new experiment.

He must have liked what he tasted because he spent the next 10 minutes working at it until the cake was gone and his face was covered with a rich layer of icing as if the Northern lights had splashed across it.

The he turned his attention to a chubby little children’s book in front of him “Big Size Surprise”—a 2-year-old’s guide to all things trucks.

The Community Library’s Children’s Library proved a place for all kinds of discovery—from one’s first Tres Leches cake to a make space to the wide world of reading--on Dia de los Ninos Day.

“This is his first Dia de los Ninos Day,” his grandmother said. “We come to the library all the time and he loves it. Sometimes he’s into books about trucks, sometimes animals.

While librarians handed out slices of cake and plates of nachos heaped with refried beans and gooey cheese, teenagers like Eliza Zimmer, Zoe Stern-Pre and Maisie Smith helped youngsters like Bowen Thomson make candy poppers, stuffing candy inside toilet paper rolls and twisting colored paper around them.

It was a more delicate task than it looked for Thomson.

“This is my fifth attempt,” he grumbled, asking for another piece of paper after tearing earlier attempts.

While Thomson may not have been a wiz at making candy poppers, he was the perfect candidate for the big glorious finale once he had the final product in hand.

One pull and—presto!—the candy shot into the air.