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We are giving away four family four-packs of tickets to see Gansango Music & Dance at Town Hall Seattle on Saturday, May 18, at 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. (two four-packs for each concert). The brainchild of Seattle choreographer Etienne Cakpo, Gansango is a multicultural group of international dancers and musicians who present modern and folk dance and music from West Africa, using instruments such as a kora (a 21-string harp).

How to enter the giveaway:

It's easy! Just leave a comment on this post. Include your email in the comment form so that we can contact you.

Additional entries will be given for the following (leave an extra comment for each action to let us know):

1. Follow ParentMap on Pinterest

2. Like ParentMap on Facebook

3. Follow ParentMap on Twitter

4. Follow Town Hall Seattle on Facebook.

5. Share this post on Facebook

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This giveaway ends Monday, May 6, at noon. We will leave a comment reply for the winner by the end of the day.

Make sure to check back to see if you've won if you haven't already heard from us by email!

This worldly giveaway is now closed and the winners have been chosen. Thanks to all who entered!

When you enter EMP Museum's new addition to its fantasy wing, an exhibition titled Fantasy: Worlds of Myth and Magic — the immersive experience begins immediately. You walk through a large oaken portal, and you are transported into an ancient mossy castle with a life-size dragon, fantastic creatures, and an armored wizard's tree.

The first room focuses on archetypes and is a perfect introduction to the rest of the exhibit. The centerpiece is an interactive table display with beautiful artwork by Seattle artist Stacey Rozich, which illustrates 20 different archetypes like the Rogue, the Damsel, the Iron Woman or the Unlikely Hero. Tap on one of the characters and you get examples of that type of character in popular media along with the history of the archetype, and a short film showing clips of the characters playing out their archetypal role.

The museum does an excellent job of then tying the archetypes into the rest of the exhibit. When you see Westley's Dread Pirate Roberts costume from The Princess Bride the signage includes the label and graphic from the list of archetypes so you and your kids can tie everything together.

The main gallery resembles a medieval courtyard, where your kids can climb through a little cave and sneak a peek at a life-size dragon that was constructed by the Seattle Opera Scene Shop specifically for the exhibit. It appears to be sleeping but if you play with its tail it will awaken. The space is also dominated by the wizard's tree, a massive construction covered in 43,000 metal scales. This part of the exhibit features costumes from the 1939 Wizard of Oz, The Princess Bride, Labyrinth, Harry Potter and others in addition to an authentic suit of 16th century armor.

If you venture inside the wizard tree you can see more artifacts from George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones), Ursula K. LeGuin (Earthsea), and Terry Brooks (Shannara). An interactive tabletop displays other materials, such as copies of manuscripts for Peter Pan.

For the serious fantasy fanatic there is the holy grail of geekdom, original manuscripts for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. These documents, on public display for the first time in decades, include J. R. R. Tolkien's hand-written annotations where he changed Aragorn's name from Trotter to Strider as well as a hand-drawn spreadsheet that Tolkien created to track the progress of each of the characters and groups throughout the story on a time-frame based on his Middle-Earth calendar.

Another not-to-be missed feature is the interactive map-making kiosk, where kids (and adults, of course) can create pirate, wizard, or anime maps, display them in the wizard tree, or print them out and take them home for $9.

Recently a new acquaintance listened as I talked about my clingy my 8-year-old girl. Then she said, “Does your daughter have learning issues?”

Bam. I love being seen by someone you hardly know, and seen in what feels like a mystical way. This woman told me about her own older daughter who also couldn’t get enough of her love, and how that all changed as soon as her girl had some success with learning how to read.

That night I was dismayed about the faucet of tears my Annie turns on sometimes when I leave the house for a much-needed night out. This conversation stopped me in my tracks, though, for a few reasons.

One, we have finally reached critical mass in Annie’s learning-to-read journey. She thinks of herself as a reader! She reads signs when we are out in public. She picks books that are above her ability and uses all of her hard-earned reading skills to slowly read these books, page by page, night after night.

Two, I dropped Annie off from my car at our school’s morning drive-and-drop-off zone. She gave me a quick hug and left the car with no complaining. There were no tears. I did not have to preface this drop-off with a long lecture about how much I love her and how she will make it to her classroom in one piece with no lion-bites taken out of her body. And her sister didn’t have to walk her to the door; she immediately found a friend and walked with her.

As I sit here and write, I could add story after story to this list and all these tales add up to one clear idea that I can only see now: Lately, everything is easier with Annie. Yes, she cried the night I met this acquaintance for a mom’s night out. But if I am telling the truth, every single person in my family is taking a collective breath of relief right now. We made it, we made it, we made it. Annie is a reader and she doesn’t remember not being a reader.

What were you doing at age 14? Me, I was hurrying home from school to watch General Hospital, talking for hours on the phone with my best friend and plotting to increase my clothing budget. That was also the year I quit violin and orchestra and most productive extracurricular activities.

Sami Braman, Riley Calcagno and Leo Shannon, three 14-year-old students at Seattle's Garfield High School, are on a somewhat different track. After years of performing together as The Onlies, the three young musicians — between them, they play fiddle, guitar, mandolin, piano and banjo, plus sing, compose and arrange music — are having a banner year as artists. In March, they released their first full-length CD, Setting Out to Sea (scroll down to enter the CD giveaway) and performed a sell-out CD release concert at Hale's Palladium. They are performing regularly elsewhere, including Seattle's popular Moisture Festival.

They were also chosen as one of nine youth bands to participate in the Moore Theater's annual "More Music @ the Moore" program, which provides a select group of the region's best young artists with training and rehearsal time, production and promotional support, and the opportunity to  perform live on Friday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. (Awesome event alert!)