Did you know that many newborn mammals can’t open their eyes for a few weeks? Or that newborn elephants have no control over their trunks? Or that some bat babies cling to their parents as they fly? Writer and illustrator Brooke Barker’s new book Sad Animal Babies will tell you all that and so much more—more than 100 entries about the experiences of mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, insect and miscellaneous vertebrate, fish, and aquatic mammal younglings. It ain’t easy being young, y’all. Especially when you’re a baby elephant. Barker’s latest is a follow-up to her best-selling Sad Animal Facts, full of informative fun facts, colorful animal illustrations, and an always-hilarious quotation. Sad Animal Babies is formatted the same way but this time Barker’s focused her trademark wit on the youth. The result is a book you could have a good time reading to your kids or to yourself that teaches us a fundamental truth: Nature is wild. Read more>>> Brooke Barker speaks at 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose at The Wharf, 70 District Square SW. Free. (202) 364-1919. politics-prose.com. (Kayla Randall)

OH AND ALSO

Pioneering industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails performs at The Anthem. 7:30 p.m. at 901 Wharf St. SW. $95–$175.

Rosedale Library presents a screening of 1986 Jeff Goldblum-starring horror classic The Fly. 6 p.m. at 1701 Gales St. NE. Free.

Writer Gary Shteyngart speaks at Sixth & I about his latest book, Lake Success, a melancholy story centered on familial longing and a hedge fund manager’s journey of self-discovery. 7 p.m. at 600 I St. NW. $18–$48.

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