NEIGHBORS SHORT TAKES : Disgusting Tales : Young readers asked for them, so today’s story hour at the Thousand Oaks Library includes some unusual book titles.

Today’s children’s story hour at the Thousand Oaks Library will feature some of the true classics--you’re probably familiar with them, “The Twits” and “Snot Stew.”

Honest.

“We’re featuring some of those books that kids ask for,” event coordinator Janice Arcuria said. “We’re amazed they have titles like that.” And that’s just part of the program. “We’ll also sing appropriately disgusting songs,” Arcuria said, “like ‘Greasy, Grimey, Gopher Guts.’ ”

If your 6- to 10-year-old child is interested in attending (and you are interested in letting him or her attend), come to the library by 4 p.m. To participate, however, the child must have a valid Thousand Oaks Library card.

Note on the revolting readings: Believe it or not, Arcuria said there are some oft-requested stories that have been left off the program. One of those is titled, “Can You Teach Me to Pick My Nose.”

Guess it’s true what they say--the show must go on.

After the October fire in Oakland destroyed nearly all of the private art collections of James L. Coran and Walter A. Nelson-Rees, it would have been hard to imagine that a touring exhibit of some of that artwork would go on as planned.

The national tour, coordinated by the Palm Springs Desert Museum, was to have presented the works of certain California artists.

Once word of the loss got out, fellow private collectors came through, donating other works by the same featured artists for a replacement exhibit.

That 45-piece show, titled “California Grandeur and Genre: From the Collections of Friends of James L. Coran and Walter A. Nelson-Rees,” opens Saturday at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art.

“It came as a terrible shock when the whole thing got burned up,” museum director Ed Robings said. “But I knew my friends at the Palm Springs Museum were very resourceful.”

Remember Benjamin Denne of Ojai? He’s the euphonium player who was one of 11 local youths in the All-American Marching Band that played at the opening of Euro Disney in France.

Well, late last week we spoke with his mother Laura, who was unable to make the trip with him but kept in touch by phone. She said her son was having a great time, albeit an exhausting one--marching bands, it seems, do a lot of marching.

Reported mom: “They would take them over to 16,000-square-foot tents and they’d put on their uniforms. Then they would march over a hill to (Euro Disney) and everybody would start to cheer for them. He said it felt like being in Napoleon’s army.”

Laura Denne said she was unable to spot her son in local television news coverage of the opening ceremonies, but Benjamin himself was more successful. “He said he saw himself on a Coke commercial in France,” she said. “He happened to turn on the television and there he was, drinking a Coke.”

Benjamin was expected back home this week. We’ll give him a call once he’s had some time to get over the jet lag.