FOR THE KIDS : Television Star, 9, to Autograph Book at Mall : Taran Noah Smith, who appears on ‘Home Improvement,’ is one of authors of book on Walt Disney World for youngsters.

If your youngsters would like to rub shoulders with Hollywood types, they have a chance to meet 9-year-old Taran Noah Smith, who appears on the hit television series “Home Improvement.”

Taran will be at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. Of course, he’s not there just to schmooze but to autograph a new book about Walt Disney World at--where else?--the mall’s Disney Store.

The top-rated sitcom is produced--no coincidence here--by Disney Studios. Taran plays Mark Taylor, the youngest son of lovable but goofy Tim (The Tool Man) Taylor. Taran’s character is described as “precocious yet vulnerable” by his publicist.

In real life, Taran takes a lot more risks. The slender youngster, whose show biz career began when he was 6 months old, does mountain biking, sailing and flying near his San Francisco-area home.

Taran joined seven other kids--mostly ordinary, non-show biz types--to write a guidebook of sorts for the Disney’s Florida vacation spot. In the book, “Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World for Kids, By Kids 1994” ($9.95), the youngsters give their opinions on park attractions.

So what excites Taran at the theme park? Splash Mountain is “really cool, the last drop is awesome.” Also, at the park’s Serpentine Fountains, “If you stand in the right place, you can get totally wet.”

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Don’t expect to find any cartoon animals at Circus Vargas, which is wrapping up its stay at the Ventura County Fairgrounds today with two final shows before it moves to Oxnard (Ventura Road and 7th Street) Friday for a 10-day stay.

Under the big top you’ll see Colonel Joe, billed as America’s largest performing elephant, and Kay Rosaire, supposedly the only woman in the world who puts her head in a tiger’s mouth. And, if you can stand more thrills than that, a couple of daredevils riding high-speed motorcycles while caged in a 10-foot steel-mesh sphere will be performing as “The Globe of Death.”

It’s a two-hour show, but if you want to see them raise the big top, get there Friday at 10:30 a.m. For ticket information, call 486-5979.

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A much different event taking place this weekend is El Gran Apagon, a multicultural celebration designed to turn kids off from smoking and encourage smokers to quit.

The second day of the event (the first was last Sunday) is this Sunday outside Wal-Mart in Oxnard’s Rose shopping center from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It all leads into the American Cancer Society’s annual Great American Smokeout on Nov. 18.

Organizers of this year’s El Gran Apagon (Spanish for “great smokeout”) have made it a real youth-oriented event by getting kids from about a dozen organizations to put together some vivid anti-smoking exhibits.

In one, students from Moorpark Community High School have built “The Little Truck of Tobacco Horrors,” a haunted house on wheels displaying the horrors of smoking. Among them is a huge image of a cancerous mouth--if that doesn’t stop you from smoking, nothing will.

Youth from El Concilio del Condado de Ventura have come up with an oldtime radio show entitled “Little Red Riding Hood Meets Joe Camel.” Other groups have prepared artwork, videos, musical performances, a quilt and other creations. Santa Paula kids, led by storyteller Jim Cogan, will be spinning yarns.

Kids attending the free event also can make anti-smoking bookmarks and hat decorations. For information, call 652-6503.

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Ventura’s Bicycle Safety Fair will be Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Buena High School. Kids can get their bikes licensed and checked out. Finalists in the bike safety programs at Ventura schools will compete in the fair’s rodeo. For information, call 658-4748.

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For parents tired of typing their child’s school reports, this may be of interest. The Conejo Adult School in Thousand Oaks is offering a five-week computer typing course for kids in fifth grade and older. The class meets Mondays from 3:45 to 5:15 p.m., beginning Nov. 15. Sessions are in room nine at the school, 1025 Old Farm Road. Cost is $35. For information, call 497-2761.

Ventura County Life contributor Jane Hulse is a parent knee-deep in kids activities. If you have any family news, send it to her at Ventura County Life, 5200 Valentine Road, Suite 140, Ventura, 93003, or fax 658-5576.