All Roads to Classics Run by Ventura Shop : Store offers a wide inventory of vintage car literature, including out-of-print items and old advertising brochures.

Collectors are passionate, persistent, preservers, always wanting to learn about or acquire that special piece--from barbed wire knots to maple syrup containers. I haunt antique shops and flea markets for political ephemera. If anything on wheels accelerates your adrenaline, race over to Pacific Motorbooks, 1880 E. Main St., Ventura. The bookstore, owned by Alan Cohen and his son, Josh, features current periodicals on motorcycles and cars, illustrated out-of-print books and an incredible inventory of old brochures, including parts and repair manuals of value to anyone attempting to restore antique vehicles. The Cohens also cater to literature collectors. Their stock includes parts and advertising brochures on everything from early Japanese and Italian motorcycles, British automobile lists of the 1920s, to rare original American material.

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It’s the day after Thanksgiving, the turkey is demolished and the children are restless. Take them out to meet illustrator Kris Waldherr, who will sign “Persephone and the Pomegranate,” a retelling of the Greek myth, at 11 a.m. Friday in Adventures for Kids, 3457 Telegraph Road, Ventura.

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The Art Gulag presents poetry, art exhibits and music at 4 p.m. on the last Sunday of the month in the Plaza Players Theatre, 34 N. Palm St., Ventura. Call 643-7939 for information.

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Marilyn Tobias, author of “Old Dartmouth on Trial,” will present a historical analysis of the educational community in her lecture on “Conflict and Change in the American Academic Community: The 19th and 20th Centuries.” Tobias is a public historian and adjunct professor at Pace University in New York. Sponsored by the Thousand Oaks branch of American University Women, the Women’s Resource Center and School of Education at Cal Lutheran University, the free lecture is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Nelson Room on the Cal Lutheran campus, 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks. Call Janice Levine, 492-2822.

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Edward Winslow, a pilgrim, was quoted in “The Thanksgiving Book” created by Jerome Agel, Jason Shulman and Melinda Corey. He described the first Thanksgiving celebration at New Plymouth in 1621 as follows: “Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling, so that we might in a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labor. They four in one day killed enough fowl to serve the company almost a week. . . . Many of the Indians came among us, including their greatest King Massasoit with some 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted.” “The Thanksgiving Book” is an illustrated treasury of history, tales, poems, prayers, recipes and holiday feasting that will serve you all year long.

Author and radio talk-show host Frances Halpern writes a regular column in Ventura County Life. Information on literary events should be sent to her at least two weeks in advance. Write to her at 5200 Valentine Road, Suite 140, Ventura, 93003 or send faxes to 658-5576.