Free Comic Book Day -- and a chance to give

in Hampden and

in Federal Hill are participating. Some stores are going beyond the give-away. Alliance, for example, will hold a trivia competition at 1 p.m., as well as art and costume contests.

You also have a chance to give back Saturday.

The Baltimore Reads book bank will be collecting new and gently-used children's books from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot of Polytechnic Institute / Western High Schools. That's at the intersection of Falls Road at Cold Spring Lane in Baltimore, just east of the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83). I'll be dropping off a big stack of new books gleaned from the review copies we receive at The Baltimore Sun. Hope to see you there.