5 things to do this weekend, including a tribute to Major Taylor and a graphic novel festival

School vacation week: the perfect time for family members to test each other’s patience. If you’re looking for reasons to get the kids (or even just yourself) out of the house this weekend, we’ve got you covered. From a celebration of a groundbreaking bicycle champion to a kids’ comic festival, this lineup includes at least one thing for everyone in the family to enjoy.

Puppetry and creation myths seem to go hand in hand. Throw in a little interpretive dance and award-winning music by Huang Ruo, the voices of the Ars Nova Copenhagen chorus and the artistic vision of puppeteer Basil Twist, and you’ve got yourself “Book of Mountains and Seas” playing at ArtsEmerson’s Paramount Center. The show is an adaptation of ancient Chinese mythology from over two millennia ago, which audiences may find surprisingly relevant to our modern-day climate crisis. Tickets start at $10. [Check out our spring guide for more theater recommendations.]

If you watched this year’s Grammy Awards show, you may remember Taylor Swift taking a moment during one of her acceptance speeches to announce an upcoming album: “The Tortured Poets Department” out on April 19. The time is nigh for the album to drop, and the Rasa String Quartet has assembled a tentative program of all Taylor Swift covers from her back catalog, including “Lavender Haze,” “Love Story,” “All Too Well” and more. There are two performances, and although the 7 p.m. show is already sold out, tickets for the 9 p.m. show are still available and start at $48. That’s not the only option for Swifties to enjoy her music this weekend. There’s also an album release party on Saturday evening at the House of Blues (think a DJ party with lots of Taylor Swift music) and tickets for that event start at $22. [Check out the Rasa String Quartet's performance at WBUR's Cityspace from last year.]

There’s something inherently musical about cycling. (Ask anyone who attends classes at SoulCycle.) Over the last year, members of Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Concert Band have spent time learning about one of cycling’s greatest athletes: Worcester’s own Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor. This year marks the 125th anniversary of Taylor winning the world cycling championship. To celebrate the occasion, the concert band will perform “The Ride,” a new original composition by local educator Thomas O’Toole. The lively performance begins at 3 p.m. at the Worcester Area Mission Society, a beautiful 19th-century church. The performance is free and open to the public.

For the second year, The Silver Unicorn Bookstore in Acton will hold the Kids Graphic Novel Festival. Registration is free and includes parking and a tote bag for the event. For the first time, the festival will host three stages running simultaneous programming. The festivities kick off at 11 a.m. with storytime and a drawing demo as well as an opening keynote from New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Kayla Miller. There are more demos, panels and workshops throughout the day, and at 12:45 p.m., Lincoln Pierce — author of the “Big Nate” and “Max & The Midknights” series — will present a lunch keynote. The event ends at 3:30 p.m. with a spin on the “Iron Chef” competition: the “Iron Cartoonist Competition.” The festival is planned to be a day of encouragement, creativity and fun.

Massachusetts residents often boast about having the world’s “best” in education and medicine, but what’s perhaps less widely known is that our state also has some of the world’s best beer. Massachusetts brewers often top global competitions, and a few of those winners will be present on Saturday at the Massachusetts Craft Brewers Festival at the Boston Center for the Arts. Hudson’s Medusa Brewing Company, Somerville’s Aeronaut Brewing Company and Cambridge’s Lamplighter Brewing Co. are among the over 40 participating breweries with most companies bringing three or more beers to sample. The festival’s 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. session is already sold out, but there is still availability for the 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. session. A $55 general admission ticket includes unlimited beer samples from participating breweries, and designated driver tickets cost $10.