Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored some points with a crowd of adoring -- albeit a bit overage -- fans by reading Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are at the Georgetown Four Seasons on Thursday night. The former NBA star and author was the focus of a themed gala hosted by children’s literacy organization Reading is Fundamental (RIF). RIF is planning on distributing copies of Abdul-Jabbar’s new children's book, What Color is My World: The Lost History of African-American Inventors, to many of its partner schools this summer.

Republicans strongly dislike Madonna and Michael Jackson, a new poll found, while Democrats have a slightly more favorable views of the controversial singers.

Democrats narrowly view the Material Girl favorably — 43 percent to 41 percent a Public Policy Polling survey found, while Republicans strongly dislike her with a 21 percent favorability and 68 percent unfavorability.

Jackson is also rated more favorably by Democrats: 59 percent to 30 percent while 59 percent of Republicans disapproved of the King of Pop.

SPOTTED: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand dining with the caped crusader himself — or at least the actor who played him in “Batman Forever,” Val Kilmer — in Washington on Wednesday.

Our spy eyed the New York Democrat sitting down for dinner with Kilmer and two other companions at Rasika Penn Quarter.

The foursome took in some of the fine Indian eatery’s delicacies, including palak chaat (crispy baby spinach), the eggplant and potato dish tawa baingan, chicken tikka masala, zafrani murg (chicken and cashew nuts), and lamb chops.

Prince Harry, dressed in his military uniform, laid wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday morning.

He laid one in Section 60, where several American veterans who served in Afghanistan are buried, and one at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, saluting at each stop.

"We got a black president [who] can't even go talk to” North Korea’s president, the former NBA star said.

“Top Chef” judge Tom Colicchio says if he were ever given the chance to cook for one of President Obama’s “charm offensive” dinners with Congress, he’d make a statement with his meal choice: “I would use the three dollars a day that food stamps allow to make that dinner. We’ll see what happens then.”

Several lawmakers joined Prince Harry at a reception at the British Embassy on Thursday evening.

Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) were there, according to a pool report.

But photos from the event showed Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) were also among those in attendance, as was Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.).

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will appear on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" next Friday, according to a posting on the late-night show's website.

It will be just the third interview for the former Massachusetts governor since his defeat last November. In March, Romney and his wife, Ann, spoke with Fox News and last month he appeared on CNN following the interfaith vigil honoring the Boston Marathon bombing victims.

It will be Romney's fifth appearance on "The Tonight Show," and his first since March 2012 — the lone late-night talk-show spot he sat for after winning the Republican nomination. Leno and Romney reportedly struck up a friendship during the campaign, and the "Tonight Show" host was routinely more critical of President Obama than his peers.

Prince Harry received the kind of welcome to the Russell Senate Office Building Thursday that one might find at a Justin Bieber concert — complete with squealing fans and starstruck staffers.