This week at the Daniel Boone Regional Library

I'm home from three days in and around Columbia, MO. I always have a good time at the libraries in the Daniel Boone Regional Library system.
Sarah and Hilary hosted three of my shows at the Columbia Public Library. They're always a hoot to work with, and extremely hospitable.

Hilary took pictures of my first show at the main library.


I was performing in "the egg," the program room in the children's area. On the outside, it looks like a giant green egg. Inside it's green and orange-red. That sounds horrible, but is in fact quite pleasant. There are benches around the periphery, but as you can see in the picture, most kids and some adults sit on the floor.


Can you see the spider and fly in Kay's stomach? She's just beginning her feast (she's the old lady who swallowed a fly).


This picture was taken at the Ashland library, where the staff went wild with the bug theme. It was Miss Pam's birthday on Wednesday. She usually does storytime, but graciously introduced me and took pictures. Of course, we sang to her before the show. I did a show there on Tuesday night--a mother and son pair came to that show as well as to Wednesday morning.

In New Bloomfield, some of the school-aged kids remembered me from when I was there two years ago. They wanted me to tell The ghost with the one black eye, but I demurred. We paired my performance with a RIF book giveaway by the librarian--Jerilyn had a great selection picked out for the kids to take home.

In Harrisburg, I told stories at the preschool, where they also have big kids in the summer. For added excitement, one of these big kids pulled out TWO of his loose teeth during my show. Blood. Ick. The little kids didn't really notice him, thank goodness.

Ants, and other comments on creepy crawlies

Last night I performed the puppet show of The goat in the chili patch for the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. I changed my mind about the ant puppet I'd made, using instead a truly icky plastic ant I painted red:


The choice of the paintbrush to show scale isn't random. I used the paintbrush as a rod for the ant, so my fingers wouldn't be visible. It worked. The daughter of one of the librarians last night noticed that I used a paintbrush, so I told her how I look around my house in search of useful stuff when I'm working on a show. This was as she was helping me pack up. She said, "I like helping famous people." I love that.

I've had some funny additions to the show. On Tuesday in Hiawatha, as I was explaining that removing the animals from the old lady who swallowed the fly (via an opening at the top of her back) was a delicate operation requiring a surgeon's hand, a young boy asked, "Did you scrub?" Yes, indeedy. Then last night in Topeka, at about the same point, two girls (ages around 6 and 7) started making beeping noises. "Ah, the hospital monitors are working well."

When I tell The goat in the chili patch, I ask the kids which animals came to tell the goat to get out of the garden. The usual suspects turn up--pigs, chickens, sheep. Sometimes they suggest tigers and lions. It works just as well. In the puppet show with stage, I even put a lion puppet in.

This is a good summer reading theme. I'm a bit tired, having done 33 shows since May 30 (yes, some days have more than one show), but I'm still having fun. That's key.

Creepy Crawlies at the libraries

Summer reading season has begun! Since last Friday, I've done my new program "Creepy Crawlies' for libraries four times, with many more scheduled for the next two months. I find that when I do the same show for most of the summer, I learn more about the stories and make interesting shifts to my pacing, delivery and the patter in between stories or songs. I always have extra stories or songs in my pocket, so I can change it up if I get bored or if the crowd is younger or older than the norm.

One of the songs I've been doing in this show is "The old lady who swallowed a fly," with my swallowing puppet, Kay. I made her in 1993. Isn't she lovely? I'm partial to the blue eyeglasses. She has a clear plastic bottle stomach, so you can see what she swallows. Part of the hilarity of the song comes at the end. Kay's not really dead, despite the last words of the song. She just has horrible indigestion. Fortunately, she has an opening at the back of her neck, so I can reach in and pull out what she has eaten. Unfortunately, she's incredibly ticklish. Great drama.

Notice the fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, cow and horse (I skipped the goat in this version), as well as her cow lunchbox. I think the song went over fairly well at Beef Empire Days last week in Garden City, KS. There was a nice article in the Garden City Telegram about the show.