PORT TOWNSEND — Little green librarians with aluminum-foil antennae greeted visitors to the Port Townsend Library to launch the Summer Reading Program.
This year’s theme: “Discover Planet Earth — Read.”
“Greetings, Earthlings!” Jean Tarascio, youth services librarian, said Friday, as she and Jody Glaubman, dressed in green and silver costumes, welcomed young readers to the library at 1220 Lawrence St., Port Townsend.
The Port Townsend Library’s kick-off event drew 125 children and parents to the children’s area for a magic show by Jeff Evans of EduMazement Productions.
Evans recruited assistants from the audience for each of his tricks, which often went wrong, the audience delightedly pointing out his mistakes.
Evans also pulled a can opener, a brick and other props out of his shoe.
Cady Johnson, 10, of Center helped Evans with a card trick in which he popped the chosen card out of the deck into the air, found it in his shoe, in his shirt pocket and inside a can of corn.
He also brought out his pet chicken, Sparky, and asked it to peck the correct card.
When the young members of the audience shouted, “It’s a puppet,” Evans told them, “Shh, don’t ruin it for the adults.”
Brianna Martin, 7, helped Evans bake a cake, to which he added “flower” and an egg from a rubber chicken.
Lucia Long, 7, performed a trick with a paper napkin alongside Evans, both tearing their napkins into pieces. Wadding the pieces together, Lucia unfolded hers to find it whole again, while Evan’s remained in shreds.
After the show, Evans passed out large paper dollars with magic tricks printed on them, and the librarian/aliens served cupcakes and watermelon under the front portico.
Other free, all-ages events at the Port Townsend Library this summer are a magic show by Louie Foxx at 2 p.m. July 17 and the “Noiseguy’s Sound Show,” by a performer who doesn’t speak, at 2 p.m. July 29.
Nature Detectives, at 2 p.m. Mondays during July, offers budding ecologists ages 7 to 12 hands-on workshops in mapping, field guide use, edible plants and teas and local birds, mammals and insects. Arrive early — space is limited to 20.
Participants receive a free book for every eight they read or have read to them. The Port Townsend Library’s summer reading program concludes with a picnic at Chetzemoka Park on Aug. 7.
The Port Townsend Library Summer Reading Program is sponsored by First Federal. For a complete schedule, go to www.cityofpt.us/library or stop by the library.
