Just like that, summer reading has now truly begun.

With the 4th of July occuring right in the middle of last week, I assumed that we would have a slow start to summer reading this year: lots of families out of town those first two weeks.  In fact, I didn’t schedule a single event last week, which was oddly calm.  But this week is another matter.  Monday was the meeting of the 5th grade book group, yesterday was an appearance by Professor Readalot, today Alex Andrews from Music Together will be singing with the youngest kids in the morning, this afternoon I’ll be running a puppet-making workshop, and then tomorrow evening will be a showing of the movie “Happy Feet.”  Phew.

Professor Readalot, real name Greg McAdams, was a huge hit again this year.  When he came last summer, I was really blown away by his ability to hold the attention of a large group of kids, as well as his masterful crowd control.  Lots of parents commented favorably on his performance, too, so he was an obvious choice as an “ask-back” this summer, and one of my choices for a Cultural Council grant.  So it was no surprise when he pulled off another flawless performance yesterday.

The beauty of Greg’s performance lies in the mixture of comedy, magic, and library-specific booktalking and gentle discussion of how to handle library books.  He uses humor that exactly appeals to kids, even to kids as young as three or four, and they were giggling their heads off throughout his show yesterday.  Yet he never let the crowd get out of control: he starts off his show with a quick discussion of not talking when he’s talking, and that if he needs to keep asking kids to be quiet, then there will be less time for a show  (unfortunately, though, his request for decorum was lost on a couple of parents, who chatted throughout the whole show, despite his direct appeal for parents to be quiet – he even made eye contact with the chatty pair!).  More importantly, Greg knows how to bring the group dynamic quickly back down after a raucous laugh, and possesses the ability to take the room from 60 back down to 0 in a few seconds.  Pretty cool talent.

So it was a really fun time yesterday, with a full house of attendees.  It will be interesting to see what the attendance is this morning for Alex Andrews.  Alex has a huge following, but her following was a bit discouraged last summer by the lack of air conditioning at the old library.  Put 40 moms and 40 babies in a small room in the middle of a hot summer without air conditioning – not a good thing.  Pretty rank.  We’ll see how many show up today, for the air-conditioned comfort of Volunteers Hall!