Elmo came to visit last Thursday – he made the trip all the way from Sesame Street to our library.  Before Elmo came out to say hi to his fans, I read two short stories about him (not the best stories in the world, but you take what you can get), and then Elmo sauntered out and sat down in a big chair to greet everyone. 

Some of the kids who attended were so in awe of Elmo that their parents had to gently nudge them towards him, but most kids were SOOOO excited that it was all I could do to organize them into a line.  Once the line was established, everyone got a turn posing with Elmo and getting their picture taken with him.  Many kids went back two or three times to visit with the big red monster.

The two cutest stories of the day belong the just-over-one-year-old who couldn’t stay away from Elmo, and to an older boy.  The littler boy ended up snuggling in Elmo’s lap, each hand grasping some fur on Elmo’s legs, and his head tucked down into Elmo’s, um, lap (the mom was quite grateful to find out from me that Elmo was inhabited by a woman, not a man, that day).  And the bigger boy, who is about seven, carefully studied Elmo from every angle, pausing longest at Elmo’s back, where the zipper was just visible next to a tiny gap where the head fit on.  This boy didn’t say anything about what he observed until Elmo had left for the day, and the young woman who had played Elmo came out to chat with the kids (she was great, saying “I missed Elmo!  I can’t believe I didn’t get to see him!”).  The boy got talking to the young woman, and whispered to her: “There was a HUMAN in there.  I felt his hand, and there was a HUMAN hand inside!!!”

Thank you to the Start U Reading folks for bringing Elmo to the library!  It was fun!