Though comparing this summer’s programs is a bit like comparing apples and oranges – a magician versus an indoor planetarium? a natural sciences program versus movie nights? – my vote for this summer’s best program goes to the Massachusetts Audubon Society Audubon Ark presentation on Birds of Prey yesterday.

Andrea, the teacher-naturalist, was fun, knowledgeable, and knew how to engage the kids’ attention and answer their questions.  And the stars of the show, a Broad-Winged Hawk and a Great Horned Owl, provided mesmerizing drama as they flapped their wings, chirruped gently, and nibbled on Andrea’s arm.  Once the birds had been put back into their carriers, Andrea brought out various bird eggs, talons, wings, tails, and even a Great Horned Owl head.  Though some kids were faintly disgusted at first by the owl’s body parts, Andrea very matter-of-factly explained to them that this particular owl had been hit and killed by a car.  When one young attendee pointed out that the right side of the owl’s skull was smashed, Andrea simply said, “That was probably where the owl hit the car,” and the child who had asked the question wasn’t grossed out or horrified, but realized this was a simple consequence of a bad meeting between a car and a wild animal.

Having worked for Mass Audubon for a year in my late teens, I know and respect their work and their employees, most especially Drumlin Farm’s emphasis on the cycle of life.  Drumlin is a working farm, and they are upfront about this with kids; in yesterday’s program, Andrea was equally upfront about interactions between wild animals and humans, including an explanation about why certain wild animals become part of the Audubon Ark travelling programs (these animals have been injured in some way and cannot survive in the wild).

All in all, a very impressive program, and I will be organizing more visits from them (with a variety of different programs – Andrea told me I HAVE to get the program that brings an opossum) for the coming school year.

So Thursday was a bit of a long day. 

Our movie that night was Toy Story, by special patron request.  Being an older movie, it drew a smaller crowd than Happy Feet, which is a good thing when you have to set up the room from scratch – fewer chairs to line up, fewer bags of popcorn to fill. 

The patron who had requested Toy Story showed up in full Buzz Lightyear splendor:  Buzz pajamas and the coolest Buzz Lightyear furry, fluffy, light-up slippers.  Awesome.

It was a mellow crowd that night, and we had a great time.  T— the popcorn fiend ate popcorn to his heart’s content (I counted six bags that he ate, then gave up counting), and his sister A—- once again very cordially and quietly collected everyone’s trash a few minutes before the end of the movie, so there was no trash to be seen when the lights went up.  M—, the cute little curly-haired British girl who has become my buddy, came and visited me part-way through the movie, and waved to me from the other side of the room for the rest of the movie.  And the tow headed toddler sitting right in front of me had a great time playing wave-and-smile with me for most of the movie. 

I had a great time.

Though it seems like summer reading just began, it’s actually more than half over – the busy half, too.  After Wednesday, the special programs that I’ve scheduled will taper off, with only one major program in August, as well as two more movie nights, a craft program, and the finale picnic.

Since my last post, we’ve had a successful “Night Sky” program, with four half-hour sessions spread out over three hours.  We were close to full capacity, which made me very happy, and everyone left the Starlab a bit starry-eyed and dazzled.  For me, the whole experience was positive, from Molly, the instructor, who was competent, intelligent, and efficient; to the Starlab fitting so nicely into Volunteers Hall; to sitting in the hallway-with-a-view with each group as they awaited their turn.  This hallway is lined with windows, with one view down the old minister’s path to the church, and the other view out over the library’s parking lot (so you can “watch the pass”).  As I sat with each group, the kids and parents and I chatted about all sorts of things:  the new Harry Potter, which had not yet been released, summer vacations, and favorite summer books.  A nice bunch of people – it was enjoyable to socialize with them in a relaxed environment.

Since I was tending to attendance and such between each of the first three sessions, it wasn’t until the last session that I got to go into Starlab myself.  Molly gave careful instructions on how to enter the tunnel going to Starlab, and how to sit once inside.  A simple hunched-over walk through the tunnel, then we all sat on the wooden library floor inside the dome, and got to see several constellations, which Molly described using a red pointer beam that clarified where the head and tail and such were for these constellations.  We also learned a bit about Polaris and saw a cool Powerpoint graphic on just how the earth wobbles on its axis; Toby had asked how long it would be until we had a new North Star, and we were all surprised to see how many thousands of years it would be until the shift happened.

Throughout the presentation, the cute little boy sitting next to me had an incredibly hard time keeping still (he really was far too young to attend, one of the downsides of library programs, since it’s harder to restrict ages than in a school program) and frequently knocked the sides of the dome.  By the time we exited Starlab, I was good n’ woozy from the wobbling dome sides and the subsequently shifting stars, and felt a bit like I had all those years ago when I walked out of the movie theater after watching Star Wars for the first time.  Happy, but a little nauseous.

After all the attendees had left for home, and Molly had packed up the Starlab and headed out, I went and ate a quick dinner before setting up Volunteers Hall for that night’s movie night….(to be continued)

The Museum of Science is coming to the library today with their inflatable planetarium, Starlab.  Starlab inflates to be twenty-five feet in diameter and twelve feet high, and can accomodate twenty-five participants at a time.  Expecting a good deal of interest in this program, I scheduled four sessions spread out over the afternoon, and at this point the two later sessions are completely full.  (Do call the children’s room this morning if you’re not signed up yet and would like to attend the 2:00 or 2:45 sessions, as there is still plenty of room in each of those.)

After Starlab is packed up and on the road back to Boston, I’ll be setting up the performance room for movie night.  Tonight’s movie is Toy Story, and there is PLENTY of space available for those of you who would like to attend.  Although, I must admit that an under-registered movie night means a great deal less work for me, especially since Lisa won’t be working tonight (last week, Lisa and I worked frantically for a solid half-hour to fill enough popcorn bags to feed the entire audience). 

Neither of today’s events really fits into the Massachusetts library summer theme of “Catch the Beat at your Library,” but that doesn’t bother me too much.  While I think that having a summer theme can inspire children’s librarians to bring in some excellent events that we might not otherwise have thought of, I do also think that there is a danger of being limited by the summer’s theme.  As I study the statistics produced by our new online summer reading log, it becomes clear that summer reading participation and enthusiasm centers on three specific grade levels: those kids entering third, fourth, and fifth grade in the fall.  What happens if there are three mediocre summer reading themes in a row?  Do the kids going into these prime grade levels those years lose out?  In losing out, do they lose interest in reading, and therefore not develop excellent life-long reading habits? 

My approach, therefore, is to run some events each summer that make use of the summer theme, but also schedule other events that touch on other subjects.  For instance, with “Catch the Beat,” it could be tempting to focus mostly on musical events, but that would leave the kids who are interested in math and science out in the cold.  And I certainly wouldn’t let our book group choices to be determined by the summer theme; the books we read should be chosen by virtue of quality and interest level for the kids who are in the book group.

All this by way of explaining my choice of having Starlab come today.  It’s a totally cool program, for which we finally have the appropriate space, and which appeals to kids who are fascinated by science.  And Toy Story was chosen by way of patron request, an appropriate means of choosing programs for a public library.  It’s all good.

One last thing before I start my work day:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEAN!!  With love from your little sis.  Have a terrific day!!!