“All Together Now” is the theme of this year’s Summer Reading Program at the Henry County Library, but last Saturday, it was “Super Friends to the Rescue” at the kickoff event at the library parking lot.
“Super Clown” Dennis Porter led off the event, staging improv skits about characters discovering their super powers, using volunteers from the audience. For the story of “Super Colt,” five children put on mane headbands, four black and one white, to portray horses and act out the story of a colt who discovers he is a unicorn.
In the second skit, Dennis recruited “Super Swimming Lady” and “Wonder Singing Lady” to use their powers to help solve a problem with a friend. Barbara Harbaugh played the latter, aided by sidekick Katalina Harbaugh, 2. Then five kids were assigned super skills to try to open a box filled with treasure.
In the fourth skit, the audience helped Dennis, a.k.a. Hero Boy, finish a story by providing key words. With the audience’s help, he and Adventure Woman, played by Mandi Taylor, “fly” to the rescue and capture “Evil Professor Dog,” played by James Driller, and take him off to jail.
After the show, families went into the library to sign up for the Summer Reading Program. Everyone received tickets for free grilled hot dogs, chips, cold drinks, snow cones and popcorn at tables set up in the parking lot, where picnic tables were also set up. An inflatable obstacle course and a bubble machine provided more entertainment.
Participants also received a brochure listing fun, free shows through June and July.
On June 10 at 2 p.m., author Timm Fischer will talk about his children’s book series, “Summer Adventure.” The series’s first book, “Beginnings” is set in Missouri’s Mark Twain National Forest.
On Father’s Day weekend, June 16 and 17, a 9-hole mini-golf course will be set up inside the library from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
On Saturday, June 24, comic/ventriloquist Doug Mickan “and friends,” including a pig, a possum and a big shaggy dog, will perform at 2 p.m.
The annual free Olde Glory Days Puppet Show is Saturday, July 1, at the Henry County Museum Annex, 203 W. Francis, Clinton. The show, “Bubba and Trixi,” by StoneLion Puppets of Kansas City, will be at 1:30 p.m. and repeat at 2:30 p.m.
The puppet show offers a chance for young children to experience a kid-friendly live performance — they can sit down front on the floor and “meet” the puppets afterwards. The air-conditioned museum annex is also a good place to take a break from the heat, and use the washroom. Entry to the annex is free, as is the puppet show, hosted by the museum Children’s Corner Committee in conjunction with the Henry County Library and Missouri Arts Council. Pre-show story reading starts at 1 p.m.
On Wednesday, July 12, Barbra Gay will lead a special story time and craft project at 3 p.m.
On Saturday, July 22 at 2:30 p.m., live animals from the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium in Springfield will be featured. Except for the puppet show, programs are at the library,123 E. Green Street, in Clinton.
Storytime for young children is Tuesday at 11 a.m. in Clinton and 2 p.m. Tuesday in Windsor. Teen Summer Reading events are held at 11 a.m. on Thursdays in Clinton, and at 2 p.m. Thursdays at the Windsor branch of the library, and feature a different craft from around the world each week, June 8 through July 27.
The Summer Reading Program goes through July 29, with the end-of-summer celebration, “Foam My Party,” in the parking lot on August 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. Children can wear swimsuits or shorts and T-shirts. Drawings for grand prizes will be held during the celebration — a DIY Arcade Pack, a Water Fun Pack, a Road Trip Pack, a Fishing Gear Bundle, and Indoor Camping Pack, and for teens, a Hoverboard. You do not have to be present to win.
How to enter the drawings: Through June and July, participants keep track of how many minutes they read on BeanStack (henrycolib.beanstack.com). For every 60 minutes that 0-5th graders read, or are read to, they will receive a ticket to enter a raffle to win prizes. Older students read 130 minutes for each entry.
Sponsors of the HCL Summer Reading Program providing prizes or funding include Everharts Outdoors, White River Marine Group, the Pediatric Place, Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare, Schreiber, Hawthorn Bank, Legacy Bank and Trust, and OakStar Bank. Also contributing were State Fair Community College, Central Methodist University, Crain Pest Control, Logan’s Heating and Cooling, Applebus, First Student and Evans Pipe and Steel.
Other local sponsors: Blue Ribbon Bakery, Sonic, Pizza Hut, Price Cutter, McDonald’s, Daylight Donuts, the Doughnut Palace, Casey’s and Artesian Pool, and from out of town, the Kansas City Zoo, Wonderscope Children’s Museum of Kansas City and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Readers can win extra chances to spin the Prize Wheel by completing some Summer Fun Challenges of family activities, listed in the Summer Reading program brochure.
The Henry County Library will host its first Adult Trivia Night for ages 18 and older on Saturday, July 15, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Mocktails will be served, and you do not need to be part of a team to play.
Ryan Muiller, youth services director, organized the Summer Reading Program. Savannah and Shelby decorated the Clinton library with balloon arches and colorful handprints, and lettered the program theme in colored chalk on the brick wall outside.
After his show last Saturday, Dennis Porter entertained children in line to sign up for the Summer Reading Program with card tricks and plate spinning. Porter, of Happy Faces Entertainment of Kansas City, said he has 75 shows for libraries scheduled in four states this summer. His “Super Friends to the Rescue” show illustrates the “All Together Now” reading program theme by emphasizing that everyone has a super power, and that by working together, and treating others with kindness, unity and friendship, people can solve problems.
The Henry County Library is located at 123 E. Green St., Clinton, Mo. 64735, on the corner of Second Street (Business 13) and Green, two blocks east of the Square.
