West End Weekend

“No man has a right to bring up children without surrounding them with books…. Children learn to read by being in the presence of books.“ — Horace Mann

The weather could not have been more beautiful last Saturday for the Puppets for Pages visit to the West End library.  When we walked up the steps, we were greeted with bunches of balloons at the door and even a rented popcorn machine outside!  There is a playground next to the West End library and things could not have looked more idyllic. Librarians Jim and Chris organized a wonderful set-up with a strong political presence.

This time, instead of Halloween-inspired shadow puppets, I brought supplies for the young West End artists to make simple rod puppets. I even set up one of my hand puppet stages so it was kid-sized to allow impromptu performances.
Everyone took a break from crafting to enjoy local puppeteer Joann Kielar’s performance in the basement of the library. I especially enjoyed her version of the classic tale “The Fisherman and his Wife.” My parents do their own Louisiana version of the story that also features a pink house.  Seeing Joann’s version really warmed my heart. Here’s Joann with two of her frog friends:

We were so excited to see State Representative Dan Deasy (27th District), State Representative Chelsa Wagner (22nd District), and City Councilperson Theresa Kail-Smith (District 2) all gathered on the steps of the library with concerned citizens to celebrate the West End library.

Even the kids wanted to chime in on the importance of the library. I had so much fun making signs and waving at cars with these two!

In short, we had a blast. Katrina and I even had enough time to make some silly puppets of each other and play with them in my stage. Hers is a cowgirl with an “I heart Oregon” hat and mine has pigtails, a puppet and a library book. Two mirror images! You can view the rest of our photos on our flickr account, here. Thanks, West End library, for a great day. I really hope you stay open.