Although it’s only loosely tied to our Frankenstein-related programs, we hope you’ll join us for our Spooky Puppet Show on Tuesday, October 2 at 2 PM!  It’s the perfect amount of slightly scary without being too overwhelming for preschoolers.  We’re going to kick things off with an adaptation of I Will Surprise My Friend! by Mo Willems (2008; 57 pages).  Elephant and Piggie books make perfect puppet shows for many reasons – they’re incredibly popular, highly visual, and don’t require a lot of puppets or a lot of hands to fill them with, focusing instead on dialogue and characterization, which are top notch.  Plus they’re just a lot of fun.  In this play, Gerald and Piggie decide they’re going to hide from one another, jump out, and surprise each other.  You’d think planning it all out would take away the element of surprise, but things don’t go as planned…

We’ll follow that one up with Julia Donaldson’s funny monster tale The Gruffalo (1999; 32 pages) in which a mouse has to outwit a monster or end up his dinner.  You’ll also see Hoot Owl: Master of Disguise by Sean Taylor (2015; 48 pages).  This book follows a tenacious owl as he narrates his quest for a nighttime snack and makes a great read-aloud and a hilarious puppet show.  We’re also doing a show based on Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book!) by Julie Falatko (2016; 36 pages) – in which a mild-mannered alligator is frustrated to find everything he does being described by an irritating narrator.

There will also be music, including puppet shows set to Sammy Davis, Jr.’s rendition of “The Candy Man” and Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash” as well as a sing-a-long of the classic children’s folk song “Little Bunny Foo Foo”.  We like to include a traditional folk story as part of the program, so this time we’ll be doing a version of Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Story from China by Ed Young (1989; 32 pages), winner of the 1990 Caldecott Award and we’ll also have some spooky read-alouds as well.  We hope to see you there!