The Williston Park Library recently welcomed some special guests.
Many were native to Australia and have a fixation with being touched by the wiggling fingers of children. If you couldn’t guess, the visitors were animals.
The critters were provided by Green Meadows Farms and supervised by Jason Reilly, who guided more than 50 children and their parents in the ‘One World, Many Animals’ theme of the hour.
The animals were brought in to be part of the library’s ‘One World, Many Stories’ summer reading program. Many libraries across New York have been taking part in the program, which includes creating summer book lists and putting different titles on display.
During story time, directed by librarian James Pagano, children from two to age eight were read “Katy No-Pocket,” by Emmy Payne, “The Jungle Grapevine,” by Alex Beard and “Madeline in London,” by Ludwig Bemelmans to name a few.
A bearded dragon, baby ducks, a tortoise, mice and cockroaches were a few of the kinds of animals that were presented to the ecstatic audience to help illustrate the stories.
“We thought the kids would really like to see (the anmials),” said Pagano.
“I like the bunny,” said Maya Meola who will be heading to the first grade in September.
The bunny Meola favors is named Ms. Fuzzybutt. Her black and white fur enjoys only the friendliest of strokes.
Reilly gave similar direction to the children throughout the show.
“Please don’t give a frog soda,” said Reilly about Mr. Stickers, the Australian tree frog. As he spoke, the children watched with excitement as a toad made an attempted escape.
Tree frogs are often mistakenly labeled venomous, Reilly said. Other than a sticky tongue frogs like Mr. Stickers are harmless.
Ms. Fuzzybutt and the guinea pig, Ms. Piggy, who is about to go on maternity leave, were among the most popular animals.
Keriann Saraceno who will be entering the fourth grade in September said her favorite part was ” touching the animals because they were all different types and feelings.”
The kids also learned words like camouflage and nocturnal during the show.
After petting the chicken the audience danced the old favorite, the chicken dance.
“[With] the chicken dance the kids get to see their parents interact and have fun,” said Reilly. The judge for this dance performance was none other than a chicken expert, the fluffy chicken. It squawked at the clumsy arm-flapping moves of some of the parent volunteers standing in the front of the room and fell silent for the dance illiterate.
“I didn’t know what to expect turned out to be a nice thing,” said Keriann Saraceno’s mother.
“I thought it was really great,” said Pagano. “[It’s] been a really great summer I think the kids have a lot of fun.”
Once the ‘One World, Many Stories’ program ends Aug. 8, library officials hope to integrate more story times and an afternoon tea in the fall.
“[The library] its a meeting center for all different ages,” Pagano explained.
