By PAMELA GRANT
Cove Leader-Press
151 children and 44 teens signed up to participate in the Copperas Cove Public Library’s year’s Summer Reading Program with an impressive 114 children completing all three reading levels.
Overall, readers in this year’s Summer Reading Program logged an impressive 892.5 hours of recorded reading time.
Last Thursday was the library’s final special show featuring Mark Fuller, or Sir Mark, and his Twisty Art show. He performed three special shows at 2 p.m., 4 p.m., and 6 p.m. Each show featured special balloon creations, this time with a medieval twist.
Volunteers were able to have mock combat using balloon swords, axes, maces, and a lance (with a mock joust). Kids had fun dancing to the “Jousty Wousty” (sung to the tune of the Hokey Pokey).
Sir Mark made certain that his young audience was learning as they went along. He taught them about medieval armor and terminology as it might relate to a knight with an emphasis on chivalry and rivalry. He talked about chivalry in relation to how they should act at home inciting the children to offer answers like “respectful”, “kind”, “honest”, and “helpful”.
“We should produce chivalry, not rivalry,” said Sir Mark. “Make the change in your own heart—in your own home,” he encouraged.
For each of his balloon stories, Sir Mark chose young volunteers, culminating in a tale in which a brave knight and princess (each with appropriate balloon headgear and weapons) were set to fight a mighty dragon (with her own impressive balloon headgear), but they were ultimately able to befriend the dragon further cementing Sir Mark’s ideas on chivalry.
Lydia Kelly (11) played Lady Lydia, later Queen Lydia, during the show. She said that she had a lot of fun and especially liked fighting with the balloons.
“My favorite part was fighting,” said Lydia.
“I think it was fantastic,” said Lydia’s grandmother, Rubye Kelly. “That was really special for her to get chosen to do that. [Sir Mark] was very entertaining.”
At the conclusion of the show, each of the participants was able to make their very own balloon swords to take home with them.
Sir Mark said that he hoped that the kids all had fun showing off their creativity and acting skills. Sir Mark added that the balloon twisting is a relatively new skill for him (he learned during Covid) and encouraged others to try learning something new.
“You’re never too old to learn…whether it’s balloon twisting or some other kind of arts or crafts. Get interested and try something out,” said Sir Mark. “I’m 69-years-old sharing the best years of my life sharing this with kids and giving the kids something to think about, enjoy, and have fun with.”
Library director Kevin Marsh said that they feel like the program was very successful this year.
“The attendance numbers were very strong, the enthusiasm from participants was really strong this year. We had a lot of folks coming out and learning new things and trying new things. We had a lot of kids who were doing a lot of reading,” said Marsh. “That’s our real measure of success. We put on the shows, and we bring in the special entertainment, but it’s all about keeping the kids reading all summer, keeping their minds active, and getting ready to turn them back over to the school system energized and ready to tackle the new school year.”
The teens’ program ended Wednesday with a special pizza party for all participating teenagers. The Summer Reading Program officially ended Thursday with its annual dough show and pizza party for those who completed their reading logs.
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