Neato! Check out "Spiderella" and some great spidery tips for storytimes and/or programming for Summer Reading Club 2008: "Catch the Reading Bug." PuppetTales is a fantastic newsletter that supports children's programming in libraries and beyond!

The dialog for both "Spiderella" and "Caterpillar's Wish" have been recorded and the puppets and props are almost complete! It's hard to believe that everything's coming together and summer will be here before we know it. :)

Photos and more to come...

Ooo, I almost forgot!

For Christmas, my awesome husband gave me the coolest gift ever ("what?!?" you may be saying -- but if you know me, you know I would love this). It's called Delicious Library (Delicious Monster). You can catalog your books, movies, video games, and music onto your computer and share them if you'd like with friends and family. Slight dilemma for some...you have to have a Mac. I promise I won't get on my soapbox about that. :)

On another note, have you checked out Goodreads? I'm addicted to it...and to potato chips.

It's been awhile!

It's been awhile since I've last posted. (Thanks for the call Stephanie! I can't believe someone actually reads this blog...thanks so much!) Check out this site!

Time is moving by quickly and it's hard to believe it's already February. We pushed the recording of our dialogue back to the end of February. It was difficult to adjust everyone's schedules around the holiday season, so we adjusted and we'll record in less than two weeks. I'm gathering background music and bug "sounds" to add to the recording. In no way is this "uber professionally" done by any means, but it's worked really well for us for previous shows and it's so much nicer to have the dialogue pre-recorded than having to remember your lines come showtime.


In other news, has anyone read the amazing Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick? Amazing...
I'm so happy it won the Caldecott Medal for 2007. If you haven't read it, please do and share your thoughts on it.
After reading Hugo and The Houdini Box, I truly think the man is a Genius with a capital "G." :)

I'm so excited!

Wow! I put out the casting call for the two plays and I had "Spiderella" entirely cast in less than 24 hours and have just a couple parts left in "Caterpillar's Wish." I'm really grateful that so many colleagues are interested in adding their voices to the dialog. I had a sneaky suspicion that many of my co-workers were aspiring actors. ;)

It's the night before our LATI showcase where we complete the program and display our projects. I've just finished putting the final touches on my display board and pulled together all my supplies needed for tomorrow's event. I'm really happy with the project I've chosen. I feel it's a project that will benefit not only my colleagues from all branches, but also the young patrons and families who attend the programs. And, as if that weren't enough, it's been a whole lot of fun to work on! :)

Casting Call

A casting call has been made to my coworkers to see if anyone would like to be a part of the show. Here's what they've received:

Have you dreamt of being a star? Now is your chance! Lend your voice to the upcoming, highly-anticipated traveling puppet show for Summer Reading Club 2008: Catch the Reading Bug!

Two puppet shows are in the works and we are looking for the voices behind the magic…perhaps your voice! Do you imagine yourself as the Fairy Mothmother or the Cicada Prince in the smash hit Spiderella? How about a caterpillar or snail in the sweet story of Caterpillar’s Wish? Lend your vocal cords to this sure-to-be sensational production.

Cast of Characters for Spiderella:
Narrator
First Ladybug Stepsister
Second Ladybug Stepsister
Spiderella
Fairy Mothmother
Cicada Prince

Cast of Characters for Caterpillar’s Wish:
Narrator
Caterpillar/Butterfly
Bee
Snail

We will be practicing together as a group on Thursday, December 6th and recording the following week on Thursday, December 13th. Look over the attached scripts and let Julie know if you would like to participate. First dibs on characters to anyone who responds a.s.a.p. Any questions, just ask!

--So, we'll see the response we get...hopefully, there won't be fistfights breaking out for the various parts. ;)

gotta love technology...

So I'm trying to figure out how to attach a picture to our intranet discussion board...to no avail. I can do it posting the pics to my blog, so that's what I'll do. I'll figure out a better way eventually. :)

Spiderella

So, remember when the mice sing in Cinderella: "Cinderelly, Cinderelly, hmm...hmm..hmm.hmm... Cinderelly..." I can't remember that middle part.

Anyway, one of my awesome co-workers found a super-cool script for a children's play "Spiderella." It's a take on Cinderella, but with a spider as the main character, 2 ladybug stepsisters, fairy mothmouth, cicada prince, etc. I'm so excited and think this will be a perfect addition to the preschool and up crowd. More details to follow... (thanks Donna!)