Day before yesterday, Bookmans hosted a free Fandango puppet making event at the downtown public library, and everyone had a blast! We had monsters with many googly eyes, cyclops spiders, fuzzy puppy dogs, office workers with pipe cleaner ties, and all sorts of crazy creatures and characters! I made a super girly puppet that incorporated many of my daughter's favorite things, including: butterflies, flowers, cupcakes (one in the mouth & two in the hand), a motorcycle, and ladybugs. For the last twenty-four hours, I have had no trouble at all getting my 22-month-old to eat dinner, take a bath, and go to bed, with the help of the sparkly puppet. I had no idea how powerful puppet peer pressure could be!

I knew the puppet was precious when she woke up in the middle of the night with a nightmare about a shark who “hurt my puppet” and “slept on my pillow.” I have to admit, a puppet-eating shark who sleeps on a pillow even creeped me out a bit. Although the puppet is starting to lose feathers, sparkles and bits of yarn hair, it will have earned its keep by the time it passes on to the recycle bin. I may even take it out to dinner tonight with friends and talk in a silly voice all through the meal, public opinion aside.

If you are sad that you missed our puppet-making event, don't forget about our next free downtown public library event, Banned Book Story Time, on October 1st at 10:30am. We'll read banned and challenged classics like “James and the Giant Peach,” “Where the Sidewalk Ends” and “In the Night Kitchen.” We hope you'll make it. It'll be a great time to teach kids about something Bookmans cares a great deal about: our right to free speech!